Cold calling is a skill that most successful salespeople possess. A lot of what they do is consistent: qualify prospects, send out cold emails, schedule meetings, possibly follow up a couple of times, and then close the deal. But it is not always that easy, therefore it is necessary to revisit your selling process from time to time and find out where the gaps are.
One can improve their cold call skills by reading some sales and business literature, reviewing the fundamentals of selling, developing a soft skill that will help you close more deals, or simply reviewing some fundamentals of selling. A book is a cheap and convenient way to gain knowledge, develop your thinking skills, and sell more in the long run.
The Benefits of Reading Cold Calling Books
When it comes to sales, we sometimes assume that experience is the best teacher. In some instances, learning things by doing can be easier, but learning is best done by reading and practising theory together. You’ll achieve even greater proficiency with this method.
Cold Calling Books You Should Read
Gap Selling
Gap Selling emphasises being the face of your company, acting as a consultant to customers, and becoming an expert that people can trust with their problems. By engaging your customers in the buying process rather than in the selling process, you’ll be able to increase your sales. Rather than merely taking orders, you become your customers’ sales influencer.
You’ll find tons of insights and fresh frameworks in this book, regardless of whether you like reading or not.
Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling
This article shares techniques and websites that can help you find hidden information about potential customers, vendors, and competitors (such as the “invisible web” that does not show up in search engines). Using this information, you can make a great first impression, build stronger relationships with your customers, and close on more sales.
You learn how to research your prospects, analyse social networks for sales insights, find highly qualified leads at low to no cost, write “warm call scripts”, and more from this book. Many of the techniques the book discusses remain relevant for finding information about your prospects on the web to this day
Outbound Sales, No Fluff
Individual sales professionals will find this book helpful as it focuses only on the elements of the sale that salespeople can control. In this book are tips around cold calling, and a few examples discussing how to use these tips
The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need
The topic of cold calling is dealt with in several chapters of The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need, including those on Self-Discipline and Perseverance. These chapters complement the other books in this series. You can take notes on these five books and build your approach from them and make more appointments.
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cold Calling
This book provides new sales representatives with a comprehensive selling framework that is divided into five sections. Utilising this book, will allow you to build your own prospecting and follow-up process that works automatically, aligned with your marketing philosophy, strengths, and natural talents.
In this book, the author discusses how to take care of your inner game and develop robust systems to generate new business. The author discusses how to convert your cold calls into warm calls and get past the gatekeeper to close more sales. The last section tells you how to make sure you are positioned at the top.
Your Growth Hacks Aren’t Working
This book provides a comprehensive look into the creation of a cold-calling sales process, from finding your ideal customer all the way to validating your idea. Furthermore, there is a section on sales psychology and the five biggest mistakes salespeople make. There is also a section on how the most successful sales teams employ technology, like predictive dialers, to enhance their productivity.
In the book, you will find examples and techniques for setting up cold calling to reach out to your customers, even if you have no prior experience.
Conclusion
What is a good time for cold calling?
It can be tough to know the best time to call someone cold. Many people think it’s best to do it early in the morning, but some other times could work.
Most people won’t pick up the phone for a cold call, meaning you have to call during work hours. The best time for cold calling is Monday through Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., except for holidays and lunch breaks, when people may be more available.
How do you respond to a cold call recruiter?
In today’s day and age, it’s not uncommon to get a cold call from a recruit is not uncommoner. There are many ways to respond to these recruiters, but the most effective way is to have an excellent first impression. Here are three tips for responding to recruiters on the phone:
- Be professional. Be polite and professional with the recruiter. Don’t take anything personally, don’t get angry; just be calm and speak clearly to adequately express your thoughts without making mistakes or confusing the recruiter.
- Provide all information requested by the recruiter promptly, but don’t rush. The recruiter is interviewing you for a job and is looking for someone who pays close attention to detail and can handle the stress of being on a phone call with an interviewer.
- Be prepared with information about your resume, qualifications, background, and what you are looking for in a potential employer or position. You should have some information about yourself ready if the recruiter asks you to share it, but you shouldn’t have to rattle off a ton of information in the first minute. You should have your resume and qualifications ready, but don’t feel you need to be overly prepared for the phone call. Be sure that whatever you are looking for in an employer or position matches what the recruiter is telling you about the position or is likely to get you in the door.
- If you are interviewing for a position that is not what you are looking for, try to find out why they think it will be a good fit for you. What specific skills are required for this position? Is this something that can help further your career? Are there any other benefits that come with the position?
- If you are interviewing for a position that you are looking for, ask yourself if they feel like they could recruit others to work with them (if applicable) and if it is possible to work remotely (if applicable).
Do recruiters always have to cold call?
In the past, recruiters were required to cold call and potential contact candidates. This is because they were not always able to find candidates independently.
Nowadays, recruiters can find and reach out to potential candidates through social media sites like LinkedIn or Twitter. They can also use job boards or search engine listings updated with new openings as they come up. This has led to a shift in how recruiters operate in the recruiting process. They no longer need to cold call since they can find qualified candidates independently.
