3 tips for effective cold or outbound calling
3 top tips for effective cold calling to gain attention
We live in world where we are time poor and are overwhelmed by communication via phone, email and social media. So how do you gain someone's attention within seconds so they listen to what you have to say?
3 Cold calling tips that improve your effectiveness and save you time.
Cold Calling tip 1: Have a reason to call
If the receiver of your call does not see 'what is in it for them' then they will not see the benefit or have interest in listening to what you have to say. See it from their point of view and ask yourself 'if I was this person would I listen to me?'
Anyone in business has 3 main needs when it comes to buying a product, service or solution
-SAVE money
-SAVE time
-MAKE money
If you want to get a decision maker's attention especially for non commodity products you need to be more specific. To be more specific you need to do your research.
Cold Calling tip 2. Do your research
Recently New Voice Media conducted an independent survey which confirmed that doing just 5 minutes of research before making a call to a prospect will boost the closing of a deal or gaining commitment to the next step by 86%. The amount of research you do depends on what you sell and who you are looking to sell to. If you sell low cost commodity based items you could use a general script with some relevance to the prospect. E.G. ' I am calling you today as I know you sell .. and I feel we could help you ....' If you are selling higher value or solutions then you need to sound consultative and well prepared, this requires more research and more detail when you outline your reason for your call. E.G. 'I noticed you have just opened a new branch and your press release mentioned that prompt delivery was your number one priority. I am calling you today to make you aware of the latest technology in tracking parcels which will help your company enhance your delivery performance whilst savings you time in the process'. As a market leader in ... I felt this would be of interest to you...
Aim to put a question into the above example to keep engagement and interest.
Cold Calling tip 3: Questioning
The answers you want are in the questions you ask. If someone asked me what did I do in my sales career which made me successful at selling I would always say that asking great questions is critical. They must also be open questions as much as possible (Why, Who, Where, When or What)
When devising your cold calling script make sure you include some questions to break up your pitch so the receiver feels engaged and you have good questions to ask to qualify the opportunity and uncover a need. On a cold call you will have little time to gain attention so you need to carefully select the questions you ask.
This is a small sample of tips from Debbie Sweeney, lead trainer of Solutions2Success .
