The Ultimate Guide to Cold Calling: How To Empower Your Business

Did you know about 82% of buyers accept an initial meeting when a salesperson reaches out to them via call?

This goes to say, how cold calling can become your go-to sales strategy. 

With cold calling, it’s about how many deals you close and the money you bring in. Moreover, it’s more probable that you will meet or perhaps surpass your sales target.

You have to reach out to as many people as you can. This can be done through effective cold calling. In this article, we’ll explore what cold calling is and how you can capture the interest of your target audience.

What is Cold Calling?

Cold calling is the practice of contacting potential clients over the phone to solicit business. Cold calling is an excellent way to uncover prospects and generate sales leads for your products and services.

Some of them may be unaware of your company, and they may not be interested in your products or services. Overall, cold calling helps you engage with them to raise awareness of your company and finally close a deal.

How does Cold Calling work?

If you are a beginner at cold calling, you must be thinking of the best prospects to cold call. They are people who haven’t indicated an interest in the products or services being provided by your company. 

“Cold calling” often refers to telemarketing or phone solicitation. However, cold calling also includes face-to-face contacts, such as those made by salespeople who go door to door.

Cold calling sales people that are successful are those who are persistent and don’t mind being rejected again and again. If you want to be successful at cold calling, you will need to do your homework. 

Cold calling requires you to learn as much as possible about your target audience and the market. Therefore, cold calling-based professions are known for having a high attrition rate.

What is the purpose of cold calling?

Cold calling is an effective method for interacting with potential customers one-on-one to move them further in the purchasing process. 

In the past, cold calling was synonymous with the “spray and pray” approach. This approach of cold calling involved making many unsolicited. This would be done hoping that one of them would be answered.

With the introduction of the inbound method of cold calling, prospects can “opt-in”. That means they can become leads via the websites or through messaging. 

While this may have lessened the effectiveness and popularity of cold calling, it still is important in an inbound sales approach.

How does Cold Calling help in Sales?

When it comes to closing sales, you need cold calling alongside digital platforms to persuade potential customers to take action. Cold calling can also be executed in a way that is no longer “cold” if appropriate research is done.

In fact, sales tactics and prospecting technologies like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Clearbit, and Leadfeeder have transformed cold calling. 

There are many sources where you may learn a lot about individuals and companies for effective cold calling. So, why not spend a few minutes doing some homework on your potential client for effective cold calling? 

Some basic research that you need for effective cold calling may include:

• A simple Google search of your potential customers and their businesses
• Their company’s official site
• Tweets from the last few days
• Their activity on LinkedIn
• You can see how many times they’ve visited your website. You can also see how many times they’ve clicked on the resources you’ve offered by using a CRM system.

This will help you better prepare for cold calling and engaging with your potential customers. Engage with them on social media after cold calling them. That way you will already have a good understanding of their sector, business, and pain points.

What is the difference between Cold Calling and Warm Calling?

Cold Call

• No prior context is established before a call to the prospect
• Seller approaches first
• Difficult to establish trust with the prospect
• The success rate is low

Warm Call

• A prior context is established before calling a prospect
• Customer approaches first
• The higher success rate as compared to cold calls

Related:  Cold Calling vs Warm Calling: Which Is Better?

What Should You Prepare Before Cold Calling?

• Research your clients/ customers

By researching prospective customers before cold calling, you can add value to your conversation while also keeping their attention. 

• Calculate the number of calls needed before you hit your target goals

Figure out how many calls you need to make to accomplish your quota in advance. This helps you keep your eye on the target of your cold calling every day.

• Prepare an outline or script of what you want to say while cold calling

Preparing an outline before cold calling acts as a guide to help you know what to and what not to say. Furthermore, it will help you communicate more confidently and clearly.

• Keep a strong opening sentence ready

You have a limited time to convince your prospective customer to listen. As such, you need to separate yourself from other callers. 

After you introduce yourself, weave in knowledge based on your research and try to be more personal while cold calling.

• Always remember to practice

At the end of the day, all it takes for effective cold calling is to be well-prepared. Rehearse what you plan to say and how you’re going to deliver it.

What are the advantages of Cold Calling?

Cold calling remains a vital part of B2B and B2C sales and has its advantages:

• It is informative.

Creating a personal touch is very important in B2B cold calling. Assuming the prospect has already done some research, they may ask questions. They would ask the answers from a salesman without wasting much time.

• They offer a personalized means of communication. 

Cold emails can’t compete with the personal touch of speaking to a real person. As with unsolicited direct mail, a cold email is easy to ignore. Cold calling is more personalized than cold emails and are less likely to be ignored.

• Cold calling is easy to follow up.

A second contact after cold calling allows you to provide a more personalized experience. It helps you establish a business relationship, and hopefully complete a deal (or, at least, come closer to making it). 

Potential customers often request time to decide, and multiple phone conversations and face-to-face encounters might aid in this.

What are the Best Cold Calling Strategies and Techniques ?

With persistence, patience, research about the prospect, and a well-written script, you can finally close a sale with cold calling. 

The following guidelines can help you with effective cold calling:

1. Know who you are cold calling and why

It’s important to prepare before you start cold calling prospects. You need to know who you’re calling, what they do and what they need/want. 

It is then easier to engage during cold calling potential customers in discussion and get them on board.

2. Write out an effective script for cold calling

Prepare a cold calling script in advance so that you can get the most out of every opportunity. Don’t just read out the prepared cold calling script. With a script, you won’t forget anything when a potential customer is on the other end of the phone.

3. Every cold calling script has the same essential elements 

Having a strong opening, value offer, qualifying questions and a closing statement are vital for every cold calling script.

