The development of digital strategies in sales and marketing is advancing in line with technological developments; even the door-to-door marketing method that used to be a mainstay seems irrelevant today, although some companies still apply this method. The presence of technology has also changed the way salespeople and marketers work. However, the Cold Calling technique is still a mainstay for salespeople to increase company sales. Cold Calling is one of the techniques in the sales process for contacting target customers via telephone to provide product/service offerings sold by business people. In general, Cold Calling is carried out by Salesmen or Business People to introduce further the products to be sold to target customers.
What Is Cold Calling?
Cold Calling is a technique of contacting someone (target customer) or a sales call by a salesman to introduce a product to be sold so that it will increase customer prospects. The form of sales calls, in general, is to make calls by phone, send introductory emails, or make in-person visits to places where the target market is located.
Using the cold calling technique is an effective way to sell your product; besides, it will also be easier for you to attract the attention of prospective customers. From the tone of voice you hear on calls with customer prospects, it will be straightforward to analyze whether these customer prospects have an interest in your product/service or not. If they may be in a rush to answer your questions, you can direct them to visit your company’s website to find out more about the products. If, after a few weeks, there’s no word from the prospect, you can call them back to find out what their interest is. If you don’t get an answer on the second call, give it some more time. When you make the third call, make sure you get a commitment from them. If there is no commitment, close the negotiation and find another prospect.
How To Effectively Do Cold Calling
We know that cold calling is generally done by directly contacting potential customers by phone. Therefore, before doing so, you need to prepare many things, from profiling customer data to preparing scripts to make it easier for you to explain the product to them. The following are some reasonably practical tips that you can use as a reference for cold calling, including:
Do Profiling Research
Profiling Research is the most important thing to do before starting cold calling. Without research on potential customers, you will find it difficult to offer products. From the research profiling, it will be known what the character of the potential customer is so that you can decide what kind of approach to take later.
For example, you will offer a B2B product to a customer. Of course, first, know the customer’s background, what position he occupies, what his needs are for the product, and information about the company where he works. This also helps you find out if, for example, the potential customer you want to offer regarding the product is only a job seeker; of course, he is not your target customer. So, after all, customer research profiling is a mandatory thing that needs to be done.
Prepare An Interesting Opening Sentence When Making A Call
The second stage is to understand that speaking in person and by telephone is not the same. Some people find it easier to talk in person than on the phone or vice versa. Some people may find it easier to talk on the phone because they don’t need to show facial expressions.
If you are the type of person who struggles to talk on the phone, you need to prepare yourself well before making calls to potential customers. You can start by scheduling an exciting opening sentence to make a call. The opening sentence determines whether the prospect wants to continue listening to your explanation or end the call. Therefore, prepare a polite opening sentence such as introducing yourself and then telling the intent to make the call.
Make Essential Points That You Want To Explain By Creating A Script
Making points in the form of a script is very helpful for the cold calling process that you will do. You will be much easier to remember what you are going to explain so you will not be confused about explaining your product to customers.
As explained by The Balance SMB, in making a script, just write down the important points that you want to say to potential customers. This will help you stay focused when communicating and offering products to customers, so the conversation doesn’t get off topic. But keep in mind that these points are only to help you remember and direct the conversation on topic. If you read it one by one it will seem stiff, and customers will be reluctant to continue the conversation with you.
Keep Your Speech Intonation
When you’re talking to a customer on the phone, then speak loudly that makes them startle or even speak quietly and they don’t hear. Therefore, knowing intonation is very important so that when talking to customers, the information conveyed can be heard clearly. The function of intonation can give the impression of the information conveyed, can attract attention and create a certain impression.
Believe In Yourself And Don’t Give Up Easily
One of the challenges of cold calling is overcoming doubts when talking on the phone. This usually happens when you have not made preparations. When you have done thorough preparation, you will be much more confident when communicating with customers.
Cold Calling will feel heavy when done to customers who previously had no interest at all in the products we offer. Of course, convincing them to want to try the product will be more difficult. You need a more approach so that customers can understand the products you offer. It takes persistence and patience when you have to try to convince a customer or accept a rejection from them.
