33 Effective Cold Calling Tips To Help You Achieve Quota
Do you get the jitterbugs when cold calling? If the answer is yes, then you’re not alone. We’ve gathered 33 cold calling tips to help you overcome your fears and achieve your quota.
Cold calling is a challenging task but an essential part of sales. ValueSelling Associates and Selling Power research says that 48% of sales reps are afraid to pick up the phone and make cold calls.
On average, it takes 3+ attempts to connect with a prospect. With such low effectiveness rates, no wonder why people have such a fear of cold calling and why others doubt how well cold calling works.
Especially since methods such as email, LinkedIn, video, and cold calling seem less and less effective.
What if I said cold call works exceptionally well, and it’s your approach that may not be yielding results?
Typically sales reps call hundreds of random prospects with the hope of connecting with the right person. But hope isn’t a strategy. With a few tweaks to your cold calling process, you can begin to connect with the right people. Your value proposition is going to resonate.
Read below for 33 cold calling techniques that really work. By mastering these techniques, you’ll be able to cold call with confidence, improve your sales process and book more meetings.
What’s cold calling?
Cold calling is a sales technique in which a salesperson solicits business from potential customers who have not previously expressed interest in the company’s product or services.
It is often used by outbound sales teams as an important way to create sales opportunities. Cold calling aims to make initial contact with a prospect that fits your ideal customer profile, pitch your product, and generate interest in moving to the next step.
Cold calling carries a negative reputation. However, it is important to grow a business when done right. Cold calling can open doors to new sales opportunities with the right strategy, techniques, and data.
33 cold calling tips and techniques:
1. Pre-call research
Prospects have their defenses up when a sales rep cold calls them.
You may believe you’re selling a great product. But your prospect is less receptive to what you say because their guard is up.
You can turn your cold calls into warm calls and build rapport by researching your prospect beforehand. Look on Google, LinkedIn, or Twitter to find important insights about your prospect and company. You’ll sound more knowledgeable and credible.
Research also helps you enter the conversation with a better understanding of the company’s goals. Check out recent announcements, company events, websites, careers page, or competitors.
2. Deal with cold call reluctancy
Cold calling can be nerve-racking, scary, and downright uncomfortable.
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt can hold you back from making a single cold call.
Like plunging into a cold pool, sometimes it’s better to jump right in and get acclimated instead of nervously never getting into the pool.
Focus on what’s positive. For example, what you can learn from your cold calls, why you’re cold calling, and what goals you’re trying to achieve by being successful in cold calling.
3. Have a well-polished cold call script
Brad Pitt wouldn’t begin filming a new movie without rehearsing a script. Nor should salespeople.
Have a well-written cold calling script before dialing. Retain what you have to say by practicing. Rehearse your script with a colleague or in front of the mirror. It’ll help you get used to the words, so you’re less reliant on reading the script.
If you stumble on a call, you’ll have your script to fall back on to get back on track.
It’s important to note that a script should be treated as a framework. Don’t mimic the exact word-for-word what you want to say. Instead, remember specific points in the script that you want to say. This way, you don’t sound robotic during a cold calling.
4. Have a clean contact list
Always begin with a clean and accurate list of prospects before cold calling.
The phrase measure twice and cut once is so true for cleaning your contact list. Cold calling is a numbers game, so you want to ensure you’re calling the right prospects.
Use data enrichment tools such ZoomInfo, Lusha, Lead411, and LeadIQ to build your prospect list. Include accurate job title, industry, company name, and phone number.
5. Practice and roleplay
Sales is like a sport. In sports, practice makes perfect.
Schedule time every week to practice or roleplay different cold calling situations with a colleague or your manager. Discuss common scenarios where you need help, such as objection handling, pattern interrupts, or asking for a meeting.
You’ll feel more confident making cold calls when you’ve practiced and roleplayed.
6. Use trigger alerts to identify the best times to call
Setup trigger events and notifications on your prospects to find out when it’s a good time to call.
Trigger events are buying signals which indicate a prospect may be evaluating solutions. For example, funding announcements, mergers or acquisitions, new hires, new product launches, and major conferences.
Typically when a trigger event happens, the prospect will likely have a pain point or opportunity arise. Set up trigger alerts on Google Alerts, LinkedIn Sales Navigator or Crunchbase.
