According to research by Selling Power, 48% of sales managers are afraid to make cold calls. There are several reasons for this fear. Firstly, initiating the first contact with a stranger is challenging. Secondly, there are biases regarding the effectiveness of this tool. Thirdly, it takes a considerable amount of time. If you also believe that cold calling is about dialing hundreds of random people in the hope that someone will be interested in your product, then you are right – it is unproductive. However, the right approach and technology can simplify, accelerate, and improve the effectiveness of such conversations.
Cold Calls: What They Are
Cold calls are outbound calls to potential clients who have not previously contacted the company. This strategy introduces the brand and generates interest in the product.
What is the advantage of cold calls over other types of initial interactions? When a sales representative communicates with a user via online chat or messenger, they can’t hear the tone of voice. This makes it challenging to recognize emotions and assess the person’s interest in the service or product. In contrast, verbal communication allows for establishing a real connection, understanding the potential buyer’s problems and pain points, and identifying their needs. People are more willing to share details verbally since writing them out is time-consuming and inconvenient. All of this helps the manager in subsequent stages of communication.
How to Reduce Time Spent on Cold Calls
Conduct Thorough Research on Potential Clients
We’ve all received calls out of the blue with a “fantastic offer” that turned out to be completely irrelevant and unnecessary. To avoid making this mistake and reinforcing consumer biases against cold calls, ensure you only dial numbers from your database that match your ideal customer profile.
Here’s how:
- conduct thorough research to define a precise profile of your potential buyer;
- implement a robust system for qualifying potential clients based on specific criteria such as location, age, gender, education, profession, purchasing power, and decision-making authority, especially in B2B;
- ensure you’re reaching out to individuals who are genuinely likely to be interested in your offer and, importantly, have the capacity to act on it.
Doing this will save time and avoid wasting resources on unqualified leads, making your cold calls more efficient and effective.
Utilize Auto-Dialers
In the fast-paced world of sales, every second counts. Yet, traditional cold calling methods often consume valuable time with repetitive tasks like copying and pasting phone numbers. But what if there was a way to turbocharge your outreach efforts?
Enter the Power Dialer — a game-changing technology that automates dialing, allowing sales managers to seamlessly dial through their contact lists. With no need to manually input numbers or click a mouse, sales teams can stay laser-focused on what matters most: building connections and closing deals.
The solution significantly simplifies and accelerates the work of sales managers. They can focus solely on communication and taking notes on the conversations without distractions. Additionally, it helps avoid accidentally skipping specific numbers when dialing manually.
Before using the feature, make sure to prepare your contact database and upload the phone number spreadsheet to Ringostat. We have provided detailed instructions for this in the guide.
The Power Dialer offers convenient settings such as:
- the ability to pause calls;
- setting the time between completed and next calls to allow time for notes;
- ending a call after a certain number of long rings if no one picks up.
Moreover, you can create various campaigns for calls targeting specific groups or categories of contacts. Additionally, you can assign responsible employees.
Choose the Right Time for Your Call
One reason people answer calls with a hint of annoyance is the timing of the conversation. It’s hard to predict when someone on the other end of the line will be in a good mood. However, there are some general observations.
For example, many salespeople start calling early on Monday mornings. Perhaps they believe reaching potential buyers before they get too busy with work is better. However, a new sales offer is the last thing on people’s minds early Monday morning after the weekend or Friday afternoon after lunch. It’s worth finding a better time for your call.
To do this, analyze the call reports available through your virtual telephony system. Look at which days of the week and times of day people most frequently call you, when they are most responsive to incoming calls, and when they are willing to engage in more extended conversations. Planning cold calls during these times could improve sales efficiency.
For instance, one of the call reports in Ringostat shows the busiest and quietest times for calls. The more saturated the color of the cell, the more calls were received during that period, which can be considered the most favorable for communication.
According to expert observations:
- for B2B calls, the most suitable times are in the morning from 10:00 to 11:00 and a few hours after the lunch break, from 15:00 to 17:00;
- for B2C calls, you can choose the times between 10:00 and 12:00, as well as from 16:00 to 18:00.
It’s best to avoid calling during lunch breaks, weekends, and holidays. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are the best weekdays for business discussions.
Lastly, remember to consider time zones if making calls outside the country.
While these recommendations can serve as a good foundation, it’s important to take notes on when potential clients answer phone calls or ignore them so that you can use this data in the future to improve response rates.
Use a Well-Thought-Out Script
Making a dozen cold calls daily and engaging with various individuals is challenging. This process can be simplified by having a prepared call script with detailed information and tips on handling demanding, uncertain, or rude conversationalists. This will be equally beneficial for newcomers and experienced professionals as it provides:
- clear steps to follow during a cold call – even if the conversationalist distracts the sales manager, the conversation can be steered back on track;
- a list of mandatory remarks and questions, such as stating one’s own name and company, stating the purpose of the call, and inquiring about the conversationalist’s experience through open-ended questions;
- detailed responses to common customer inquiries;
- rules for handling objections and doubts, such as regarding the price;
- agreement on next steps after the conversation.
Of course, the employee should do more than just read the script word for word. Automation and indifference in the tone of voice are easily detectable, so there is a high probability that the conversationalist will only listen out of politeness or even just hang up.
Therefore, the script should be seen only as a checklist of what to mention during each call.
Also, feel free to improvise and modify the script based on what works and what doesn’t during calls.
Check out the article “How to Increase Revenue and Close More Deals with Ringostat AI Supervisor” as well.
Automate Your Call Work
Perhaps your sales team is still manually managing the client database, scheduling meetings and tasks in their calendars, making essential notes on paper sticky notes, and manually creating reports and calculations. Such an approach consumes too much time and energy that could be better used.
Wouldn’t it be much better if the following actions happened automatically:
- creating contacts in the database;
- planning future calls;
- setting tasks;
- adding and storing audio recordings of conversations to the contact card;
- planning next steps;
- sending reminders.
This is possible by integrating your CRM with the phone system you use for cold calls. Such a solution brings numerous benefits, from reducing time spent to increasing productivity and avoiding numerous errors.
The Power Dialer auto-dialing tool can also be integrated with CRM systems to dial numbers from the current client database automatically.
Analyze Conversations and Refine Your Approach
Utilize virtual phone system reports to summarize and evaluate the results of cold calls, for example:
- number of answered calls and unanswered calls;
- average call duration;
- conversation rating: manually assigned by the manager after the call or automatically performed by artificial intelligence.
Use conversation recordings provided by the virtual phone system to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the team’s performance. Utilize recordings of successful conversations for training purposes, rectify recurring mistakes, and refine your scripts.
Conclusion: Call Quickly, but Don’t Give Up Early
There is a belief that cold calling doesn’t work, but this is untrue. Research shows that 95% of conversions were achieved after the sixth phone call. Cold calling is the first step in establishing a relationship with a potential buyer.
Utilize modern technologies and advanced tools to make cold calling as simple, fast, and almost automated as possible. First, don’t call from your mobile phone — it’s tiring. Instead, connect with a convenient application that allows you to make calls with one click or even without clicks using automated dialing like Power Dialer. Numbers will be dialed one after another, saving time and freeing the manager from manual work.
It’s also worth automating call management by integrating CRM with virtual telephony. Continuously listen to call recordings and analyze call reports to choose the best time for calls, evaluate the effectiveness of cold calls, the productivity of managers, and more.
