Cold Calling: Best Practices

When it comes to cold calls and lead generation, most companies face the same problem – they don’t know how to get to the right person in the targeted company in order for the call to be effective. Often, the person that needs the product or the service is on different organizational level than the person that can actually make decision for purchase. Do you know where to start? Do you know how to handle the situation? Here are some of the best practices that can help you with your cold calling.

1. Nurture – the majority of cold calls happen in a time when the targeted company doesn’t have the need for your product or the budget for it. What you want to do is nurture the prospect along the process so you can develop a sales cycle;

2. The Top-Down approach – if you think that getting to the decision maker of the company requires you to make a few conversations with some other people of the company before that, you are not on the right path. Always make sure that you get straight to the person that can make a decision, they should be your first call;

3. Have an intelligent conversation – while scripts can’t get you very far, when you speak to the decision maker you need to have an intelligent conversation with him/her. Scripts provide a one-sided presentation of your product or service, which is a sure way to chase away the prospect, while the intelligent conversation (careful listening included) can get you to the next step of the sale;

4. Have a short memory for rejection – cold calling comes out of nowhere for the prospect and as we pointed out previously, they won’t be prepared for your product/service. So, there will be times when you will hear more “No” than “Yes”. This shouldn’t discourage you. Remember,  professionals (innovators, athletes, inventors etc.) constantly face rejection, but they never forget that success might be just one small step away;

5. Outsource – cold calling might be a powerful tool for acquiring customers in the hand of a professional, but it also can be a big hole for time and money if not used promptly. So, you need to evaluate – do you think that investing in an in-house department will be profitable to the company? If the answer is “no” or you just can’t afford such a department, your best bet is to outsource this process to the professionals. We can help you find your clients;

Remember this advice and try to implement it in your approach if you need improvement in your cold calling both in performance and results. Of course, we can help you with the acquisition of new customers, so give us a call if you need any help.