[tptacek]

The bit about cold calls working better than anticipated rings true. I advised a company I help out with not to bother cold calling, because it never works, and was embarrassed to learn a few months later that it had been extremely effective just to have the founder ring random people up.

The bit about remembering names, deploying kids names, and talking about football --- that part does not ring true. I've done sales work for my last startup, and before that a as a product manager had a sales-support role where most of the people I talked to every day were account managers, and even though I know this "talk about football" stuff is what salespeople are supposedly doing, I never saw that happen.

Taking people out to dinner? Obviously, different story. But on the phone, especially early on? All business.

The most important thing I think salespeople do that ordinary people don't do is Ask For The Sale.

[Frondo]

Cold calling is great! Well, because it's never absolutely cold--you do know that the person you're calling is at least a little interested in what you're selling. It's not random.

As for remembering names, kids' names, etc., you're right, it's hokey to just try and build up a memorandum on a person and play-act at being a friend. What happens, though, when you spend a while talking with someone, is they do mention their wife's trip, or their brother coming to town, or whatever, and after a while, you end up developing a bit of a friendship. Not a "let's go hiking on the weekends" relationship, but a small friendship all the same. You remember their kids' names simply because you take an interest in who they are as people, and in my experience, they do the same for you.

It's actually kinda neat.

[enraged_camel]

>>Cold calling is great! Well, because it's never absolutely cold--you do know that the person you're calling is at least a little interested in what you're selling. It's not random.

No, that's not cold-calling. Cold-calling refers to picking up the phone and calling people you have never spoken to before and will most likely not be interested -- at least initially -- in what you are selling. But if it's people you have spoken to briefly at a trade show, then you aren't cold-calling. You're following up.

Note that cold-calling doesn't have to be "random". In fact, calling companies and people randomly almost never works. You need to have a strategy in place and need to have done what's called "prospecting". For instance, if a construction company just became your client, then calling other construction companies and talking about how that company is using your product or service has a much higher chance of getting you at least one in-person meeting.

[Frondo]

To clarify, I agree, if it's not the first they've heard from you, it's not cold calling. I do mean, though, that when you pick up the phone to cold call someone, you aren't calling at random- you're already calling someone who's in the right industry or whatever to have a chance of being interested in your product.

[celticninja]

The kids and football thing is about building a rapport so the next time that you call they remember you, or will at least take your call. This is important when for example someone may not be buying right now. If they say we will be looking in 6 months time and you only call back in 6 months time they will be unlikely to remember you. If you call them every month by the time the 6 month marl comes around you are speaking to them regularly and may pick up some other business in the intervening period.

[kelukelugames]

I love college sports and I always tried to talk to my interviewers about their schools' teams. I distinctly remember two women interviewers from Oregon, a football powerhouse, who did not appreciate the conversation. Now I just talk about restaurants. Everyone likes food.

[caseysoftware]

I'm not formally in sales but I do the same thing. There's nothing like "Oh, I was there a couple years ago and found this great little burger place near..." or "I've always heard they have the best X there. Where do you recommend?"

[pavlov]

a football powerhouse

That could explain why the women were tired of the topic.

[jonesb6]

Are women not supposed to like football? I actually went to the University of Oregon and found women both attending the U of O and those who lived in greater Oregon to be more passionate about the game then many of my male friends/colleagues/classmates.

It's a risk whenever you try to connect with someone over what you think might be a shared passion. Sports can be risky because not everyone like sports, but if you guess correctly and can form a deeper relationship then any other topic.

Trying football with people from Oregon is absolutely a reasonable decision.

[kzhahou]

It's not surprising that your males friends weren't into it, if I correctly assume that they are in tech.

But obviously the overwhelming majority of football fans are guys.

[enobrev]

I don't think it's overwhelmingly obvious.

  "The data show that 70% of working men and 59% of working women are sports fans" [1]

  "74.6 percent of all male respondents consider themselves football fans as well as 51.5 percent of all female respondents."[2]

  "...according to data from The ESPN Sports Poll and the U.S. Census, with league officials saying 44 percent of all football fans are now women."[3]

1: http://www.gallup.com/poll/183689/industry-grows-percentage-...

2: http://www.statista.com/statistics/208431/football-fans-by-g...

3: http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/7536295/nfl...

[philsnow]

> two women interviewers from Oregon, a football powerhouse

It's unclear to me from the context whether they are just from some town in the state of Oregon, or that they were alumna of the University of Oregon.

The gender ratio among college sports fans is a _lot_ closer to 50/50 than it is for pro sports fans.

If somebody assumed because I grew up in California that I'm a fan of the Bears, I would also not be particularly amused.

[GFK_of_xmaspast]

Why is that obvious.

[ig1]

It absolutely happens (as in I've seen it happen in lots of places) and serves an important value.

When cold calling the big thing that's missing in the communication is trust, why should the lead trust some guy who's phoned her up ? - building a personal rapport helps establish a feeling that "this person is like me and I can trust them" which is a key part of cold sales.

For account managers it serves a very different purpose, it serves to reduce churn (and enable upselling). It's much easier to switch away from a company that you have a purely professional relationship with than from your buddy at Acme corp who you always look forward to catching up with.

[loso]

I work at place that deals with leads and the sales people almost sit right next to us. And they definitely get into the names big time like the post said. Talking about sports, from what I hear, they don't usually direct the conversation that way but if the client does bring it up then they will go with it. But remembering the names are a really big deal and they utilize that heavily.

[klenwell]

I make it a point to try to remember the names of everyone around the office and instead of just saying, "Hi" or "How's it going?" as we pass in the hall say, "Hey, Mary" and "How are you doing, Mark?"

It hasn't changed anyone's life but it seems to make a difference. I've noticed they'll perk up a little when I include their name, start to address by my name when I wasn't even sure if they knew it before, and maybe even start a conversation at the coffee machine or water cooler.

Like the old Woody Allen line, "90% of success is just showing up," I suspect 90% of success in engaging people is just remembering their name.