Cold calling is an amazing sales tool used to contact potential customers in order to connect and build a working relationship outside of traditional storefronts or online.
Here are some sales tips to help increase your positive outcomes when cold calling so that you’re making an impact every time.
1.Personalise Your Approach
A survey by ONS found that “non-store retailing sales volumes rose by 4.8%” in July as consumers migrate to online and other buying platforms.This means that more people are staying inside to make their purchases, which is exactly where you need them to be!
When calling a potential customer. It’s important to understand that every call is going to be different and unique to the individual you are trying to connect to.
When making a plan for your calls, make sure that you are picking up any differing details on the list that could give you an angle to change up how you are selling.
2.Make A Connection
Connecting to your lead is the best way to begin building a rapport and familiarity between yourself and those who may buy your products.
Here are a few things that you could use as a way to connect:
- Be authentic in your call. As people, we are always striving to find honest communication.
- Really listen to what they have to say so that you know how to resolve any issues or apprehensions.
- Enjoy a lighthearted joke. Who doesn’t love to laugh? Just ensure that it’s tasteful, you don’t want to start off on the wrong foot and look unprofessional!
3.Speak Like A Human
Robots just aren’t interpersonal in the real world and many potential customers aren’t able to connect to a person who sounds like they are reading pre-written questions or responses.
Don’t be afraid of showing your personality and having a laugh during your conversation and make sure that you are tailoring your call strategy so that it’s unique to what your customers usually receive.
You never know if the person you are calling has a history of excessive scam calls, as this can prove to set your conversation on a more tense foot. Scam calls in recent years have gotten so bad that the Citizens’ Advice has even put in place resources to help people block scam numbers that are using cold calling tactics for crime.
This is why you need to be understanding if a recipient seems hostile at first, they probably aren’t sure if you are legitimate – it wouldn’t be remiss to put them at ease!
4.Research, Research, Research!
Research is an important step in sales as you need to understand your target audience. Before you pick up the phone, you should already have researched your company or person so that you’re able to build a connection from the get go.
Things such as:
- The area
- Local upcoming events
- Whether the company is financially viable to buy from you
- What class of people live within the area and whether they can afford your product or service
5.Prioritise Relationship Building
Perhaps they aren’t interested now, but with the connection you’ve made, suggest calling them back in a couple of weeks to see if they had time to consider further.
Making sure that you keep up to date with potential customers is key to building relationships. This will go a long way in the future the more dedicated you are to continuing to grow your relationships.
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