For example, a funding announcement can mean a company must hire aggressively or grow their sales. It’s also an opportune time to call if you’re selling recruitment services, sales software, or a solution that can address an immediate opportunity.
7. Use a double monitor
Here’s a simple cold calling tip that doesn’t even require dialing.
When prospecting, countless browsers, applications, and websites open simultaneously.
You’ll need one browser for your CRM information, one for LinkedIn to look up prospects, and another to make a cold call.
Using two monitors is one of the best productivity hacks for sales reps. Invest in an additional computer monitor to help you become more productive. You’ll be able to navigate between applications seamlessly while having your cold calling script ready.
8. Understand their DISC profile
DiSC describes the different behaviors a person is likely to adopt in different situations. DiSC determines how your prospect prefers to communicate and absorb information.
Identify your prospect’s DiSC profile to communicate more effectively and adapt your behavior to match their style. DiSC has four possible behavioral styles:
- Dominant: Extroverted & Task-Oriented
- Influencer: Extroverted & People-Oriented
- Steady: Introverted & People-Oriented
- Compliant: Introverted & Task-Oriented
Leverage tools such as CrystalKnows to give you an accurate DiSC profile by pulling your LinkedIn data. It provides insights into how your prospect prefers a follow-up and the best communication method.
9. Have good clean data to call from
Imagine calling someone by the wrong name or the wrong company.
Well, this can happen if you have insufficient data.
Winning cold calls involve more than a bulletproof script. Data is key to making sure you call the right prospects and have the correct information readily.
Salespeople with insufficient data consistently struggle with inactive phone numbers and calling people who have left their jobs.
Before cold calling, it’s better to clean your prospect database and ensure the data is accurate. This ensures you have the correct data and information about your prospects before picking up the phone.
10. Answer who you are and why you’re calling
Buyers don’t know who you are and why you’re even calling.
It’s not your fault. That’s just how buyers are wired from their previous cold-calling experiences. But your goal is to be better than that.
You should answer the questions “who you are?” and “why you’re calling?” within the first 10 seconds of the cold call. If you don’t, then you’ll just irritate buyers, and they’ll likely hang up.
When buyers pick up your call, say your name, company and the reason for your call. Your cold calling script should start with something like:
Sales rep: “Hello Prospect, this is John calling from Acme Corp. Did I happen to catch you at a good time?”
Prospect: “Yes, I have a few minutes.”
Sales rep: “Great, the reason for my call is…”
When you say your name, company, and why you’re calling, your prospect will spend less time figuring out who you are. Instead, they’ll be more attentive to what you have to say.
11. Familiarize yourself with the prospect’s pain points
There’s no sale without pain.
Know who your prospects are and what pain points keep them up at night. Have a strong understanding of the challenges they deal with in their role before you call. Demonstrate how your product alleviates your prospect’s pain points.
This is the best way to ensure your product or service resonates with your prospects.
12. Sell the meeting, not the solution
Is your goal to sell your product or the meeting?
Contrary to what you may think, the correct answer is to sell the meeting.
Salespeople that focus on selling the next meeting have a higher chance of moving the sale forward. They’re less concerned about making a live discovery or discussing product functionality.
There’s less friction to accepting a 30-minute discovery call than buying your product or service.
Focus on selling the meeting, not running a long discovery call or the product.
13. Use a pattern interrupt
Buyers have pre-existing expectations about negative cold call experiences.
Break those expectations and jumble the prospect’s mind using a pattern interrupt.
A pattern interrupt is a way to alter your prospect’s behavioral state and break their thought pattern. It’s a quick jolt that changes how your prospects think and react.
Some great pattern interrupts include:
- Start a cold call by stating, “this is a cold call, would you want to hang up?” – Being honest can work wonders on a cold call. Firstly, this opener removes the fear of the unknown. You can also establish rapport early on by being transparent on the call.
- “Do you have 27 seconds for me to tell you why I called?” – The number 27 is odd and exact. It’ll surely draw a laugh making your buyer more receptive to your pitch.
14. Build rapport with tonality
You have three ways to communicate: body language, words, and tonality.
Research calls this the 7-38-55% communication rule. The elements of personal communication are 7% through spoken word, 38% through tone of voice and 55% through body language. The research discovered that tone is a stronger indicator of emotion than the meaning of the word itself.
