RELATED: 8 Days Of Email Marketing | Guide To Email Sales

In this article:

1. Email Is the Most Common Sales Outreach Method
2. Why a Phone Call Can Sometimes be More Effective
3. When to Use Email Prospecting
4. When to Use Cold Calling
5. Testing the Best Types of Sales Activities
6. Email Prospecting vs Cold Calling: The Final Verdict

Email Prospecting vs Cold Calling | How Each Stacks Up to the Other

Email Is the Most Common Sales Outreach Method

Ever wondered how you should approach your clients? Have you asked yourself if you should send an email or call them on the phone?

Sometimes picking between sales communication methods (email prospecting vs cold calling or even voicemail) is a matter of preference and a subjective choice for sales representatives. However, getting the right sales activity with a lead can make or break your deal.

It can’t be left to chance.

Email is currently the industry darling for salesmen, according to a recent study, but it may not always be the best way to go.

• Recent XANT research shows that 32% of respondents use email as a preferred method to communicate with prospects. Additionally, 61% of first contacts happen via email.
• On the other hand, only 6% of sales reps use a single call and voicemail as a sales cadence.

Since calls aren’t being used much in lead generation, it’s time to reevaluate. Is this really the best way to do business?

We asked Scott Mark, XANT Partner, and Field Marketing Specialist, why reps prefer to email rather than call. Scott has been doing technology sales for more than 11 years in complex business markets and just closed an excellent quarter.

“Sales reps prefer email because clients are too busy to take the call in the first place. Most clients or prospects don’t want to talk on the phone,” Scott Mark points out.

“Email is non-threatening — they can reply when they want to, they don’t have to have a conversation on the spot. Email gives the customer more freedom,” said Scott Mark.

Instead of waiting on a response, emails can help both parties avoid wasting time. However, it doesn’t mean it’s the most effective.

We can quickly see how more freedom for the customer doesn’t necessarily translate into a closed deal for the rep. After all, prospects might dodge replying to your messages.

Why a Phone Call Can Sometimes be More Effective

Sending emails and making cold calls both have their pros and cons. On that note, phone calls are more effective than email at gathering responses.

Phone calls can be more useful for several reasons, but let’s list the most obvious:

• Recent stats show that the average office worker receives around 121 emails per day.  In this type of crowded medium, it’s hard to stand out and get someone’s attention;
• According to statistics, over 57% of people who receive a cold email think it is spam without even opening the email;
• Phone outreach has a response rate of 8.1%, compared to .03% for email, according to one study;

These statistics show the differences between phone calls and emails. Intuitively, we know that the most effective communication always happens in real life.

The effectiveness of real-life communication is why face-to-face meetings are a great sales tool to leverage.

In studying the impact of the different types of communication, UCLA psychology professor emeritus Albert Mehrabian discovered the following:

• 7% of a message relies on the words;
• 38% of it is from the intonation;
• and 55% of one’s facial expressions or body language.

Looking at the research, we can see how the different types of communication might have different results. However, when trying to effectively communicate a sales proposition, sales representatives will need to use all kinds of communication.

This is especially true in technology sales (SaaS selling), where multiple decision-makers are involved, and sales cycles are regularly long (3-6 months).

Knowing when to email and when to call as a part of a sales cadence strategy is what creates a high performing sales organization.

RELATED: Cold Calling Still Works – If You Do It Right

When to Use Email Prospecting

You might be able to reach simple goals with an email: scheduling a meeting, answering one-off questions, and more. However, when a client is ready to close the deal, you will need to get in touch with them by phone.

“Where closing is concerned, on that type of conversation, a call is better than an email. When there is negotiation involved, when they are trying to get questions answer, further down in the customer journey, it’s the best time to have a phone call as well as a demo,” said Scott Mark.

Email prospecting is best when you want to reach a lot of people for lead generation. Of course, you have to make sure that the email isn’t an end in itself.

Instead, when you’re sales prospecting through email, it’s to get customers to talk to you.

Effective prospecting, whether done through the phone, through email, or even through social media, will depend on your goal.

When to Use Cold Calling

With email and phone calls, it’s not an either/or, shows Scott. They each have their place in the sales activity cycle and contribute heavily to the outcome of the final deal.

“Me, personally, I’m a phone call guy. The way I’ve done it in the past and the way I trained my team all involve phone calls,” Scott admitted.

“Studies show that you should send an email first, and then follow up with a call. I always think you should call and leave a voicemail, and let them know you sent an email.”

“The call, voicemail, and email need to correlate with each other,” says Scott.

Outreach through cold calls is excellent, given all the control you have over your conversation with a lead. If this is something that appeals to you, then maybe cold calls are the way to go.

However, do note that not a lot of people will be open to receiving cold calls. Remember not to go into a full-blown sales pitch on the first call, to avoid driving away your potential customers.

Granted, there are different other factors you should consider when creating your sales cadence strategy: target audience, type of product, and even your industry response rates will be involved.

Testing the Best Types of Sales Activities

Testing internally should tell you what types of interactions and messages your audience resonates with. If you’re looking to see what the benchmarks are in the industry, the XANT Sales Cadence Report 2017 can give you an idea.  

In this study, XANT Labs audited the sales cadences of 8,000 companies and analyzed the results to determine how companies worldwide interact with their leads.

Email Prospecting vs Cold Calling: The Final Verdict

Basically, there’s no one sales activity better than the other. Overall, each sales activity has its own benefit and advantages that can be incorporated into a team’s sales tactics.

To get good response rates, sales reps must master the skill of customizing each contact they make with prospects and customers. It’s not enough anymore to send out a standardized email or read from a script when calling. Although quantity matters, relevant quality contact catches the eye of the prospect to win appointments.

As long as you know the best situations for both of these activities, then they can both live in harmony in your sales process strategy.

What do you prefer between email prospecting vs cold calling for sales outreach? Why is that your preferred method? Let us know by leaving a comment down below!

Up Next:

• Sales Email Secrets | Secrets Of Email Prospecting To Increase Open Rates
• Cold Calling Is NOT Dead: How We Built 1.1M In Pipeline Using The Phone
• How To Build The Ultimate Outbound Sales Cadence

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on August 2017, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

RELATED: Four Tips On Selling To C-Level Executives

In this article:

1. Engaging with C-Level Executives
   1. Start at the Top
   2. Forget the Features
   3. Understand their Priorities
   4. Level with Them
   5. Get Social
   6. Don’t Burn Bridges
   7. Be Pleasantly Persistent
2. The Challenges of Selling to C-Level Executives
   1. Senior Executives Are Constantly Being Offered Something
   2. Most C-Level Decision Makers Prefer Referrals
   3. Their Time Is Limited
3. C-Level Secrets: Copy the Things C-Level Executives do Daily
   1. Prioritize
   2. Get to the Point
   3. Able to Ask Great Questions
   4. Considers the Impact on the Organization
   5. Trust Others

How to Connect and Engage Better with the Top Brass and C-Level Executives

Engaging with C-Level Executives

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” This familiar adage comes from Norman Vincent Peale and has been used to inspire and motivate people around the world.

Why, then, do salespeople seem to shoot for the clouds and land among the trees? Why are so many calls made and emails sent that don’t even attempt to connect with the absolute highest decision-maker?

Cold calling the CEO is difficult, but not impossible — if you know how to structure your pitch and how to get past gatekeepers.

At Abstrakt, we’ve scheduled more than 100,000 B2B sales meetings in the last eight years, so we have unique insight and hundreds of thousands of hours put into mastering this skill. I’ve seen it in almost every new rep: fear of the owner, fear of the gatekeeper, fear of the 2nd gatekeeper (the dreaded executive assistant), and reluctance to even approach the challenge.

Some reps give in to this fear and go for the second best thing—mid-level managers.

Is it easier to get a mid-level manager on the phone? Absolutely.

Is it more productive? Definitely not.

A 2012 Harvard Business Review article reported a survey finding that more than 90% of C-level executives said they ‘never’ respond to cold calls or e-mail blasts.

What is a C-Level Executive? This is a high-ranking official in a company who usually makes decisions that affect the entire business. They are called such because they typically have a “C” in their job titles, such as:

• CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
• COO (Chief Operations Officer)
• CTO (Chief Technology Officer)
• CFO (Chief Financial Officer)
• CMO (Chief Marketing Officer)
• CIO (Chief Information Officer)
• CSO (Chief Strategy Officer)

During an earnings call on February 24th, 2016, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff credited their success to their ability to target the CEO.

“When I look at the largest transactions… every transaction was done with the CEO,” Benioff said. “I think it’s really unusual, and that’s why we’re really selling more enterprise software than Oracle or SAP.”

