Is your current cold calling trick making an impact in your lead conversion rates?
Do you feel a slight misfit when your not able to convert qualified leads despite you practicing the art of cold calling?
If you said yes to any of the above questions, take a breath because you’re not alone.
Many sales reps like you believe that cold calling is a tough art to master but what you don’t know is that if this technique is conducted the right way, nothing can stop you from overshadowing your peers.
Have I still caught your attention?
Well then great because we have a lot more stored for you.
This article has been specially curated to help you out.
So that by the time you reach the end of the article, you will already have a plan in your mind on how to get started.
Hence without any further delays, let’s quickly understand what are the factors that will help you plan your next productive cold calling strategy:
Before we jump into learning how we can improvise the way you conduct your cold calls, let’s first start from understanding the real purpose of this technique.
For those who are new to this topic, cold calling is a sales methodology where a sales rep will contact his/her target audience in order to convince them to buy their solution.
In this process, the buyer doesn’t have an idea about your solution and hence via this process sales reps will be educating, answering and solving the pain points of their buyer through their solution.
Let’s understand this with an example:
Sales Rep: Hello am I speaking with Janice?
Janice: Yes, How can I help you?
Sales Rep: Hi Janice, this is Mary, I saw your LinkedIn comment about you looking for a good callback software?
Janice: That’s true, but I have shortlisted a few.
Sales Rep: That’s great, this call was actually regarding the callback software we offer where our 3 main features define our product better.
Janice: What 3 features do you have?
Sales Rep: We won’t take much of your time, we offer call recording, a 28-second callback offer as well as calls being made for free to international clients. These 3 are really important because as you know you need to generate leads and in 2019, you can’t ignore any that comes your way.
Janice: That’s true Mary.
Sales Rep: Why don’t we do this Janice, let’s have a face to face meeting regarding our product. We can help you compare and tell you why our product is the best choice for you and you can then make a decision? How does 2 pm sound tomorrow?
Janice: That’s great for me.
As seen above, cold calling helps you to win over your client’s attention by confidentiality selling the product you have in hand.
Mary knew Janice had her choices set, but the way she created excitement when selling her solution is commendable. She was able to attract Janice’s attention as well as schedule a meeting with her.
If this was action was conducted via social media chats, Mary would have a lesser chance to build that trust when conversing with Janice.
The reason being, social media is a way to learn about what your solution and brand are, it is only during calls are you able to talk it out and pull your clients’ trust to take your words to purchase your solution.
For the remaining sales reps who are already knowledgeable about this topic, you must have heard from so many of your peers when they vent out that cold calling is one of the most time consuming and difficult sales process.
The constant rejections and multiple follow-ups create an impatient sales person to give up, but is the solution running away from it?
Cold calling is a traditional sales approach that still holds its identity even today. A study conducted by Rain Group claimed. 82% of buyers accept meetings when salespeople reach out to them.
Take an example of the top brands today despite them keeping in touch with the modern sales approaches, they will always have a cold calling session to learn more about their clients.
For the only reason being, to retain the lost human touch.
See it in this way, If you want to buy a house, you would go online and do some research about the type of neighborhood and house you would like to reside in. You would chat with many vendors too to get a clearer picture.
But when it comes to finalizing your dream home, whose words would believe? A robot or human ?
In simpler words, your clients will engage with you on any platform be it social media or emails, but in order to make a decision on whether they should invest in your solution or not, they need to first trust you.
PewResearch proves 86% of buyers want to be able to ask in-person questions before buying, while 84% want to buy from someone they know and trust.
In order to develop a trustful bond, you need to conduct constant follow-ups and multiple oral communications to clear all the queries your prospects state.
Despite the business industry breathing the digital air, they will still not turn their backs against cold calls. Salesforce proves In-person communication is still king.
The reasons being:
Even Resourceful Selling proves the stability of cold calling future:
See it in this way, cold calls retains the two most essential factors required to win your clients, one is the trust and the second is the personal closure.
Living in 2019, you believe that sending an email and tracking it down will help you grasp better leads but does it actually?
Let’s understand this with an example:
Example 1:
You send an email to 10 marketing heads. Out of 10 , 3 opened, 3 ignored and the remaining 4 pushed it to see later. Now you may wait thinking that they need some time to revert. So you actually track the actions.
So what you do again is you resend the email and repeat the same process.
Example 2:
You find 5 leads and immediately contact them. Out of 5, 3 leads were interested and you managed to schedule a callback, the remaining 2 leads out of which 1 was not interested and the other 1 was unsure.
