What is the definition of cold calling? Cold calling is part of the sales process whereby a sales person gets in touch with prospective customers or clients who were not expecting the call. The word “cold” is used because this interaction is unsolicited. The main point behind the phrase “cold calling” is that it is an attempt to reach someone who doesn’t know you, hasn’t been introduced to you and wasn’t expecting your call. The term “cold” by itself doesn’t necessarily mean “without any knowledge”. With all of the information available via the web, sales people would be remiss if they didn’t learn something about a prospect before they called them. But no matter how much information a sales person learns, if the person doesn’t know the caller, the call is still considered a “cold call.”

The cold calling process has been refined to enable a sales person to hone in on their prospect target market in order to develop a database of prospective customers based on a variety of target criteria, such as company size, type and location. By using sites such as Jigsaw, SaleSpider, Hoovers and LinkedIn, companies are better able to increase the chances of successful cold calls by identifying those prospects who are most interested in what they are selling.

Rather than cold calling becoming obsolete, it is being redefined and enhanced by the proliferation of modern technology and social media.

Cold calling in the traditional sense of the word is becoming more difficult as attempts to reach someone by phone or email are becoming more challenging due to federally maintained do-not-call lists and other obstacles. However, on the positive side, this same use of technology and social media is transforming the entire sales process including cold calling. Sales people no longer have to blindly make calls to their prospects in the hopes of reaching someone and making a connection. Rather, they can learn important information prior to making that first call or sending that first email. The Internet makes it easier to qualify leads and learn more about their needs, history, reputation and any other information that will enable the sales person to make a better connection and start off this relationship-building process from an informed perspective. Modern technology enables sales people to better attract, interact, track and manage their prospects via the Internet.

Traditional cold calling is becoming warmer because of the proliferation of modern technology and the increasing usage of social media. In addition to better qualifying leads, companies are able to use search strategies to drive traffic to their websites, make it easy for visitors to request information about the company and hand off what is now “warm” prospect contact information to their sales people, thereby reducing the need for endless cold calls that lead to dead ends. The volume of cold calls is, therefore, reduced and techniques such as attraction marketing are becoming more prevalent. Attraction marketing is specifically designed to teach prospects about what your company does and how it will benefit them and/or fulfill their needs.

Company websites that have live chat functions serve as another method of qualifying leads and turning cold prospects into warm or hot prospects. Visitors to your website have an interest in what your company offers and live chats create an instant opportunity for sales people to connect with potential customers/ clients.

The sales process of today is one that is enhancing and transforming cold calling by giving sales teams both the tools and the insight to reach out to the right people, at the right time, with the right message. Cold calling still exists; it has simply become more effective as a result of the ease of information gathering via the World Wide Web.

The word “brand” brings to mind many variations of the same concept, such as: “trade name,” “trademark,” and “a name, sign, symbol or slogan.” Essentially, a brand from a corporate perspective is the embodiment of anything and everything that the company says, does, doesn’t say, doesn’t do, how they say it, what others say about them, how others perceive them, etc. The phrase “you are your brand” most effectively exemplifies this concept.

Fast forward to 2010 and this age of transparency to look at the term “brand” in the perspective in which it is used today. This is where the concept of “personal branding” plays a crucial role. Social media networking has enabled everyone to have their own personal brand by way of publicly sharing anything and everything that they “say” on the World Wide Web. If you cut through all of the semantics and take this concept of personal branding down to the most basic level, what you are left with is simply what is commonly referred to as your “reputation.” Your personal brand is your reputation.

What happens in this advanced age of technology and social media marketing to a company’s brand reputation when their employees have their own personal brand? This topic was discussed and debated at great length in Fortune Magazine’s article Building your brand (and keeping your job) by Josh Hyatt. Josh spoke about Scott Monty, Ford’s first global digital and multimedia communications manager and his use of social media to promote his own personal brand and Ford’s corporate brand. In summary, Scott was a social media guru with a high degree of credibility and 3,500 Twitter followers prior to accepting a position with Ford and had already earned his personal brand reputation. Scott used his social influence to further the goals of Ford and enhance their brand synergistically with his own brand. A perfect match!

What ensued after this article was published was an incredible amount of criticism about the way the author portrayed Scott Monty which is really not relevant to the topic of this post. This author sees the mutually-beneficial business relationship between Scott and Ford as an example of how to handle our new age of business that we find ourselves in today. It works for Scott and it works for Ford making this a win-win proposition.

However, more often than not, employees don’t capitalize on their personal brand to enhance the image of the company they work for. This is not to say that they wouldn’t want to help out their company, but rather to imply that many people use social media for their own personal use that has nothing to do with where they work. Yet companies are concerned with how their brand may be affected by an employee’s use of social media. Some companies prohibit their employees from using social networking sites in an effort to avert any damage that might be done to their corporate brand.

The solution to this potential problem is quite simple. If people would understand the impact their written word has and use good judgment in what they post, there would be no problem. Fortune Magazine also featured a case study called Edit Thyself, a very befitting title. The study discusses a young woman who was just “letting out some frustration” when she Tweeted something about her boss that got her fired. Moral of this story: Don’t let out your frustration in PUBLIC because EVERYONE will see it. Call a friend instead which is exactly what this young woman learned from her experience.

The bottom line here is, when using social media, remember that anything and everything you write can and will be read by anyone and everyone. Yes, some of the social networking sites like Facebook have privacy controls set-up, however, these controls change often and it is highly possible that you might forget to control these settings for even one comment that might not sit well with someone in your life – and that someone could be your boss.

It is really a matter of common sense. The problem is that, unfortunately, not everyone uses common sense either because they don’t have any or because they are busy doing a million things at once and they forget to think. This puts companies in the position of having to be concerned about their employees’ personal branding. Do they have a right to censor their employees’ personal branding? The answer to that is not clear, but until common sense becomes commonplace, companies do have something to be concerned about.

"How to trick people into thinking you’re good looking" is a humorous video that illustrates how people can totally change what they really look like and pretend to be somebody that they are not. WARNING: video is for mature audiences only!

My mother's advice can be applied to both personal and professional situations. With the increasing empowerment and sophistication of technology and by leveraging social media marketing, companies are compelled to stay true to their word and their brand promise. If they don’t, the world will hear about it. Many celebrities recently have seen how quickly news spreads when their secrets or indiscretions are revealed. With social media, it is possible to create the illusion that you know what you are talking about and have the experience and expertise to back it up; however, you can’t get away with that forever. Eventually, people will catch on to you.

Social Media has completely changed the landscape in the world of business. It is imperative for business owners and everyone else in a company to understand the impact of these new communications technologies. If they don’t, and they are not completely honest about who they are or what their service offerings are, as soon as one person uncovers the truth, the negative publicity will spread like wild fire thanks to the power of the internet and social media.

The Internet makes it easy for anyone to portray themselves as anyone they want. The term “expert” is one that has been adopted by many yet not everyone is truly an “expert.” If you promote yourself as someone who you are not, rest assured – eventually – your deceit will be discovered.

Recently, it seems as though a large number of people are branding themselves as coaches. Coaching certification is relatively easy to obtain. However, merely by being a certified coach does not necessarily make you qualified and experienced enough to really help other people.

It might not be immediate, but if you are creating a perception, as soon as one person discovers that you are not what you say you are, they will share it with someone else, either online, offline or both. The next person will tell someone else and before you know it, the truth will become common knowledge.

In this age of transparency, don’t pretend to be someone who you are not because the real you will eventually become evident and you will be exposed.