You’ve probably come across evangelical articles heralding death to the phone. No more cold calling! No more calling at all in fact. It’s 2019: we’re in the age of the internet, inbound marketing, online lead generation and social selling. The phone has no place in this new age of sales and marketing.
And yet if you’re in sales you know the fastest way to get results is by picking up the phone with a well targeted list and a proven script. Jeb Blount, author of Fanatical Prospecting, suggests that success rates for phone prospecting haven’t changed much over the past 50 years.
For a business, the phone can be a sacred sales tool. The newer approaches have their time and place, but they won’t be replacing the phone for a long time. While others start to rely on inbound and social, make sure you still utilise a calling strategy for superior results!
If you’re not using cold calling as part of your sales and marketing strategy, here’s three reasons why you should consider at least giving it a try, and what to prepare for…
Reason #1:
A 2019 study revealed that 41.2% of salespeople believe their phone is the most effective sales tool at their disposal. And it’s no wonder! Calling is the fastest way to get answers, be it from a prospect or client. If we compare a phone call to other ways of reaching the same people, calling always comes out on top in terms of efficiency and subsequently: results. An in-person visit is expensive and time consuming, email has an average of 3% success, and social media is great for having conversations but not much else.
Reason #2:
Almost six in
10 buyers want
to discuss pricing on the first call. If you’re selling
something, guess what? Those you call out of the blue are actually interested
in the numbers. Make sure you have a script ready to answer any question that
might come up during your call so you’re not caught off guard. In fact, why not
put together a special offer for those who you reach on the phone who say they
are interested (remember to give your offer an expiration date).
Reason #3:
More than half
of your prospects want to see how
the product works on the first call. Chances are that you
have extra information you usually send or show potential clients through your
current marketing avenues. For cold calling prospects it’s no different – find a
way you can demonstrate what you’re selling; whether it’s your sales pitch from
a script, asking them for their email address to send them a document, or even
their postal address if you usually send a physical package with more
information and samples. An excellent option is to offer to jump onto Skype or
Zoom for a video conf – you can physically show products or do a screenshare to
showcase services.
So, if cold calling is
something you’d love to do but simply don’t know where to start or don’t want
to do it yourself, get in touch with us. Here’s just some of our services we
can help with:
- If you are ready to cold call but need help creating a winning script, we can help. Our copywriters have been working for over 15 years and know what works when it comes to cold calling scripts.
- If you don’t know who to call and you’re planning on calling businesses, save yourself some time and buy a list instead of compiling your own – we happen to own New Zealand’s most accurate business database which will help you save time, make money and ensure you reach the right person every time.
- If you hate the idea of cold calling yourself, and would rather have someone else do it so you can concentrate on just picking up business on the other end, outsource your cold calling to us. With over 15 years of phone lead generation experience and over a hundred happy clients, we can set appointments, conduct market research and much more.
- If you’d like to upskill your sales team, book our 7 Keys to Successful Cold Calling workshops. Over the course of a day, your team can become cold calling experts with a clear strategy, and the confidence in knowing how to get results.