You repeat the same process for the 3 interested leads an managed to convert them into a potential lead within 6 call attempts. With more persuasiveness, you were also able to convert the unsure and not interested leads into a sales lead within the 9th attempt.
In the above two examples, the difference is the time spent on converting leads. In the email process, you would get a lead but the process to get it is slow. There will be leads who will open your email immediately, while many would just add to their spam folder or just delete it.
Some also view your email, after days which makes no sense for them to contact you. Direct Marketing Association Study proves, 59% of buyers think the sales emails they receive are irrelevant.
However, in cold calls, converting and capturing leads becomes much easier. For instance, say you walk up a store and decide to buy a dress for a party. The sales person immediately assists you with the options and you, in turn, choose the right one. Your next step would be to make a payment for the dress you’re going to own in the next 10 minutes.
This is the same with cold calling. When your lead is warm, it is smarter to capture it at that same moment. Being a sales rep yourself you know that all the leads you capture not all will be warm leads, some will require the right number of follow-ups to actually convert it into a sales lead.
Holding this knowledge in hand, it’s time for you to learn how the below 20 cold calling tips and tricks can help you make better conversion rates.
It’s time now to shine your way above your peers.
Before you can even begin your research to start prepping for the first call of the day, ensure that you have a well-organised data structure in front of you.
For instance:
Being a sales rep, you are aware of the number of calls you need to do per day. Since the number is high, you can’t keep storing your lead information on numerous excel sheets.
The reason being, it is time consuming to actually sit and type all the information plus there are chances that you can lose that data in case of any technical mishaps on your system.
To eliminate such hassles, switch to using a CRM.
With the use of a CRM all your data can be viewed in one place. According to learn.g2, 50 percent of sales teams reported improved productivity with a CRM.
This is Hubspot’s CRM.
As you can see Hubspot can easily identify what is their next call to action. The graphs and the percentage give them an insight into which factors they need to work on and which are the ones they can confidently invest in.
For a sales rep at Hubspot, this could be a great way to grasp where they should start picking up in order to achieve their sales targets.
From your follow up status to your scheduled calls, everything can be viewed and edited easily with one click.
For instance, if you have a new lead coming in or you need to schedule the next call, you can easily save this information in a CRM. The best advantage of this is that a CRM can be viewed with a username and password which only you will be having hence no loss of any data.
It is 2019 and right now in the market, there are tools available where you can sync your data to a CRM without any hassle. If you want to try it out, you can begin with limecall.
It would be a heavy loss for your company to undertake if you sell to the wrong clients.
Because your wrong clients don’t need your solution at all. There is no need for you to waste your time on them.
For instance, You own a supermarket that sells only vegan products. Now a non-vegetarian person may not like what a vegan product offers, so that doesn’t mean that you tend to force them to buy. Their needs are different and they need a solution which would suit them.
The only way you can sell to the right audience is by studying about them.
In your research you could cover:
For the B2B market, the best mode of research about any client would be LinkedIn, because it is a professional business platform and an easier way to grasp more information.
For instance, let’s say you’re looking to associate with someone who can help you better sales strategies. You stumble upon Marc Wayshak’s Linkedin page, where you realise that he could be the perfect fit for you.
As you search for him, you find a small introduction about who he is, where he is from, any recommendations or suggestions from your peers and the type of industry he deals with. When you realise that he can help you further, you can scroll down to learn better about him.
The summary basically states what the person does. What he or she aims to deliver to its clients. In the case of Marc Wayshak, he clearly states his main agenda in the first line, giving you the direct answer of what you’re looking for.
As you scroll down further, You are able to see their experience, which gives you insights on what they do in their jobs, what roles they play and many more. This helps you to create a solution which would suit yours and the next parties interest.
Apart from this, you can even conduct surveys to learn more about what your clients prefer. You could ask questions to start a debate or prepare a questionnaire and share it across. The answers give you a clearer picture of what you’re trying to see.
Always remember, your solution sells easily when you’re able to sell it to the right people. Don’t worry about those who don’t match with what your selling because your customers are vast and different in their needs.
Prepare your sales pitch as a guide to help you during the communication rather than just byhearting sentences without any meaning.
In the modern world of cold calling, the more personalized your sales pitch remains, the better are your chances of grasping your potential prospects.
Let’s understand this with an example:
Without a personalised sales pitch:
Sales Rep: Hello, This is John calling from ABC company, am I talking to Pauline?
Pauline: Yes this is Pauline, how can I help you?
Sales Rep: Pauline, our company has launched a new product which helps to convert leads quicker, would you like to learn more about it?
Pauline: No thankyou (cuts the phone).
With a personalised sales pitch:
Sales Rep: Hello, am I talking to Pauline?
