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It’s Only Common Sense: Seven Tips for Cold-calling Success

Cold-calling; we all hate it. Do I hear you groaning because I even dared to bring up the subject? Most of you love articles titled “Cold-calling Is Dead,” tearing them out of the magazines and bringing them to your boss saying, “See, I told you so.” But cold-calling is not dead. I agree that cold-calling is a lot harder than it used to be, but it is not dead. Don’t despair. Here are seven tips for cold-calling success:

1. Target the Right Companies

Develop an ideal customer profile with the characteristics that fit your company. Then, do your research. Go to your directories, LinkedIn, Google, or all of the above. Using your ideal customer template, find the right people to call. Start narrowing in on the right target companies and accounts.

2. Warm Up Your Cold Calls

Find ways to ensure they know your name even before you call them. This can be accomplished with various “touch” techniques. A touch can be an email or a newsletter that goes to all of the customers you are targeting. It can also be a personal snail-mail postcard or letter—anything that makes the customer aware of who you are and what you do so that when you finally call, you will have name recognition.

3. Plan the Phone Call

Even before you pick up the phone, develop a call plan and know what you are going to say. Whether a live person answers or you get voicemail, be prepared to handle either. Make sure you have a few attention-getting and provocative voicemail messages prepared just in case. Or, if you are fortunate enough to reach the person you are calling, have a script prepared, but remember to listen more than you talk. Your script should be geared towards asking the right questions.

4. Be Ready for the Gatekeeper

Oh, those pesky gatekeepers! And yes, that is exactly what they are. They are paid to keep you away from the very person you are trying to reach. So, prepare to talk to the gatekeeper. The first, and most important thing, to do is have the name of a real person you are trying to reach. If you say something like, “I’m looking for the person who buys PCBs,” you are sunk. Saying this is declaring that this is a random cold call and you have no idea what you are doing.

If you've done your research, you will know exactly who you are calling and can say their name with authority as though you’ve known each other for years. How would you act if it was your own brother who was the buyer and you were calling him? You would have the confidence of knowing that he would accept your call, right? Now, bring that kind of confidence when you are cold-calling; doing so will help to convince the gatekeeper that it is OK to put you through to the person you’re trying to reach.

5. Make the Phone Call

OK, you’re in! You have the right person on the phone. Catch your breath, slow down your speech, think about it, and talk as if you have something to say. Do not rush. Act as if you have all the time in the world, exuding the confidence needed to gain and maintain the subject’s attention. Tell them who you are and what you want, and then ask a thought-provoking question. This should be a question about something you learned when you researched the target company designed to make sure that the buyer will want to answer and continue the conversation. Imagine that you are about to tell the person some incredibly good news. Capture that feeling and convey that attitude throughout your phone call. After all, if you believe in your product or service with all of your heart, you will feel like you are delivering great news!

6. Assess the Potential Customer’s Needs

If you ask the right questions, or rather the right line of questioning, you will guide the potential customer to the point of telling you what they need, which will become your strategy for winning that account. Let the customer tell you what it takes to be their supplier, and then provide them with exactly that.

7. Summarize the Meeting

At the end of the meeting, summarize what you heard your target customer say in your own words, checking with them to make sure that you are both in accord. Then, suggest the next step on your way to the customer-vendor relationship—set up the next meeting (make sure the customer agrees down to the date and time), get an RFQ, send them more information, etc. This is critical! Within hours of the phone call, summarize the meeting in an email to solidify what was said and what was agreed to be the next steps.

If you follow these seven cold-calling tips diligently, you will succeed. I’m not saying it will be easy—nothing worthwhile is—but if you are persistent, it will get easier, and you will have the satisfaction of being a great cold caller, which is a key ingredient of being a successful salesperson.

It’s only common sense. 

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.