Andy Neary argues cold calling in insurance is dead. Office numbers don't work anymore, cell calls hit voicemail or spam filters, and prospects want digital contact instead. Build awareness through social media and email first.
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Is the cold call dead?
This is a question that gets met with a lot of ruffled feathers in the insurance industry because it's a form of prospecting we have used for decades. But I truly believe we are as close to the cold call being dead as we have ever been before. Why?
It's pretty simple.
When you look at a prospect's business card or their email signature, what phone number appears?
Yeah, their office phone. So you pick up the phone, you dial, and you're calling an office today that you don't even know if anybody reports to anymore. There's a good chance that that direct.
Contact you're trying to make, you're trying.
To reach out to, doesn't even report.
To the office anymore.
So what are the odds that they're.
Actually getting their phone messages or actively picking up the phone? Very slim. Now, the good news is that more and more of your prospects are willing.
To give out their cell phone because.
This is how we communicate today. So you might even see a prospect cell phone number appear in his or her email signature. But now, here's the problem.
Now you've got their cell phone.
So what do you do? You pick up and you call their cell phone number. But what happens?
Well, think about how you use your cell phone.
If you see an incoming call with a number you don't recognize, what do you do?
Yeah, you let it go to voicemail.
And then you decide if you are going to return that call or not.
Worse yet, I have an iPhone. My iPhone tells me you actually might be spam. So this is why I truly believe.
The cold call is as close to being dead as it's ever been.
So what do you do? What can you do?
This is why you have to resort to exponential awareness. You have to create a brand that your prospects recognize using the channels that we use today.
Social media, emails, webinars. This is how you get your message out today. This is how you can get a.
Lot of prospects to know who you are very quickly.
And you can still use direct marketing.
Tactics, whether it be with social media or email.
So that's my advice for you today. I know just saying the phrase cold calling is dead ruffles feathers in the insurance industry.
But think about what has happened since the pandemic. How many people are picking up your calls? I bet you it's not that many. So think about how you're going to create exponential awareness in 2023, and it's going to do a hell of a lot of good for your prospecting.