Pauline: Yes this is Pauline, how can I help you?
Sales Rep: Pauline, this is John this side calling from ABC company. We happen to know that your lead conversation rates are hitting the roof, which is a great deal in your form of business. However, we have a tool that will help you to achieve these conversion rates more quickly than your current process.
Pauline: Oh is it? That sounds interesting to me.
Sales Rep: Oh it is because with this tool your conversion rates can grow much higher than your usual since your cutting down on the long process.
Pauline: Oh yes, that’s true. My company would be in a much better position.
Sales Rep: On point Pauline and that is why we want to help you out. Let’s do one thing, let’s schedule a meeting to discuss this. Why don’t you share your email id and a contact number so that I can confirm and follow up with you on the same?
Pauline: Sure, sounds great.
As seen above, with a personalized script, you have the ability to make your clients more relaxed. This helps them to open up better with you when speaking about their needs. When they do this, you’re able to sell them better.
Recommendation: Place your sales script right in front of you. Use it as a way to keep you on track when communicating with your clients.
You can never perfect the art of cold calling without giving your 100 %.
Keep practicing the way you should converse with your clients, speak to yourself or do the same with your colleagues.
Take feedback and improve on it.
When your calls fail, take it as a lesson to find out what went wrong and resume learning from your mistakes.
The more you open yourself to growth, the closer you come to mastering this art.
‘’If you are new to cold calling or uncomfortable with cold calling, practice out loud. Role-play with friends or colleagues. Practice various sales scenarios. This way, you will not have to worry about what you are’’.
Recommendation: Record yourself at least 10 times and listen; you’ll improve drastically.
The first few seconds will decide whether your clients should cut the call or continue listening to you.
Your clients are going to be busy. They must be having a bad day too and if you’re going to call them and sound like the common sales person, don’t be surprised by their negative reaction.
You have less than a minute to create an impression with your words.
3 things to ask yourself before you create your opening statement:
Retaining clients in the first statement that you convey is tough which is why limecall is giving you a heads up with Freshworks article on this pointer. View the article to draw an idea of how you can get started.
It’s 2019 and you have decided to outperform your peers in cold calling. But if you’re going to just create common phrases like your peers, your chances of improving your skills on cold calls fall short.
Marketing Donut and Inside sales have stated, 92% of sales pros give up after the 4th call, but 80% of prospects say no four times before they say yes and almost 50% of all sales happen after the 5th contact, but most reps give up after just 2.
The statistics above showcases this pointer under the transparency light.
You may give up on few prospects thinking that it’s not worth your time, but you’re actually losing on a potential lead who is just taking their time to build trust on what you’ve just sold to them.
For instance:
Whenever you visit a shop, have you noticed how the sales staff persuade you to purchase a product? They just don’t give up until you make up your mind to buy from them.
If you like a particular product, they will show you numerous options under the same frame. When you ought to see so much, you will never miss out on buying the right kind for you.
This is similar in cold calls too until you don’t showcase to your clients the numerous benefits your solution offers, how will they make up their mind to buy from you?
It is important to understand that you need to remain patient and calm.
Your clients are busy and already have so much on their head to catch up on.
The moment you call them and if it occurs to be on the wrong time, then you’ve certainly missed an opportunity to even speak.
You would lose an opportunity because either they won’t listen to your next sentence or they would simply hang up.
In order to eliminate such a recurring incident, the best way to do it is to form categories.
For instance:
Say your targeting marketing managers and CEO’s for your solution. Divide them into separate groups. Then conduct a research to understand when is the right time to contact both of them.
This step alerts you when you can contact them and avoids the mistake of you reaching out to them at the wrong time. When you quit reaching out to them at the wrong time, your building a better conversion rate during your efficient cold calls.
Lead response management states, the best time to contact a lead? 4–6 pm on a Thursday, or 5 minutes after their inquiry.
Sales isn’t a one time process, the constant calls and follow-ups will only help you to grasp a prospect if conducted regularly.
In cold calling, you will definitely agree that rejections play a vital role in pressing down a sales person.
The impact of it will reflect in the remaining phone calls which yet need to be dialed.
It is important to acknowledge, that one shouldn’t give up.
Your one bad call doesn’t make define you as a failed salesperson.
According to Baylor University, it takes 8 cold calls to reach a prospect. 72% of all sales calls aren’t answered. Which means, you still have chances to make an impression.
Rejections will never stop coming, now it’s up to you how you should take it?
For instance, sometimes clients don’t want to be spoken at that minute or maybe they are too busy to reply. That doesn’t mean you sulk down and give up.
