Cold calls in sales can be very intimidating, especially for aspiring salespeople. Faced with rejections and rude behavior in most calls, one might call it a day in their first few attempts.
But the real thrill is when you start getting the hang of it. Before that, ask yourself, Are you comfortable making cold calls? If not, then you are definitely in the right place.
Here are some practical tips and tricks for making a successful cold call and mastering the art of telesales and marketing.
The Psychology Behind Cold Calling
The mere 2% success rate might sound very low, but the facts differ entirely. If you make 50 cold calls daily with the right prospects and a mindful plan, you might end with a potential sale by the end of the day. Now, that seems solid!
Salespeople need to consider several factors regarding the psychology behind cold calling. These include self-motivation and training, coping with rejections, conducting adequate research, developing a proper action plan, and resonating with feedback.
Self-Motivation Is Key!
Self-motivation keeps your mind clear and focused on your work during cold calls. Instead of doubting or second-guessing your ability, keeping your morale high will significantly boost your performance and image. After all, it is about making the prospect like you in the first five-second split of the call.
Coping With Rejections
Your first step in keeping up with the rejections is NOT to take it personally. There might be several underlying factors that could cause prospects to reject your offer on your face.
Parameters like calling time may not be correct; the prospect might be busy, have a terrible time, or may not even be interested. These are some of the factors that contribute to rejection.
Either way, you must stay motivated, trust the process, and prepare for the next call. Your environment and surrounding people may be helpful in these situations.
Conducting Adequate Research & Personalizing Cold Calls
One of the cornerstones of successful cold calls is research. Before picking up the dialer, you must have explicit and concise knowledge about what you are selling, who your potential customer is, and what the proposition that your product or service offers is.
Unprepared cold calls will take you nowhere but increase your frustration and waste your prospect’s time. Expert agencies focus on in-depth research. Such small efforts can help small businesses grow.
To conduct meaningful and practical research, you must thoroughly research what your product or service offers, what the customer needs, where your product or service fits, and how you address the pain points.
Based on the research, you can conduct a personalized script that would be instrumental in the opening introduction of a cold call.
Practice! Practice! Practice!
Now, cold-calling is a lot to handle. It is indeed complex. However, continuous practice is the only way to conquer the art. You will get better as you progress further. So, perseverance and continuity are the key.
When cold calling, there is a thin line between ‘reading a script’ and ‘working according to a plan.’ One of the most common mistakes new salespeople make is reciting a script for a cold call.
Although cold-calling may give you early success, it can be catastrophic in complex, deal-breaking situations. To counter this, repeatedly practising will sharpen and refine your cold-calling skills.
Stay Humble, Stay Ahead!
If you are new to this field, you will make mistakes, which can be demoralizing. Every error on cold calls will be an underlying lesson. So, you must take valuable input from your mishaps.
Also, getting feedback from your mentors and coworkers can be a great asset in achieving tremendous success. Small notions like this will continuously improve your skills, making you more confident in the cold calls.
What Are The Key Skills For Effective Cold Calling?
A compelling cold call is not just about a perfect sales pitch. It is more of a complete package. You must combine several soft skills and methods to complete a successful cold call.
Here is the list of key skills and methods you must work on for a practical cold-calling session.
Tonality
The only thing that bonds you with your prospect is your voice. Moreover, prospects decide within the first split 5 seconds whether they like you. In such cases, you must have a mindful tone that instantly builds trust.
Experienced cold-callers suggest approaching cold calls with a calm and composed tone. This approach increases credibility and acceptance among prospects.
Understanding The Pain Points Of The Prospect
You must focus on understanding the prospect’s pain points instead of pitching your product or service.
Understanding the pain points will also allow you to understand the prospect’s mindset, which will be instrumental in building an instant relationship over the cold call.
AAA (Assertive And Aggressive Attitude)
One of the most challenging tasks in this industry is to keep a positive mindset. However, an assertive yet aggressive attitude is necessary to become a successful cold-calling maestro.
Instead of talking hesitantly, focus on showing a compassionate approach towards the prospect. Listen to what the prospect says, try to understand, and collaborate. It will create a good rapport between you and the prospect.
Building A Relationship With The Prospect
End of the day, gaining the prospect’s trust will generate sales. For that, you must build a fruitful relationship with them. However, it is hard for experienced salespeople to grab the prospect’s attention instantly.
To counter this, you can use the 55-45 talk-to-listen method, in which you talk for 55% of the duration and listen to the prospect for the remaining time.
Active listening is an effective way to build trust and confidence. It also allows the salesperson to leave a good mark for future perspectives.
Creating Value And Relatability
Once you successfully build a relationship, the next step is creating a value proposition to which the prospect can relate. Understanding the pain points will help you identify the gaps your product or service can fill.
You must emphasize providing a solution rather than selling one. It will prevent your prospect from feeling pressured or manipulated.
Closing The Deal
Even if you cannot onboard a prospect, aim to keep a communication line intact. Feedback, redial commitments, and even a good farewell will make an impression. Mastering the skills of leveraging the deal success rate is necessary.
If you have convinced someone to purchase or subscribe to your product or service, you must maintain continuity to close the deal. It usually involves taking essential information or forwarding the call to the back office.
How To Prepare For A Cold Call
The preparation segment is about mastering the skills, maintaining composure, and staying positive. To build self-confidence, you must have detailed and precise knowledge about what and to whom you sell.
Thorough research can assist you in gaining knowledge. And to gain knowledge, all you need to do is ask questions!
After completing the prior research, you must focus on your communication skills. Remember that this is not a sales pitch; it’s about making connections and solving the prospect’s problem. So, your tone, composure, and active listening skills will be necessary.
Even if you have ticked all the boxes, anxiety and fear will be yet another factor to address. To counter that, you can follow the 5-4-3-2-1 rule.
