15 AMAZING Cold Calling Tips

Cold calling…

Some love it, some hate it, but what NO ONE can deny is that is works.

Debate all you want , but salespeople all over the world are SMASHING their targets thanks to the cold calls that they make. Some salespeople however might need this stuck to their phones…

Today we’re bringing you the BEST 15 cold calling tips to help you and your sales team start booking more meetings, more demos and creating more pipeline with the good old phone.

COLD CALLING TIP 1 – Learn to be COMFORTABLE with rejection

Fear of rejection is what holds back 99% of people when it comes to cold calling. Not only does it hold people back, but those that do make calls and have that fear end up sounding nervous on the call.

The key is to become comfortable with rejection. Embrace it, don’t fear it. The worst thing that can possibly happen on a cold call is they’re not interested, so what?! Pick up the phone and try the next one.

COLD CALLING TIP 2 – Know MORE about your prospect before you call them

There is so much information available that won’t take you long to find, but by doing your research you A) start to pre-qualify them and B) you show them that you’ve made an effort. Don’t waste their time and don’t waste your own time, a little bit of research goes a long way.

Here is a free recording of a 1-hour webinar on researching prospects on LinkedIn

COLD CALLING TIP 3 – Avoid reading directly FROM a script

When you’re making cold calls, scripts can be really helpful, but only as guides. If you’re reading them word for word, your prospects will know and they’ll know you’re not being genuine or authentic.

Instead, have key points you know you need to mention, key questions you need to ask, and key talking points, but make sure it’s YOU that is doing the talking so they feel like they’re speaking to a real person.

COLD CALLING TIP 4 – Buy AS MUCH time as possible on the call

Gong found that successful cold calls are almost twice as long as unsuccessful cold calls. The key is to keep them talking, have REAL conversations and build real rapport. Remember, the more you talk, the stronger the relationship you’ll build with them.

COLD CALLING TIP 5 – Trying calling OUTSIDE of working hours

Decision makers are most busy during the working day, yet this is when most salespeople try and call them. For some of your prospects, calling them outside of working hours will be the more successful strategy.

COLD CALLING TIP 6 – Calculate HOW MANY calls you need to make

Look at your (or other salespeople’s) numbers. If you make 100 calls, how many conversations will you have, meetings booked etc. This will help you then work out how many calls you’ll need to make to generate enough meetings to hit your target.

Know your numbers and build your day to make sure you make them, trying to find time to over achieve if you can to help create an even stronger chance that you’ll hit your numbers.

COLD CALLING TIP 7 – Practice really does make PERFECT

The only way anyone gets better at cold calls is by making more cold calls. More calls equals more practice which will get you closer to mastering them. There’s an added layer to this as well though, don’t just make more calls, record them, listen to them, look at what worked/what didn’t work, and improve.

COLD CALLING TIP 8 – Watch your TONE of voice

Tone is SO important with cold calling, if you’re sat at your desk, facing the floor, and not interested, your prospects will hear it. If you’re stood up, smiling, and happy, they’ll hear that as well. Make sure you pay attention to the tone of your voice and do what you can to ensure it’s as positive as possible.

COLD CALLING TIP 9 – Don’t ask “did I catch you at a bad time?”

Asking this makes you 40% less likely to book a meeting according to Gong data. The simple truth is you don’t need to ask it, don’t feel bad about calling them, don’t ASSUME you’ve caught them at a bad time, feel empowered that you’re trying to help them and it’s in THEIR benefit that you’ve called them.

COLD CALLING TIP 10 – Use technology to be SUPER efficient

Salespeople have the opportunity to work better and more effectively thanks to the technology and tools available to them, just like Tony Stark with his Ironman suit and Jarvis, his AI assistant.

Pipedrive’s Toky integration allows you to automatically log inbound and outbound calls, record them and click to call inside of your CRM. You can call leads and contacts with a single click without leaving Pipedrive CRM. You can try Pipedrive completely free for 30-days here and start using their Toky integration (alongside their many other amazing integrations to sales tools)

COLD CALLING TIP 11 – Don’t give an EASY out to them

Look, a lot of salespeople feel BAD for cold calling, and so without realising they’ll often give easy outs for their prospects to get off the call, because they feel bad. You need to change this right now! Don’t feel bad, don’t let them off the call easy, BELIVE in yourself and your product and in the many ways it can help the people that you call.

COLD CALLING TIP 12 – Let them talk about THEMSELVES

It’s no secret that LISTENING is the key to success in sales, but you want to get them talking about themselves. Ask the right questions and just let them talk, if they stop talking, ask them to elaborate or dig deeper. Most prospects will tell you everything you need to know and more if you let them, they key is to just let them do most of the talking.

COLD CALLING TIP 13 – Ask them “how have you been”

Gong’s data analysing 90,380 cold calls showed that asking “how have you been” created a 6.6X higher success rate.

It’s a simple question but it makes them feel like you care, like you’re genuinely interested in them, which will have a huge knock on effect on the rest of the call.

COLD CALLING TIP 14 – Keep your prospect RELAXED

If your prospect is relaxed they’re going to more likely to want to stay on the call, more likely to talk and open up, and more likely to want to speak to you again! The key is to be relaxed yourself, don’t be nervous, don’t over think any of it, just enjoy the conversation.

COLD CALLING TIP 15 – Leave EFFECTIVE voicemails

There is a lot of mixed reviews when it comes to voicemails, but there is an overwhelming amount of examples of success with voicemails compared to failure, and so it’s something we highly recommend.

The key is to leave EFFECTIVE voicemails. Check out Alex Goldfayn on LinkedIn and his book “Pick Up The Phone and Call“, Alex has some amazing voicemail tips and scripts.

Now we want to know YOUR biggest cold calling tip…

Add it into the comments and the one that generates the most likes will get a $50 Amazon gift card!

To make successful cold calls you’ll need a good CRM to ensure those cold calls progress into pipeline and sales..

This article is supported by Pipedrive, one of the world’s best CRM’s used by over 100,000+ companies in 179 countries. You can try it for free right here. The best sales managers choose Pipedrive because it is DESIGNED for sales teams and has been voted the easiest to use CRM.

They normally offer 14-day free trial but if you follow one of our links in this newsletter you’ll be able to get an extended 30-day free trial and as a bonus, if you choose to use Pipedrive after your trial, you’ll get 20% discount on your first year (that’s a pretty amazing offer if we’re honest!).