Use these cold calling practices to generate sales: research your prospects, focus on raising awareness, add a human touch, embrace rejections, call at the right time.
By Andre Oentoro on September 15, 2021
Cold calling can sometimes be draining because you converse with new prospects who know less about your business. So, it’s your job to make them aware of your product while also leading them to enter your sales funnel.
You may feel discouraged after a few calls that don’t seem to have a good result. However, don’t fret just yet. Every call counts a lot.
Maybe you won’t see their interest in your brand right when you make the initial call. Things can change; however, you just need better techniques to make your following calls more enticing.
After all, your cold calling goals should be exposing your brand through direct conversation with your prospects. When you don’t convert customers from the get-go, there’s always the second call.
Why you should cold call
You shouldn’t give up cold calling today, because it’s one of the most effective strategies for acquiring customers. According to RAIN Group, 57% of C-level and VP buyers prefer to get a phone call when learning new products. This number is slightly higher than most 51% of directors and 47% of managers who want a similar approach.
In addition, about 27% of sellers agree that making cold calls help them convert customers better as they can present the product detail directly.
With this in mind, you know why many businesses still cold call because it’s time-efficient to get the audience’s attention. As a result, people who previously didn’t know about you, are now aware of your brand. In fact, when you research correctly, you can help those who need your product or service at the right time.
Moreover, two-way communication is a powerful way to convince prospects to join your bandwagon compared to traditional advertisements. Although engaging commercials like explainer videos can help you convey your messages concisely, nothing beats the experience of direct conversation with brands.
Your audience can learn more about the product comprehensively when you speak over the phone. At the same time, you can gain insights from them, which allows you to test your brand value propositions.
Five techniques for better cold calls
To be successful at cold calling, you must adhere to these practical tips. Remember that practice makes perfect. Practicing the proper techniques will amplify your way to meet the goal.
1. Research your prospects
Although it’s a bit laborious to examine your prospects thoroughly, you will thank yourself later on. Once you receive prospect lists, it’s recommended to dig some information about each of them. Not only will it warm the conversation, but it avoids unexpected things from happening.
For example, please avoid making the call straight to your point. Regardless of the temptation to introduce your product right away, your first call should emphasize the reason why the prospect needs it the most.
Make sure that you have a deep resource about your prospects before picking up the phone. Knowing the personal and company profile of your prospect is essential to make your cold call work.
Often, unexpected things happen when you don’t research their information thoroughly, such as ignoring the recent big change in the company where your prospects work. Some significant changes in their working environment, however, can stop your prospects from making a purchase. You’ll then waste time spending hours convincing them when they aren’t ready to buy.
You can also do another prospect research from their social media handles. Again, this tactic can help you improvise your call. For example, you can congratulate a prospect for a job promotion during your conversation. Mentioning this will help you set up a positive tone in your call.
2. Focus on raising awareness first
Cold calling strategies are bound to make sales and so on. However, it’s pretty challenging to get it on a single call. You may not convert a prospect on your first call, but keep in mind that making a customer should be your long-term goal.
When reaching out to prospects for the first time, make sure that your priority is to make them aware of your brand without pushing them to know the details. Instead, you need to listen to their voice and learn more about their perspective.
Your first call should make an impression that you’re there to help your prospects solve their problems.
Once you’ve got the right first impression by simply following along with what prospects need at the moment, which can be done by listening to them, you can then adapt the right message to nudge their curiosity. Again, this will give your whole conversation more valuable than a simple, generic promotional call.
3. Add a human touch
Cold calling scripts are vital for helping you speak on track. You won’t get swayed easily by different prospect responses. Often, cold calling agents find it difficult to deliver the message as intended when they receive surprising answers.
Another technique to stay cool during your call is to entirely listen to your prospects. Do not let yourself cut in the talk even when it bothers you, as sometimes people can be harsh when receiving a cold call from agents.
This is where you should place your human side to the course. Actively listening and responding to your prospects can help you understand why they react that way. You will also get another perspective that you may not notice when making calls multiple times a day.
4. Call at the right time
Human beings are filled with emotions. Sometimes they’re in a happy mood, and sometimes they’re not. Fluctuating emotions can influence the way people engage with a particular activity.
When making a cold call, it’s crucial to find the right and proper time to connect with leads. If your prospect is an employee, calling at working hours won’t help you deliver the message. The worst thing that could happen is they won’t even pick up your calls.
Do research before picking up your phone. For example, if you’re prospecting UK employees, you should know that they have a lunch break around 12 noon for an hour, whereas other European employees like the Germans take a lunch break from 11.30 am to 2 pm. When you know your prospects’ routine, you can make an effective cold call without disturbing their time.
Also, make sure to understand your audience’s behaviors and interests to capture their attention from the get-go. For instance, the UK audience loves having a formally informal conversation that gives off a friendly approach—making a joke about weather is one of the standard practices when talking to UK prospects since they love talking about it.
Check also your previous call log before approaching your leads. And don’t forget to note when prospects are engaged with their activities to avoid the same mistake.
5. Embrace rejection
When cold calls, you may find yourself exhausted over many rejections. However, you should know that when people reject your proposal, you’ve achieved one metric: letting your prospects know about your business.
Although your leads may not be interested in your product at the moment, they are already aware of your business and will remember you when they finally need the product.
To put it into perspective, cold calling itself can be helpful for prospects, especially when they’re looking for products or services. So, you need to change your mindset from selling products to helping your prospect find the right product to solve their problem.
When one prospect rejects you, you have to move on to the next lead faster. Do not let your gloomy feeling take over your mind from getting the work done. If you’re drained from making too many calls, take a break and make yourself relax by doing things that you love.
For example, having a cold Americano and bits of chocolate cookies can build up your mood again. However, keep in mind that you’re allowed to have some rest to reset your energy and continue your work.
When you embrace rejection by taking it cool, you can quickly revive your strength to make the following call. Hence, increasing your work productivity.
The final takeaway
Cold calling is a powerful strategy to connect with prospects because nothing can beat two-way conversations instead of advertising. However, with direct communication, you can deliver messages much more effectively. Prospects can also ask you in person and receive information to the fullest.
Before making a cold call, learn some valuable tips in order to avoid instant rejection. First, make sure to research your prospects before picking up your phone. This is important for you to capture your audience from the very beginning.
Change your mindset from going on a hard-selling to focusing on raising awareness about your business. Then, when you’ve successfully introduced your product to your prospects, you make it easier to sell the next time as people are already aware of your business.
Also, do not forget to call at the right time. Understanding your prospect’s routine will definitely help you make an effective cold call.
If you’ve learned the tips above, it’s time to change your techniques to improve your prospects’ experience so that they’re no longer afraid of receiving sales calls.
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