Since your prospect can’t see you cold calling, you’ll have to rely on your words and tone. Tonality in sales is an effective way to communicate and build trust and rapport.
Improve your tonality by practicing a cold call in front of a mirror.
Another way is to smile when you’re cold-calling a prospect. Although it may sound weird, you’ll be surprised at how positive you’ll sound just by pretending to smile.
If you can’t fake a smile, have a photo at your desk of something that makes you happy—a family photo or a vision board.
15. How are you different?
You could be competing against a direct competitor or a product that your prospect already purchased. If you differ from those solutions, you want to emphasize your differentiator.
Perhaps your product is easier to use, more cost-effective, or provides better customer support.
16. How’ve you been?
Here’s an effective cold calling tip by Gong.io. They analyzed 90,380 cold calls and found that the most successful opening line was “How have you been?” Using this phrase outperformed the baseline cold call openers by 6.6x.
The phrase is an unexpected pattern that interrupts and forces the prospect to think in a good way. The question sounds familiar to you and the prospect, but it’s not an overly unusual question to ask.
17. Ask open-ended questions
Cold calling is a two-way conversation. Be curious and learn as much as possible about your prospects.
You’ll need to ask questions, specifically open-ended questions, to allow your prospects to continue talking.
Here are some examples of how to turn closed-ended questions into open-ended questions:
- How are you currently addressing [pain pont]?
- How have you solved for [pain point] in the past?
- How long has [pain point] been going on for?
Prospects want to know who your company has helped and if any of your customers are similar to them.
Before each cold call, prepare a few customer stories. Build a list of their competitors, partners, a prospect’s customers, or mutual connections.
Here’s an example of how to share a customer story:
We worked with [insert company] to help with [pain point].
We helped solve that problem by [solution].
This not only helped them with [primary benefit] but it also [ultimate improvement]
Social proof can influence a cold call for your benefit, whether it’s the same industry, company size, use case, or point.
19. Ask, “I don’t suppose any of that resonates?”
Not every prospect is willing to buy your product or service. Nor will your cold calling script resonate with every prospect.
Once you’ve said how you can help the prospect, ask a simple open-ended question, “I don’t suppose any of what I said resonates with you?”
The power of this question is that it doesn’t assume that your product or service can help the prospect. It merely asks if what you said resonates with them and opens up the conversation. Perhaps it does, then great, you’re on the right track. But maybe it doesn’t; then you can follow up and ask what you missed.
20. Ask for their calendar
Success! You’ve scheduled a follow-up meeting during your cold call.
Remember to ask for your prospect’s availability so that you can schedule a time to meet as you’re live on the phone. That’s because the prospect is likely to forget to respond.
After the prospect has agreed to a meeting, ask them, “Do you have your calendar handy?” to secure the next available time.
21. Leave a voicemail
The majority of your prospects are not going to answer the phone. So, one way to reach them is by leaving a voicemail.
Voicemail is a simple audio message informing prospects about why and what you’re calling.
Give prospects a way to follow up with you on a voicemail. For example, end your voicemail by providing your phone number or when you’ll follow up next.
One very successful tip is to follow up with an email using the subject line “left you a voicemail.” Mention the email subject line in your sales voicemail script as well. This will Intrigue your prospects to open your email and may even prompt them to listen to the voicemail further.
22. Leave pre-recorded voicemails
Cold calling is a numbers game. You’re not going to have every prospect answering the phone, which inevitably lands you in their voicemail.
You can leave a voicemail for every prospect, but it’s time-consuming.
Instead, use pre-recorded voicemails to save yourself time. You can record these messages beforehand and send them directly to a prospect’s voicemail inbox.
23. Send a follow-up email
After you’ve hung up, your prospect will continue with their day-to-day. Sometimes they may forget you or the agreed-upon next steps.
Don’t lose momentum. Follow up via email or LinkedIn with a personal note about what you both discussed during the call and the next steps. It helps your stay top-of-mind and shows that you were actively listening.
At the very least, this opens up another channel of communication.
24. Cold call on specific days
According to InsideSales.com, Wednesday and Thursday are the best days of the week to call prospects.