According to Anthony Parinello in the book Selling to Vito, targeting the CEO/President/Owner will result in:

• A shorter sales cycle
• Larger deal sizes
• More add-on business

But, I assume you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t already know you should be reaching higher.

So, with more decision-makers guarding their time and companies adding more layers of protection to keep them insulated from pesky salespeople, how do we get a conversation? How do we keep a conversation going with the top decision-maker?

Here are some tips on how to engage with high-ranking officers of a company:

Start at the Top of C-Level Management

CEOs will occasionally push you down, but mid-level managers will rarely connect you up. If you don’t start at the top, it’s a steep climb to get there that risks relationships you build along the way.

Getting to know a company’s employees, their ranks, and levels can prepare you when you start penetrating the business.

As a sales rep, you should know that you should try and get to your C-level decision-makers as soon as possible. That way, you don’t have to exert too much effort making your sales talk on someone who isn’t even part of the decision-making process.

Plus, it’s better to get a rejection straight from the C-level executives. If you get one from lower-level managers, you’ll always be stuck wondering if you could’ve gotten a yes from the higher-ups instead.

Forget the Features

Features are great for an operations person, but the higher you climb, the more your conversation should be tied to the benefits to their organization.

People in C-level positions constantly think of ways to improve their company as a whole. If you can address the company’s challenges and offer benefits, then these executives will be more accessible and might be more ideal to talk to.

C-suite executives look at their company issues from a more macro perspective, so you should focus on the macro solutions you can provide. When you list down your features one-by-one, it’s not as appealing to someone higher up the corporate ladder.

They’re always going to be much more discerning. Also, these business leaders are going to be thinking: “What’s in it for me?”

Thus, you should answer that question before they even ask it.

Understand the Priorities of C-Level Executives

A CEO’s performance is tied to driving revenue, improving margins, and increasing the bottom line. They will spend their time in conversations that will help them achieve these objectives.

Remember that you should modify your sales pitch to accommodate for the person you are talking to. Therefore, for people within the C-level management, you shouldn’t be asking basic questions about their company.

In fact, you should already know enough to get straight to the point. If you ask questions about their company goals and background, they’re likely not going to think much of you.

You should be armed and ready and able to show your understanding of their company goals and needs even before they have to say what it is to you.

RELATED: How To Close Sales: 6 Annoying Sales Tactics To Avoid

Level with Them

Yes, this can mean being straightforward. More importantly, in this context, however, it means to make sure that the senior executives perceive you as an equal.

People naturally like to have conversations with people they perceive as having similar characteristics, challenges, and experiences to them.

If you want to appear to be on equal footing with them, then you should strive to be someone that they think wants the best out of their company. Instead of focusing on closing a deal, concentrate on the goals of the organization.

For a lot of business leaders, they tend to be bombarded by messages wanting to get a sale out of them.

To stand out, you should do some serious strategic planning on your positioning ideals.

Do you want to be a guide, a partner, or an advisor for the executive team?

Planning ahead is a smart and strategic way of establishing a better footing in your relationship with these business executives.

Get Social

According to a white paper published by IDC, “75% of B2B buyers and 84% of C-level/vice president (VP) executives surveyed use social media to make purchasing decisions.”

If 90% of C-level executives are ignoring your cold efforts, warm them up by sharing relevant information and engaging their content and industry on LinkedIn and other social platforms.

A blog post from LinkedIn selling provides the following statistics:

• 92% of buyers engage if the professional is a known industry thought leader.
• 88% of buyers accept connections through someone in their existing professional network.
• 86% of buyers will listen if sales professionals provide insights about their business.
• 46% of buyers will engage in the professionals has a complete LinkedIn profile.

In your C-level executive search, social media is a big help. Not only will it help you develop your target executives list, but you already find a way to connect and communicate with them in some way.

Don’t Burn Bridges With C-Level Connections

Speaking of getting social, try not to burn any bridges between you and anyone in leadership positions. You never know who is connected to who.

The funny thing about CEOs is, they tend to hang around other CEOs. This means that when you get a little overzealous in one of your conversations, you run the risk of hurting your reputation with multiple potential partners.

People in authority keep in contact with other people with the same status. Be confident in your message and confident in the value you bring.

However, you should also be respectful of their timelines and their priorities.

Be Pleasantly Persistent

Depending on the product you sell, you may already know that sales can mostly be a timing game. If the time isn’t right now, gain agreement to follow-up down the road at a time that makes sense and never miss a follow-up.

These C-level executives don’t want you calling and bugging their team. They don’t want you talking to their executive assistant every day while they’re in meetings any more than you want to do it.

It will save both parties time to agree to a follow-up and stick to it.

Add value in every interaction! Commit to never touch a base again (unless you’re in a softball league).

The Challenges of Selling to C-Level Executives

Senior Executives Are Constantly Being Offered Something

C-level executives are continuously bombarded with messages. Most of these are cold messages, all with offers and sometimes vague promises.

Being a part of any leadership team means that these senior execs have a say in the decision-making process, which is why sales representatives always try to target them. Your challenge is how to stand out among this sea of offers and promises.

Most C-Level Decision Makers Prefer Referrals

Since they’re receiving offers upon offers, they need a simple way of filtering these offers. One way to do that is by prioritizing referrals over cold calls or emails.

Just remember higher-ups like working with companies that already have a stamp of approval from their peers. Thus, be at your best when talking to any C-level executive because their word holds a lot of weight with other business leaders in their circle.

Their Time Is Limited

Given the fact that people within C-level management have a lot on their plates, their time is precious to them. Therefore, it requires quite a bit of incentive on a sales rep’s parts to be able to get a small chunk of their extra time.

Although it’s obviously much more challenging to do prospecting to CEOs, as long as you have the skills and you follow the tips listed above, it should come easier.

It’s not easy to catch the attention of top brass executives, but closing a deal with one is not impossible. You just need persistence and a little bit of planning as you pursue C-level executives.

Plan ahead and prepare for whatever issues the chief operating officer may raise when addressing your product or service.

C-Level Secrets: Copy the Things C-Level Executives do Daily

Another way to connect with senior executives is to understand what they do and how they do it. Using simple tricks, you can learn these C-level secrets, adopt behaviors to make your selling life much easier, and which are applicable even if you’re not in a C-level role.

Prioritize

Any successful C-level executive has to nail the skill of prioritizing. Having the responsibility of managing billion-dollar accounts and sometimes hundreds of associates C-level executives have many demands thrust upon them. Their time and attention are divided but they still manage their tasks and monitor those of their managers and teams.

Get to the Point

Quite possibly because of time restrictions, C-level execs know how to communicate efficiently. Therefore, they know how to get to the point and will respect anyone who is not wasting their precious time.

Able to Ask Great Questions

C-level executives ask powerful and thoughtful questions despite not always knowing, or being involved with, the day to day work. Their techniques allow them to stay up to speed on subjects to yield helpful information.

Considers the Impact on the Organization

All decisions a C-level executive makes will be in the best interest of the business. They will always consider how decisions will impact performance and run a risk analysis to weigh up positive and negative outcomes. This C-level secret is something we can all adopt and improve our decision-making process.

Trust Others

C-level employees need strong teams which they can trust to get the job done. They promote this culture through empowering others, strong leadership, training, coaching, and succession planning.

These are all strategies we’ve used to great effect—are there any that I missed? Have you experienced success using similar tactics? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. 

Up Next: 

• Three Steps For Breaking Through The Fear And Doing The Hard Things 
• Face-to-Face Closes 2.5x Better, But Inside Sales Makes 7x More Calls
• 10 Secrets of Successful Business Development Leader

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on May 16, 2018, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

RELATED: How To Write An Inside Sales Script

In this article:

1. Why Phone Calls are Essential in Inside Sales
2. Cold Call Sales Script Structure
3. Benefits of Using a Sales Script
4. How to Work Around Objections
5. Start Creating and Improving Your Sales Script

How to Write Sales Script Step-By-Step

Why Phone Calls Are Essential in Inside Sales

In the world of inside sales, phone calls are incredibly important. As inside sales reps don’t get to take advantage of fieldwork, using communication tools like phone calls are the best way to reach prospects and clients.

One of the secrets to gaining new clients and closing deals is a great sales script.

Cold Call Sales Script Structure

Making cold sales calls may sound daunting, especially to a rookie salesperson. That’s why having a sales script handy is ideal to steer the conversation in the right path.

There are six steps in the cold call sales script structure. Using these as a guide, you can create your own sales script template that nails everything you need to pitch and learn from your prospect:

Step 1. Pique the prospect’s curiosity. Make sure they know who you are and why they should listen to you.

Step 2. Provide context for your call by making an elevator pitch.

Step 3. Request for permission to continue your call.

Step 4.  Ask questions. Learn their needs and determine if they’re a good fit for your company and what you offer.

