A big part of a salesperson’s day is often telephone sales calls. Outbound sales calls need to be executed and are a big factor in a salesperson’s ability to generate leads and results. Focusing on how to improve this area has a significant impact on sales performance, and there are steps that can be taken to drive improvements.
1. Identify your core value
Most likely, you sell a set of products and services. In addition, you know the different features and benefits of those. What do you have to offer the prospect in terms of business value? How can you help the prospect’s business? It is important that those two questions are at the front of your mind, which enables you to focus on the conversation with your prospect.
2. Identify your ideal prospect
What does your ideal prospect look like in terms of title, department, industry, size of the company, and current environment? By clearly knowing what the prospect with the best fit for you looks like, you stand to improve results while making telephone sales calls.
3. Perform sales research
By performing some amount of sales research on your prospects as well as the industry they’re in before making outbound sales calls, you stand to have a positive impact on the phone conversation and sales results.
4. Use an outbound sales script
Having a cold-call script prepared ahead of time will greatly improve results. For some, a cold call script is a word-for-word guide for what to say during telephone sales calls. And for others, it may be an outline of points to make and questions to ask. No matter which way is chosen, having something to work from greatly improves your ability to establish and control conversations.
5. Prepare for cold call objections
Be prepared to face cold-call objections on every call. They are statements that the prospect shares with you to end the call, like “I am not interested” or “Just send me some information.” You will consistently run into about 10 of these objections, and it will greatly improve results in making telephone sales calls by simply scripting responses so you can deliver them to keep the calls going.
6. Create a routine
It is important to create an outbound sales routine that allocates time specifically to cold calling. In doing so, you will not only improve your consistency in getting in solid phone activity, but also your mindset in dealing with the mental challenges of cold calling.
7. Qualifying a prospect
You will find that not every prospect you call and reach will be a good fit. Ask the prospect some qualifying questions to ensure it makes sense to keep talking, rather than assuming they are optimal. This will not only ensure you produce high-quality leads but also build better conversations and rapport with the prospect.
8. Uncover prospect pain
When reaching a prospect, are they great, ok, or do they need improvement in the area where your product has an impact? Identifying whether things are just ok or could be better provides valuable information you can use throughout the call and sales cycle.
SalesScripter provides cold calling coaching, helping sales pros with making telephone sales calls.
