Cold calling is one of the hardest marketing activities. If you know how to do it well, however, the closing percentage can end up being pretty sweet. On average, the closing percentage is 1-3% and the success is often dependent on the price and quality of the product or service.
Cold calls are being made also today. They are vitally important for companies that are just starting out and who do not yet have proper resources for marketing or for hiring external salespeople. Nearly all successful salespeople have done cold calling during their lifetime and probably will do it again.
Here are 5 tips we have gathered from their success:
#1 Focus on the client, not yourself. Listen to the client and to what they have to say, identify their needs and focus on those needs. Don’t talk extensively about yourself or your company, but instead, focus on them.
#2 Don’t build your sales calls on a set scenario. Do not build a script. Premade scenarios and scripts will turn you into a robot who is clearly reading pre-written words. No one is interested in hearing that, so a real dialogue never gets born. Every sales call is different and making a call without listening to the client is a waste of time. Build your call on an interactive conversation.
#3 Ask strategic questions. Questions lead to answers. Questions help to create a dialogue which helps you build your sales pitch and answer questions. Without strategic questions your call can turn into small-talk from where it is difficult to get to the point. Come up with some important questions first and ask them in the right place as part of the dialogue.
#4 Don’t try to close the sales with the first call. Statistics show that salespeople sell the least during their first call and that success factor grows with time. Naturally, this depends on the price of the product/service but it can be said that 80% of the sales are closed during the 5th call.
#5 The key is in simplicity. The easiest you can define your product/service in a call, the easier it is for the client to buy it. Complicated description of a complex product – FAIL. Clear and simple description of a complex product – SUCCESS.
