Cold calling is still a powerful way to grow your pipeline. There’s nothing more efficient than calling a list of leads to see if they’re a good fit for your product or service.
In this blog post, we’ll go over nine cold calling strategies that can help you improve your close rate and book more meetings.
1. Research your prospect before calling
The more you know about your prospect before you call, the more likely you are to have a successful conversation. To start, look at their website, LinkedIn profile, and social media profiles to get a sense of who they are and what they care about.
You should also look for any recent news about the company. If they just launched a new product, hired a new executive, or raised a round of funding, that’s something you can use to break the ice and build rapport. You can use a public records lookup tool to verify business information, identify decision-makers, or confirm company registration details. This extra step adds credibility to your outreach and ensures you’re targeting the right person at the right organization.
The goal of your research isn’t to get a complete picture of your prospect. It’s to find a few pieces of information you can use to personalize your conversation and show that you’ve done your homework.
2. Set clear goals for your calls
Every cold call should have a purpose. Whether you’re trying to book a meeting, gather information, or close a deal, you should have a clear goal in mind for each conversation.
If you don’t have a goal for your call, you’ll end up wasting time and potentially annoying the person on the other end of the line. Before you pick up the phone, take a few minutes to think about what you want to accomplish with your call and how you’re going to do it.
If you’re unsure whether your goals are clear enough, look at negative feedback examples from past calls where prospects seemed confused or uninterested—those can be valuable learning tools for improvement.
3. Practice active listening
Listening is one of the most important things you can do during a sales call. You need to understand your prospect’s needs and pain points before you can pitch your product or service as a solution.
Active listening is a communication technique that involves fully concentrating on what is being said rather than just passively “hearing” the message of the speaker. Active listening is important because it helps you build rapport with your prospect and understand their needs.
It also helps you avoid common mistakes that can turn off potential customers, such as talking too much or interrupting. By practicing active listening, you can build trust with your prospect and increase your chances of making a sale.
4. Ask open-ended questions
Asking open-ended questions can help you get to know your prospect, build rapport, and guide the conversation in a natural way.
Open-ended questions are those that can’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” Instead, they require the prospect to provide a more detailed response. For example, “What’s your experience been like with X so far?” is an open-ended question.
To prepare for your cold calls, brainstorm a list of open-ended questions you can ask your prospects. This will help you keep the conversation going and show them you’re interested in what they have to say.
5. Focus on the value you bring
When you’re cold calling, it’s important to keep in mind that you’re likely interrupting the person you’re calling. Given the growing impact of eCommerce on business, prospects expect you to quickly show how your product helps them stay competitive. This means you’ll need to get to the point quickly and make it clear why you’re calling.
One way to do this is by focusing on the value you bring. For example, you might say something like, “I’m calling to let you know about a new product that can help you save time and money.” This makes it clear why you’re calling and gives the person you’re calling a reason to keep listening.
6. Use sales scripts and templates as a guide
Sales scripts and templates help you organize your thoughts and ensure you cover all the key points with your prospect. They can also help you navigate difficult conversations and objections.
While you don’t want to sound like you’re reading from a script, having a general outline can help you stay on track and avoid rambling.
Create a script that outlines the key points you want to cover in your call. This could include a brief introduction, the purpose of your call, a value proposition, and a call-to-action.
You can also create templates for your opening, voicemails, and emails. This can help you save time and ensure you’re consistent in your messaging.
7. Leverage sales technology
As a salesperson, you’re busy. You don’t have time to spend hours researching prospects, leaving voicemails, and manually updating your CRM.
If you want to be successful in sales, you need to leverage sales technology to help you be more efficient with your time.
Sales technology can help you automate many of the tasks that salespeople hate, such as data entry, lead research, and call logging. This will free up more of your time to focus on what you do best – selling. If you’re promoting products like a marketplace website builder, using the right sales tech stack can also help you segment leads based on business type and personalize your pitch.
You can even use visual tools to remove background from images in your presentations or pitch decks, helping you create cleaner and more tailored visuals for prospects.
In addition to helping you be more efficient, sales technology can also help you be more effective. For example, you can use sales intelligence tools to get real-time data on your prospects, such as their job title, company size, and recent news about their company. This will help you tailor your pitch to each prospect and increase your chances of success.
8. Call at the right time
Cold calling is all about timing. Call too late in the day, and your prospect will be busy packing up for the day. Call too early, and they may not even be in the office yet.
To ensure you’re calling your prospects at the right time, do a little research. Use a tool like HubSpot’s Sales Tools to find out when your prospects are most active. This will help you increase your chances of getting them on the phone.
You can also use tools like HubSpot or Close CRM to find out when your prospects are most likely to be available. This will help you avoid calling them at inconvenient times and increase your chances of getting them on the phone.
9. Follow up with leads
The key to success in sales is to be persistent. If you don’t follow up with your leads, you’re leaving money on the table.
Some salespeople make the mistake of only calling a lead once and then moving on to the next one. But the truth is that most people won’t buy from you the first time you call them.
That’s why it’s important to follow up with your leads. You can do this by calling them again, sending them an email, or even connecting with them on social media. If your team is using tools like form tracking, you can identify leads who started filling out a form but didn’t complete it giving you an opportunity to follow up with context and recover potentially lost conversions.The more you follow up with your leads, the more likely they are to buy from you.
Conclusion
Now that you know the best cold calling tips and tricks for success, it’s time to start dialing. Whether you’re a sales rep with years of experience or you’re making your first cold call ever, these strategies can help you set more appointments, close more deals, and grow better.
