This is a guest post by Ring.io.
Cold calling can be stressful—but it shouldn’t be. If you come to the call prepared and use the right techniques combined with the right tools, you'll enjoy the process more, and probably close more deals too.
ProTip 1: There’s no such thing as being over-prepared in the sales world, so warm up for your call by planning ahead.
You can go about planning your call however you want. And while there’s no one-plan-fits-all solution, here's a good way to go about it:
- Define the particular call aim and work tirelessly to achieve it. It can be getting an invite accepted, setting up a demo, or finding the right person to talk to. Just remember that without the aim all you can do is miss.
- Don’t try to sell on the cold call. Most of the time such attempts end up failing. So put on your investigation hat and try to find out about your prospects as much as you can during the call.
- Nowadays you’re more likely to reach voicemail than a real person. Plan for this with scripts, which you can record and automate using voicemail drop.
- Go through the list of your prospects: Do they align with the buying persona? With the business criteria? With the title, tools they need, and level of responsibility? Make time for searching for this information on LinkedIn, or just Google it.
- Attitude is your anchor. Don't forget to smile and be persistent. Small things matter the most.
ProTip 2: Make your opening laser-focused and professional.
- Go fast or go home. The first 5 seconds sets the tone and often decides if there will be a conversation at all.
- Make it crystal clear who you are and why you're calling: no fuzzy or jargon-filled sentences.
- Turn on your empathy, listen more than you speak, and get personal. You’re talking to a human being and you're trying to solve a problem. Figure out what it is and how you can help.
ProTip 3: Qualify early, reap the rewards sooner.
- Ask questions. Lots of them. Open questions, probing questions, trigger questions, sweeper questions—any questions in the world that can help you qualify your prospect.
- Dig deep to learn about the troubles the prospect has. The more the better: your aim is to uncover 4 needs that are on their mind.
ProTip 4: When you see the opportunity to act, tell your prospect about it ASAP.
- When you can see the need they face, you know the solution that can fix it, and you can provide them with facts that this will work, you should tell them about it!
- Spend more time on benefits than on features. Yes, your solution is great, but the needs of a prospect are more important.
- Get ready to hear “no”. Many times. Just be prepared for the most common rejections and constantly add the ones specific to your product to your list.
ProTip 5: Good calls always end with the next step.
- If you see what the next mutually beneficial action will be, just propose it and wait patiently for their response. Don’t explain yourself too much.
- Offer a trial period or free sample, ask the prospect to check their calendar, and, most importantly, make them imagine that they’re already doing the next step.
There are a lot of great sales techniques in the world. It's an old profession and it’s a constantly evolving one, so don’t forget to experiment here and there. It will be fun and can bring interesting—and often profitable—results.
And to be able to spend more time on selling and less time on boring stuff like dialing numbers and filling in CRM fields, check out the integration between Ring.io, a telephony system, and Zoho CRM.
Work smarter by adding new capabilities to Zoho CRM with business solutions from Zoho Marketplace. Explore Zoho Marketplace >
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