We are in the year 2011, and it’s amazing to me that people are still cold calling, leaving voicemails, asking for appointments and, in general, trying to pull out their Felix the Cat tricks that were dead and gone the moment the Internet reached awareness. (No offense, Felix.)

Why on earth would someone let you in to see a decision maker on a cold call?

Why on earth would someone return your cold call voicemail?

Why on earth would someone grant you an appointment to make a sales pitch from a cold call?

Why on earth would someone listen to your timeworn sales pitch without a hint of value?

Why on earth would you try to sell your prospects, when all they want to do is buy?

Every day, I receive sales questions via email, on my website, through my social media platforms and from phone calls to my office. ALL of them focus around how to do something new with a strategy that is 100 years old.

Most of the people asking these questions have only nine Twitter followers. Or maybe they aren’t even on Twitter, and that’s why they’re stuck on the old path, where the road is blocked forever.

Worse, you get angry when I tell you what to do and how to win.

If you’re stuck in the 1980s, the best answer I can give you is to buy (or invent) a time machine, set it for 1980, go back and live there. You’ll have 10 years to hustle.

REALITY: The days of selling the old way are not only gone; they’re annoying. Not to me. They’re annoying to your customers and your potential customers.

Ever hear of referrals?

Ever hear of testimonials?

Ever hear of networking?

Ever thought about speaking at civic organizations?

Ever thought about writing a column for the local business weekly or a trade publication?

If you spent the same amount of time earning referrals as you do making cold calls, your numbers would increase, you’d close more sales, your aggravation factor would drop to zero, you’d make more money, you’d be infinitely happier on the job, and your job happiness would skyrocket.

And those answers require ZERO technology.

Now take a look at some of the new attraction and value-based strategies from the past 10 years:

• Your personal website with your philosophy of how you treat customers.

• Your personal blog with posts of interest.

• Your business Facebook page with customer interactions.

• Your video testimonials on YouTube.

• Your LinkedIn connections.

• Your once-a-day value tweet.

• Your weekly value email magazine.

BIG PICTURE: Attract leads, earn referrals. They are 100 times more powerful and more profitable than the common cold call.

ACTION PLAN: Study your customers one at a time. It’s the first step to understanding them and their needs. Let them Google you and be impressed.

CAUTION: If you go into a sales appointment sounding like you know everything, it can only embarrass you. If you haven’t done the research, you’ll look like an unprepared fool. When you have information from the Internet about the person and his or her business, it will help you formulate questions and generate ideas – the real elements of selling in today’s world.

THE NEW WORLD OF SALES: The Internet and business social media are the new order of selling. They’re the new frontier.

But first you have to believe it’s worth it, resolve to make a plan, dedicate yourself to hard work for a year, and discipline yourself to daily execution.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by email at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2011 Jeffrey H. Gitomer