We all want to drive more sales.
A better product, better pricing, and better salespeople can help you get those sales. But none of those improvements or tools are going to matter unless you can generate a steady stream of qualified leads worth pursuing.
In the earliest stages of your sales funnel, your salespeople and SDRs are responsible for reaching out to people in your target audience who might be interested in what you’re selling. One of the best strategies to accomplish this might surprise you, since it’s a relatively old one: cold calling.
In this blog, we’ll highlight the following topics:
What Is Cold Calling?
Cold calling is the practice of calling prospects with the intention of setting a sales appointment or otherwise pushing the prospect to the next stage of the buying process. It’s called “cold” because the person you’re reaching has never been contacted by your business before. You didn’t meet this person at a networking event, you haven’t had any sales meetings with them, and they probably don’t know who you are.
Here, it’s important to clear up a couple of misconceptions about cold calling. We’ve all had negative experiences with robots and spam callers blowing up our phones with strange messages that are almost certainly scams. But this is not cold calling; cold calling has a sincere purpose, and it can lead to mutually beneficial conversations.
Cold calling is an opportunity to learn. You’re not just here to persuade the call recipient, nor are you only here to make a sales pitch. You’re here to learn about your prospect and gather information.
There’s a chance you’ll be able to close a sale with the first cold call, but this is pretty rare. It’s more likely that you’ll use cold calls to secure a sales meeting over the phone. You’ll explain who you are, what your business is, why your product is valuable, and why your prospect should take the opportunity to learn more about it in a more formal meeting.
Why Is Cold Calling Effective for Lead Generation?
Does cold calling really work?
The short answer is yes.
Many people mistakenly believe that cold calling is dead because it’s an older lead generation strategy and many people don’t pick up the phone for unrecognized numbers. But cold calling still sees positive results. Instead of dying, cold calling is evolving.
Some of the best advantages of cold calling for lead generation include:
- Opportunities for new reach: If you’re only working with prospects who are familiar with your brand, or warm leads, you’ll be artificially capping your growth potential. Once you open the door to cold calling, you’ll have countless new opportunities for sales development.
- Direct contact and conversations: Unlike social media outreach, email-based lead generation, and other strategies, cold calling gives you the opportunity to make direct contact with your prospects and engage them in conversation. This is a meaningful dialogue that can unfold in many directions.
- An introduction to further outreach: After making the initial cold call, you can follow up in many ways. You can continue making calls, reach out via email, or message the prospect on social media, depending on the information available to you.
- Learning potential: Cold calling isn’t just about selling; it’s about learning more about your target demographics. In the course of your cold calling conversations, you’ll learn how your target demographics think, what their biggest challenges are, and what their biggest objections to your product are. The more you learn, the more refined your sales strategy can become.
Cold Calling Statistics
Feeling unsure about the true value of cold calling? Is cold calling as effective as we claim?
Objective statistics don’t lie. Let’s take a look at some of the most powerful stats about the potential of cold calling in sales:
68% of buyers have accepted phone calls from new providers in the last 12 months.
You might send unfamiliar callers to voicemail, but most people accept calls from new providers on a regular basis.
71% of buyers want to hear from sellers when they’re looking for new ideas to drive stronger results.
The vast majority of your prospects genuinely want to hear from you if you have a product that can help them.
62% of buyers want to hear from sellers when they are actively looking for a solution to solve a problem.
Think of it this way: if your prospect has a problem, and you have a potential solution, you’re actively saving them time in research by reaching out to them.
82% of buyers accept meetings with sellers who reach out to them.
Some people like to imagine that cold calling is ineffective because prospects don’t have the time or willingness to set meetings. But this statistic proves otherwise. People are very likely to schedule meetings as long as you’re willing to reach out to them.
57% of C-level and VP buyers say they prefer to be contacted over the phone.
At the highest levels of organizations, calling is the preferred communication medium. You won’t get the same results from cold emailing or other outreach strategies.
Example of a Standard Cold Calling Script
Now let’s talk about how to make cold calls.
As we’ve noted, a script can be extremely helpful in guiding the initial stages of the conversation, as long as it’s used properly. You’ll be responsible for creating your own cold calling script, but this is a decent template to help you get started:
Notice that the introduction is warm and friendly. There’s no sales pitch, nor is there any pressure. You make your purpose clear from the beginning, providing a rational explanation for why this person should listen to you, and you lead into verifying that you’re reaching the right person. If you’re talking to the right person, you can go on to schedule a sales meeting. If not, you can try to get their contact information.
Example of a Voicemail Cold Calling Script
So what happens if you try a cold call and get sent to voicemail?
This will probably happen a lot. But it’s no excuse to give up. Here’s a simple script we like to follow when we get sent to voicemail:
Keep it short and simple, and make it extremely clear to the recipient how they should follow up with you.
For all of the ways cold callers can approach sales voicemails, check out our blog here.
Key Takeaways
Cold calling isn’t spam, nor is it a tool exclusively used by scammers. Instead, it’s a powerful way to reach new leads, learn about your target demographics, and eventually close sales. With the right script, properly trained sales reps and SDRs, and consistent execution, cold calling can be the perfect way to start conversations with your prospects.
Need help with your cold calling? Whether you’re interested in outsourcing to a team of highly qualified SDRs to do your cold calling for you or you just need some help developing the right strategy, we’re here for you. Connect with Abstrakt today to get the most out of your cold calling strategy!
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