How To Make Genuine Cold Calls To Promote Business And Generate Warm Leads?

April 5, 2021

Muhammad Nouman

Cold calling is a daunting activity that most of us dread doing. The prospects of picking up the phone and calling hundreds and thousands of people can be frustrating. For those who have been into cold calling, you know the time and effort you put in to get minimal results. You never know who picks up the phone on the other end. Sometimes the receivers are really pleasant. On the other hand, you will end up talking to people who are not even interested in knowing a single word. This is why we need to make genuine cold calls with a proper plan.

This article will explain some of the most-effective genuine cold calls to promote business and generate warm leads. Most agents are overwhelmed by the idea of picking up that phone and dialing hundreds of contacts every time you come to your workplace. In that case, this article is just for you.

Benefits Of Cold Calling

No, cold calling is not dead. Even in 2021, there are certain benefits of cold calling that can benefit your business. By implementing the proper techniques, you will get maximum benefits. Many companies consider cold calling as an essential part of their business because:

Increase Market

Unless a person is actively looking for the particular services you offer, there is no way they will find you. Making cold calls to bulk leads will help you hunt these potential customers and discover a new client base. Bulk dialing will allow you to meet people who fit the business requirements. If handled properly, these people will become your regular paying customers.

Insightful Observation

Every business has factors they want to improve. If you are looking for an insightful approach to make changes for the better, cold calling campaigns are a great way. They will allow you to discuss with your potential and present to customers how you can make everything more convenient. Their responses will help your management to make changes accordingly.

Humanly Touch

Having a business where regular people are reaching potential warm leads, and present customers gives your business a personality. They will know that there are people who are willing to get a mile ahead to interact and form a genuine seller-buyer relationship. When you personalize a tone for your business, many people will start recognizing your brand. If they like it – they will recommend your brand to other people. When you are interacting with potential business clients, show them that you value them and focus on why you are supposed to sit with a headset every day.

Possibility Of Remote Work

Because of the development in technology, you can set up your system to make genuine cold calls from literally anywhere you please. For instance, many virtual assistants opt for cold calling because it can be done remotely with very little investment. This means that you can set a high-functioning professional team to make cold calls for you from anywhere you please. Forget office expenses and other costs – just pay your agents and generate leads. However, you must remain on top of the agents and take regular updates from them to maintain a consistently accurate and stable record.

Excel In Sales

Newbies often struggle to maintain professionalism when dealing with leads. If you want to hire interns or inexperienced staff, putting them on cold calls can be a great learning opportunity for their business. Once they start dialing, they will come across different types of customers. With struggle comes experience. Once these newbie agents are trained right – you will have some high-quality sales staff who know how to handle clients of different requirements.

8 Useful Tips To Make Genuine Cold Calls And Generate Warm Leads To Promote Business

Let’s talk about some really useful tips to improve your skills as an outbound cold calling agent:

Research About Your Project

The campaign you are about to work on deserves your attention. Make it a compulsion to research your product before starting it. Since you are doing detailed research on your campaign, it will allow you to understand more about the project and its requirements.

When you enter a project with zero research, it shows that you are only there for the money. Also, it might give a vibe that you are not interested in your job. Just by showing a bit of interest and performing research about the campaign will show the calls you make.

Your employer will also be impressed by the extra efforts and the personal touch you give your calls. A personal touch for cold calls is just what you need to make genuine cold calls that promote your business. Typical research consists of:

Job title and responsibilities of your role as a calling agent
The industry you are targeting
Competitor analysis
Interest and hobbies of the callers
Recent trends
Best time to call

Establish Your Goals

Most of the outbound cold callers and agents earn on a commission basis. Are you aware of your goals as a calling agent? If yes, then you probably know how to reach them. However, if you are fuzzy on your goals, asking yourself specific questions will help you make genuine cold calls. Create a sheet that consists of these questions.

What is your monthly quota?
How many calls are you supposed to make every month?
How many calls did you make every day?
What is your call to conversion ratio?
Did you make any deals?
How many follow-ups are you supposed to make?

Prepare Your Material For Calls

Nothing can be disastrous than going to run an outbound calling campaign with no material. You need to prepare yourself for the conversation that is about to come. Just like any other social interaction, cold calls also require some initial prep.

Understand the fact that there are different kinds of people. Some customers are convinced quickly, while others need some persuasion. If the customer info is a bit more detailed, try running a mini background check. This happens in b2b cold calls, where you target a bunch of different potential clients who are pretty easy to find on social media.

