How We Forgot the Telephone.

Many social media and content marketing folks tell businesses that the telephone doesn't work. Then again, many people are scared of using the telephone as a business tool, so this gives them a nice excuse.

That's because they don't have the right kind of social skills.

One reason telemarketers fail is because they already have gone through the conversation in their heads over and over before they call.

When the conversation goes a different way, they get flustered and then it's game over. Bad telemarketing has given telesales a bad name.

The telephone is not dead. It's very much alive. My collaborator Angus Grady gets through to CEO level people all the time for our clients (10 a day is a standard target). His calls do generate business which can be measured in £.

They do not create ill will.

The telephone is a business tool. Social Media didn't replace it. Social Media did allow some people who could not do telemarketing well an opt out. Unfortunately they promulgated that the telephone itself was bad. Social Media is not the complete toolbox, it's just another tool. Businesses need to leverage every tool they have, tailored to their products and services. Unfortunately, some social media marketers who don't know have the right kind of social skills have convinced businesses that the telephone is evil. This is bad for business.

So, I'd just like to tell you Angus is opening very thick doors with the telephone. I know it works. The proof is in the pudding.

I know people who sell office telephones. They tell me that they're selling more than they ever did. What does that tell you? So if you've been beating your head against a brick wall trying to get to exchange text with someone's electronic avatar, using social as your blunt weapon of choice, why not get someone who has the right kind of social skills to pick up the weapon of mass discussion instead to just give them a call. It might be able to open the door to a real conversation with a real person.

Who knows, it might be the most important conversation you ever have.

"Weapon of Mass Discussion" is a phrase coined by Angus Grady