Introduction to Cold Calling Techniques
Although Cold Calling is a thankless job, cold calling techniques are one of the most efficient ways to gather new customers and prospects for your business. Cold Calling techniques are equally exciting as well as terrifying, but the feel a sales rep gets after a successful sale via a cold call is priceless. Cold calling has taken a backseat since the rapid increase of online sales and marketing channels. However, if appropriately performed, cold calling is still a hugely viable option for marketing even today.
In my current article, I will teach you at least 10 ways by which you’ll be able to negate your fear and, in turn, make it a real cold-calling success rate and viable mode of marketing. From reading how and whom to call to talking aggressively and appropriately over the phone, my article will cover every aspect of cold calling success rates. So, get ready to overcome your cold calling fears and read on to become a master cold caller.
10 Most Important Cold Calling Techniques
Here are the 10 most important cold-calling techniques as follows:
1. Must know to whom the call is for
The first cold calling technique revolves around the widely recognized fact that a cold caller cannot perform the job flawlessly without knowing the call’s intended recipient. Knowing the intended recipient of the call helps the caller significantly in making the right pitch in his/her calls and also the right approach to follow.
A part of this good approach also involves knowing in prior what the company deals with, what is the role of the employee to whom you intend to call, and the issues they are facing in their respective companies. One of the finest ways to gather more info about your prospect is through Google Search results. Also, browsing their social media posts, forum posts, and other similar information on the web helps to know better about them. Before conducting their calls, the cold calling service must have proficient web and research skills.
2. Keep a plan instead of a script
In the second cold calling technique gone by, it was considered useful to have a script and recite it when you make your call as a cold calling service. My friend, those days are gone! In the present scenario, it is much rather beneficial to have a plan using research and analysis and approach your prospect using that. Moreover, just reciting a pre-constructed script on your recipient without using any brains would sound like a robot and maybe a fool!
Thus, it is highly advisable that you, as a cold calling service is to keep a framework for your cold calls which can also provide you with flexibility and structure. Sometimes, it is commonly observed that there come spontaneous rejections which can be positively dealt with only if you possess a plan rather than a script.
3. Do not get upset by rejections
As cold calling techniques, you absolutely must be used to rejections. It is part and parcel of this profession, and it’s also true that you’ll face rejections more often than not. This is because people are often skeptical about you and your product and don’t trust your brand, for that matter too.
Don’t let rejection become an obstacle for you; instead, consider it a challenge that you still need to improve on your product and refine your procedures over time.
A piece of advice: Next time your prospect says ‘no’ to your product, don’t just drop the phone. Instead, ask him why not? This would tell you much about why most respondents reject you and, thus, a chance to improve on it.
4. Stand while you make the calls
It is a good idea to remain standing while on cold calling techniques. It is so because the prospect to whom you are calling does understand your confidence level, and his decision is more or less affected by that. Not only does a standing posture give you additional energy, but it also makes your voice clearer and more convincing for the prospects.
I agree this sounds weird and like a psychological gimmick, but it is not. The best strategy is to mimic the voice pitch and tone of the person who influences you, as it allows you to act similarly.
5. Identify their objections
Your offer is bound to face numerous rejections and objections. Seldom does a turns out to be cold calling success rates on the first attempt. Firstly, you must understand that your approach is not drastically wrong; it’s just another way of enquiring about your products and offerings. The best way to deal with objections is to know beforehand what they’ll be and prepare a decent answer to counter them. It works the same way as you prepare for a debate competition. You try to know all the possible objections to your statement and prepare accordingly.
Each objection can be transformed into an opportunity or opening. For example, the “Too expensive” argument can be countered by explaining in detail the features of your product and its quality. You can counter the “Already appointed someone” argument by explaining how your offerings can improve their situation.
An objection is an opportunity to reinforce to your prospect that you are not just like another cold-calling service and that your products are much better and less expensive than the competitors’. Turning objections into persuasion is the key to effective cold calling.
6. Get used to ‘No’
Firstly, it is important to understand that a ‘no’ doesn’t always mean rejection. It’s sometimes almost a reflex reaction of people as soon as they know you’re a salesperson. Regardless of the utility or quality of your product, people are likely to say ‘no’ out of habit, as they have become accustomed to doing so.
