Master the ‘cold call’ with these techniques

Since the inbound marketing strategy stepped its foot in the market, outbound marketing has received far less attention. The reason behind is that most of the professionals see the outbound marketing as a redundant method. Often it is due to the fear of gaining a negative reputation from irritable outbound techniques, marketers are avoiding the use of cold calling. But avoiding things completely just because of certain challenging boundaries is not an intelligent option to go with. The question arises, is cold calling still valuable for B2B? And the answer is yes. Well, I know many of you won’t agree with the fact because of the criticisms it has gained over the time but never forget that everything has two sides- good and bad and so does cold calling. In this article, we will discuss pros and cons of cold calling method and techniques required to get better results for better sales. What Is Cold Calling? Cold calling is an outbound marketing strategy used to communicate with prospects in an attempt to sell and promote the company’s products or services. Generally, calls are made to people with no prior engagement or connection. Advantages/Pros Of Cold CallingDial a prospect’s number and in seconds you will be in direct contact with him/her. Hence, it can be considered as the quickest way of approaching prospects. All you need is a correct number. Since cold calling is a direct form of communication so it will sound more personal and realistic as compared to any other form of communication. You get an immediate response and feedback for the purpose you’re calling them.

The chances are very few that they will keep you hanging with their decision. Also, it’s easy to figure out the exact problem your customer is facing, leaving your products/services etc. and once you get to the root of the problem, it’s easy for you to find the solution and to ensure others don’t leave you. With correct statements, telephone etiquettes, showing sympathy, being polite and courteous, listening to them patiently etc. it’s easy to convince your customer to do business with you. Disadvantages/Cons Of Cold CallingSince people don’t keep their contact numbers public due to some privacy issue so it’s difficult to get their contact numbers. As there’s no specific calling time, sales executives call their prospects anytime while sleeping, resting, eating, meeting etc. which irritates and annoys them.

When you’re calling somebody you need to explain each and every purpose of calling, you need to give them each and every detail related to your products/services which is a very time-consuming task.

Also, due to various different reasons sometimes people become so aggressive that it becomes difficult to handle them. Often lengthy conversations become monotonous and to get rid of that people makes false promises of buying and referring the products/services. To scale up the process, one needs to hire more people which will obviously require more money. So it’s hard to scale-up and is expensive as well. Techniques To Cold Calling For Better ResultsAlthough cold calling isn’t used the same way it was used earlier, still there’s some ray of hope for small businesses and startups. How to get benefitted depends on how you use it. Here are few techniques that will surely help you get more sales and achieve the purpose of calling. Prepare and practice before placing a call: When you practice you gain more confidence and feel the sense of perfection better than earlier. Similarly, when you prepare yourself you very well know the purpose of calling and accordingly you set your mind about the questions and solutions you would be dealing with your prospects. Preparation and practice help you achieve more confidence and masters you to carry the conversation with prospects or clients better. State clearly the purpose of calling: Before you start any conversation, introduce yourself briefly and state the purpose of calling clearly.

For instance: you’re an employee in Trivago and you need to place a check-in confirmation call to your customer then you should open the conversation as- “ Hi, my name is XYZ and I am calling from Trivago. Am I speaking to Mr/Ms. ABC?” After their confirmation, you should say- “ Thank you, Sir/Ma’am. This call is in regards to confirm your check-in in the hotel/property named…..…” You can see how briefly and clearly the purpose of the call is stated here. Likewise, explain the purpose clearly or your prospect will get the feeling of your being lost, nervous, and confused. Also, try to avoid the time gap. Retain an even voice tone: Your voice quality and voice tone plays a vital role in the conversation going on. If your voice time is same throughout the conversation you sound more like a robot, if you keep talking in the high pitch all the time you sound arrogant, and if you keep your pitch low all the time people thinks that you’re either nervous or confused and nobody likes to do business with such unconfident person.

Therefore, lower or raise your voice wherever and whenever the situation demands. This will make you appear eligible and sensible person with whom people would like to carry the business. Avoid interruptions during the conversation: Many people have the habit of interrupting while other is speaking. Believe me, this is neither an etiquette nor an intelligence. Hence, you should first listen to them carefully then answer. If by mistake you interrupted, just apologise and ask to continue. Also, try to avoid people around you. If there’s an urgency you can request them for being on hold for a minute or two and thank them for the same. Listen to your prospect carefully and address the objections: “ Only a good listener can be a good speaker”. Yes, no doubt. When you listen carefully you get to understand the problem/queries of your customer in depth and it becomes easy for you to answer them appropriately. Similarly, when your prospect is objecting something instead of arguing you should listen to their objections with concentration and address their objection calmly. You can always monitor the perception of the receiver by implementing Website visitor tracking tools. End up the conversation with a nice closing statement: It doesn’t matter if the conversation bore the fruit or not you should always end the conversation with a nice closing statement. It should sound as pleasing as the opening statement was because you never know what will touch or pinch them. Also, ask them for any further assistance required and then thank them for being on call with you and wish them a great day ahead.