Step 5. Execute a good closing. Find out internal information such as their pricing preference, who the decision-makers are, and what their timeline on decision-making is.

Step 6. Schedule and arrange the next steps.

Open the Conversation

The first three steps in the sales script structure should all happen within your opening. You can cover them with two statements and one question:

1. Hello! My name is [YOUR NAME]. I’m reaching out to some companies in the area to find out if they’re a good fit for the product/service/program we offer.
2. In a nutshell, what we do is provide companies with [WHAT YOU OFFER].
3. Does this sound interesting to you?

What Makes This Kind of Sales Script Opening Effective?

Now, let’s break down what these opening lines accomplish for you:

1. It Establishes Context

Introducing yourself establishes context right from the start. A lot of reps forget or don’t even bother to start the conversation by introducing themselves.

You don’t need to jump right into the pitch. Rather, let your prospect know first who they’re talking to.

When they know who’s calling them, they’ll be more attentive to what you’re going to say.

Some sales trainers teach reps to make small talk after introducing themselves, but that’s unnecessary. Small talk may set a friendly conversational tone, but not everyone has time for that.

Remember that when you’re calling someone, you’re interrupting their busy day. That’s why you need to get to the point and let them know you value the time they can spare for you.

2. It Has a Specific Purpose

When you lay out your reason for calling, make sure you let the person know the following:

• Who you work with (your current customers)
• Where you’re located
• What you’re looking for (your target market)
• What you’re offering

Since this is an exploratory call, telling your prospect you’re looking for companies that may be a “good fit” with what you’re offering is more ideal than saying you’re looking for customers.

How you structure your script will still depend on what type of company you are and who your target market is. The sales script examples we’re discussing can serve as your guide when you create your own.

3. It Presents Your Elevator Pitch

The next thing to do is to present your elevator pitch. What does your company do?

Answer this question clearly and concisely — keep it within a single sentence. It shouldn’t take you 30 seconds to make your elevator pitch.

Remember that prospects aren’t patient when it comes to cold calls.

RELATED: How To Be Remarkable, Memorable, And Compelling In A Remote Call

4. It Gives the Prospect an Opportunity to Get off the Call

Asking the prospect if your pitch piqued their interest is important. This is because what you’re really giving them is an opportunity to opt-out of the cold call.

If they’re not interested right from the start and they weren’t able to make objections, all they’ll think about for the rest of the call is how to get out of it.

You won’t get any useful information out of the prospect if this happens. On the other hand, hearing their response to your elevator pitch lets you continue the conversation.

You’ll receive three kinds of answers from your prospect:

• Yes
• No
• Maybe

No matter how they respond, you can still keep the conversation going by asking them to tell you about their sales process.

At this point, neither of you have enough information to decide if the call is worth continuing or not. You still have to ask qualifying questions, and they still have time to decide whether to stay in the call or not.

Ask Qualifying Questions

The qualifying stage is the fourth step in the sales script structure. There are three qualifying questions you can ask your prospect to get an idea if they’re a good fit for your company or not:

• What’s your current process when it comes to ___________?
• How do you solve _____________?
• Who are your target market and customers?

Execute a Good Closing

As you begin to close the conversation (step five), find out internal information from your prospect. You can do this by asking the following questions:

• We’d like to begin in [X] days/weeks.
• Is this ideal for you?
• Our product/service/program will cost $X per day.
• What’s the decision-making process in your company like?

Plan the Next Steps

The last step covers your next courses of action with the prospect. You can end your call by telling them what you’ll do next and asking for pertinent details:

• It sounds like your company is a good fit for what we have to offer. I’ll send over more information about our company and let’s schedule a day next week to discuss your questions and concerns.
• What’s the best email address to use when I send over the information and calendar invite?
• What schedule works best for you next week? Let me know so I can send you the invite before we get off this call.

Benefits of Using a Sales Script

If you think using a sales script makes you sound dull and robotic, it only means you’re not using it properly. Mindlessly reading lines from your sales script will make you sound like a robot.

Use your script as a guide instead of letting it lock you into a rigid conversation. When used properly, sales scripts help you:

• Provide structure and clarity to your message
• Listen to understand your prospects
• Increase your IQ in selling
• Improve your sales process
• Develop a sales process that’s scalable
• Make quick improvements and changes
• Lessen low-performance days

How to Work Around Objections

Sales professionals know what it’s like to face rejections. The key is to learn how to work around sales objections.

Here are some ways to help you develop your skills at handling objections:

• The first step is to understand the kind of “no” the prospect is giving you. They could be saying no to working with you because of the timing or price point.
• You’ll learn how to deal with sales objections by experience. Expose yourself to different kinds of prospects by making lots of calls.
• Another thing that helps is having an objection handling file where you document the different ways of how a sales representative can manage objections. This way, they’ll be ready to address different types of no’s they receive.

Two of the most common objections are:

• “I don’t have time at the moment.”
• “Email the details to me.”

You can work around the time issue by providing value to the prospect early on and keeping it up throughout the conversation. Using the sales script we shared above, you can achieve these right from the opening.

When the prospect asks you to send an email, you can respond with, “I definitely will. Just so I know what else to write in the email, can you share it with me…”

Then, follow it up with your qualifying questions.

Start Creating and Improving Your Sales Script

A winning sales script is one of the many contributors to long-term success in sales. Always keep in mind that creating an effective sales script is a continuous process.

As you revise it each time you learn something from your prospects, you’ll find new ways of how to close deals.

Revisions don’t need to take up a lot of time. Setting aside a specific schedule each month with your team to work on your sales script can highly improve it.

Using a sales script guide you through the conversation doesn’t have to be limiting. If you’re using it properly, it can become an effective tool to get through the exploratory call and eventually close deals.

Start creating your own winning script with our sales script template. Practice using it in your calls and keep on improving it to see a difference in your customer interactions.

How has using or not using a sales script affected your communication with prospects and clients? Share your experiences with us in the comments section below!

Up Next: 

• Cold Calling Secrets: How To Eliminate Fear, Failure, And Rejection
• Overcoming Cold Calling Objections
• Secrets To Successful Account Management With Suneal Rao At InsideSales.com

RELATED: 7 Tips To Create Effective B2B Sales Strategies

In this article:

1. Ask These Questions Before Cold Calling
2. Understand the Structure of a Cold Call
3. Use a B2B Cold Calling Script
4. Manage Objections
5. Mind Your Tone
6. Pitch at the Right Time
7. Become Fearless
8. Never Multitask
9. Use the Power of Three
10. Define a Successful Sales Call
11. Turn Rejections Into Opportunities
12. Don’t Think of a Strong Accent as a Hindrance
13. Use the 30/50/50 Rule
14. Leave Pre-Recorded Voice Messages
15. Use a Sales Dialer
16. Value First, Then Price
17. Don’t Be Afraid to Bait-and-Switch
18. Handle Difficult Prospects with Grace
19. Use Friendly Strength

19 B2B Cold Calling Tips

1. Ask These Questions Before Cold Calling

Your mindset during a cold call determines how successful it will be. Ask yourself these questions before picking up the phone.

• Why are you calling?
• What do you want to accomplish?
• How are you going to accomplish this goal?

2. Understand the Structure of a Cold Call

Without a solid plan, it’s going to be much harder to close that deal. While not all sales calls follow the same route every day, a cold call should roughly follow the same steps:

• Introduce Yourself: Start a conversation with your prospect and build rapport with them. Make sure they’re engaged and ready before starting your pitch.
• Ask the right questions: During the first call, you should ask questions to help you assess your lead.
• Pitch your product or service: Now that you’ve gotten your prospect’s attention, this is where you deliver your sales pitch.
• Be prepared for objections: There’s no such thing as an easy sell. Continue reading to figure out how to address common objections you’d get from customers.
• Finish with a Call to Action: Not having a call to action, like a check-in or follow up call, means you must go back to square one with that prospect.

3. Use a B2B Cold Calling Script

What is a cold calling script? Also known as a sales script, this is a script (for marketing professionals) or a set of talking points sales reps use to talk to prospective clients.

B2B cold calling scripts force you to structure your sales process. It allows you to focus on what’s important and what value to communicate to prospects.

The main benefit a cold calling script brings is the ability to listen to what your prospect is saying instead of thinking on what to say next. This, in turn, allows the team to be more responsive to the customer.

4. Manage Objections

Hearing many “no” responses is the nature of the cold call. As such, objection handling is a must-have skill for sales professionals.

Here are the most common objections you hear and learn how to respond to them:

• Asks to send an email so they could leave a reply: This is a common tactic of someone who wants to get off a call. To keep them on the phone, ask enough questions to keep the conversation going.
• Says they have no time to talk: If your prospect tells you they don’t have time to talk, ask them when’s the best time for a quick call. Prospects usually stay on the line if they know it’s going to be short.
• Prospect not a decision-maker: Make sure they understand what they need to do between now and the next call. Also, let them know what they need to move things forward.
• Requests for more information: Use the same tactic as what you would use for prospects asking to send an email.