Show interest in people who can benefit you, and just your nature will compel them to build a professional relationship. Apart from being well-thought and tailored to their liking, you need to ask questions in a comprehensive order. Every call should have the following pattern:

General introduction
Reason for calling
Qualifying material
Book follow-ups/deals

Focus On Your Opening Sentence

Some people might just shut the phone on your face, and there is no going forward with that. That’s just a red signal. However, many people are going to listen to you for sometime before they decide whether you deserve their time or not. When we talk about time, it doesn’t mean you have a couple of minutes.

Cold calling agents have just 6 to 10 seconds to make a statement and prove why they are worth customers’ time and attention. Your opening statements are crucial if you want to distinguish yourself and your company from competitors. A good opening sentence is a combination of exchanging pleasantries and mentioning a bit about the person on the other end.

Once you realize that the other person is willing to give you a few extra minutes of their time, jump to the point. Try to persuade them with solid points instead of immediately pushing the people to book an appointment/sale. Some really great opening lines after greeting are:

Did I catch you at an appropriate time to talk?
How are you doing this fine day?
I saw your post. You had some great insights on the XYZ topic.
I noticed you are interested in…

Build Connections First And Sales Later

The best way to impact as a cold caller is to never ever persuade them to buy what you are offering. Not only does it make your genuine cold calls look fake, but it also establishes your image as irritating, bossy, and non-professional. Imagine having a complaint registered with your HR department for these reasons. Just talk to the people, and if they are really interested, do not hesitate to ask them for a follow-up.

Instead of making sales, put your entire focus on building a solid relationship. Once a professional bond is established, sales will come to you quickly. Professionals suggest that to really set your way, follow-up after a week after the first call and stay in touch through short emails, wishes, and greetings until the person is ready to cave in. Some questions you must ask the lead before hanging up are:

When do you think would be a good time to follow-up?
Do you prefer to talk again on this number or should I contact you somewhere else?
Would you be interested in talking to someone from management?
Can we schedule an online/live meeting?
Can I have your email?
How will you feel about giving me your accessible contact? I wouldn’t mind wishing you on holiday every now and then.

Use Technology When Possible

Automating your cold calls is actually a great way to properly utilize your time and resources. If you are working in a professional setup, they will understand the technological requirements of cold calling. Automation of calling lists, data scraping from relevant sources, and using computers instead of manual phones has positively changed the entire process. You can increase the number of calls per day with the correct use of tech.

However, make sure that the entire process is private and you know how to maintain lead privacy. Don’t forget that you still need to blend in the accurate cold calling techniques to see some actual results. Once you start taking technology and technique side-by-side, you will only see some results. Some cold calling tools that make your process extremely effective are:

Myphoner starts from $11.67 monthly.
VanillaSoft starts from $80 monthly.
Toky that starts from $25 monthly.
Aircall that starts from $30 monthly.
RingCentral with custom pricing.

Be Confident About What You Are Selling

We discussed above that there will be challenging and hard to please leads. Such people may ask you difficult questions. If you are not confident while presenting the product, chances are that the receiver might shut you off. And there goes a lead. Take your fair share of time to understand the product and like it personally. For example, think of when you can convince your family to visit a place you love so much. This is the level of convincing demanding customers to require.

If you are enthusiastic about the item, it may not sound like you are making sales. Instead, you would be offering your leads a better version of the product than they already have. Once you start appreciating and trust your product while rationally expressing its worth, you make sales. To gain confidence in your product, you need to follow these essential steps:

Study the product and its prospects.
Do your homework on how to make genuine cold calls.
Keep your calm and stay on top of the sales process.
Keep in touch with trends to build communication.
Take training sessions with senior management.
Maintain a friendly yet intriguingly professional tone.
Create an FAQ sheet regarding the product you are marketing.

Handle Rejection Like A Pro

We cannot emphasize just how much new sales agents take rejection personally. Every day there will be people telling you that you are wasting their time. Some of them might not even consider talking to you. Rather than taking their rejection personally, think of different prospects. Like are you doing your best, or is there something you can do to make it better for other leads? A few tips for handling rejections while cold calling is:

Don’t force your sales pitch on the other person, especially if they immediately say they are not interested.
Give them options to see if they are still interested.
Follow-up only if they say they are busy at the moment.
Acknowledge a hard rejection and don’t bother the person.

Is Cold Calling A Worthy Choice?

With marketing platforms and requirements changing every day, many people think that cold calling has become obsolete. However, if you are looking to get a bit fast with brand awareness and general business promotion, getting behind a phone and dialing is only beneficial for your business.

You can improve the quality of your cold calls by following the tips we discussed in this article. Make sure to improvise on the way you call and talk to the users. With research, follow-ups, and the use of proper technology, you will start making sales in no time. Make sure to handle rejection positively because then you will be able to make genuine cold calls.