The important thing is that you shouldn’t always consider the ‘no’ as a plain rejection. Rather, treat it as an invitation to ask more questions and know more about your prospects. Don’t let it become a signal to apologize and hang up the call. Many times, a prospect may show interest in your product but still reject it outright. You must recognize those prospects and persuade them more aggressively to get the ‘yes’ you would love to hear.
It’s true that some novice cold callers are afraid of hearing ‘no’ and often give up on the first attempt. The approach must be that you should take the ‘no’ as an opportunity to be more verbose with your prospect and get to know more about them.
7. Learn to deal with the ‘Gatekeepers’
In the Business-to-Business (B2B) sales arena, it is common to encounter administrative and blue-collar officials often referred to as “Gatekeepers.” The role of these people is to avoid direct contact between you and your prospect. They would virtually ‘stand at the gate’ before you could meet your prospect. However, there’s not much to worry about as I will teach you exactly how to deal with such ‘Gatekeepers’ in this article.
The first thing to remember is that ‘Gatekeepers’ are just as human as you and I. In other words, one can effectively bypass and achieve rapid results by employing psychological tactics. An excellent tactic to get past the ‘gatekeepers’ is to act as unsure of whom you’re seeking and subsequently request them to put you online to someone from the department where your prospect belongs.
Believe it or not! This tactic often works because several pushy salespersons have tired out the ‘Gatekeepers’. If you ask for a specific individual, they are pretty willing to help to save themselves from the task.
8. Be familiar with your product thoroughly
Your product’s price charms some prospects, the design and looks entice others, and your sales pitch and persuasiveness win over some. Although it’s not necessary to always know about your product beforehand, if you do, it’s very useful. This is because some customers want to know the technical details of your product before they buy. This is very true for products involving IT and business process consulting.
For cold calling services in such fields of sales, it is highly advised that they also spend some of their time trying to know the technical details and specifications and how they are better than the competitors’ products. They should not merely look to master their selling and marketing skills but also be aware of the technical aspects involved.
9. Give special offers/discounts
Everyone likes special treatment. Isn’t it? In the same way, your customers want special discounts on their valued products. Offering a special discount or a bonus to a prospect on the fence about using your product is often ‘the’ way of closing this subtle deal. And in most cases, it has been observed that the exclusivity of the deal rather than the discount amount sways the deal in your favor.
Thus, preparing two or three special discounts or offers, such as free samples or extra quantities, can be feasible to lure those indecisive prospects. As a general rule, a five percent discount is all it takes to get an uninterested prospect into your roster of clients.
10. Keep a track of your sales results
Keeping track of all your sales and related activities is an invaluable habit that will pay off heavily in the long run. Firstly, by keeping track of which sales activities and which don’t, you’ll be able to enhance your cold calling success rates over some time. Likewise, you must also keep a detailed track of all your completed or incomplete calls to analyze the data later quickly.
You must keep a note of all the involved factors, such as the time of the call, whom you spoke to, the size of the company, and the script you used, since all make a huge impact on the analysis of data and thus allows for easier comprehension of desired techniques and variables to use.
It is also advisable to use specified CRM software, one of several available options. A specialized MS Excel spreadsheet or a basic pivot table containing your key sales variables can also be used. All these allow for a simpler and more in-depth data analysis to find the most optimum variables to employ in your cold calls.
Conclusion
Cold calling may appear scary initially, but if you can overcome your anxiety about rejection and begin viewing objections and queries as opportunities rather than barriers, cold calling will swiftly become your most favored way of acquiring fresh customers and prospects.
If you still are short of motivation or have begun to drop faith in the benefits of cold calling, then you can remind yourself of this remarkable story of Uber. This is one of the best innovative and disruptive cold-calling success rates for stories of the recent era. They’ve got an extremely robust technology culture and like to recruit only top engineering graduates from the best institutions.
That’s why it sounds even more incredible that Uber got into velocity not by leveraging some cutting-edge, revolutionary tech solution but merely by simple orthodox cold calling.
If you want to gather more about growing your business using cold calling, wait no further. Read our article and update your knowledge about the concepts and merits of cold calling in the sales profession. Any suggestions/queries are welcome via the comments section below.
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