You should have a strong opening so that you don’t appear rude or incompetent when you’re cold calling for sales. There isn’t a one-script-fits-all approach to cold calling, especially B2B cold calling. 

If your cold calling script doesn’t cater to your customers, they won’t buy from you.

4. Be persistent

Your prospects need time to make a decision, and that means you’ll have to keep cold calling them and be patient with them.

5. Wrap up properly whenever cold calling

Don’t just hang up and move on after each cold call. Agree on the next steps, like having a follow-up meeting, giving them a proposal, or sharing additional information. 

In addition to this, you should get the prospect’s commitment to the next stages when cold calling.

6. Understand the reasons of failure when cold calling

Find out why the prospect isn’t interested, so you know how to proceed when cold calling again. It could also be that they’re not a good fit for your product or service at this time.

7. Take notes of successful and unsuccessful calls

An important strategy of cold calling is to take note of what worked and didn’t work, and go on from there. What could have been done or stated better? 

Cold calling skills can be improved by including this extra step into your routine.

How to perfect your Cold Calling Strategies and Techniques?

When it comes to cold calling, it takes practice to become good at it. When cold calling, here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Sound natural while cold calling a prospect

You’ll sound more natural by not robotically reading your cold calling script. The best method to achieve this is to understand your cold calling script well . This way when you speak what you’ve memorized, it flows naturally.

2. Work on your tone

7% of a message’s perception is based on the uttered words. 38% depends on how they’re said. But, 55% is based on facial expressions, according to studies. This isn’t true during cold calling as the facial component is eliminated, which makes ‘how you speak’ crucial. 

It’s best to sound curious or helpful when cold calling. This subconsciously piques the attention of the people you meet.

3. Be a good listener

When cold calling, it’s important to let the prospect speak and ask questions after you’ve made your opening statement. Listening intently to what the prospect has to say is the key to making a good first impression. 

This allows you to acquire and record essential information that you can refer to later in the sales cycle.

4. Ask open-ended questions

You should ask open-ended questions while cold calling. That way your prospect will feel like they’re participating in a conversation rather than a game of 20-questions. This is an excellent chance to learn about the specific requirements of a potential customer.

5. Handle objections professionally

Be ready to answer any questions or criticisms. Make a note of the most common objections you hear when cold calling.  Then practice and perfect your responses to turn them into chances. 

When you know how to reply to objections, they open the door to further discussion.

6. Consistent and persistent practice

Make sure you practice, practice, and practice so that you become an expert at cold calling. Every time you make a call, you’ll be able to get better.

Tips for Dealing with the Most Difficult Gatekeepers When Cold Calling

Executive assistants can sometimes be hard to convince, but if you do your job well, they can become your friends and allies. Here is some helpful advice for dealing with gatekeepers to get in touch with your potential customer:

• Show them respect and understanding, develop a relationship with them, and get to know them. Once people have confidence in you, they may be willing to assist you.
• As you’re getting ready to contact, use what you’ve learned about their business to earn their trust. This demonstrates that you have done your research and that you’ll be an asset to their employer.
• Send a pre-call email or social platform message to engage your prospect . You need to provide them with something of value, such as a white paper. 
• When the gatekeeper is not on duty, make a phone call. As a result, you have a better chance of getting through to your prospect without having your call checked.
• When you speak with confidence, the gatekeeper is more likely to let your call through.
• Don’t try to sound pretentious. You’re more likely to be rejected if you sound like you’re reciting lines from a cold calling script to the gatekeeper.

List of the Best Books on Cold Calling

To get a better understanding of how to cold call, you can read the following books:

• “Outbound Sales, No Fluff” by Rex Biberston and Ryan Reisert: Outbound prospecting, also known as cold calling, is the focus of this book.
• “Fanatical Prospecting” by Jeb Blount: This book provides detailed instructions for using his revolutionary method to cold calling based on real-world experiences.
• “Smart Calling” by Art Sobczak: Sobczak’s book explains how to avoid frequent cold calling blunders and instead become a more successful cold caller.

Read : Best Cold Calling Tips

What are the downsides of Cold Calling?

1) Low success rate

Cold calling elicits various consumer responses, including acceptance, call terminations or hang-ups, and even verbal assaults. 

According to a Baylor University research report, it took 200 to 300 calls before an appointment was scheduled. A warm call salesperson, on the other hand, can boast a higher success rate.

2) Less appealing compared to social marketing

Cold calling is becoming less appealing as technology progresses. 

Email, SMS, and social media marketing through Facebook and Twitter are newer and more successful ways to prospect. These new techniques are typically more efficient and effective in generating new leads than traditional ones like cold calling.

3) Robotic-calling

In cold calling, Robo-dialing is the most recent invention. In Robo-calling, algorithms automatically dial and produce pre-recorded messages. 

Moreover, the National Do Not Call Registry, a Government regulation, has had a significant influence on cold calling. They impact the ability of cold callers to contact a large number of potential clients. 

Also, the scam artists using cold calling to swindle has further hampered the effectiveness of cold calling.

Conclusion

Although cold calling as a practice is becoming less popular, cold calling has changed along with newer sales strategies. 

Understanding and empathizing with the requirements of your potential customers is essential during cold calling. Many of your prospects will become customers if you do these things correctly.

If you want to enhance your cold calling strategies, start by implementing NeoDove as part of your cold calling game. 

With NeoDove, India’s Smartest Telecalling CRM, you can receive real-time lead data. You can also track the team’s performance, especially built for cold calling. 

All you need to be great at cold calling is some patience, persistence and determination and you’ll achieve sales success!

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