5. Mind Your Tone

It’s not just what you say but how you say it that matters.

• Volume: Too soft, and you won’t attract prospects; too loud, and you may come across as too pushy and aggressive. Aim for just a little louder than average.
• Pacing and Cadence: Speak fast enough to sound like you know what you’re talking about, but don’t rush through everything.
• Body Language: Yes, even when you and your prospect can’t see each other. Change your position as if you’re talking to them face to face.

6. Pitch at the Right Time

Pitching way too early in the call eliminates your chances of closing that deal.

Don’t just throw darts and hoping one sticks. Ask open-ended questions to map out what your customer needs and tailor your value proposition as a response to them.

More importantly, listen to your customer. Feel out and test before you pitch.

7. Become Fearless

Many sales reps and entrepreneurs avoid cold calling whenever they could. It’s not because they’re not good at it, but more of because they’re afraid of rejection.

Here are some techniques you can do whenever your fear of cold calling starts to get to you:

• Acknowledge and verbalize your fear.
• Aim for failure instead of avoiding it.
• Don’t take yourself too seriously.
• Discover that there’s nothing to fear.
• Crush it!

8. Never Multitask

Your prospect deserves your full attention. Having your full attention means you’ll be able to notice the little cues and be better engaged.

9. Use the Power of Three

Limit yourself to three main points in your pitch. With so many distractions abound, prospects won’t have the attention span for long conversations.

Just extract the three main highlights and make sure you have their attention when it matters.

RELATED: Tips on Texting in B2B Sales

10. Define a Successful Sales Call

Two things define that define cold calling success:

• Clearly defined next steps
• A prospect excited to take those steps

11. Turn Rejections Into Opportunities

Every bad sales call you have is an opportunity to grow and be a better salesperson.

12. Don’t Think of a Strong Accent as a Hindrance

Some people have strong accents that make it difficult for prospects to understand them. To minimize any issues, here’s what you can do:

• Meet face-to-face whenever possible. If not, ask for a video call.
• Speak a little more slowly than usual if you need to talk on the phone.

13. Use the 30/50/50 Rule

Asking how to improve your sales isn’t enough. You need to know the metrics that define successful cold calls.

• Reach rate is the amount of decision-makers you reach. Aim to get 30% and above.
• Qualify rate is the rate of qualified leads (or decision-makers you get to talk and ask questions to) you get. Aim for at least 50%.
• Conversion rate is the amount of deals that go from lead to the next step. Anything less than 50% signals trouble.

Knowing where you stand on these metrics can give you insights on how successful your cold calls are.

14. Leave Pre-Recorded Voice Messages

Cold calling hundreds of people a day means some calls end up in someone’s voicemail. To prepare for this, record a voicemail message and play this whenever you end up in the mailbox.

15. Use a Sales Dialer

What is a sales dialer? A sales dialer is a device that dials a prospect’s phone number for you.

Sales dialers remove the need to dial numbers yourself so you can go from one lead to the next. This isn’t the same as robocalling services, which is a common tool in marketing automation that makes the call for you.

16. Value First, Then Price

Make sure to communicate the value your product or service brings to the customer before talking about the price tag.

17. Don’t Be Afraid to Bait-and-Switch

What is bait-and-switch? A sales tactic that attracts a customer to an inexpensive item but prods them to buy a more expensive one.

This takes skills, but when done right, this strategy can be effective. Just make sure your bait truly provides value to your prospect.

18. Handle Difficult Prospects with Grace

Some prospects are just difficult to handle. Here are some challenging prospects you’ll talk to and the right ways to handle them:

• Refuses to answer questions: Try to control the meeting such that you’re the one leading the conversation.
• A ton of objections: Listen to them talk first, and then ask which one of their objections is a deal breaker.
• Says they will buy soon: Directly ask them if there’s anything directly blocking them from signing the deal.

Of course, if their minds are made up, it’s okay to walk away from that deal. Sometimes, you and the prospect just aren’t a good fit.

19. Use Friendly Strength

Some types of prospects require you to handle things more firmly:

• The hostile and aggressive prospect
• The withdrawn, tight-lipped prospect

Good cold callers can firmly stand their ground, but at the same time, exhibits empathy to the customer’s needs. They also know how to make nurturing and mutually beneficial relationships with their clients.

These are just some B2B cold calling tips to have in your arsenal. A lot of people hate cold calling, but it need not be a pain when you keep these tips in mind.

What B2B cold calling tips worked for you? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Up Next: 

• Understanding the Secret Lives of B2B Prospects
• The Secret to Winning in B2B Sales: The Human Touch
• How To Use The Law Of Reciprocity When Social Selling

RELATED: The Seven Rules Of Cold Calling [INFOGRAPHIC]

In this article:

1. Introduction
2. Is Cold Calling Dead?
3. Cold Calling Lead Generation: Predictive Sales Technology
4. Why Modern Sales Reps Are Neglecting Cold Calling Techniques
5. How to Encourage Sales Reps to Learn How to Cold Call Better
6. Cold Calling Is NOT Dead
7. Conclusion

The Cold Calling Experiment – Building Up Your Sales Leads

Introduction

Why cold calling still works—this was the subject of a heated debate we had with Mario Martinez from Vengreso.

During our webinar, we discussed which method is better to build a quality pipeline fast: cold calling vs digital prospecting via social media, email, or LinkedIn. Things got a little heated, so we decided to put our cold calling to the test.

We wanted to see how many appointments and how many pipelines we could generate by cold-calling using a predictive dialer.

We had our sales development representatives call thousands of leads. They spoke to cold prospects and gave them an idea of what XANT is all about.

For this week, we drew the line to see the results.

Is Cold Calling Dead?

Cold calling has always been an intimidating method of working a lead.

You basically pick up the phone and call a prospect to deliver a sales pitch about your service or product. The prospect has never heard of your company and doesn’t know who you are or what you do.

It’s what ‘old-school’ sales reps do and what new, digitally-savvy marketers would say is a waste of time and a sure-fire way to annoy your leads.

We think cold calling is NOT dead, and it still has better results than contacting prospects via social media, or email, or anything else, so we put our theory to the test.

It might seem like a lot, but the truth is, their efforts were rewarded times ten:

• Our sales reps had 632 meaningful conversations with prospects. This means 5.08% of all cold calls turn into meaningful conversations, which is a great rate and certainly better than email, which sits at 1-3%.
• They set 64 appointments with their leads, and 70% of appointments held.
• Out of the appointments that held, about 50% turned into opportunities

…and this is how they built $1.68 million in sales pipeline over five days!

This has been an amazing experiment to show the power of cold-calling in the age of digital sales and marketing campaigns.

The phone still works, and here at XANT, we are big proponents of picking up the phone and calling your leads.

RELATED: Cold Calling Secrets: How To Eliminate Fear, Failure, And Rejection

Cold Calling Lead Generation: Predictive Sales Technology

Now, something can be said about our cold calling strategy.

You can’t just pick up the phone and blindly call people. Our team used an Artificial Intelligence-powered sales dialer, which means they had a smart lead scoring system to guide them to the best leads only.

Cold Calling 101 – The basics you need to cold call properly:

• A list should be clean, well-targeted, and accurate before you begin cold-calling.
• Sales reps need to know your sales pitch by heart and avoid stumbling when talking to decision-makers.
• You need an awesome predictive dialer system for lead scoring that allows sales reps to get to the most valuable leads first, rather than gut-guessing who their targets should be.
• Make sure your dialer can suggest the correct phone numbers for targets, using predictive functions.
• Have a LocalPresence system that displays a local phone number, increasing your chances of prospects answering the phone.
• Make sure you have a click-to-call system so your reps don’t manually dial a phone number. This one is a no-brainer, and the technology has been around for a while, so there’s no reason not to use it.

Cold calling has changed since the age of the Rolodex. Make sure your tech stack can keep up with the needs of modern salespeople.

Why Modern Sales Reps Are Neglecting Cold Calling Techniques

There are many reasons why sales reps are hesitant about picking up the phone to get their leads. Here are three of them:

1. Cold Calling Has No Shortcuts

Cold calling is a numbers game. Only about 5% of the calls sales reps make are going to lead to a productive conversation, which is why reps have to make more calls.

The level of hard work required to get results is the reason why people think it’s an ineffective way of connecting with leads. Still, the numbers show that cold calling is still a pretty effective way of getting leads, so it’s worth it.

Unfortunately, these results don’t come easy. Plus, it doesn’t help that people think of cold calls as nuisance calls.

