Cold calling is an art because it attempts to convince a prospect to convert into a customer.
Sales statistics say that 90% of the reps find cold calling to be highly effective.
That’s the reason why cold calling tips is still so much relevant.
However, cold calling requires immense patience and skills.
No two customers are the same, especially in the B2B world.
You have to adopt a different strategy for every single call, and that can be frustrating and hard at times.
Hence you need to keep evolving your skillset and learn the techniques of the game, and that’s what we are going to uncover today.
A.15 important cold calling tips to crush your B2B sales quota
1. Research your prospect in and out
If you do not have the right information about the prospect before calling him, then there is no use of that call.
Knowing about the person will help you frame the call in a way that increases your chances of converting that call.
But do not limit yourself to a person’s name and position, i.e, find out what they do in the company, study the company, and also the issues that the company faces.
Enthu.AI will improve the chances of your success.
2. Prepare a framework, not the script
Every individual is different, and so our their needs and motivation.
Following a script won’t do any good in the B2B space.
Instead of a script, have a framework for your calls that provides structure to the conversation.
But the most important part is that it gives you the necessary space during the call.
For instance, the prospect may ask a question or raise a sales objection that may require quick thinking and spontaneous answers on your part.
If you follow a script, you may get confused because a script can never capture all the possibilities.
Instead, have a framework that includes an option of taking a pause and answering customer queries.
3. Rejection is not the end
The truth is that you will face rejection because you cannot convert every cold call into a sale.
Rejection is bound to happen even if you have a wonderful product to offer.
In fact, consider rejection as an opportunity and ask the reason behind the ‘no’.
It will help you understand your shortcomings.
When you know the reasons, then you need to work on those reasons and improve your techniques over time.
4. Stand up while you call
If you can, just try this out for a couple of your cold calls.
Stand up while you are talking to the prospect, and see the difference.
Because when you are sitting down on your comfortable chair, the tone of your voice may become non-serious as you are in your comfort zone.
Standing up during the call provides you with additional energy that can be felt in your tone.
It is a great way to attract the attention of your prospects without doing anything special.
5. Be ready in advance for objections
The percentage of people saying ‘yes’ after the first meeting is very low.
You need to make multiple calls (and face countless objections) before a prospect agrees for the deal.
As per Velocify, it takes an average of 6 call attempts to win a sale.
To overcome sales objections, you need to be ready with the list of objections you think prospects will ask.
Preempt them and have an answer ready for the same.
If you are ready in advance, then every objection will be seen as an opportunity by you.
For instance, if someone says, ‘It is too costly’, then you can ask questions around their frame of reference and highlight on the benefits and value that the product delivers.
If someone says, ‘I have a bad experience with a similar product’, then you can point out to the comparison.
6. Be thorough with your product
You will meet different kinds of individuals during your sales calls.
Some will say yes to your pricing, some will say yes to your sales pitch, and some need to know the detailed technical specifications of the product before they say yes to you.
So you must be ready for those prospects who do thorough research before committing to a product.
You must read about the technical aspects of your product so that you aren’t stuck if someone asks you a question regarding the same.
Nevertheless, don’t worry if you need to pull in an expert to answer questions. No one is expecting you to know 100% about your product/service.
Opt for call recording software with CRM integration, advanced search, and AI-driven insights to improve results.
7. Make an exclusive offer
Everyone loves exclusive offers.
When you offer a deal, it has a psychological effect on the mind of the prospect because of the exclusivity of the deal.
Also, it becomes easy to close the deal with exclusive offers.
For instance, a person who is confused between your product and your competitor might incline towards your product if you offer a better deal than your competitor.