Velocify states, 50% of leads never get a second cold call from salespeople because sales reps give up. They think it’s useless, what’s the point?
Lee Warren brilliantly states:
‘’Learning to be more persuasive in sales leads to more revenue generation, and allows the salesperson to add value and make a difference in the lives of their buyers.’’
Would you consider it as a lesson or place its negative impact on your performance?
You may disagree here saying, how will the client know what my body language is since they can’t see you?
But the fact is despite they not seeing you, they can identify the presence of it from your voice.
For instance:
If your nervous, your communication tone would be more hesitant or when your happy and energetic your style of talking changes and becomes more engaging.
Always remember, your clients would like to associate with someone who is more confident when they sell their solution.
Because a confident sales rep knows what they are selling, isn’t hesitant to answer any queries, is affirmative of the result and proudly knows that the solution being sold is the right one.
Can you confidently say that you are that?
Recommendation: Try standing up and moving around when you talk to your prospects as it lets you focus better and your able to communicate without any distractions.
An angry client or a moody client will not quite listen to half the words you’re speaking.
You can sense their disinterest with their voice.
Being a sales rep, create a comfortable vibe during your phone calls.
Help your clients to be more comfortable and relaxed because when you do so, you stand a chance of having a longer communication with them which in turn is great for capturing such leads.
Let’s understand this with an example:
Sales Rep: Hello, Am I talking to John?
John: Yes, who is this?
Sales Rep: Hi John, this is Martin calling from Syos company.
John: Look I don’t have time for this, I am packed with a lot of work, don’t call me again. I am not interested to buy anything.
Sales Rep: Ah John, we are not calling you to sell you something, we are calling to tell you that we have a solution to the question you asked on your LinkedIn page about live chat, do you remember?
John: Oh yes.
Sales Rep: Now John we understand that you are having a bad day since it is also the start of the week. Why don’t I call you somewhere on Thursday say around 5 pm? I can tell you about the live chat service plus add on a few offers for you to begin using it instantly.
John: Yea I think that can work.
As you can see, John was not ready to listen. He wanted to cut the call in the next statement itself. But Martin understood what he had to do. He was patient and calm when addressing why he called John.
He even gave him space to breathe from his packed work. He smoothly converted this chance into a meeting which suited John as well. A nice win on Martin’s end.
Even the smartest of minds need some time to relax and rethink again, why can’t it be the same with you?
Making hundreds of calls a day is exhausting and the impact of a few bad calls could create a chaotic mind.
If you’re going to remain stressed, then the same would be reflected in your tone when you communicate with your clients.
Refrain from such mishaps and take a short break to jump back again in force.
Recommendation: Try stepping out for a walk or move away from your desk. Talk to your peers if it makes you feel better.
The business industry evolves and uses innovative approaches to attract their customers because they understand that their target audiences change with the new trends.
For instance, today you might like a particular dressing style but a few years from now, you would like to wear something which is more in the trend at that time.
This applies to the sales industry as well.
A client will like to form a better relationship with a brand who changes and adapts to the current trends in order to satisfy their customers’ needs at all times.
Familiarize the latest news about your industry daily.
When you are aware of what’s happening in your industry, you are able to combine the present solution with yours and convince your clients to buy them much better.
Let’s understand this with an example:
Sales Rep: Hello, am I talking to John?
John: Yes, How can I help you?
Sales Rep: Hey John, this is Charlie here and I calling from xyz company. Have you heard the news of callback softwares increasing website visitors into qualified leads?
John: No, I haven’t, what is this call regarding?
Sales Rep: John, we understand that you have an amazing agency that helps to increase conversion rates for your clients. Is that correct?
John: Yea, that’s right
Sales Rep: So John, you are aware that the industry keeps changing and your clients will now want more lead conversions since the market has claimed that callback softwares help you to do that. We want to help you in doing just that.
John: Oh alright.
Sales Rep: I know John you seem a bit blank but allow me to explain to you this further. The point of this conversation is that callback softwares are trending and we believe your agency can grow and cater to your clients much better with this tool. How does this week Friday at 3 pm sound?
John: Sounds great, let’s do this.
The best way to perform better in your cold calls is to learn from your experienced seniors.
Watch how they conduct calls and how they build the trust during their communication with clients.
Keep a lookout on how they handle rejection and what are the ways they can help you grow.
Ask them or view experts online and see the examples and pointers they swear by for successful cold calling.
A well-formed strategy will be able to help you out in capturing and converting your clients more smoothly.
At the end of the day, experiences from them will only help you to understand how you can take things forward when converting and capturing your leads.
Ensure that your communication remains moderate.
