Cold calling is something that a lot of people hate to do; they hate to make them and they hate to receive them. But when you have the right strategies for making cold calls, you don’t have to worry about making them anymore. Here are three tips that you can use to make your next set of cold calls more successful.
Know the Person You’re Calling
The Inc.com website encourages you to do some fact finding before you make that call. Without the correct data, even talented callers aren’t going to get the right results. Knowing the person you’re calling will be key to making the best sales pitch, which will give you the reaction you want from your prospect.
Rather than simply researching the position and name of your target, study their company and the person’s role in the company. This will tell you what they face in their job and the key issues they’re dealing with in their industry. A good way to gather a prospect’s information is by scooping your search results on Google. Using a very basic scraper, you are able to find their profiles on social media, posts on forums, and other kinds of information from prospects easily.
Plan Cold Calls Ahead of Time
According to the Cold to Gold website, anytime you are doing cold calls, you should always have plans for the call. What is your first step? What’s your second step? What’s your third step? Always think about the end when you are making calls. Chances are that you won’t sell the solution the first time you speak with your prospect. You will need to get their attention quickly; generally you have approximately 10 seconds before they start to treat you as a salesperson. Why is this?
The truth is that most salespeople go about making their cold calls in the wrong way. They say or do things that turn off the prospective client, which only makes your job harder. Chances are that the last time they picked up a call and were confronted with a salesperson, it may not have gone well. Because of this you have to have a quicker, better, and smarter smart call.
A typical sales cold call might go this way.
“Hello, John. This is Mary from ABC Solutions. How is your day going? I’m calling because my company is offering solutions for ____”
By this time, the person on the other end of the phone is rolling their eyes and their “STUPID SALESPERSON ALARM” is going off. You don’t want to sound like all the other salespeople, so you need to come up with a much better way to start the call.
Have a Great Opening Statement
Based on the Think Entrepreneurship website, having a great opening statement is everything. When your opening statement is awesome, you are going to look professional and get the person’s attention. When you are cold calling, you only have a short window to create your rapport with your prospect so that you can continue your dialogue.
Good opening statements should include the following:
- A short greeting
- Reference points which are linkable to your call’s purpose
- Why your service or product is beneficial
- A question that’s going to help with transitioning to talking with your potential client.
Put together, the elements will provide a preliminary blueprint that helps you to transition from the call’s beginning to more dialogue with your potential client. Below is an example that ties together these elements and puts them in action.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Jones. This is Alan Sharp from Acme Incorporated. I saw that you recently began purchasing banner advertising through Google AdWords. My specialty is assisting local businesses with getting more value from AdWords campaigns. I wondered if you were aware that a recent study showed advertisements that have keywords in their titles receive more clicks?”
Having the ability to open the conversation, build some rapport, demonstrate your business’ benefit, and then transition into some further dialogue is going to greatly increase your success rate for cold calls. When you include the elements in the opening statement of your call and practice it regularly, you are going to find it is second nature and that you are being more successful with your cold calling.
If you are looking for ways to make more money through your cold calling, using these three tips can help you with being successful. Cold calling doesn’t have to be a burden and it can help you be successful when you are using the right approach. Show someone that you are trying to give them help and solutions rather than trying to make them a sale and they will be more receptive.
Get Creative with Your Next Step
Once you’ve made that connection with your prospective client, suggest meeting “face to face” through video conferencing. Services like Bluejeans can connect multiple platforms, so even if you’re across the country or just across the state, you can make a stronger impression than just being a voice on the phone. The great thing about meeting like this is that it can be done at the client’s convenience – which makes you an even more attractive option for doing business.