It’s not a surprise. Mondays are for transitioning back to work from the weekend. At the same time, Fridays are spent reviewing the week and mentally winding down for the weekend. Many prospects aren’t looking to start any sales conversations until the following week.
Wednesday and Thursday are prime days because prospects are already into the work week.
25. Track the best times to dial
Track the optimal times when prospects are more likely to pick up their phone.
Use cold calling software to find the best days and hours to call. If you don’t have software, use a spreadsheet or a piece of paper to tally up how many calls you’re making per hour and how many times someone connects.
Measure the percentage of prospects that have connected. This will give you a better sense of the best times to cold call to ensure people will pick up the phone.
26. Call 5 minutes before or after the hour
Typically prospects have internal meetings at the start or the end of the hour. They’ll likely take a few minutes to break between meetings as well.
Call between 5 minutes before the hour and 5 minutes after. For example, calling at 9:55am or 10:05 am. You’ll have a higher connection rate because you’re catching prospects between meetings.
27. Call prospects who engage with your email
Track emails you’ve sent to prospects so you can monitor who opens or clicks.
If a prospect engages with your email multiple times, then they’re likely interested. Immediately call your prospect if you’ve seen that they’ve interacted with your email. You can set notifications on sales outreach tools on email opens or clicks.
Your prospect is likely on their phone or computer if they’re checking your emails. They are likely free to pick up your call. And since they’ve read your email, they’ll be more familiar with your name or company.
28. “Send me more information”
When a prospect says they want more information instead of meeting, it usually means they’re not interested or ready to meet.
Instead of blindly sending them as much information as possible. Ask them what information would they like to receive and confirm you have the correct email address. It’s a gentle way of being curious about what may interest them.
Then politely ask if you could schedule a short 15-minute meeting in a few weeks to review the information and answer any questions they may have.
It’s a low commitment meeting for the prospect. You’ve also shown excellent rapport building by determining what information is essential to them.
29. Don’t take rejection personally
If a prospect doesn’t agree to a meeting or isn’t interested in a solution, it’s not personal.
The prospect is not rejecting you. They’re rejecting your value proposition.
Disassociate who you are and what you do as a job. Sales is a tough grind, especially if you’re getting rejections most of the day.
30. Focus on near-win prospect
Schedule a few minutes each week to reconnect with near-win prospects. These are prospects that were interested but didn’t book a meeting. Either time, budget, or timing simply didn’t line up.
Call a handful that you haven’t spoken to in a month. Once on the phone, mention their prior interest and see if it makes more sense to kickstart the conversation again.
After you’ve done this once or twice, you can consistently add this into your cold calling process. Focusing on targeted lead generation is a great way to build a pipeline.
31. Use a power dialer
There are some days when nobody picks up the phone. Or you’ll make 50 cold calls, and only one person picks up.
There are solutions available to help you unlock more pick-ups when you’re cold calling.
Use an autodialer tool to remove the work on finding prospects to pick up. There are several tools available such as ConnectAndSell, PhoneBurner and Monster Connect.
Auto dialers do the dialing for you so that you only receive pick-ups. It’s an efficient way to have a call blitz day and make the most of your cold calling.
32. Measure results
How many prospects do you need to connect with every week? How many cold calls do you need to achieve your monthly quota?
Understanding the metrics behind performance will help you plan more effectively. It’ll also help you gain visibility into your conversion metrics.
Dial-to-connect rate, pick-up rate, and connect–meeting rate are essential to understand which areas need improvement.
Cold calling is a numbers game. Measuring your cold calling and optimizing performance ensures the numbers work in your favor.
33. Use a sales sequence tool
A sales cadence or sequence is a pattern of sales activities across a set period of time. For example, your sales cadence may include a multi-media approach with five phone calls, four emails, and one LinkedIn InMail across fifteen business days.
Use a sales engagement tool such as SalesLoft, Outreach, or Reply.io to help build a sales cadence.
Sales cadences allow you to diversify your sales channels and automate your follow-ups.
Getting ready to cold call
With these 33 cold calling tips and techniques, you’ll overcome your fear of cold calling.
Share these cold calling tips and techniques with your sales team to help them build confidence.
Cold calling may seem difficult at times, but with these techniques, you’ll improve your process to ensure you’re calling the right prospects, pitching the correct value, and booking that meeting.
