5 Cold Calling Tips To Win Big This Year

Cold calling may be an old technique for businesses to gain traction, but most Fortune 500 companies continue to rely on this technique even today. 

Despite the digital channels available, successful sales professionals acknowledge the power and the purpose that cold calling serves even today — efficiently targeting leads through time and cost-effective human-to-human interaction. 

While one can agree on the purpose it serves, it is no secret that every salesperson dreads the cold calling situation. Undeniably, delivering a pitch to a prospect and expecting them to convert is a massive challenge. 

According to a study, cold calling has a 2.5% success rate. 

Despite the low conversion rate, this technique can bring in big, unexpected wins if used right. However, the only way to make cold calling work in this advanced era is by using modern techniques to grab your lead’s attention while calling. 

Continue reading to learn about five practical cold calling tips. 

Five Effective Cold Calling Tips You Should Know 

Once you make a call, you merely have a few seconds to turn your prospect into an interested customer. Therefore, taking your A game is the only way to have the ball in your court. Here’s how you can do that:

1. Plan a strong opening game

Feeling jittery before a call is normal. 

However, one way to overcome this overwhelming feeling is by preparing an opening statement so strong that the buyer does not withhold a conversation with you. 

Some ways to do this include impressing the prospect with your in-depth research or engaging him with a personalised approach. 

Some of the examples of solid opening statements can be as follows:

• “Congratulations on your recent promotion. I noticed you now manage a team of  15+ sales employees. It must be tough {{mention the pain point}} handling such a vast team. We specialise in {{alleviating pain point}}. 
• “Your last post regarding digitising your services was amazing. It’s amazing how you’ve progressed so far. You can even add {{additional solution}} to make a bigger bang for your buck. We helped your {{competitor}} to address their {{pain point}} and helped them fetch {{benefits}}.”

In all the personalised approaches above, your buyer is bound to generate a great deal of curiosity in their mind and drive them to engage with you.  

2. Watch out for trigger events 

Someone rightly said, “​​Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.” It’s all about being there for your prospect at the right time. 

Contacting a lead just after he has been researching for a solution that you offer increases the probability of a positive cold call. 

Some of the trigger events you can keep a tab on are as follows:

• Brand expansions 
• Growing funding 
• Behavioural indicators
• Promotions 
• Changing dynamics (Mergers & Acquisitions)

In any of the events above, chances are — you can easily find your opportunity moments and prepare a compelling pitch before reaching out to your prospect. 

3. Learn from each rejection and improve 

Developing a thick skin about rejection is the only way to become a successful sales professional. Rejections are a part of cold calling, and optimistically dealing with them can be your tunnel to tasting success. Each rejection can be viewed as a learning lesson instead of a setback.

For example, If you’re dialling and facing unanswered calls, the chances are that you need to either have a quality calling list or change your calling schedule. In addition, you probably need to alter and level up your pitch if you get negative responses for each call you make. 

4. Narrow down your list to the right target 

The effective way to get a positive cold calling experience is by prioritising quality calls over quantity. Define the audience your business wants to target and spend your time contacting only those numbers. 

Pitching someone who values your information and has the power to spend on your solution increases your likelihood of getting a conversion.

For example, contacting marketing heads should be your only priority if you’re selling CRM software for business professionals. Contacting HR professionals would fetch you no results. 

To further make a considerable difference, research your audience better by learning the minutest details about them. 

For example, their geographical location, age, topics of interest, active social media channels, etc. Such information will help you have more personalised conversations, potentially increasing your chances of better engagement with the caller. 

5. Speak your buyer’s language

A successful sales professional knows how important it is to know the buyer’s lingo. However, mugging your pitch will only take you so far. 

Today’s well-versed buyers seek out finer information beyond the rep’s expectations. Such calls necessitate the salesperson clarifying or reversing the customer's inquiry, followed by extended monologues. 

If the rep fails to reciprocate in the same language, the call is over right there. Therefore, learning the same language is essential to leave a good impression on the buyer’s mind. 

One of the best ways to speak their language is by researching more about the buyer, their interests, your business’s solutions, and the finer details. Such thorough research will help you bridge the gap between you and your buyer. 

Ace the Tricky Art of Selling Better 

Today’s business environment is all about a combination of traditional and modern techniques. While digitising is taking over the world like a storm, the old techniques are not dying but only becoming new with added ingredients. 

Cold calling is one such example and can be effectively used to win big this year by using the smart tips mentioned above. Just as cold calling, there are other sales techniques and tools that one should be well versed with to make sales a winning career. 

From effective cold calling techniques to a 360-degree knowledge of CRMs, Juno is one platform that can make all the difference in your learning to sell better. To know more, visit Juno School of Business today!

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