Cold calling for sales can be one of the most frustrating and confusing tasks. After all, you don’t always know what to say or when. But now it’s easy. This ultimate template will give you everything you need to make profitable cold calls that result in more sales and conversions to accomplish your goals.
Before we jump in, you first need to understand there are four main steps in all sales calls that are successful and you should use them every time. Later, we will delve into each one individually and provide you with examples of how to use them in your call. To wrap up, there is a template with a script for you to simply fill in a few pieces of custom information about your company and prospect so you can pick up the phone and start calling in the cash quickly, easily and powerfully.
Steps of the Cold Call
1) Greet
This is perhaps the most important part of the call because it’s the first impression your prospect will have of you when they pick up the phone. So make sure you greet them with a smile (even though they can’t see you) and confidence. The correct way to make the greeting is to tell them who you are and who you’re with. Don’t forget to speak in a clear, positive tone.
Example: “Hi, my name is (your name) with (company or organization).”
2) Why
One of the biggest challenges of the cold sales call is keeping your prospect from hanging up before you’ve given them a great reason to stick around. So don’t be coy with your information in this stage. Tell them exactly why you’re calling. After all, you interrupted their day! The best way to give a compelling reason is to mention something that you’ve been able to achieve for other clients.
Example: “I’m calling you today because I just finished assisting (similar company in the same industry) achieve (specific results relevant to your prospect). I would love to meet with you and show you what we’ve done and how we can assist you too!”
3) Finding Facts
Don’t fall into the trap of only telling the other person about yourself and why you’re calling. You need to transition into asking questions of them as quickly as possible, or else they will be bored quickly. A large problem with sales professionals making calls is that they don’t know what to say during a cold call. That leads them to stumbling over their words and leading the call down a road to nowhere.
If you can relate to doing this as well, don’t worry. However, you shouldn’t ever stumble again, as there are five really simple types of questions to ask when fact finding. They are:
. Qualification – Here you are basically asking if they want your product or service in the first place. After all, it’s no use spending time on people who aren’t even within your target market. A commercial insurance company making cold calls would want to make sure they are calling on businesses: “Do you own or operate a business?”
. Concerns – Your customer’s concerns should be like music to your ears. Far too many sales professionals worry about what their prospect will say on the phone, as it could result in conflict or problems to solve. But in every problem is an opportunity for you to solve it (and profit from it). Flush out potential objections and deal-killers early on, to avoid frustration later on in the sales cycle: “What is your main concern with moving forward at this time?”
. Pain Level – You want to know how much your prospect really needs your solution. If they don’t seem interested at all, perhaps it’s time to move on. But if they are very emotional and seem “hot” about the kind of issues you can help them with, then press on. For example, ask them to explain why they haven’t already bought your product, or even if they think you can solve their problem: “What’s taken you so long to take action, do you feel we can help you?”
. Believability – With a cold call, you can make a lot of big claims that sometimes don’t seem very credible to the person you’re talking with on the phone. However, you can add little phrases in that make your proposal seem more reasonable: “If I am able to offer even half the savings that I did for your competitor, would you consider us?”
. Decision Maker – Identify the key decision makers in this stage of the call. After all, it doesn’t help you if you’re not talking with anyone who has the power to say yes to you: “Who else needs to approve this for you to buy today?”
4) Appointment
A successful cold call always ends in an appointment. After all, what’s the point in making the initial call if you don’t meet later and show them more information and persuasive examples of your company’s solution? Therefore, get the appointment when you have completed the previous three steps. Suggest a meeting as soon as possible from the current date. The longer you wait, the less “hot” the prospect will be. Be simple and direct when setting an appointment: “When is a good time for you to meet and review this?”
Putting The Pieces Together
Here is the ultimate cold call template, all together now:
Greet: “Hi there, this is (name) with (organization).”
Why: “I’m calling you today because (compelling reason / benefit).”
Fact Finding: “I want to make the most of your time, so let me ask you…are you in the market for (your product / service)? Why have you not purchased it yet? Do you even believe it can help you? Excellent, who else would need to approve our proposal to move forward today?
Appointment: “Let’s meet (today / tomorrow / soon) at (specific time of day). Great, see you then!”
Just fill in the blanks above and you’ve got your perfect cold call template. Print it out once you have it customized and hang it near your phone for easy sales calls. Now you’re ready to enjoy more sales and more success for your company and personal goals!