Nonetheless, if a sales rep is serious about reaching potential customers, cold calling is the way to go. It definitely shouldn’t be left out of the conversation.

2. They Think Cold Calling Is Ineffective

Another reason why sales reps might not be using cold sales calls to reach their potential clients is they think it’s ineffective in producing results.

Cold calling success is more likely to happen than other means of cold contact with leads. If you want to motivate reps to start cold calling, you’ll have to convince them it brings results.

3. They Don’t Have a Solid Cold Call List

Sales reps need to figure out how to make their own client base for sales prospecting. This part is important when it comes to developing stronger calling techniques.

A possible reason why sales reps aren’t actively cold calling is they may not know who are the right people to contact. Poor prospecting and development of cold call lists can affect the results of your cold calling efforts negatively.

This is why it’s a must that you develop a good cold call list to supplement any calling techniques you have.

How to Encourage Sales Reps to Learn How to Cold Call Better

1. Develop and Optimize Your Cold Calling Scripts

Your calling scripts should be solid enough to be used for different types of calls without appearing too stiff or robotic. It should also be able to adapt to any situation easily enough.

Remind sales reps that sales scripts are just a roadmap to guide you where your call is supposed to go, but they shouldn’t rely on it too much. Sales scripts are also meant to be checked and optimized regularly.

2. Remember to Try and Get to the Decision Makers

Another thing to remind reps is to avoid wasting time and effort by making sure they’re talking to the decision-maker of a company. These are the people who can give a yes or no on whether or not they can purchase your product or service.

3. Master How to Deal with Cold Calling Rejection

Given the low 5% rate of cold calls that lead to success, knowing how to deal with rejection is an important skill for sales reps to develop. It can be disheartening, but sales leaders can train them on how to handle rejection and keep pushing forward.

One way you can do this is to incorporate rejections into the sales scripts, so they’ll be prepared to handle them once they come.

Cold Calling Is NOT Dead

Some sales reps think that digital sales are now the new big thing and that cold calling is dead. But after seeing the results of this experiment, I just don’t buy it.

Don’t ever contact leads directly on social media, thinking you have no shot of getting to them over the phone. You are wrong, and if done right, the phone still works today.

Cold calling is the single most effective sales strategy you have today to build a pipeline without complex marketing strategies that take weeks to put together or without creating content.

Granted, sales reps have to put in a lot of work to make sure it is successful.

Conclusion

I have news for you — nobody is ever thrilled to receive a phone call from cold callers.

Even using a predictive sales technology stack, our numbers show you need to make 19.7 calls before you land ONE meaningful conversation with a prospect. To set just one appointment for a meeting with an account executive, SDRs need to ramp up 194.6 calls.

Cold calling is hard work, and you can see why sales professionals are quick to shy away from the phone and say, “it just doesn’t work anymore.”

It’s your job to show them why they needed your cold calling solution yesterday and how it solves their problems. We’ll be starting a social selling experiment soon to see how results compare to this one, so stay tuned for more!

What do you think about cold calling and how effective it is? Let us know in the comments section below.

Up Next: 

• What Is Cold Calling | Everything You Need To Know
• Social Selling And The Law Of Reciprocity
• Top Tips For Sales Development

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on May 22, 2018, and has been updated for quality and relevancy. 

RELATED: It’s Not the Calls You Take, But the Calls You Make

In this article:

1. Reasons Why People Have Anxiety About Talking on the Phone
   1. You Have a Harder Time Figuring Out What the Person On the Other End is Thinking
   2. People Don’t Have the Need to Call As Often As Before
   3. There’s an Additional Time Pressure Put On You
2. Importance of Phone Calls
   1. Build Flexibility Into Your Script
   2. Full Steam Ahead
   3. Curiosity About Your Fellow Humans
   4. Study Your Sales Calls
   5. Remember, You’re Helping, And Not A Nuisance
3. Note: Don’t Be An Order Taker
4. Conclusion: Call Anxiety is Not the End-All

How to Get Over Phone Anxiety for Sales Reps

What is Phone Anxiety? A common sales anxiety among salespeople that’s triggered by having to conduct cold calls.

Reasons Why People Have Anxiety About Talking on the Phone

Nowadays, people are more hesitant about using cold calling to connect with prospects. This anxiety about phone calls is affecting the productivity of sales professionals.

Therefore, addressing phone anxiety for sales reps should be one of the first things that they should work on. To be able to overcome phone anxiety, you should first identify what causes it.

After you know the common reasons why people have phone anxiety, then you can better counteract it. With that said, there are the reasons why people are more anxious about talking on the phone with people.

For a society that has a mobile phone with them at all times, it’s quite ironic that a lot of people have telephone phobia. On that note, why do people have phone anxiety in the first place?

According to psychologists, this may be due to several reasons. Here are three of them:

1. You Have a Harder Time Figuring Out What the Person On the Other End is Thinking

One of the reasons why more people have a fear of talking over the phone is they can’t gauge what the person on the other end of the line is thinking.

When you talk to someone face-to-face, you’re receiving information beyond words. You can also observe their body language, facial expressions, and gestures.

Since you can’t see the person you’re talking to on the phone, it’ll be harder for you to read what they’re thinking. In turn, this contributes to the anxiety one may feel about making phone calls.

2. People Don’t Have the Need to Call As Often As Before

Before there was social media, the Internet, or even the cell phone, there was the telephone. It was the most convenient form of communication, so people did it often back in the day.

As technology improved, so did the convenience of talking to people from all over. We went from calls to texts, and then from texting to instant messaging.

Since it’s not often required to call these days, people have become unused to phone calls. Not doing something often causes people to feel uncomfortable when they actually have to do it.

3. There’s an Additional Time Pressure Put On You

Phone calls can be disruptive for people on the other end of the line. With cold calls, there’s an even more significant hurdle to overcome since you’re taking someone’s time and working to convince them you’re worth it.

Thus, it is understandable why there’s more stress on sales professionals when it comes to making phone calls.

Additionally, you also don’t have the luxury of pauses. Sales reps don’t get to pause and think about their response, unlike in face-to-face communication.

This is a big reason why having to talk over the phone with a potential client is more intimidating. However, just because it’s a daunting task to accomplish doesn’t mean you should avoid it altogether.

Importance of Phone Calls

You’d think with the rise of email, texting, messaging, and chat, the phone would have declined in importance. Yet, it’s instead become more valuable than ever for sales teams as a way to immediately connect with prospects and customers.

But what if making calls causes you anxiety? It’s not an uncommon problem in spite of the stereotype of the ‘extroverted’ sales rep.

If you feel anxiety while making phone calls to potential customers, then starting a constructive conversation to possibly close a sale may not happen. Even setting up an appointment can prove to be challenging.

But there are ways to overcome that innate unease.

1. Build Flexibility Into Your Script

People who suffer from anxiety talking on the phone prefer texting instead. That’s because they can think and compose a text message without feeling any pressure to communicate well on the spot.

With that in mind, a script can be prepared to help you jumpstart the conversation.

Scripts are a useful guideline for navigating the conversation between sales reps and prospects. But unless you’ve practiced them until you’re comfortable in your delivery, they can come off as a robotic and detached experience for the person on the other line.

An even better way to utilize a script is to adjust it to your own speaking syntax and patterns while making sure you stay on message.

And of course, customizing to the recipient is important, too!

2. Full Steam Ahead

Making calls to overcome call anxiety

Procrastinating and excuse-making to dodge calling is all too easy to do when you have call anxiety. Yet, putting things off will only make you feel more anxious.

Of course, you need to prepare for your dials. But once you’ve prepped, give yourself the shock treatment of jumping in and doing it.

Once the initial shudder is over, you can fall into the routine – not unlike settling into swimming after leaping into a cold pool.

By plunging straight into the calls, it serves as a kind of exposure therapy for you. The moment you start getting into the groove of making calls, you’ll find that it isn’t as hard as you thought it would be.

3. Curiosity About Your Fellow Humans

Alexa Fischer is an actress, motivational speaker, and career coach. She suggests not worrying about being clever or sounding smart, but to be curious about others.

You’re dealing with people all day and trying to get information from them. This is a useful skill to have, especially since many people enjoy talking about themselves.

To get into the mindset, change your thinking from paranoia about the call to curiosity about what you’ll learn from the person you’re calling. Focusing on what you can learn from the other person may help reduce stress and anxiety.

Rather than be worried about your own performance, you’re focusing on the other person. In doing so, you are engaging in best practices for customer-oriented selling.

You can also become more curious by improving your attention to mindful living. There are excellent, free resources in abundance about mindfulness.

We’ll only note the key point: Mindful living makes you observe the world around you. It is reviving the sense of wonder and inquisitiveness you likely had when you were younger. That same sense carries over to sales calls.

