Cold calling is no exception to the rule. Contrary to what people might think, B2B cold calling is not dead. In a world where remote work has been increasing, cold calling is making a comeback.
Cold calling is an opportunity to familiarize a potential prospect with your company’s products and services. In order to be successful before reaching out to the prospect, you must research the customer pain points to be prepared for the call.
Most businesses avoid cold calling because they feel it is considered a thing of the past. Either they don’t know how to effectively cold call or they are hoping for a miracle to increase their sales.
TCalling cold prospects is not easy. It requires patience, persistence and expertise. So let’s point out some of the best techniques for B2B cold calling.
1. Do your research
Begin by determining who or what your B2B product or service helps. It is designed for Engineers, Human Resources or sales people?. You can then conduct more investigation to determine the decision maker for that department. If you cold call the wrong person your sales pitch will be ignored.
In case you don’t know where to start, LinkedIn is an excellent resource for locating these specific B2B employees. Go to the company’s profile page and click to see the list of LinkedIn members who are currently employed at that company.
2. Stop asking “Do you have a moment” or “Is it a good time to talk”?
Cold calls opening with “How have you been” have higher success rates. This type of question works so well because it’s an unexpected interrupt pattern that disorganizes the potential customer in a good way.
You can ask the question to a complete stranger even if you’ve never spoken to them before. It’s more about how you ask the question that determines your genuineness. Are you giddy or robotic? Or are you authentic?
3. State the reason for your call
Opening your call by stating the reason for calling will increase your chances of gaining as much time as possible and also increase your success rates. Humans crave explanations, even if they aren’t particularly compelling.
Using this cold calling opening line early will allow you to present the value proposition as soon as possible and reduce the chances of people hanging up on you.
4. Closing question to book more appointments
One way to get better results is simply rethinking your manner of finishing the call. Asking the right question can help you get greater outcomes for your appointment scheduling calls. Here’s your magic phrase to do it.
After you have made the suggestions for the meeting ask: “Do you have your calendar handy?”. This is by far the most successful closing line.
5. Keep the door open
If you try to schedule an appointment and you get a “no” keep the door open. Offer to send a follow-up email with important information that the prospect requires. In order to re-open the dialogue, make a second effort to arrange the appointment using the information you sent.
Many second chance appointments don’t happen because you didn’t place yourself in a position to re-open the conversation.
6. Cold call during these hours
Most reps think calling at 9:00am is the best time to call, but is it really the best time? According to a CallHippo study, the best time to pick up the phone is between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. The second best time to call a prospect is between 11:00 a.m and 12:00 p.m..
When you consider the structure of a typical office day, you recognize that at 11:00am most people are finishing up tasks before taking lunch. Likewise, at 4:00pm they are wrapping up their day, so your prospect is likely hesitant to start a new task.
7. Write a B2B cold calling script
Even if you perform well in cold calling, consider writing a script template that can be customized depending on the prospect. Writing a script allows sales representatives to stay focused, quickly reference and handle objections, and be prepared for potential questions.
Being a successful sales representative requires quick thinking, persistence and focus. Using a script clearly makes reps sound better. In turn, they will seem polished and prepared for discussions and meetings.
Follow the seven techniques above to improve your cold calling success rates. By using these techniques, you’ll be able to stand out from competitors by connecting with high-quality prospects on a personal level.
If you are interested in hiring an outbound agency with a team of experts focused on your lead generation and business development processes, feel free to contact us! Alternatively, you can schedule an appointment directly with us using this link.
“It’s no longer about interrupting, pitching and closing. It is about listening, diagnosing and prescribing.”
Mark Roberge
Thomas Keller is a Business Development and Sales Support Professional in the field of MSPs, VARs, Channel Sales, and other B2B industries. He is the founder and CEO of Port group, a United States based company that provides outsourced business development and sales support services for SaaS, MSPs, international representation, BPOs, and other B2B industries. He made Port Group’s mission to help clients like you improve their business by providing better results, improved agility and cost efficiency.
