Yep it’s that season. Making a list and checking it twice…Um, not a holiday gift list but a list of which sales efforts you are going to implement in 2014. Did sales prospecting make the list? It should!

Many of us have fallen victim to the promise and seduction of social media. Post a status update and they will come. Send out a newsletter and the prospects will flock to your door. Tweet and the world is yours for the taking.

Not.

Sure social media should play a “role” in the business development mix but it surely can’t be the be all and end all. Old-fashioned business prospecting is STILL an effective tactic to opening doors and making the contacts that lead to business.

Direct mail and telephone prospecting are two of the old-fashioned tactics that have made a comeback. Let’s face it, email is like a huge black hole and sending out cold emails to suspects just can’t work. But direct mail…an envelope that shows up in the mailbox…now there’s a concept that has come back to life. Mix it up a bit and make it a “lumpy” mailing and well, the open rate has just gone up dramatically.

As for telephone prospecting, no, it isn’t dead. It’s difficult, time-consuming and requires tenacity and stick-to-it-tiveness but it most definitely has its place in a well rounded prospecting plan.

Bah humbug you betcha. This all takes creativity and work, but with the effort comes the spoils.