Despite its negative image as the least liked sales technique, both by sales executives and customers, cold calling is still widely used by companies to increase sales. And it is here to stay because, if done right, cold calling can indeed increase sales for your company.
However, cold calling can be a really daunting task if you are not used to it and don’t know where to start or how to make your calls more effective. So, we have gathered a few tips and tricks for you to get started on your journey to becoming a pro at cold calling.
what is cold calling
Cold calling is a traditional marketing technique where sales representatives connect with potential customers over a phone call. While people say that it is dead, many successful businesses still rely on cold calling to engage prospects, promote their products and services, and drive sales.
Following are the two key things that you need to do to improve your cold calling success rates and increase sales:
Strive to Make the Calls Longer
This is a proven technique to improve the efficiency of your cold calls. Research suggests that longer calls, usually lasting 5 minutes and 50 seconds on an average, are more successful than shorter calls.
In fact, research also found that the duration of the call is directly proportional to the likelihood of getting a meeting. So, the key to a successful cold call comes down to buying more time.
However, buying more time is not as easy as it sounds. More often than not, people don’t even continue a conversation if they realize it’s a sales call.
So, to ensure that the customers listen to you and continue the conversation, it is essential to improve listener engagement.
Improve Your Engagement Rate by Making the Call More Conversational
One of the best ways to improve engagement rates on your cold calls is to ensure that you make the call more conversational, rather than making it a monologue for a sales pitch.
There are several ways in which you can engage your prospective customers, including:
- Ask them relevant questions and wait for them to answer. This will provide them a chance to speak, making them more interested in the conversation.
- Discuss the customers’ problems first and then introduce your product to offer solutions to those problems. Ask them to elaborate on their problems to keep them invested in the call as they would feel that the call is beneficial for them.
- Maintain a good talk to listen ratio (46:54) and distribute your talk time evenly across the call. Make sure that you don’t get into long monologues, nor let the prospective customers go on a long rant. The most effective conversations are those in which both parties get almost equal chances of speaking and listening.
Now that you know the key differentiators between successful and unsuccessful cold calls, start using these techniques to master your cold calling skills. To further improve your cold calling success rates, check out this infographic below.