It shouldn’t be too fast or too slow, it should just be enough for your client to understand what you’re trying to sell to them.
When they are able to understand what your solution is about, the selling process becomes very easy.
Speak normally just like how you would to your colleagues, try personalizing your pitches to sound more realistic and friendly.
Doing this could help you to set the base for smoother communications from the beginning itself.
Recommendation: View online videos that help you practice speaking slowly and practice the same before you conduct your sales calls. Try recording on your phone so that you can understand your speed while communicating and work on normalising it.
Only when you can understand the pain of your clients, you will then be able to sell them your solution.
Let’s understand this with an example:
Sales Rep: Hello, Am I speaking with Jade?
Jade: Yes, How can I help you?
Sales Rep: Hi Jade, this is Spencer calling from Sys company. We heard that you’re looking to increase your lead count?
Jade: Yes that’s true, but at a budget?
Sales Rep: Oh yes we knew that when you first explained about your business. We have a tool which we feel could be the right fit for you. We offer a live chat service where we help clients like you to increase their lead count 3x more. We also help you to capture qualified leads which saves your time to find the right lead from your traffic. The best part? We offer these features at various price ranges.
Jade: That sounds really good, Spencer. I have a small company and my budget was very less. But with the price range that you offer, I can grow my business much bigger and better now.
Sales Rep: That’s great to hear Jade. Let’s meet tomorrow at 3 pm to give you a better understanding and see what else we can do to help you out? Is that fine?
Jade: Yes sure.
All it took Spencer was a little understanding of Jade’s needs to help her in what she was seeking.
Being empathetic makes this happen.
Sales persons who talk more than their clients stand fewer chances to make a sale.
Why do you ask?
Because you are busy selling your solution without understanding whether your client can even use your solution in their business.
Always remember that you’re not just selling your brand, you’re selling a solution which your clients are in need of. The most important factor in cold calling is to listen to your clients.
Until you don’t understand what they are really looking for, how would you be able to address their issues?
For instance, When you walk in any store, you will always have a sales person asking you, ‘what are you looking for’, only when you answer will they be able to take you to the right place.
This same applies when you cold call with your clients.
While talking to them, ask a few questions which will give you the direction you need to walk on.
Such as:
When you have heard what their actual needs are, you’re able to answer better and reflect the same in your solution as well.
Why do you think people take online reviews seriously when they purchase a new product?
When you know someone else is happy with the product, you tend to give it a try too.
The best examples are online reviews.
Whenever we want to purchase or try out a new product, we also check out for online reviews.
The reason?
Because we have that assurity that someone else is happy using it. Even if 4 out of 7 people have found the product great, it still triggers your mind to try it out.
This works the same with cold calls.
You need to build that trust. By just selling the solution will not help you.
By doing this, you tend to trigger the minds of your clients to give your solution a chance.
Many companies today use a conversational tone when expressing their products.
If you’ve noticed the sales calls you get, many of them sound nervous, unsure and some don’t even bother to try.
How did you spot such a difference? Well, it becomes evident in their tone.
Close proves:
‘’If you think cold calling is only about your pitch, you’re missing out on 9/10 of what people are actually listening to. When your tone doesn’t match the energy of your pitch, it doesn’t matter what you say, you’ve already lost the person on the other end.’’
The right choice of tone could determine whether the client wants to continue talking to you or not.
For instance, If you’re going to speak in a serious tone, your client may not be able to comfortably open up with you, but on the other hand, if you speak in a more engaging and friendly tone, your client would want to listen to what you want to tell them.
You are contacting your clients so that you can tell them that you have a solution to their current needs.
But when you promote your brand more than the benefits your solution offers, do you really think your client will stay?
No one likes to listen to long stories if they don’t receive any benefit in return.
It is crucial in cold calling to understand that your benefits will guide you towards every step to convince them to buy your solution.
Your brand could have the fanciest accomplishment, but at the end of the day the question still arises, how are you helping them?
For instance, Your brand won an award for the best performance of the year 2 years ago, how would this news make an impact on the solution your selling?
It’s great that your brand won, but that was two years ago, it’s 2019, the question is how can you help right now?
For that fact, take Izabell Balash, Marketing Associate, 2600Hz words to believe it:
‘’Always make it seem like you are trying to help them and inquire how their current product is working for them.’’
Many claims online have projected cold calls as being dead, but with what you’ve read above, do you believe the same as them?
We would like to hear from you.
What are your opinions on this topic and what would extra would you like to add here?
Before we hop out, let’s summarize a quick recap on what we covered today:
So which one are you planning to apply first? Let us know all your answers in the comments below.
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