4. Study Your Sales Calls

No professional advice or blog post will be as effective at enhancing your performance as listening to your own calls. Grating though it may be, analyzing your calls and dissecting them for strengths and weaknesses is the single best way to get better.

(Or ‘git gud’ as the millennials say.)

If you’re having trouble doing it on your own, consult someone with more experience, such as your sales manager.

Yes, it’s awkward. Yes, many people hate the sound of their own voice (primarily because the voice in our head is different from what others hear). Some may even become more anxious after hearing their voices.

But as we adapt to hearing our own voices through the simple processes of time and exposure, we become desensitized to the initial discomfort.

We will be able to listen in a detached manner that focuses on spotting highlights, errors, and corrections.

RELATED: The Best Times for Scheduled Sales Calls and Demos

5. Remember, You’re Helping, And Not A Nuisance

Many sales professionals with anxiety around making calls are also empathetic and caring. They know what it’s like to be intruded upon by a telemarketer or salesperson.

This is why they have a tendency to think of themselves as that irritating individual who is interrupting a busy prospect. That type of thinking permeates the atmosphere of the conversation.

The person you’re calling picks up on that negative energy, and it’s all downhill from there.

It’s no surprise at all when they reject you then, is it? They’re just picking up what you’re putting down. But if you shift your thinking from intrusion to assistance, you can change that energy and be more confident in sales calls.

Note: Don’t Be An Order Taker

Remember, buyers want their sales reps to be trusted advisors and bring value – not just order takers. Put yourself in that mindset – you know your offering and how it solves problems for your customers.

You’re not being a pest. You’re helping your prospects alleviate an issue that’s been bothering them far more than you ever think you could.

Framing your thinking to one of helping prospects and customers not only makes for more positive energy, but it also reduces the stress and pressure on you.

While you’re of course trying to qualify or convert them, your primary focus should be one of advising. It’s a much less stressful experience for both you and whoever you’re calling. After all, if your leads reject you, that’s cool – they just opted not to take your advice right now.

Conclusion: Call Anxiety is Not the End-All

Overcoming phone anxiety for great sales

Call anxiety is a common problem, with a variety of logical causes. But there’s also plenty of ways to reduce, and eventually, vanquish that fear entirely. Just follow these guidelines, and you’ll be cheerfully chatting away to customers and prospects, converting and closing with your advisor-first stance.

Don’t let your anxiety attacks over starting phone conversations take away your chance of improving your sales performance. Practice these tips when making phone calls to potential clients for better results. Exposure therapy can help you overcome your fear and bring you the success you want.

It’s not easy to get over phone anxiety, but you can take small steps towards overcoming it. After all, doing so will only help you have better sales performance.

Do you also have phone anxiety when it’s time to call your clients? How did you overcome this? Share your experience in the comments section below.

UP NEXT:

• Overcoming Objections in Sales Calls in 3 Simple Steps
• Cold Calling Secrets: How To Eliminate Fear, Failure, And Rejection
• No More Sci-Fi Talk: 5 Things AI Can Do For Your Business Right Now

Editor’s Note: This post was published on August 10, 2018, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

RELATED: The 9 Best Sales Prospecting Tips And Techniques You Can Do Now

In this article:

1. What Is A Power Hour?
2. How to Do Power Hour
   1. Put It On the Calendar
   2. Make Sure It’s the Right Time
   3. Management Must Participate
   4. Have the List Ready
   5. Huddle Before the Power Hour
   6. Have Fun
   7. Set up a Scoreboard
   8. Make It a Competition
   9. Huddle After the Power Hour
   10. Use Technology

Boost Sales At The Last Minute With A Successful Power Hour

What Is A Power Hour?

So, we’ve all been there.

You’re nearing the end of the quarter, and you need to quickly round up more sales opportunities for your account executive team. I’m naturally no fan of the end of the quarter mad rush, but sometimes you just need to build pipeline fast.

One of the activities you can do with the sales team is to organize a Power Hour. However, let’s first clarify what a power hour actually is.

By Power Hour, I don’t mean the drinking game.

A Power Hour is one hour in which all of the sales floors are entirely focused on cold calling your best prospects.

To motivate the team, you can introduce an award, and the sales reps who accumulate the most set appointments at the end of the hour wins. Doing so will help improve sales productivity.

Organizing a Power Hour is a great opportunity that will help your team close more appointments. They’ll receive a boost in motivation and from the excitement of the competition.

How to Do A Power Hour

To be able to do a power hour with your sales team, you don’t need much.

All you need is to devote a chunk of time to this activity. An hour, in particular.

The regularity of the power hour will depend on your organization. You can do it once a week, once a month, or even daily.

Here are the ten things to keep in mind for a successful Power Hour:

1. Put It On the Calendar

Scheduling power hours to plan for success

Power Hour has to be on everybody’s calendar, and everybody needs to know they need to show up. Participation is not optional.

Having everybody working towards the same goal will make each one feel like they have the support of the team behind their back. At the same time, it encourages competition, which will make your team strive harder.

2. Make Sure It’s the Right Time

There are times during the day when you have a better chance of contacting prospects, and there are times you have a worse time of contacting prospects. Schedule Power Hours during your best times to make productive and motivating calls.

Depending on the industry you’re targeting, the “right time” might vary. Be sure to keep this in consideration when you’re planning Power Hour.

3. Management Must Participate

Sales managers need to participate. You can’t be one of those leaders who ‘tells’ and doesn’t ‘sell.’

Get your butt on the phone. I send the invite, and I participate in each Power Hour.

4. Have the List Ready

Before you get started, you must have the to-do list or the to-call list sorted out before the hour begins.

The first few times, I showed up to our Power Hour, and nobody knew what list they were calling. This led to chaos and disappointing results.

By preparing and keeping things organized, you’ll avoid mishaps that could cause delays and slow things down, which invalidates the purpose of the Power Hour.

5. Huddle Before the Power Hour

Using team huddles for a motivated power hour

Another thing you need to do with the team is to huddle before the Power Hour begins. It should only last two minutes.

You can start with a joke to keep it light. Afterward, you can remind people what list they should focus on to maximize productivity and the chances of success.

Lastly, mention your scoreboard, then ask each person to come up with a goal.

Doing this can keep the members on track and get them pumped.

RELATED: 4 Sales Prospecting Tips To Surge Ahead With Power Hours

6. Have Fun

Sales reps tend to think that Power Hour is not really fun, but it can be. I stand up during my calls, or I tell people what happened after I had a conversation.

It makes the time pass much quicker.

By making it a fun activity, people will want to participate more. At the same time, they will stay motivated for a longer time.

7. Set up a Scoreboard

If you’re going to organize a Power Hour, then you need to see how you compare with everybody around you. Having a scoreboard is a must.

It’s better if the scoreboard is made by the reps, so they have ownership.

8. Make It a Competition

Turning it into a contest and awarding the winner with some sort of incentive is a great idea to get people hyped up.

Right now, we give a $25 gift card to every person who gets an appointment (and yes, we take the card back if the appointment doesn’t hold!). There are a lot of ideas for motivational games and prizes you can do here, so have fun with it.

If you can, you should consider asking your team what they want the most. What better way to motivate them than by getting exactly what they wanted as a reward?

9. Huddle After the Power Hour

Once the hour’s over, take another two minutes and huddle with the team. Let each person mention their goal and if they hit it or not.

Discuss funny stories or successes and get feedback on what could be done better next time.

Following the events that took place, it’s time to find out how you can improve yourself. To be able to continue to optimize and progress, one must always listen to feedback.

This is the primary reason why you should always huddle with the group afterward.

10. Use Technology

Using technology to assist in sales

Ten dials are not enough for each person during Power Hour. To have a successful Power Hour, you should be shooting for at least 30 calls per person, depending on the number of conversations.

Therefore, the best way to increase the activity level is to use XANT’s playbooks. This is cutting edge AI technology that shows you who to call and when to call.

It can also show you what to say for the highest likelihood of success.

After all, this is the age of AI selling, and Power Hour can really be easier, thanks to smart technology!

A successful Power Hour can help your team meet and even exceed your sales goals. Just remember these ten tips to help you make the most of this initiative.

If you’re looking to get this 10-point cheat sheet on the Power Hour in a .pdf format, you can download it below!

Will you be using these tips in your own strategy? Share your insights in the comments section below!

Up Next:

• 14 Questions You Should Be Able to Answer on Every Pipeline Review Call
• 7 Silly Mistakes Sales Reps Make With Playbooks For Salesforce
• Why Conversational Intelligence Matters To You W/ Roy Raanani @Chorus.ai

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on October 19, 2018, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

RELATED: A Guide To The Basics Of Cold Calling

In this article:

1. What Is Cold Calling?
2. Sales Reps Hate Cold Calling and Prefer Emailing
3. Cold Calling Is Alive and Well
4. Cold Calling Scripts: How To Actually Get Results From Them
5. Cold Calling Mistakes to Avoid
6. Cold Calling Tips to Try
7. Cold Calling Is Not Dead: Watch the Webinar

How to Do Cold Calls Right | Effective Cold Calling Scripts and Strategies

What Is Cold Calling?

