Cold Calling: How to Really Make It Work

In every business, it’s necessary to constantly try to get new clients. You may have proper leads sometimes, but eventually, you’ll run out of people to call on your list. When this happens, you’ll need to do something that many newbie salespeople hate: take cold calls.

Cold calls can be difficult and frustrating because you’re calling up strangers who don’t know a thing about what your company is and the products or services you’re selling. Most of the time, they would just tell you that they’re not interested or slam the phone down to get rid of you.

Hopefully, the tips below will help you build a relationship with a complete stranger and close a sale after you’ve done your cold call. So, start practising your sales talk on the VoIP phone system for your small business now.

Focus your questions only on the client

When you’re doing cold calls, remember that your clients should be the sole focus. All of your questions should be focused on them and not on you or what you do for your company. This way, they will feel that your primary objective is to help them with their needs and not to make a sale.

It’s a lot like talking to your friend and trying to convince him that he should buy the most effective sealant in the market if he wants to fix the leaks in his roof. When you’re trying to do that, you don’t exactly tell your friend what your association with that sealant is. You just tell him that it’s the best sealant because you’ve seen other people use it and they were satisfied with the results.

Plan your questions

Even if you’re doing a cold call, you should do some research on the person or the company you’re going to call up. Learn what their position is or what their possible needs are so that you know how exactly you can help them run their business more effectively. Then, visualize what your potential client is going to answer for each of your questions. This way, you can properly map out your conversation until you find an opening to close a sale.

Don’t use a script

However, don’t plan to the point that you already follow a script when talking to potential clients. Nothing turns them off more than a prepared script in a cold call because they know right away that your sole concern is to make a sale.

What you should do instead is to make the call more personal. Ask them about what their business is all about and what problems they’re facing. When they open up, you should learn to find an opening in the conversation without giving away your main objective, which is to close a sale.

Don’t push for a sale on the first call

Despite your objective to close a sale, you shouldn’t push your agenda too hard because you’ll just annoy your clients. Your main objective in your primary cold call is to gather information. Your secondary goal is to build trust.

When you’re able to gain their trust, ask if you could call again or better yet, if it would be possible for you to pay them a visit. This way, they will see that you’re willing to give them some space and that you’re not pressing them too much to buy your product. By the time you pay your client a visit, your chances of closing a sale are higher.