Clear your head and count from 5 to 1 when you have all the necessary information. Once you hit 1, you will have to call the prospect. This method pushes your mind toward a challenge, leveraging your fear and anxiety to help you cope with your fear.
Lastly, mistakes are bound to happen. Instead of dwelling on them, you must move forward!
The following questions will get you all the information that you need:
- What industry are you working in?
- Is your proposition a product or a service?
- Who are your possible prospects?
- Is it a B2B or a B2C market?
- Who are you addressing?
- What are the prospect’s pain points?
- What are the possible gaps that your proposition can cater to?
- When is the right time to call your prospect?
- How can you connect with the prospect through your proposition?
Building Confidence, Breaking Through Barriers: Strategies For Cold Calling Success
Assess Your Cold Call Skills
Listening to what you say is an effective way to assess your cold-calling skills. Call recording can be instrumental in learning your strengths and weaknesses. First, you must identify your strongholds and improve your cold-calling skills.
Your strengths may include tonality, relationship, objection-handling, or identifying the prospect’s pain points. You must work according to your stronghold and create a base from it.
Weaknesses are areas that require constant effort and development. Cold calling is a continuous learning curve; you must overcome obstacles to excel.
Developing A Cold Call Training Plan
Once you know your strengths and weaknesses, create an adequate training plan. The world is full of resources that can help you master the art of cold calling. Online training websites, podcasts, videos, courses, and guides can help you learn about cold calling.
In addition, various cold-calling workshops and seminars from industry experts can be beneficial. Internships in reputed agencies can also give you hands-on experience.
You will have to practice regularly. Continuous practice will gradually develop your skills and generate self-confidence, as the learning process is a cycle.
Mastering Cold Call Techniques
Once you grasp the basics, it is all about mastering the art. The first and foremost thing is to work on your tonality. While on a call, you cannot measure the intensity of your tone. By taking more calls and listening to the recordings, you can adjust to an optimal tone.
One core factor in mastering cold call techniques is practical scripting. Even though situations differ, a well-planned script matters. It provides an outline that can guide the overall flow of the conversation.
Always remember that the first expression matters. Your opening lines will be instrumental in binding the prospect long enough for a potential deal. You must be clear and precise about your intent and show confidence through your voice.
An effective way to understand the prospect’s needs is to’ listen’ to what he says. Active listening skills are a cutting-edge approach to understanding the prospect’s pain points.
Asking open-ended questions can help you engage more deeply with a prospect and identify the factors determining their purchasing behavior.
Establishing a relationship with the prospect will build trust. A successful cold caller must establish a compelling relationship for a successful deal. Instead of selling, focus on solving the prospect’s problem.
Practical Cold Call Exercises
This segment covers the key factors in building trust and provides examples of a successful cold-calling script.
Work On Your Tone
As discussed, your tone should be calm and composed. You must not sound too loud and overexcited or indicate any signs of weakness through stuttering. You must ensure that the other person likes you based on your tone. So, Your delivery should be slow and steady.
Select A Compelling Opening Line
Selecting a compelling opening line for the cold call does most of the job. Expert coaches and mentors suggest keeping an open-ended question. For instance,
Caller: “Hello, Mark. This is Max from Calling Agency. How are you doing today?”
It is an effective and proven method. However, rejection is possible if you cannot match the prospect’s tonality. We have crafted a better approach throughout our years of experience in the industry. For instance,
Caller: “Hello Mark, this is Max from Calling Agency. Did I catch you in a bad time?”
You might get a “No, what do you want?!” for an answer, but a window of continuing the conversation remains.
Letting The Prospect Help You
This segment is a bit advanced. Instead of hitting straight to the context of your proposition, you show a submissive attitude. For instance,
Caller: “Hello Mark, this is Max from Calling Agency. Did I catch you in a bad time?”
Prospect: “No. What’s Up?”
Caller: “Mark, I’m a bit lost. Would you mind if I took a moment to explain the reason behind my call?”
It will generate curiosity among the prospects and lead them toward the temptation of helping you out.
Clearly Explaining The Agenda
This segment is crucial; take your time and explain where your proposition can help the prospect. Continuing the conversation,
Caller: “I am calling from Calling Agency; we are a video editing firm. Recently, we have noticed that you/your company is very active in social media, which is ABSOLUTELY GREAT!
Continuing forward…
“What we actually do is provide video content services to companies and brands, which can help boost their social media game to another level. Now, we have noticed that you have not been active yet in this sector. So, the reason behind this call is to see if you can spare me your five minutes to assess if we can help each other out somehow.”
This short yet informative approach will clarify your agenda and proposal, and, in the best-case scenario, it will open a window of opportunity.
Keeping The Window Open!
You can push the prospect towards a potential deal if the response is assertive. Even if it is not a positive response, seek an opportunity for the future. The conversation should be like the following:
Prospect: “I’m not sure about it. I’ll have to talk to my team or wife about it, but I’ll let you know!”
Caller: “Excellent! Would you like me to call later this week?”
Prospect: “Sure. Hit me up this weekend!”
Caller: “That will do, Mark! I look forward to hearing more from you on Sunday!”
The conversation shows confidence and creates a relationship with the prospect, leaving behind a window of opportunity for future sales.
Conclusion
Mastering the skills and continuous practice will make you comfortable making cold calls. Industry-leading experts emphasize that young salespeople should learn new skills throughout their cold-calling careers.
One major obstacle for a salesperson is overcoming the fear of cold calling. Focusing on strengths, emphasizing learning, and achieving self-awareness will reduce weaknesses.
If you are uncomfortable making cold calls, contact CallingAgency for a free consultation. Our industry-leading experts will help you use your strengths to overcome your fear and anxiety.
