Cold calling is one of the oldest techniques of landing potential leads in network marketing. If there is one thing that would turn me off from network marketing, it would be having to cold call people. Thankfully, this method is a thing of the past. Now that we have the internet, there isn't a need to put yourself and unsuspecting people through a cold call.
You may still come across individuals who teach this method and believe in it, however, as a newbie to network marketing, cold calling is a huge turn-off. It is one of those things that I feel isn't easily duplicable. You want to teach your downline things that work, yet won't make them feel intimidated either.
Not everyone does well on the phone. Add calling up total strangers on top of it and you see how most people would refuse to do it.
People Don't Like Being Bothered
Now a days people put their numbers on the "do not call" lists, they use their caller ID to scan calls, and there are call blocking features you can turn on with the phone company. People value their privacy and if you did happen to get through, you would likely face a harsh rejection.
People Are Wise to the Sales Pitch
More and more people are immune to the sales pitch. They can smell it coming from a mile away even if it is for something non-business related. I remember walking out of a Wal-Mart and a woman was trying to get people to sign a petition. She asked a man standing near her, "Do you want to pay less for your electricity?" and he promptly replied, "No, I want to pay more." I had to laugh under my breath but that is a prime example of how some people don't want to be pitched.
Why You Don't Have to Cold Call Anymore
It's called the world wide web and there are like a billion people on it. If you take the time to learn a little bit about online marketing, you could have leads tracking you down. I have only been doing my network marketing business for a little over 2 months and have two new people on my team and they both came via internet marketing.
You can see the potential in this. Yes, it takes time but the more you work it, the more networking you can do. The best part is, the people who connect with you are targeted and truly want to learn more. That is 100 times better than cold calling.
However, since I'm just a newbie to all of this, I could be way off about cold calling. I'm sure some network marketers use it and feel it is an effective method to generate leads. If you are one of them, please share your views in the comments.