Whether the business is a start-up or an enterprise, many have used cold calling as a sales technique one way or another. It’s a traditional method that you can use to create interest in your offers and get immediate feedback. However, a lot of salespeople are saying that cold calling is dead—it’s not.
Numerous alternatives may have emerged over the last few years, but it’s naive to say that cold calling isn’t necessary or effective when Rain Sales Training reports that 89% of buyers say that they accept meetings with salespeople who reach out to them. This post will discuss how you can utilize cold calling techniques in 2022 and beyond.
What is Cold Calling?
Cold calling is a traditional sales strategy in which businesses call or email people they have no existing relationships with and talk to them about their brand’s service or product. It’s a difficult approach because salespeople would have to pitch to someone who hasn’t even heard about the company.
A successful cold call consists of a good target and message. The target is “Who are you selling to?” while the message is “How can your prospects find value from what you’re selling?”
If you’re wondering how you can use cold calling in today’s market, read on to find out.
6 Effective Lead Generation Cold Calling Tips
Say the right thing to the right audience. Here’s how you can transform traditional sales cold calling and take it to the next level:
- Get over your fear of rejection
In sales, rejection is inevitable, so you must embrace it. When a prospect kindly tells you no, you may ask them, “Why not?” You can frame your script like this:
“Thank you for your honesty. One of the hardest aspects of our job is knowing if we would be able to help someone. For my education, do you mind telling me why you don’t think we can help you?”
Keep the conversation light and easygoing; the goal now is to learn and not sell them anything.
Alternatively, you can ask a colleague to help you run a practice call in which they’ll be as rude to you as possible. Then, when you get an actual call with a lead and get shut down disrespectfully, you can say that it wasn’t as bad as you expected.
- Learn about your prospect as much as possible
With cold calling, both you and your lead are strangers to each other. It’s challenging enough that the prospect doesn’t know your company, so you must get some leverage and know beforehand your lead and the company they represent.
By studying your prospect, you better understand their pain points, potentially establishing trust. Once you’ve laid the groundwork, you can offer your service or product and convince them that it will solve the problems that they’re experiencing.
- Adapt the script to the conversation flow
There are many benefits to a well-written script. However, much like any call center tool, you can mishandle it. Every call is a performance. It would be best if you carried it out without sounding awkward. Understand that cold calling is more than reading lines; you should be able to follow the flow of conversation with your prospect.
Get some good practice with your colleague before you handle outbound calls. Have your manager coach you to be more adaptable and educated about the industry. When you can adapt to the conversation flow, you’ll be able to understand your customers’ needs and expertly recommend your offers.
- Hold a smile when you pick up the phone
Whether you’re working from home or in the office, try to hold a smile for 20 seconds when you dial a prospect’s number. When you smile—genuine or not—you may positively affect reluctant leads.
According to Pablo Arias, a cognitive scientist at the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music in Paris, smiles trigger an audible change in a human’s voice. People can hear you smile and respond in a good way. When you smile, the cadence and pitch of your voice match your approach. In the same way that when you’re feeling low, your speech is slower and the tone of your voice is lower.
So, keep a smile on your face when reaching out to prospects, as they may catch your positive vibes and respond favorably to your call.
- Focus on what your brand can do for your prospects
Yes, mentioning the features of your services or products is important. But, when a sentence is framed as “Our product offers customers X, Y, and Z,” it can feel like you’re talking more about the company than the prospect.
When you cold call, time is of the essence. Leads can drop the call anytime if they deem it a waste of time. Capture your prospect’s attention by focusing your script on what your service or product can do for them. You can frame the sentence like, “Our product allows our customers to X, Y, and Z.”
- Set clear next steps
You won’t be completing a transaction when you’re on a cold call. If your prospect agrees to your offer, you must submit a request. Clarify your and your lead’s next steps to be on the same page.
As you take them through the process, they’ll know what to do next and agree or disagree on each step. By asking if the following steps are alright with them and giving them a choice, you provide them with a sense of power.
Build an Outstanding Cold Calling Strategy
Cold calling isn’t easy. It requires a lot of patience and the help of a few tools. But with an effective cold calling strategy, you’ll be able to reach out to leads with consistency and confidence.
Just remember that as time goes on, you can always refine your strategy based on the response of your prospects. If something isn’t working, change it up and analyze why the call gets rejected. When you’ve created a failproof strategy, you’ll be able to lead your sales team to success.
