Table
of Contents
·
How Do You
Start a Cold Call?
·
Convert More
Cold Calls To Sales.
o
Cold
Call Training For B2B Teams.
§ How
Do You Start a Cold Call, Step #1
§ How
Do You Start a Cold Call, Step #2
§ How
Do You Start a Cold Call, Step #3
§ How
Do You Start a Cold Call, Step #4
§ How
Do You Start a Cold Call, Step #5
o
How to Pique a Prospects Interest in the First Few
Seconds of a Cold Call
§ Real-world
Cold Call Script Example:
How Do You Start a Cold Call?
How do you start a cold
call? Ask this question on any LinkedIn group, and you will get so many
different answers you’ll regret you ever asked.
The misinformation
regarding how to cold call is in abundance, and too many people with too little
experience are willing to tell you how to cold call. There are many ways to
start a cold call, but there’s only one “best” way. And I’m going to show you
how.
What is
Cold Calling?
If you ask “what is cold
calling?” to a group of sales reps, you’re most likely to get several different
answers. However, the definition of cold calling is:
“Contacting any prospect
that is not currently raising their hand.”
It’s that simple.
Convert More Cold Calls To Sales.
Cold
Call Training For B2B Teams.
Eliminate Call Reluctance, Set More Appointments & Boost
Sales in 30-days or Less with Our Online Sales Training Courses.
“But what about existing customers?”
If you’re calling on
clients not currently raising their hand – you are making a cold call.
“I like to warm my calls
up by sending an email first.”
Nope. Still cold calling.
Just because you sent a prospect an email doesn’t make the lead any warmer on
the prospect’s end. If the prospect is not a hand-raiser, it’s a cold call.
“I don’t cold call; I get
all my leads from referrals.”
Wrong again. Unless those
referrals are inbound, calling your best clients and asking, “who do you know?”
means you’re making two cold calls – one to your client who wasn’t raising
their hand at the time and one to whatever names you squeezed out of them.
How Do
You Start a Cold Call, Step #1
Know you’re target
audience. You have to know what KPIs (key prospecting indicators) your target
audience has and then build that list with only prospects matching specific
criteria that pre-qualify them to be a “suspect.” Nothing will burn a sales
team out faster than cold-calling leads that have almost zero chance of
converting.
How Do
You Start a Cold Call, Step #2
Know what problems your
prospect would have to have to be interested in hearing more about your
solution. Every business is only in business because they solve a specific
targeted audiences’ specific problem(s). You have to know what problems your
companies’ solutions solve because if there’s no problem, there’s no need for a
solution.
How Do
You Start a Cold Call, Step #3
It would be best if you
had a sales script. Sorry, but “Captain-wing-its” need not apply. Sure, you
need to be able to think on your feet. But flying blind call after call and
expecting to get great results is a recipe for disaster.
How often would you go
back to a restaurant if your favorite dish is different every time? You would
want them to follow the proven recipe, correct? The same goes for scaling a
company’s revenues. You can’t have ten sales reps creating their different
recipes call after call and expect top-line results.
How Do
You Start a Cold Call, Step #4
You start by knowing and
understanding what the objective is of the sales call. When you are calling a
prospect for the first time, what is your goal?
“To set an appointment.”
Nope.
“To inform them about
what we offer.”
Nope.
“To close them.”
Nope.
When you call a prospect
for the first time, your first objective is to “qualify” them.
“But we already know they
are qualified.”
No, you don’t. For a
prospect to be qualified, they have to:
1.
Be the decision-maker or at least part of the decision-making
team
2.
Have a problem your solution solves and wants that problem
solved.
3.
Can afford your solution should they decide to move forward.
So, your first objective
of a sales call is to qualify the prospect. And how do you do that? By asking
questions that qualify the prospect.
“How do I get the
prospect willing to answer qualifying questions?”
You get prospects willing
to answer qualifying questions by using an opening value statement that does
two things.
How Do
You Start a Cold Call, Step #5
Your opening value
statement (What you say after “Hello, my name is…”) has an objective. And that
objective is to accomplish two things and in this order:
1.
Pique Interest
2.
Gain permission to continue the call
How to
Pique a Prospects Interest in the First Few Seconds of a Cold Call
By going back to steps #1
and #2, you will have the data you need to accomplish step #3, build your
opening sales script.
Here’s an example:
Cold
Call Script Example:
Hi (NAME), it’s (YOUR
NAME) with (Company Name) – How are you?
Great! (OR) Well, The
reason for my call is (OR) I’m calling because…
We
help/advise/assist/support/guide (industry/title/vertical) – (pain
point/problem)
and if I caught you at a
good time I’d like to ask you a few questions just to see if what we have to
offer may be of some help to you, would that be OK?
Real-world
Cold Call Script Example:
Hi (NAME), it’s Michael
Pedone with SalesBuzz.com – How are you?
Great! (OR) Well, The
reason for my call is (OR) I’m calling because…
We help B2B sales teams overcome
call reluctance.
and if I caught you at a
good time I’d like to ask you a few questions just to see if what we have to
offer may be of some help to you, would that be OK?
By following these five
steps, you and your team will be on the right track to converting more cold
calls into opportunities with less rejection.
– Michael Pedone
Michael Pedone teaches
inside sales teams how to pick up the phone and close
business. He is the CEO/FOUNDER of SalesBuzz.com – An online sales
training company.
No comments:
Post a Comment