[kryptonika]

Shocking that a bunch of engineers don't like being cold-called ;-) But it's silly to write it off as a viable sales strategy. At my startup we've had a ton of success with cold-calling, and I've talked to software CMOs and VP Sales all over Boston that use it as a core part of their strategy.

If you're doing B2B sales in a relatively new category there's basically no other way to reach your early market; they're not googling for your category, and probably not even for a technical solution to it, especially if you're selling to a non-IT function (marketing, sales, finance, etc.).

In those contexts, cold-calling, done well, can help educate the market, create demand, and set the stage for later inbound efforts. Often we'll have a cold call where the prospect's response isn't "WTF you wasted my time" but "I had no idea this kind of thing existed; where were you 5 years ago?"

It's not easy; you have to select your targets carefully, and have a good pitch, not be too push, and get a lot of other things right to make it work, but it DOES work.