Cold calling is a way of marketing that involves calling people you don’t know and trying to sell them something. It can be seen as one of the most difficult and least effective ways to generate leads.
The word “cold” in this context refers to the lack of pre-existing relationship between the caller and the person being called.
Cold Calling is not only an ineffective way to generate leads but also a waste of time and energy. It takes a lot of effort, and it is unlikely that you will get any response from your call. You are better off using other methods such as email, social media or networking events.
There are many different ways to do cold calling, but one of the most popular is by using a list of phone numbers that have been gathered from things like public records or from previous clients.
How to Prepare for a Successful Cold Call
Cold calling is an excellent way to get new business. It is also a great way to build relationships with potential clients.
It can be difficult to know what to say on the phone, especially when you are trying to get someone’s attention for the first time. Here are some tips and tricks for a successful cold call.
1) Prepare for your call: make sure you have your pitch ready and that you have researched the person or company you are calling.
2) Know what is happening in their world: find out about recent news that might interest them or potential events they might be attending.
3) Be friendly and confident: it’s important that they can trust you on the other end of the line, so make sure your tone is warm and friendly, and your body language is open and confident.
4) Be clear, concise, and direct: make sure that you’re clear with your instructions so they can execute them properly. If you want them to leave a voicemail or email a file to you, be specific with the who, what, when, where, and how.
5) Provide context: make sure to include as much information about your project as possible so that the assistant knows what you’re looking for.
6) Provide clear action steps: give the person on the other side of the phone or email a clear sense of what they should do.
7) Be patient and listen: be willing to take some time with your assistant and be prepared to let them know you’re listening and what you’re doing to help
8) Keep the lines of communication open: be willing to do your best work only when you feel like the person is doing theirs.
Preparing for a Cold Call
1. Provide them with a script
Time-tested sales cadences are used by the most successful businesses to ensure a certain number of touches, with the flexibility for salespeople to customise their messages for specific contacts.
Giving a new salesperson your existing scripts when they start out can reduce their learning curve considerably. Write some cold calling scripts using existing templates, or let your new salesperson create their own if you don’t have any.
Remember to include voicemail message templates in your cadence or set of scripts. Approximately 15% of sales reps leave voicemails, according to data from RingLead. The ratio of 18-30 seconds for a phone or email sales script on the fly is not sustainable.
2. Provide them with a list
Providing your new salesperson with a list of names and numbers to call would be the next step in preparing them for cold calling. Examples include:
- The replacement salesperson will pass along the list owned by the prior salesperson.
- The round-robin lead assignment mechanism in your CRM or marketing automation program should include their name.
- They may do their own research when they are assigned to a new vertical and shared buyer personas.
Your new hire may necessitate a reorganisation of your sales territories or lead assignment protocol if your sales team now has more headcount. Your new representative should avoid inadvertently cutting into your top performers’ contact pools if at all possible.
3. Identify behaviours to improve
Salespeople who are good at what they do tend to be achievement-oriented. In order to utilise this instinct, you must hold them accountable for predetermined goals, but you must be careful about how you set them.
New salespeople tend to do better with goals based on behaviour rather than performance, even if your most established reps have performance-based goals, such as closed-won deals or new revenue. Cold calling goals aim to create a platform for success by completing a number of specific behaviours.
Goals that can be tracked based on behaviour include:
- Making cold calls
- Identifies new prospects
- Leaving voicemails
- Booked appointments
The first day of a new sales rep’s job won’t be successful. A series of smaller, behaviour-based goals can be completed early on to build confidence that will enable them to perform at a high level in the future.
4. Know what to expect from the rejection
There is nothing people like more than hearing “no” over and over again. Help a new salesperson anticipate and prepare for rejection when you’re working with them.
It could be turned into a game, for example. Monitor the performance of your new sales reps on a leaderboard by measuring how long it takes them to get their first 100 “no’s.”. The fastest rep who reaches 100 wins a prize, in addition to numbing themselves to rejection.
Cold calling can also be adapted from Tim Ferriss’ classic book The Four Hour Workweek’s “fear setting” exercise. When it comes to cold calling, ask sales reps what scares them. In most cases, having a cold call goes wrong will not result in a more serious outcome than frustrating a prospect or not closing the sale.
5. Provide them with a mentor
Having an experienced mentor to rely on for cold calling advice is one of the best ways for new salespeople to get better at cold calling. Examples include:
- Watch the first cold call a new rep makes (either live or on recordings). Make suggestions on how to improve it.
- What they learned about developing their sales process and how they developed it.
- Describe the company, its products/services, and its position in the market to salespeople new to the company.
It’s possible that your top sales reps won’t share their hard-won wisdom with your new hires if you’ve deliberately organised a competitive environment. It may be more appropriate to have a mentor from marketing, leadership, or product.
How To Make An Amazing First Impression on The Phone
Making a good first impression on the phone is about more than just sounding like you know what you’re talking about. It’s about making the other person feel comfortable, heard, and understood.
The first few minutes of a phone call can make or break your chances of getting an appointment with someone. If you don’t have the perfect opening line, script, or joke to break the ice and make that person feel comfortable talking to you for 30 minutes straight, then it might be time to hang up and try again later.
Conclusion: How many hours a day should I cold call
Cold calling is a time-consuming process. It can take hours of your day, and you have to be skilled and persistent to make it work. But how many hours a day should you cold call?
The answer depends on the type of business you are in. For example, if you are in the recruitment industry, then a good number of calls per day is around 100-150 calls per day. If you are in sales, then the number might be closer to 30-40 calls per day.
It also depends on your personal style and preference. Some people may prefer to do more cold calling, while others may prefer less or none at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average success rate of cold calling?
Cold calling is a sales technique where someone calls a potential customer to try and sell them something. It’s an old-fashioned form of marketing that has been around for decades.
The success rate of cold calling is hard to measure because it depends on the type of product or service being sold and the type of person being called. But generally, the success rate ranges from 1% to 10%.
How do I get over my fear of cold calling?
We all know that cold calling is an important part of a sales process. It’s a way to get in touch with prospects, introduce your product and see if they are interested in buying it. But it’s not always easy to do.
Fear of rejection, fear of being turned down, fear of being embarrassed by rejection – these are all reasons why we might be reluctant to make phone calls. But there are some things you can do to help you overcome this fear and become a more successful salesperson:
– Identify the reasons why you feel afraid and write them down on paper;
– Find out what you can do before the call to reduce your anxiety;
– Think about how the prospect might react positively;
– Practice your pitch before the call so that
How do you introduce yourself in a cold call?
This is a question that many people have asked themselves before. It’s not an easy question to answer when you’re not prepared for it. This article will provide some tips on how to answer this question in a cold call.
It’s important to first introduce yourself and your company and then move on to what you want from the person you’re calling. You should also be able to give them a reason as to why they should be interested in what you are offering them.