Discount is not the only exclusive offer that you can propose to a prospect. In fact, in a B2B setup, the prospect is not even worried about the discount. Understand their motivations and fears, and build an offer around them. For example, here’s are some offers that work really well:- We are always influenced by other people. During the cold calls, ensure you are making relevant references to your other clients and talking about the success they have achieved with your product. All this proves that your product is capable of solving a similar pain point for others as well. And don’t forget to share a link to these testimonials after the call (e.g. a link to a 3rd party review site like G2 or Capterra). You need to use your ears more than your mouth. When you listen to other people, you will understand what they want and at times they themselves will give you an idea of how to solve their problems. Also, when you talk less and listen more, people will feel valued and begin to trust you which is essential when you are making a cold call. You must focus on asking relevant questions and let prospects talk. It will help you control the narrative of the call and direct them toward the sale. Keep a check on your “Listen Percentage” metric. This will be a ready reckoner to understand if you are the only one talking on the calls, or if are you having real, meaningful conversations with prospects. If you are on Enthu, you can easily refer to Listen to Percentage for each call, Not just that, you also get to know the metric at the agent as well as the team level. Sometimes a prospect might not pick up your call, so you should leave them with effective voicemails that make the prospect call you back. As per RingLead, 80% of cold calls go to voicemails. Keep your voicemail under 30 seconds. Do not focus on selling at all in the voicemail because the objective of this voicemail is to generate curiosity in the prospect about your product. You must sound energetic and friendly and insert some urgency in your message. You must open the call by stating the reason of your call. It is necessary because it sets the tone for your call and also the prospect will have clarity in mind. As per research, stating the reason for your call at the start can boost your success rates by 2.1 times. If you start without this line, then the prospect may be confused about your call and then he/she will end the call early. Remember, humans want reasons and you should provide them with one. The longer the duration of the cold call, the better the chance of having a successful cold call. As per Gong, successful calls are twice as long as unsuccessful cold calls. You must not limit yourself to getting the prospect’s attention during a cold call, it must continue during the entire sales conversation. If you have done hundreds of cold calls, you must be able to control the narrative of the call and plan your move well in advance. And if you aren’t experienced, then you must give statements such that the buyer wants to listen to your next statement. If you think you have successful cold calling tips, then you need to focus on scheduling the next steps at the end of your conversation. It has been observed that talking about ‘next steps’ consumes half of the sales conversation. And if you are not able to discuss the next steps with the prospect then you might not call it a successful cold call. Make your sales pitch shorter and give more time to discuss the next steps. Select call center quality monitoring software with real-time analytics, customizable dashboards, and AI-driven performance insights. When you are calling for hours and facing objections one after another, you must feel bored and frustrated and then you might want to indulge in some other activities during the cold calls. It is natural but you must avoid this at all costs. Because it disturbs the flow of the conversation and the prospect might figure out that you are not interested anymore in the conversation. Another thing is that your answers the questions asked by the prospect are not satisfactory because listening is one thing and understanding is another. To understand, you need to give full attention to your clients. When you start talking to the prospect, you must use ‘we’ rather than ‘I’ in your sentences. It shows you as a team player which leaves a good impression on the prospect. When you use collaborative language, it is likely to end in a follow-up. So incorporate words like ‘ourselves’, ‘our’, ‘us’, ‘we’, etc, in your cold calls. Cold calling tips is a sales skill that builds over time. Not just that, the skillset keeps evolving and you need to stay at the forefront. These 15 cold-calling tips we just shared will help you get a good start toward crushing your sales quotas. Which is that one skill that you use very often? Do mention this in the comments below. 1. What is cold calling? Cold calling is a sales approach where businesses reach out to potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson. While it mainly involves phone calls, it can also include face-to-face interactions like door-to-door visits. 2. What not to do in cold call ? When making a cold call, it’s important to avoid common mistakes such as sounding scripted, talking excessively, interrupting the prospect, being pushy or aggressive, neglecting to listen actively, and failing to personalize the conversation to the prospect’s needs and interests. 3. How to cold call 5 step B2B cold calling technique? A 5-step B2B cold calling technique: 4. What are the 3 C's of cold calling? The 3 C’s of cold calling are Confidence, Clarity, and Consistency. Confidence builds trust, clarity ensures your message is understood, and consistency improves success by refining your approach through repeated efforts.
8. Use social proof to attract clients
9. Listen more
10. Use voicemails to your advantage
11. State the reason of your call at starting
12. Buy as much time as possible
13. Make sure to schedule your next steps
14. Never multitask during cold calls
15. Use collaborative language
Conclusion
FAQs
