Cold calling is dying (fast) - what are you doing about it?

Cold-calling is a relic of the past for sure. As you may have seen, Meryl Lynch recently banned new brokers from making cold calls.

That doesn't mean it can't still be effective in certain situations, but it is fast dying. It won't be long before all phones will block unidentified calls. At which point, salespeople will need to develop other tools of connection.

I'm seeing the best salespeople become a combination of marketer and sales. They're learning the game of digital marketing and mastering it, in addition to traditional sales skills such as qualifying and closing.

At the same time, since fewer are making cold calls I'm seeing an opportunity in some industries. For example, in healthcare finance, one of my clients is seeing good success on cold calls simply because the executives aren't used to receiving as many cold calls as they used to.

What about you? Is cold calling still effective in your world? Are you developing other skills around prospecting?