The rule of thumb in recent years for the success rate of cold calling prospects or following up on mailers by telephone has been a five percent achievement. In other words, typically in these situations, 5% of prospects allow the seller to advance further in the sales process.

That ratio is now likely obsolete and too high. Nowadays, there is a whole cottage industry of experts and methodologies on how to prospect, or not to, but the fact remains that responses are less and less likely. It could be that the positive responses are at 0.5%. In other words, for every 100 prospects that receive an unsolicited call or brochure less than 1 moves forward and shows interest.

Why? What can a marketer do?

Knowledge is power. Prospectors need relevant information with which to target their customers. That means, one must call into a company in possession of much more information than before. One cannot cold call prospects without having up-to-date information. In fact, that would not even be cold calling.

The ‘need to know’ goes beyond having a name and having perused a website nowadays. Know the name, the history, the events, the news and the website’s information. Have you studied the prospects’ social media profile? Have they tweeted something? Is your pitch aligned with their needs and is it targeted and customized?
No more mass mailers. The mailing list requires customization and personalization for each an every prospect.
Every potential client is unique and the marketer needs to incorporate that in the approach or risk failure.

Read this again: http://www.alighaemi.com/wp/?p=508