Okay, maybe that's extreme, but I needed to punch things up so that this post would generate a click thru on your RSS reader!
Now then: Here is what Seth said. And here is Mike Smock's take on Seth's post. Both of these guys are "wikked smaht" as they say in Boston. But having trained door-to-door B2B sales reps at Aflac, I know for a flat-out fact that this type of selling works -- when it's done right.
Moreover, door-to-door selling doesn't need to be low brow, either. In fact, in his book Thriving on Chaos, Tom Peters applauds Japanese banking senior executives who in tough times go door-to-door to solicit deposits -- the exact same tactic which Seth decries in his post.
People always throw the baby out with the bath water. In this case, most marketers (and even most sales people) think that just because they suck at selling door-to-door that the tactic doesn't work. These are the same people who can't stand cold calling, and I guarantee you that cold calling works because I do it all day long. I rarely ask for the order on the first call, but I always try to establish the foundation for a two way permission-based dialogue going forward.
Nurture marketing is a multi-step process, and there's just no getting around that very first step -- whether it's a cold call or a referral or a knock on the prospect's door. Fact is, if you have never met your prospect, then you are making a first impression. That scares the hell out of most sales people, and therein lies the difference between a champ and a chump.
Seems to me that being a Purple Cow means being ballsy enough to do what your competition simply won't do. And again, there's no reason that selling door-to-door has to be difficult or beneath one's dignity -- as long as you have a good process for it.
To quote Tom Hopkins: "If your tactics are sound, they can't fight you." Truer words have never been spoken.
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Q: Need the number of a recruiter who "gets it?"
A: Download Harry's contact info for future reference.
