Specially when it comes to cold calling, value proposition on call is the primary engine of conversion. Maybe your offer is not clear to the prospect or it creates a vague or ambiguous meaning towards the prospect.
Let’s discuss the 7 clear symptoms that indicate your value proposition on call is not being strong enough for outbound calls.
Your Value Proposition Is not Strong Enough: 7 Clear Symptoms
There are a lot of symptoms on your outbound cold calling that may put a finger on the quality of your value proposition. Sometimes prospects say, “Who is this?”, “Not interested”, a big silence on call or many more. We are going to discuss the most heard 7 symptoms and overcoming those will lead you to successful conversion.
1. The “Who Is This?” Interruption
When your prospect says who this is then you must realize that your opening was not clear enough or the prospect was not able to relate their problems with your offer.
Reasons why this happens:
- You led your company instead of prospects problems
- You were too abstract
- You did not anchor the outcome in the conversation
Lets see an example conversation for concrete scene clarity:
- Agent: Hi this is Sam from ABC technology. We provide innovative digital solutions to improve your business growth.
- Prospect: Sorry, Who is this and what do you do?
- Agent: We help businesses use extensible technologies.
- Prospect: Okay, I am not sure what this means.
Here the problem is the agent focused on the company rather on the pain point of the prospect and its solution.
2. The “I’m Not Interested” Before You’re Done
If the prospect rejects you and shows direct objection with I AM NOT INTERESTED then the prospect does not see themselves in your message.
Reasons why this happens:
- The pitch is so much generic
- You did not specify the benefits
- No clear differentiation
Example scenario:
- Agent: Hi this is Sam from ABC technology. We improve efficiency and drive growth for businesses like yours.. .. .
- Prospect: I am not interested
- Agent: I have not explained the benefits yet … .. .
- Prospect: we are all set thank you
The problem is you have used generic and vague words like IMPROVE EFFICIENCY and DRIVE GROWTH. So the prospect felt everything is very generic, no value addition, no differentiation.
3. Dead Air After Your Pitch
Silence is diagnostic because you can’t recognize the prospects’ psychology here. It signals unremarkable and unclear value.
Reasons why this happens:
- Your pitch was too broad
- Outcome was not relatable
- Prospect did not know how to respond
Example scenario of conversation:
- Agent: Hi this is Sam from ABC technology. We offer a platform that simply your business workflow and allow AI integration for faster outcome
- Prospect: … ….. …. .
- Agent: Hello? Does it make sense?
- Prospect: I don’t know. May it make sense but how?
The pitch is too abstract and the prospect gets confused about whether it is relatable to their business or not.
4. They Ask “How Much Does It Cost?” Immediately
Price becomes the first question when the service or product’s value is not established in the conversation.
Reasons:
- Value is not clearly described
- Prospect did not felt the value over price
- You sound interchangeable
Example scenario:
- Agent: We provide a marketing automation solution that integrates across your channels.
- Prospect: Okay… how much is it?
- Agent: It depends on the package
- Prospect: Just give me a rough idea.
The problem here is that the prospect was not able to identify the value so they focused on the price.
5. They Keep Asking “For More Info” to Be Emailed
On the cold calling conversation if you get asked about sending more information or if the prospect directly says JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL then what really happened? Lets see in the below points.
- You failed to create urgency
- Outcome was not enough
- Prospect felt the next step is unnecessary
Sample conversation:
- Agent: Hi, this is Alexa from ABQ. We offer a digital service that improves your digital presence in social media and search engines.
- Prospect: Just send me an email
- Agent: I can send a brochure but if I can explain how it improves… .. .
- Prospect: Okay great. Thank you (Hang Up)
The problem here you see is the prospect took a smart leave from you. They wanted to not to invest time on you because your pitch was so generic and it did not create an urgency because you did not hit the pain point of the prospect.
6. You’re Dreading the Calls Yourself
Dreading the calls yourself is also called cold calling reluctance or fear of making calls. It happens when you feel you are not prepared enough to add value to the prospect’s pain point.
Reasons why it happens:
- Your idea about service or product is superficial
- You don’t research the prospect thoroughly
- Cant find out the pain point of prospect
- Don’t have confidence of handling objection
Those are the primary reasons you stop making calls. When you lack those aspects you spend too much time staring at the screen, frequently visiting prospects profiles, scroll unnecessary etc.
7. Your Response Rates Are Terrible (and Falling)
Lower or terrible response rate is a macro-symptom of weak differentiation.
- Offer has lack of clarity
- Your positioning blending into noise
- Targeting may be misaligned
Sample conversation:
- Agent: Hi, I am Sulivan, calling from XYZ to introduce our cutting-edge SaaS solution that helps optimize performance.
- Prospect: We already have something for that.
- Agent: Ours is more innovative.
- Prospect: Okay we are fine.
Here the problem is that CUTTING-EDGE and OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE types of words are noise-level phrases. The prospect found your message without a clear outcome or measurable boundary, so they got no reason to switch.
Final Words
Those 7 symptoms are not the end of the world. You can face anything else that is not mentioned here but the solution is similar for almost every kind of value proposition problem.
- Clarity reduces resistance
- Specificity builds credibility
- Differentiation earns attention
Maintain these 3 primary rules for value proposition and see how cold calling brings better conversion rate.
