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Remember the last time someone tried to sell you a vacuum cleaner or a holiday over the phone? Did you get out your credit card? Probably not. Nevertheless, cold calling is still a commonly used sales tactic. Let’s look at exactly why you didn’t buy that vacuum cleaner.

According to evolutionary psychology, not trusting strangers is instinctive.

While studying tribal warfare, behavioral scientist Dr. Samuel Bowles found that people were more cooperative with those from their own tribe, and antagonistic toward strangers.

Of course, the cold caller is a stranger to you, thus you instinctively keep your guard up. They can sing the praises of that vacuum cleaner all they want but chances are, you won’t trust them.

We are far more attracted to familiar things. The more familiar something or someone looks, the more attractive and trustworthy we deem them to be. This is also known as priming.

Priming is a mechanism that also works with images and statements. So, if you see a message more than once, you’re automatically more likely to believe it. This is why commercials are more effective than cold calling. If you see a commercial for that vacuum cleaner a couple of times, it will be more desirable to you.

Not only is it ineffective, cold calling actually drives potential customers away. Why? Because it’s annoying! It’s based on a strategy called interruption marketing, which disrupts your current activity and attempts to draw your attention toward the product. Examples of this include intrusive Google ads, billboards, Facebook posts and TV commercials. It’s not unlike someone stalking you with a megaphone and shouting product slogans every two minutes. You’d naturally hate that, and cold calling is no different.

Now, let’s say you’re a salesperson: you know cold calling is a dead end, so how can you deal with your client? Easy: make them believe you’re part of their tribe. Read on to find out how.