Cold calling has a long history in various business sectors, including SEO. Its role and effectiveness in the sales process, especially within the rapidly evolving SEO industry, is up for debate.
Cold Calling Pros
In the early days of SEO, awareness was relatively low. Cold calling was a direct method to reach business owners and introduce them to the benefits of SEO, helping to quickly build a client base.
Beyon that, cold calling lets you establish personal connections with potential clients. In an industry where trust and credibility are crucial, these personal touches can help, particularly in contrast to the sea of email spam business owners have to wade through.
Cold Calling Cons
- Shift in Buyer Behavior: Today’s businesses are more informed and often initiate contact through digital channels. The dominance of inbound marketing and content marketing means that potential clients are likely to research SEO services online before making a decision.
- Preference for Non-Intrusive Approaches: Put simply, people don’t like cold calls.
- Data-Driven Sales Strategies: Modern SEO sales strategies are increasingly data-driven, e.g. with heavily targeted PPC.
The Future of Cold Calling in SEO Sales
- Niche Markets: In certain niches or localised markets, cold calling can still hold value. For example, say you’re calling from a Leeds landline to Leeds businesses. That’s an inherent point of trust.
- Integrated Sales Strategies: Cold calling is at home alongside other strategies, like email outreach and in-person sales. So long as you’re respectful, there’s not much downside to cold calling from a sales perspective.
