Marketing and telemarketing methods have evolved and adapted over time, but certain techniques remain popular even today. Cold calling is one of those telemarketing techniques, and it’s a type of marketing that almost everyone has experienced at least once in their lives.
Although cold calling does not have the best reputation in the opinion of some marketing experts, for companies that continue to utilize it is an effective and useful method of marketing. Let’s take a better look at what cold calling is and examine a few important tips to incorporate into your cold calling strategy.
What Is Cold Calling?
Cold calling is a strategy that telemarketers use to get in touch with people who haven’t previously shown interest in the goods or services of a company.
Typically, marketing and sales specialists will look for and piece together data gathered from public databases to find the necessary information to cold contact leads.
If you’ve ever received an unexpected call from a salesman or marketing representative, you’ve already come into contact with this business and marketing strategy. Although it may feel intrusive to some, cold calling is still an effective method to reach a broader audience.
This definition emphasizes the ‘cold’ part of cold calls, which means that a prospect is not aware of the product or service they are being sold. Consequently, they probably had no interest in such a product before they talked with a salesperson.
Key Takeaways
Cold calling refers to communications with prospects who have had no prior contact with a sales rep or a company and its products or services, all in an attempt to make a sale;
Cold calling is an old sales technique that is considered intrusive by some but it undeniably still yields results with respect to sales;
A cold with a prospect who has had no prior engagement with a company is an attempt to reach a broader target audience, and make a sale to a new customer segment.
How to Define Cold Calling?
The term “cold calling technique” refers to approaching a potential customer by phone or in-person without any previous interaction from the salesperson.
A call is considered truly cold if it is entirely unexpected, rather than merely being the first in a series of communications. This distinction is important as social selling gains traction.
However, social media can enhance traditional cold calling by providing more comprehensive information about the prospective customer than was previously accessible, potentially increasing the effectiveness of these initial calls.
For instance, cold calling can be highly effective in industries like commercial real estate, where personal relationships and timely opportunities are crucial. A broker might reach out to potential property investors when a promising property hits the market.
Conversely, cold calling may not be effective in markets like tech startups, where decision-makers prefer to research solutions online and may view unsolicited calls as interruptions.
In such sectors, inbound marketing tactics like content marketing or social media engagement are often more effective and better received.
Why Is Cold Calling Important?
Cold calling may seem outdated to some, but it still serves as the foundation for many types of businesses. More than anything, cold calling is important because it allows marketing and sales representatives to reach segments of the target audience that they may not get with other methods.
1. Cold calling increases reach
A company can only reach a limited number of its target audience through traditional methods. Cold calling allows businesses to expand their reach and significantly improve performance by contacting potential customers directly.
2. Capture unaware prospects
Without cold calling, individuals who are not actively seeking the goods or services you offer may never come across your business. Cold outreach helps bridge this gap by introducing your company to new potential customers.
3. Engage potential customers
Cold calling enables you to connect with individuals who fit your customer profile, introducing them to the products and services your company offers, and opening up new business opportunities.
Cold Calling Has a Low Success Rate
Unexpected telephone calls can be bothersome and intrusive, especially if you don’t like salespeople. This is the reason why this type of call has a low conversion rate, and many calls must be made before a prospect agrees to try out a product or make a purchase.
There is a good chance that a prospect won’t be interested in learning more about your offer and will immediately hang up.
This may be discouraging at first, but sales representatives become accustomed to playing the numbers game. By improving the sales pitch and its delivery, the effectiveness of cold calls can increase.
What Are The Best Cold Calling Strategies?
Whatever type of business you are involved in, your cold calling strategy will be most successful when it matches the core message of your company and offers the most value to the prospect. Here are some tips to integrate into your cold calling strategies.
1. Implement technology
Using specific tools can be useful in reducing the amount of time spent on tedious tasks. There are too many sales tools out there to count, but a CRM platform can be an excellent start in automating your outreach and tracking performance.
2. Gather information
It is a wise move to create the most precise list of persons to contact so you don’t waste time on each call determining whether the person who answered is a suitable fit for your product or service. If you’re selective about who you approach, you’ll encounter rejection far less frequently.
3. Use a calling schedule
You could be losing out on an opportunity if you phone every prospect randomly between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm every day.
You may target your efforts more effectively during times that may have a greater impact by taking note of when leads seem to be more likely to pick up the phone and when they’ll be more inclined to have a conversation.
4. Craft a compelling script
Develop a well-structured and engaging script that highlights the key benefits of your product or service. This script should include an introduction, a clear value proposition, and answers to common objections. Having a strong script can help you stay focused during the call and convey your message more effectively, increasing your chances of a positive outcome.
5. Follow-up consistently
Cold calling doesn’t end with the first call. Implement a systematic follow-up strategy to maintain contact with prospects who showed interest but didn’t commit immediately.
Schedule follow-up calls, send personalized emails, and provide additional information or resources to keep the conversation going.
Consistent follow-up demonstrates persistence and can help convert initial interest into actual sales.
Additional Tips & Tricks
- Investing in training courses for your sales team can improve the skill of each salesperson, resulting in greatly improved conversion rates from cold calls;
- A cold calling script can help with each cold call, by integrating previously memorized points and knowledge that is known about a prospect;
- The goal of almost any cold call is to make a sale, which is why it is important to adapt to each potential client. By understanding the needs of the prospect first, it is much easier to make the sale later.
The Bottom Line
Cold calling is a tried and true marketing and sales technique. In this method, sales reps contact leads who have had no previous engagement with a company’s products or services in an attempt to convince them to make a purchase or subscription. The success of cold calls highly relies on the skill of the salesperson and sales team overall.
Now you learned what cold calling is, why it is important and what are the strategies for great cold calling performance. We know this knowledge will help you to determine the best cold calling approach for your company or organization.
Cold Calling FAQs
Cold calling tips may vary from business to business. Still, some commonly accepted good cold calling tips include not fearing rejection, adapting to each potential customer, utilizing digital tools to obtain customer data, and focusing on improving your sales pitch with each cold call.
While some countries have restrictions regarding cold calls, a cold call is generally not illegal. Restrictions for a cold call generally apply to the hours between which sales reps are allowed to make cold calls.
The length of a cold call will typically depend on the prospect. If the prospect is not interested at all and simply wants to hang up, it will be quite short, but with a prospect that is interested in learning more, it is not uncommon to spend 15 or more minutes on the phone.
While the goal of both types of calls is to make a sale, there is one crucial difference. Warm calls are done as a follow-up with a prospect who is already familiar with a company and its products or services, while a cold call is conducted in an attempt to make a sale to a prospect who has had no prior engagement with the sales rep or the company.
