B2B cold calling can be tough. Not only is it tough to just get sales prospects on the phone, but when you do, the prospect may end up being a little difficult or not completely friendly. The first step for you to take to improve your ability to deal with difficult or unfriendly prospects is to stop to try to understand where they are coming from and what they may be thinking.

 

Sales Prospects are Extremely Busy

The first thing to keep in mind is that the sales prospects that you try to contact are extremely busy. Or we can at least assume that they are busy, especially if you are calling at a decision-maker level.

This is important for a couple of reasons. First, it can sometimes seem impossible to just get a hold of sales prospects. The reason why is if you are B2B cold calling them at their office phone, decision-makers may be away from their desk most of the day tied up in meetings. They are not avoiding your call, as they are likely not even seeing your cold call come in.

You also need to keep this in mind for when you do get a sales prospect on the phone. If you assume they are extremely busy, you may want to factor this in with how you approach taking their time. You may want to confirm they have a couple of minutes and then move very quickly through your cold call script.

 

They Get a Tremendous Amount of Sales Calls

It is helpful to be aware that your prospects get a lot of cold calls from people like you. This impacts the process in a couple of ways. First, this will make the prospect more motivated to let your call go unanswered.

This can also impact how the prospect receives your call when they do answer the phone. If they have had a lot of cold calls and then they get you on the phone, they may have less patience and openness to what you have to say.

 

They are Likely not in Buying Mode

When you are B2B cold calling, you are typically calling prospects who have not raised their hand to express interest or have not contacted you before. When this is the case, you need to keep in mind that you are not likely to reach the prospect in “buying mode.”

In other words, you have something to sell and the prospect is likely not in an active process of looking to buy what you have to sell. This is not to say that they do not need or will not be interested. They are just not sitting there thinking about the topic that you are calling them to discuss.

 

Their Guard Will Typically be at a Medium Level

When you add up some of these other factors, like the prospect being extremely busy and getting a lot of sales calls, you will end up reaching prospects that have their guard at a medium level. When they answer your call and don’t know who you are, they are going to be a little defensive, trying to determine who you are and if you are going to take (or waste) any of their valuable time.

Those assumptions may sound scary and like a reason not to even cold call. These are what they are, and as we said, cold calling can be tough. But if you do decide to incorporate b2b cold calling in your lead generation strategy, you need to be aware of these factors and then identify how to modify your approach so that you can defuse and work around these challenges.