How cold calling is involved for outsourced sales
As an outsourced sales and cold calling for small businesses agency we still leverage business development reps as one of several tactics to generate sales leads. We do this because quick phone conversations are still a viable way to introduce prospective buyers to a small business services or solution. But we also let our clients know that it only makes sense to cold call if:
- You leverage this for targeting buyers you are 100% sure can transact with your company
- You target potential buyers that are a spot on fit for you solution
It is also important to understand that in today’s digitally driven buyer landscape that you strongly consider leading with an email marketing campaign first. And then be prepared to support this effort with:
- valuable educational content that explains what problems you solve for the buyer
- additional content that allows them to quickly understand the basics of your solution
- the ability to track a buyers digital engagement with a lead scoring and marketing automation platform
As an outsourced sales and cold calling company for small businesses, here are some tips we recommend you use if you are going to leverage the phone to generate new leads.
Take it Slow and Do it Quickly
When you cold call a buyer you are essentially a stranger that has walked up to someones door with no notice and knocked, interrupting their day. Be ready with a quick and succinct script of who you are and what problem you solve. Then be prepared to ask for permission to send a quick piece of educational information.
Once they accept your content promise to follow up in a few days to check on interest. We rarely suggest you ask for an appointment on the first call unless the buyer expresses a great deal of immediate interest. Your marketing automation platform will let you know if the prospect is interested by scoring their engagement with the educational offers.
With this automation technology in place you can let your buyer digest your educational content. If they are interested you will know from their lead score and you can follow up in a day or two to continue to build the relationship.
Target the Right Type of Buyer to Maximize Your Investment
Over the past several years with the advent of cloud computing and Artifical Intelligence your access to databases has increased. Most outsourced sales and cold calling for small business companies will have subscriptions to these databases. These databases will allow you to target specific decision makers with access to direct phone lines. Many of these databases will also have email addresses that you can use to send information once the buyer has agreed to receive your content. With calls to connect ratios at 10% (average time your business development rep can expect a buyer to pick up the phone every time they dial) a typical cold caller will only connect with 1 (or at most 2) potential buyer(s) an hour. It’s important that if a business development rep connects on a call that they are speaking to the right type of buyer. If you are not connecting with the right type of buyer you are simply wasting your investment of time and money calling. Targeting the right buyer is critical to successful cold calling.
Have a Script But Don’t Sound Scripted
As discussed above connections in today’s business environment are gold. Have a plan for what you’ll say. Your opening line should be no more than 10 to 15 seconds. Then you should ask a question. After the buyer answers the question, ask for permission to speak for about 30 more seconds and then make your educational offer. To do this you need to have a plan for what you want to say.
But if a call sounds too scripted it will turn the prospect off. No one wants to part of the masses and nothing is more off putting then to be interrupted in the middle of the day with a canned speech. So have a script but don’t sound scripted. A little practice will go a long way producing more effective results.
Gabriel Sales helps company’s build modern outsourced sales and marketing operations. To learn more about our approach to outsourcing sales and how we use multiple tactics including smart cold calling to generate more sales ready leads for our clients, check out the following link to learn more about our new and modern approach to outsourced sales for small