Despite what a lot of people may think, cold calling still works. You only need to know how to do it right.

Before we begin to prove this to you in this article, let’s first start by defining what cold calling is.

Cold Calling Definition: A sales approach where a salesperson calls a potential client they’ve had no initial contact with. In the call, the salesperson tries to get the other person interested in the company’s products or services.

Cold calling is one of the scariest, most intimidating part of sales. Millennials, in particular, hate cold calling because they are used to having all the information they need online, at their fingertips.

They think it’s useless chatter, it’s bothering the customer, and not getting them results. The truth is, cold calling still works, with a conversion rate of 6.3%, and that’s why everybody’s still doing it.

Sales Reps Hate Cold Calling and Prefer Emailing

In fact, the “Sales Cadence” research report that XANT Labs released last year showed some concerning facts about how sales professionals approach their leads. Here’s the sum-up:

• The most common outreach practice is a single email (32% of respondents use this method)
• 61% of first contacts happen via email
• The second most utilized cadence is a single call and a voicemail (6%)

I found it mind-boggling that the most common communication channel for sales reps today is email. It’s certainly more convenient than a phone call, but the truth is sales reps who are not cold calling are missing out on incredible opportunities.

Cold calling is a chance to start a meaningful conversation with their prospects.

Cold Calling Is Alive and Well

At XANT, we have collected information on billions of sales transactions, and our machine learning engine analyzes this data continuously. The results help to produce new insights on sales best practices.

And guess what the latest results were? Cold calling is alive and well, and we have proof.

We analyzed over 1 million cold calls, and 6.3% of these actually resulted in meaningful conversations with a prospect. By comparison, cold emails open and click-through rates are absolutely dismal, at around 0.5%.

“For cold emails, the open rate is anywhere from 1 to 10%, and of these, anywhere between 0.2 and 0.5% will click through to offers. This is from a marketing standpoint, but even when the email is personalized and comes from a sales professional, cold emails still don’t work very well.

What really makes a difference is when users are opting into your company’s communication. That’s when you might see a 5-10% open rate, and a 1-2% click-through rate for emails or more,” said Derek Boggs, Demand Generation Manager for XANT.

Now, obviously, these rates are different for every industry. However, wherever I looked, success metrics for cold email don’t look very good– at least no better than cold calls.

The cold call allows you to make a real connection, build rapport with your prospect. Aside from that, it will enable you to find out more about the prospect’s needs and problems you can solve.

Cold Calling Scripts: How To Actually Get Results From Them

Getting good results from cold calling

Plenty of cold callers may encourage you to ditch the cold call script. However, if you’re intimidated by the prospect of cold calling, cold calling scripts can really help.

When you’re making your sales calls, a sales script is there as a guide. Although it’s your guide, it doesn’t mean you’re supposed to use the sales call script as a direct basis for conversation.

You can use cold-calling scripts in several ways that will produce results:

• When customers present common objections, a sales call script can help you provide counterpoints to these objections.
•  A good script will be less about selling and more about solving a prospect’s problem. The script can help you point out common issues that your service or product can be the answer for.
• Your script can help you stay focused on the goal or the reason why you’re calling.

Cold Calling Mistakes to Avoid

There may be many reasons why you’re not achieving any of your goals when you’re cold calling. To help you, below are some common cold calling mistakes to avoid.

• Letting your script dictate your conversation. You’ll end up sounding artificial, which is unattractive to your potential customer.
• Having the same sales pitch between the gatekeeper and the decision-maker. These two have different roles in the company, so it’s essential to personalize your pitch depending on who’s on the other end of the line.
• Not introducing yourself to the person on the other end. Who would want to talk to someone whose name you don’t even know?

Learning about the common mistakes people make can help you make better decisions. It’ll also help you achieve your prospecting goals by knowing what to avoid.

RELATED: Cold-Calling Is NOT Dead: Three Cold-Calling Techniques Guaranteed To Help You Win

Cold Calling Tips to Try

Here are a few tips to help you improve your cold calling results.

• Set the right goal for the call. Your reason for calling isn’t purely to get a sale, but rather to encourage the other person to have a more detailed conversation with you.
• Keep the focus on your prospect. Instead of talking all about how great your product is, let your prospect talk about their problems and themselves.
• Be quick. After all, you’re intruding on someone’s time, so keep the talk short.

Cold Calling Is Not Dead: Watch the Webinar

To find out more about how sales professionals can adequately use the power of cold calling, I tapped into the vision of Jason McElhone, Director of Inside Sales and cold-calling expert at MarketSource. Jason has spent the last 27 years cold-calling, and his results are out-of-this-world.

Tune in to the XANT webinar with MarketSource to learn:

• Why cold-calling isn’t dead if you do it right
• How experts execute a cold-call to win
• Cold-calling tips (by analyzing real cold calls)

How did your last cold call go? Did you use a script for it? What are some of your go-to cold calling scripts? Let us know in the comments section below!

UP NEXT:

• Cold Calling Secrets: How To Eliminate Fear, Failure, And Rejection
• The Top 5 Voicemail Mistakes For Inside Sales Reps To Avoid
• Sales Email Secrets | Secrets Of Email Prospecting To Increase Open Rates

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on May 8, 2018, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

RELATED: How to Find Direct Dial Phone Numbers When Prospecting

In this article:

1. Can Improve Productivity Through the Use of Efficient Algorithms
2. Automatically Assigns Calls to Available Sales Representatives
3. Blends and Manages Inbound and Outbound Calls
4. Organizes and Manages Client Database
5. Keeps the Database Up-To-Date
6. Ensures Equal Workload Among Sales Representatives
7. Improves Individual and Team Performances
8. Allows Sales Managers to Track Sales Rep Performance
9. It’s Cost-Efficient

Why You Should Use a Predictive Dialer for Your Business

What is Predictive Dialer? A predictive dialer is a smart system that processes outbound calls and manages them. It uses computer algorithms to dial the phone numbers stored in its database and continuously assigns calls to sales representatives.

1. Can Improve Productivity Through the Use of Efficient Algorithms

The predictive dialer’s efficient computer algorithms can determine how long it takes each sales representative to complete a call. It can also predict when it should start dialing the next number to start a new call.

Predictive dialer software can analyze the number of calls it should make. To achieve this, it draws data from the following sources and factors:

• Call drop ratio
• Number of available sales reps
• Number of lines that are operational
• Average time spent by each sales rep on a call

Based on this data, it can adjust its dial ratio and call frequency. As a result, the predictive dialer system can increase the efficiency of sales reps.

Now, reps can maximize the time they spend making calls. The system allows them to handle two calls within the same time it would have otherwise taken them if they didn’t use a predictive dialer.

2. Automatically Assigns Calls to Available Sales Representatives

The predictive dialer is intelligent enough to detect if a sales rep is available to take a call. It automatically assigns the next call to an available rep, which means they can’t choose which call they will entertain or ignore.

This process requires all sales reps to be competent enough to handle any call. It also prevents them from displaying bias over which prospects and customers they will attend and entertain.

3. Blends and Manages Inbound and Outbound Calls

Using a predictive dialer to manage outbound and inbound calls

If your business deals with both inbound customer service and outbound sales calls, the predictive dialer system will greatly benefit you.

It blends and manages inbound and outbound calls. This means it can work hand-in-hand with an automated call distribution system to assign calls to available sales reps.

Between these two systems, a predictive dialer has the ability to queue callers when there is no available sales rep yet.

It can also take caller messages, which lets the reps know what the caller needs. If the customer hangs up while on queue, the sales rep can easily call them back and provide what they need.

4. Organizes and Manages Client Database

Another advantage of having a predictive dialer software is you can organize and manage your database for clients. The software keeps all records relevant to your business, so you can always pull up the data when you need to.

The dialer detects call results and archives the records under specific categories in the client database. It can adjust the structure of the call based on its previous records.

To ensure that your sales reps can cover all leads, the software provides a list of numbers that were busy and not picked up. In turn, they can call these numbers again.

The software also maintains a list of numbers that belong to people who don’t wish to receive your sales reps’ call again. This client management system keeps your sales team from wasting time calling numbers that do not have the potential to generate sales.

5. Keeps the Database Up-To-Date

Having a predictive dialer ensures you have an updated client database. There will be no unattended caller as the software keeps a list of numbers that require a callback.

