Cold calling is tough, Right? But the surveys done on the strategy show that when some marketers believe it doesn’t work, it is still the most effective marketing strategy compared to social selling, trade show, and email campaigns.
Sale calls are inevitable. They form part and parcel of your marketing strategy. To grow your business, you need to approach different people and organizations to get your product known.
Therefore, if you are using the strategy and no results are forthcoming, then the strategy is not at fault but how you are using it. In other words, you are not getting it right, or there is something you are doing wrong. Here is what to avoid like the plague when cold calling.
Top 5 B2B Cold Calling Mistakes to Avoid
1. Talking To The Wrong People
Having a responsive client is a plus and may excite you until you forget to check if you are engaging the right person.
Here, the rule is! Qualify the person on the other end before you start your pitch. Don’t get excited because somebody has picked up your call. You may waste your precious time talking to somebody who won’t buy or is not in a position to make a buying decision.
However, don’t put them off just because they can’t buy your product or service. Instead, create a good rapport as they are more likely to put you in touch with the decision-maker or a person who can buy.
2. Not Knowing Your Product Inside Out
To earn people’s trust, you must be familiar with what you are selling. You must know the product or the service you are selling inside out.
Making a cold call with a blank mind is the genesis of your failure. Nobody will take you seriously if a question is posed to you about the product and you are not in a position to answer.
Knowing your product inside out builds your confidence to engage the client in any product-related conversation, which may translate to sales.
Knowing your product is not enough to win your customer’s heart. You also need to be equipped with some knowledge about the industry and your competitors. It will be an embarrassing encounter if you cannot defend your product against your competitors.
3. Getting Demoralized
Cold calling is not a strategy for the faint-hearted. The truth is that, you’ll be snubbed, receive negative feedback, rude feedback, and insults at times, but all this should fall on deaf ears. Learn to take only what is positive, but use the negatives to improve on your shortcomings.
The worst thing you can do when cold calling is to get demoralized and respond with anger. Learn to remain calm irrespective of the feedback you get. Never insult a customer however rude they may be. Also, be patient with your prospects and be ready to answer all questions however silly they may appear.
In marketing, we say a customer is always right. So, never argue with a customer, instead, be a good listener and if need be, take notes for future reference. Learning what the customers want may assist you in product development or even improve your cold calling skills.
Once you understand that rejection is part of sales life, then you’ll keep your leg moving and put any bad call behind you as quickly as possible. You are bound to convince a prospect somewhere down the line, so keep at it till you achieve what you want.
4. Don’t Talk More Than The Prospect
Be an active listener! When your prospect starts talking, do two things: zip your mouth and listen.
Always ensure you have a pen and writing material to take note of what your prospect wants. Never ever interrupt a prospect when they are talking, give them time to express themselves, and then respond once they are done talking.
Talking too much may put off your prospect. Most clients know what they want while others have done research on what you are offering. Therefore, give them time to speak up their mind.
Customers have different preferences. So before making your pitch, get to understand your prospect’s preference. You cannot market everything at a go, confine yourself to the needs of your audience.
As a rule of communication, the prospect should do 70% of the talking during a sales conversation, while the sales rep should only do 30%.
Taking notes as the prospects talk improves your listening skills. It also helps you answer the questions posed systematically, without having the client repeat themselves.
5. Avoid Closed Questions
Close questions seek a “yes” or “no” answer. Avoid these questions at all cost. Why? Because they limit you from learning what your prospect want. Also, they limit you from getting more information from your prospect, which is vital in product development.
Closed questions make life very hard for you, the caller since you need a lot of information to keep the conversation going.
Again, it goes against the rule of communication where you are supposed to talk less and give the prospect time to express themselves.
Learn how to use open-ended questions where you engage your prospect into giving detailed answers other than a yes or no answer.
Open-ended questions keep the conversation going and make it easier for you to keep your prospect engaged.
Final Thought
Closing is an essential part of sales, but knowing how and when to close is key.
It may be very tempting to close as soon as possible so that you can wrap up and move on to the next prospect but having a single call that translates to a sale is better than having a million that yields nothing.
If you avoid the mistakes discussed above in all your cold calls, you can be sure to convert a substantial number of your calls into sales. However, it is important to note that it is not possible to have a 100% conversion rate.
