Here’s a definition from Wikepedia:

Cold calling :   the process of approaching prospective customers or clients, typically via telephone, who were not expecting such an interaction. The word “cold” is used because the person receiving the call is not expecting a call or has not specifically asked to be contacted by a sales person.

I’m writing this post that specifically addresses the value of cold calls legal marketer’s new business in the wake of a conversation about Twitter’s lack of value to lawyers being generated on Martindale Hubbel’s Social Media for Lawyers site in the article, “The Light and Dark Side to Twitter”

Since a  multitude of legal marketing professionals are still struggling with the idea that what worked in the past should still work if I they do it “right”.  In this case, for them, the traditional methodology of cold calling is the way to go.  Needless to say, these calls aren’t working as well as they used to…  So in response to “Twitter Negativity”, in the legal marketing world, I say it’s time for social media (including Twitter) to replace the cold call.

Honestly, I’ve received dozens of calls from potential clients as a result of my posts on Twitter, and I don’t cold call — EVER.  Similarly, I’ve received quite a few calls from legal marketers I don’t know, attempting to sell me their services.  My background in public relations, marketing and film production, for the majority of my career, has been spent in the area of new business of one kind or another. I never had difficulty making cold calls.

You may even say I have a gift for it, i.e.: “A natural ability to be persistent without being a nuisance”.   Even so, cold calling in order to generate new business for legal marketers is not an efficient method.

Legal marketers, with every industry from car manufacturing’s Honda to network television producers moving to social, isn’t it time for you to stop wondering if it works, and bring on specialists who know how to maximize your ROI by using it effectively?

Many folk charged with the responsibility of new business for your firms are forced into a dependency upon cold calling as a new business tactic. It worked fairly well in the past, so there’s the expectation that it should work today.  Honestly, cold calling is only necessary if your firm or agency’s principal(s) refuse to differentiate the themselves from its competitors and create an appealing position for a specific target audience.

Cold calling is often necessary if your firm or agency doesn’t have a consistent new business program.

Tim Williams, founder of Ignition Consulting Group , and author of the book, Take a Stand for Your Brand: Building a Great Agency Brand from the Inside Out, tells it like it is in his recent article “The End of Cold Calling“:

“Ask any agency principal what he or she dislikes and avoids the most and the answer will almost always be the same: cold calling new business prospects. Not only is this the most dreaded activity among C-level agency executives, it’s also among the least effective.

Cold calling has always produced only modest results and today’s avoidance-enabling technology only makes it easier for prospects to hide from your phone calls and ignore your e-mails. I routinely hear from agency principals how traditional new business prospecting methods are becoming less and less effective.”

We are in an amazing paradigm shift in legal marketing and also in the way marketers acquire new business. Cold Calling has never been the best way to do it.   Cold calls generally only produce modest results from lots of effort, and are even less effective today with the growth of social media.

In my opinion, social media is equating to the death of cold calls for new business.

Other articles you may be interested in:

Twitter’s Just Getting Started For Legal Marketers

Seth Godin’s 7 Tips for Startups in a Down Market — Solo Practioners & Small Firms, You Don’t Want To Miss This

Protecting Your Legal Marketing Brand From Social Media  Bad Buzz

Kara works with legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want

Rex Gradeless on ABA Journal’s Launch of Legal Rebels Project With Social Media

Kara works with legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want

In the midst of economic challenges, customer retention, marketing ROI, and brand loyalty most important to top level marketing execs.

AdAge MediaWorks reviewed a survey done by Anderson Analytics of its 1,800-member group, which only admits top-level marketing executives who make more than $160,000 annually among other criteria.