Turning Cold Calls Into Warm Conversations

If you’re like most sales reps, you will spend a huge chunk of your time on your phone trying to develop new business. And, like most sales reps, you may make the same mistake over and over again… cold calling.

The days of call, click, repeat are over. Who wants to snuggle with a cold blanket? No one. Warm it up first and you will be watching GOT with your new customer in no time.

If you are looking to incorporate the inbound approach to your sales process, read on for tips to heat up your cold calls.

Homework still matters

Congratulations! You call, they answer. Now what? You tell them the who, the what and the why and they ask if they can call you back. Congratulations, again! You’ve officially lost them.

While some companies find strength in the number of calls dialed, I would encourage quality over quantity. Take a hard look at your preparation process. Are you targeting the right audience for your agency? You likely have Buyer Personas (if not, start there), but have you put together a Prospect Fit Matrix yet? Use that to determine if a company is worth pursuing.

Now to heat things up…

Did you notice your prospect’s photo with NASCAR’s Matt DiBenedetto on LinkedIn? Did you tell them about your experience in Daytona during race week?

Remember, you are asking for 10 minutes of their time. Be prepared. Be human. Position yourself, your agency and your statements to trigger their lizard brain. Use the information you find to make it a conversation that they are happy to contribute to.

Poppa don’t preach (or pitch)

We get it. You know your stuff. While you may feel inclined to talk about all your agency’s accomplishments and tactics… don’t.

The term inbound represents the idea of helping our prospects, providing them with useful and relevant content at every stage of their buying journey. Those same principles apply to the initial connect (not cold) call.

Is it getting warm in here or is it just me?

“I actually called to help!” – Offer a quick tip on how they can improve their site or send them free resources.

Even if the prospect turns out to not be a good fit, you have an opportunity to make an impact and the resources to help. Don’t be afraid to offer up some of that knowledge. Even old dogs deserve to learn new tricks.

Stand, smile, listen – repeat

Let’s face it, sales is hard. We face rejection every day and are expected to take our last call like it’s our first. But prospecting is the key to growing any business and without personalized email in addition to phone calls with a purpose, you might as well be… well, in another department!

You’re on Fire!

The Mother of Dragons would never sit during an address to her advisors and neither should you. Stand up, move around, pick up a stress ball and get squeezing.

Smile. Your knowledge and willingness to help along with a big grin will keep your prospects engaged and delighted.

And finally, listen. Lead your prospects into providing you the information you need. If you are contributing to more than 40% of the conversation, that may be a sign that you need to lean back, stroke your chin and say, “Hmm… Interesting… Can you tell me more about that?”

So, the next time you are preparing to make your cold calls, don’t be like every other sales rep, take some time to warm them up.

Interested in learning more about how to improve your prospecting and sales process? Get in touch!