Zoom Local News

Search
Close this search box.

11 Cold Calling Tips That Really Work

Zoom Local News > Technology > 11 Cold Calling Tips That Really Work

11 Cold Calling Tips That Really Work

Cold calling is one of the most widely used sales tactics. It’s lost some momentum thanks to email, but the top sales professionals still use it to turn prospects into customers.

About 82% of buyers report that they took meetings with sales reps after a series of contacts. All of them started with a cold sales call.

If you’re a sales rep, you’ll need to master the art of cold calling. Don’t worry, because this article has all of the cold calling tips you need.

Keep reading to discover the best cold calling tricks to increase your conversion rate and close more sales.

1. Research Your Leads

Never contact a prospect without knowing anything about them. You should find out who the decision maker is, look for recent news at a company, and check out the decision maker’s profile.

Look for things that you have in common with them. That helps you establish rapport and increases your chances of furthering the conversation.

2. Calculate Potential ROI

After you conduct your research, you should look at your current benchmarks. This helps you see your current cold calling ROI.

Use this SalesHive ROI Calculator to calculate your current ROI and determine what it could be. This helps you set cold calling sales goals.

3. Have a List of Questions Ready to Go

You don’t want to start off a call unprepared. You’ll lose credibility immediately.

There’s no need to script out an entire call, either. You could come across as robotic and lose the prospect.

Have an outline of what you want to discuss and create a list of questions to ask the prospect.

4. Start Off Strong

You have a couple of seconds to make a good first impression. Make those seconds count.

Have a clear opening sentence that describes why you’re calling. You can say that you saw their LinkedIn post and wanted to reach out about it.

5. Get Over Your Fear

Call reluctance is paralyzing. It’s the reason why more sales reps just send emails, rather than cold call. Do little things to put yourself in a good mood.

Dance to a bad song, look at a picture, tell yourself affirmations. These things will help you overcome the fear.

6. Call at the Right Times

Sometimes, success in cold calling is a matter of good timing. Keep track of when you contact prospects and when you have the most success in reaching them.

There are days and times that most people say don’t call. Generally speaking, don’t call first thing in the morning and don’t call during lunch hour. You’re not likely to reach many prospects.

There are industry considerations, too. For instance, don’t call a restaurant prospect at 6:00 because they’re busy with dinner customers.

For many office workers, Friday afternoons work because they’re ready for the weekend and have their guard down. They might be willing to talk to you.

7. Keep Good Notes

You are going to contact prospects more than once. Most sales reps give up after the first call, which is a huge mistake. Most prospects need several contacts before they agree to meet with you.

Use a CRM and keep track of every conversation with prospects. The more detailed your notes are, the better. You’ll be able to recap information with the prospect and show that you’re engaged in your conversations.

8. Keep Track of Leads

You know how important timing is when you cold call prospects. There are times when you can leverage events and announcements to cold call clients.

Keep track of the most promising prospects through tools like Google Alerts, Brandwatch, or Mention. You’ll get notified every time a person or company is in the news.

Events like new hires, new product announcements, mergers, and investments might be enough to leave a prospect open to have a conversation.

9. Talk Like the Prospect Is in Front of You

The toughest thing about cold calling is that the prospect isn’t in front of you. They can’t see your body language, which is the vastmajority of communication.

You can pretend that the prospect is there in front of you. Smile when you speak with them, use hand gestures, and show your enthusiasm through body language.

The prospect can’t see these things, but they do come through in your voice. It’s a minor thing that makes a big difference.

10. Listen, Don’t Pitch

Have you ever been on a call where a sales rep just pitched to you? You could hold the phone away from your ear for 1-2 minutes and they’d have no idea.

Don’t be that sales rep.

Good sales reps know that cold calls aren’t about them. They approach each sales call as an opportunity to see if a prospect is a good match or not.

They don’t expect to close a deal on the first call. They do expect to get enough information to help the prospect.

Your job is to listen to prospects and take notes. Learn about their needs and challenges. Continue to ask questions.

Be present and listen to them. That’s how you’ll develop trust and build the relationship.

11. Track Your Success

Good sales reps always know where they stand. Not in relation to the company’s quota, but to their own standards and goals.

They know how many dials they make, the number of conversations, and where their pipeline stands. They track their conversions and know where the best opportunities are.

You need to keep track of these things as well. Data helps you determine where you need to improve so you can better your success rate.

The Best Cold Calling Tips for Your Business

Cold calling is hard. If it were easy, everyone would do it and sales reps wouldn’t get paid so well. These cold calling tips show you how you can make the most out of your prospect list.

Be sure to learn about your leads, come up with a list of questions, and listen to them. Don’t think about what you’re going to say next. The most important thing is to follow up with prospects.

Head over to the home page of this site for the latest news and business tips.

Related Posts