Cold calling. Does that phrase fill your sales teams with dread and make them feel woozy? However, even with the rise of social media tools, cold calling is still proving to be a successful tool in sales strategies. So how can you make cold calling effective for your business? These ‘seven Cs of cold calling’ should give you and your sales team a good starting point and to help you remember, they all begin with the letter C!
COMPEL YOUR AUDIENCE.
First things first- make prospects want to talk to you. With face to face sales, you have the added advantage of eye contact, body language, and the use of visual aids to draw your audience in. In cold calling, your time to make an impact is greatly diminished. So how can you make your prospect stay on the phone? Let’s say you are selling a machine which can wash, dry, and iron your clothes all at once.
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Introduce yourself. “Hi, my name is Bob!”
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Introduce your company. “I’m calling from SuperWash - leaders in all things laundry!”
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Ask an open question. “If you could find a machine which reduces your laundry time by eighty per cent, how would you spend all those extra hours?”
The prospect will instantly be thinking about all the benefits which your wonderful laundry machine can bring to them, without you even having to tell them. And most importantly, it gets them talking.
COMMUNICATE.
When you get your prospect talking, you need to really listen to what they’re saying. What at first may seem like an objection or roadblock, might be an invitation for you to offer what could be a massive selling point of your product.
Example;
Prospect- “Your software tool sounds much too complicated for our business as we would only really need to use a small amount of the features”
You- “Well actually our model is completely customisable, meaning that you can pick and choose which features are best for your business”.
Oh really? Then sign me up!
CONFIDENCE.
It may be hard to do, but the best way to boost your confidence is by jumping straight in. The more conversations you are having, the more your confidence will naturally grow. If what you are offering is particularly complex, like an IT solution or a complicated piece of machinery, then learn to speak about it in everyday terms. Have a script, or a call guide which you can refer to on the more technical matters. Another point to make on this is that you shouldn’t be afraid to….Change!
CHANGE.
Be savvy enough to know when your pitch just isn’t working, be adaptable and flexible enough to change it, and don’t take it personally! Many different factors can affect the mind-set of a prospect. Customers are going to be much more likely to buy an umbrella during the wet season, and that means that your sales will likely drop as you enter into the summer. That is, not unless you adapt.
Example-
Prospect- “I don’t need an umbrella in this heat. It’s so sunny I can barely sit outside”,
You- “Ah yes, but did you know that this great piece of equipment doesn’t just shelter you from rain? It can also protect your skin from burning under that hot sun!”
and guess what? You’ve got your sale!
CLEAR YOUR MIND.
Not completely, of course. It probably wouldn’t be the best idea to reach a deep meditative state in peak calling times. Your time is precious, and so is your prospects’ time. Try applying these rules:
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No mobile phone, no social media.
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Set your email so that you don’t get those distracting little pop ups every time someone emails you. Check out this article about how much productivity is being lost due to checking emails http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/204980.
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Call straight for a set amount of time, then take ten minutes to catch up on whatever you need to do.
CLEAN YOUR DATA.
While it might seem easier to clean your data as you go along, this can become very distracting. Instead, try to get all your list development work completed before you start calling. LinkedIn is a great tool which can help you find and target the correct people quickly and easily. But make sure you do this before you begin calling in order to avoid getting distracted by pop-ups and those great articles which LinkedIn members post. Which brings me nicely to…
CALL, CALL, CALL!
The more you fill the funnel at the top, the more comes out at the bottom. Another analogy is that the wider you cast your net, the more fish you catch - however this fails to acknowledge the driftwood and old tyres you might also catch, which aren’t half as nutritious and a lot harder to chew. You will be taken on wild goose chases and come across time wasters, but for every ten of these you might get one really good sale. Dial into those numbers, even if you’re beginning to lose heart. Your next phone call might be a gem, so fill that funnel and call, call, call!
So there we have it, the Seven Cs of Cold Calling. Of course, cold calling is a mix of many different approaches and techniques and you need to find what is right for you. Do you have any tips on how to improve your sales technique? What important points have I missed?
Cold calling still a worry? Never fret, that’s why we are here. At Maven TM we employ people who are specialists in unearthing valuable sales opportunities. Our staff don’t just work hard, they work smart, an asset which comes from their vast range of experience. If you want to make the most of your sales teams and be delivered with hot leads just waiting to be closed, then give us a call today and see how our B2B telemarketing services can help you!
Article by Sarah Maher, Sales Opportunities Sleuth at Maven TM