The person’s preferred call time is also recorded, so the dialer automatically contacts them on the specified time.

Even prior to taking the call, sales reps can keep themselves updated with the callers’ concerns through relevant information provided by the software.

RELATED: How Artificial Intelligence Helps Sales Reps Close More Deals

6. Ensures Equal Workload Among Sales Representatives

Dividing calls using a predictive dialer

Since the predictive dialer is an automated system, sales reps and managers can expect an equal distribution of workload among the team.

Sales reps receive and handle a steady stream of calls from the dialer. It is up to them to make the most out of each call they handle.

7. Improves Individual and Team Performances

The continuous and automatic stream of calls allows sales reps to be more productive. Once they get used to the predictive dialer process, their efficiency will eventually improve.

Everyone has a chance to up their skills in selling and handling concerns over the phone. This system also challenges them to manage their time wisely with each call.

Once the dialer software learns call patterns, it can apply the data it gathered on the structure of the call. This gives sales reps more time to speak with prospects whom they can convert to customers.

The predictive dialer can increase your sales reps’ productivity. As a result, their morale improves — they can hit their sales targets easier and bring in more profit.

8. Allows Sales Managers to Track Sales Rep Performance

With the predictive dialer software, sales managers can monitor sales reps’ calls and check the call recordings. This lets them know who needs extra help with their customer service skills so they can provide the training needed.

Sales managers can also pull in sales rep performance reports from the system. They can use this data for accountability and to provide a proper evaluation for each rep.

9. It’s Cost-Efficient

Increasing productivity using a predictive dialer

It’s worth investing in a predictive dialer since it has a good return on investment. With this system in place, you can provide customers better service, thus increasing the chances of retaining them and gaining higher profit.

Having a predictive dialer ensures a smooth process, from making outbound calls to retaining essential information, within your database. It can truly increase your business’ capabilities and performance.

Automating your outbound dialer system will yield a smoother process for your daily operations. It can also increase your sales team’s efficiency and productivity, which eventually results in higher lead conversions and sales. We hope these tips have helped you learn about the benefits of a predictive dialer.

What tools do you provide your sales reps to ensure that the time they spend on calls is productive? We’d love to hear about them in the comments section below.

Up Next:

• How to Be Remarkable, Memorable, and Compelling in a Remote Call
• 5 Best Practices to Deal with Phone Anxiety as a Sales Rep
• What Is CRM | Understanding Customer Relationship Management

In this article:

1. Is Cold Calling Dead? How Cold Calls Can Help Sales Teams Build Pipeline
2. Cold Calling Using Artificial Intelligence
3. Traditional Cold Calling vs Cold Calling with AI
4. The Cold Call Experiment
5. The 6 P’s of a Prospecting Call
6. Using the P’s for Cold Calling Success
7. The Future of Cold Calling

Cold Calling Is Dead? Not When Done Right!

Is Cold Calling Dead? How Cold Calls Can Help Sales Teams Build Pipeline

I’ve been tasked with building $100M in sales pipeline this year. It’s all perspective, but for me and my team, that seems like a big number.

And I’m not alone in this thinking.

Recent research by XANT Labs, the research and best practice arm of XANT, showed that the biggest challenge facing sales leaders, behind people issues, was building pipeline. In fact, 62% of leaders say building pipeline is harder than closing pipeline.

In 15 years of being in sales, I have learned there is no secret weapon when it comes to filling the sales funnel. You can’t bet on having a million dollar deal land in your lap every month, so you must find strategies and methods to slowly chip away at your number.

When deciding how to attack the pipeline goal this year, I’ll be honest in saying that cold calling was NOT a strategy that made the top of my list. Still, cold calling is not dead.

When you hear about cold calling, your first thought is probably of a telemarketer who grabs a phone book, calls you during dinner time, and hopes for a one-call close. If you’re anything like me, then that doesn’t sound like a strategy, it sounds like an annoyance.

Salespeople have unfortunately been cold-calling for decades, mostly due to lack of a better method. Thankfully, in recent years the art of cold calling has evolved for improved sales calls. Sales technology has made things a lot easier for sales reps and a lot less painful for the customer.

Cold Calling Using Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence Definition: This is the development of intelligence in machines normally exhibited by humans.

Today, companies have transitioned to digital sales and are using a concept called cold calling with artificial intelligence (AI). Cold calling with AI turns sales calls on its head, allowing sales professionals to target only interested individuals and personalize their message accordingly.

Here’s how AI makes cold calling different.

Traditional Cold Calling vs Cold Calling with AI

Cold calling enhanced with AI technology

Now, when you explain cold calling like that, it sounds more interesting but does this method produce results? You can’t know until you test it out so… that’s exactly what we did.

Sales is often too much about what people think is effective versus what is actually effective, and it has damaged the entire industry. Rather than believe cold calling is dead because of what others say, we thought we’d gather a small group of individuals and test it out.

I’m not a scientist or a statistician, but I know when something is producing pipeline… and when it is not.

The Cold Call Experiment

For our experiment, I worked with seven sales development reps. They weren’t happy with the idea initially, but they agreed when I explained this wasn’t going to be the typical cold calling exercise.

We ended up doing 1,468 phone calls to contacts within our target accounts. Sales reps had 151 meaningful conversations for a conversation rate of 10.3%.

In our research, we found that the average sales development rep has 74.2 accounts and does 17.2 minutes of research per account. That’s 21 hours of research and a whole lot of time!

We wanted to figure out if there was a better way to manage that process, and it turned out there was. Rather than have the rep spend precious time searching for data, we found technology could bring the relevant insights to the rep so they could see important information about the company and the contact as the call was being made.

Knowing who to call, having the right phone number, and understanding who the prospect was were the first big steps. The next big step was what to say when the prospect picked up the phone.

RELATED: A Guide to the Basics of Cold Calling

The 6 P’s of a Prospecting Call

People who say cold calling is dead, probably haven’t evolved with the times yet.

I receive cold calls from sales reps and rarely do I feel the rep knows what to say. Here’s where they usually go wrong.

Reps shouldn’t say the same script every time, and it’s often odd when reps try to bring up things that are too personal to their prospect. This limits chances for a successful lead generation.

Thankfully, there is a middle ground. It focuses on providing reps with permission statements and ideas they can discuss that focus on the problems of the people they are calling. We call this concept “the first call sequence.”

The first call sequence has the following structure:

• Preface – Provide an introduction
• Personalize – Share something to build rapport
• Position – State why the prospect should care
• Pain/Product – Uncover the pain or explain a cool feature and key benefit
• Proof – Reference a customer success story
• Prescribe – Recommend next steps

Using the P’s for Cold Calling Success

Reps don’t use every one of the ‘Ps’ in every conversation. Think of the ‘Ps’ as plays in sports, and depending on how the defense reacts, you run a different play at any given moment.

Here is an example of the first two ‘Ps’ in a prospecting call.

Preface – “John, this is Bill, from Company XYZ. This is a sales call. I hate making these calls as much as you hate taking them, but I wanted to take 30 seconds of your time and tell you why I’m calling. If you like what you hear, we can continue, if you don’t, you can tell me so, and I’ll leave you alone. Sound fair?”

This is the permission statement. You’ll hear different versions of this on the web such as an ‘upfront contract’ from Sandler Training. The basic principle is to be honest and then let the prospect agree or not to agree to move forward in the conversation.

Personalize – “We did a research study with hundreds of sales leaders and their top challenge was building sufficient qualified pipeline.”

Notice we did not personalize around the person but the persona (sales leaders).

We used data we had from our own internal research. The personalization focused around the title and role of the buyer rather than him or her as a person.

This is the structure the team used for our AI-enabled cold calling experiment and results turned out strong.

In total, the team ended up with 42 appointments with qualified buyers. Those meetings turned into 15 strong opportunities for our sales pipeline. Overall, the team produced $1,102,500 of pipeline in one business week through the exercise.

The Future of Cold Calling

If you ever hear critics say cold calling is dead, don’t believe them. As you can clearly see from the example above, cold calling has evolved and changed, but it is still alive and well.

Traditional cold calling is dead, but cold calling with AI is just getting started.

Sales reps need to decide for themselves whether cold calling is still worth it—and whether artificial intelligence can help them accomplish their goals faster and give them a better success rate.

I advocate that salespeople get into the mindset of a scientist and test what communication methods and technologies work best for their customers.

With that said, although our experiment didn’t produce $100M in pipeline in one go, customers responded well to AI-enabled cold calling. Forget other people saying cold calling is dead. Try it for yourself, considering the calling tips I shared here. If you get a call from me sometime soon, know that I’m doing it because it works.

Will you try building your sales pipeline through this method? Let me know in the comments section below!

Up Next: Best Lead Generation Methods for Creating Pipeline

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on June 21, 2018, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.