If you think cold calling is outdated, it is time to get your facts right. Cold calling is one of the best ways to generate fresh leads and drive revenue for businesses, whether startups or Fortune 500s.
In fact, it is a surefire lead generation strategy for B2B startups that often struggle for the attention of business clients and have to work even harder for conversions. Essentially, it is a sales call where a representative calls a business prospect with the intention to sell their offering.
B2B cold calling offers immense benefits, from identifying the right target to increasing conversions and gaining deeper insights into the market. It even helps a business establish relationships with the buyer through direct conversations.
Although the process can be time-consuming, it is just apt for B2B startups chasing conversions and long-term retention. But results boil down to following the right tactics, and new businesses often fall short on the awareness front.
Here is the best B2B cold calling advice you can rely on as an entrepreneur.
Best B2B cold calling tips
Identify your main verticals
Successful B2B calling is mainly about specificity and specialization. The idea is to show your expertise in a business domain as B2B buyers expect to transact only with experts.
The last thing you should do is connect with a random prospect and chase them with a generic pitch. Business leaders want to steer clear of sellers claiming to know it all.
As a startup entrepreneur, you must invest effort in identifying your main verticals and familiarizing yourself with them. The temptation to spread the net wide will be there, but casting it deep is a better option.
You will be able to tailor your calls better and make them more effective.
Know your prospects better
Knowing your prospects is crucial for a seller, and it becomes all the more significant when targeting business leaders.
They expect personalization rather than generic conversations to speak about your offering. Your inexperience may lead you in the wrong direction, but extensive research can get you on track.
Remember that you must address the individual business needs of the prospects, and conducting thorough research is the only way to do it.
Dive deep to familiarize yourself with their business, check their website, and go through the LinkedIn profile of their decision-makers.
Understand the state of its industry and its competitive landscape. Once you know everything, you are in a better place to win the cold calling game.
Create an impressive positioning statement
You cannot convince a business decision-maker with a random sales pitch. You need an impressive positioning statement to define your offering and establish its relevance to your prospect's requirements.
Simply speaking, your cold call must highlight the benefits you can provide to a potential customer.
Also, you must keep the statement short and simple because the cold calling strategy runs short on time. You cannot go on about every single feature of your offering.
Think of ways to convey value through the position statement. The best one is brief but does not compromise on detail.
Respect your prospect's time
Another reason you must make your calls short and sweet is that B2B prospects are busy people with several professional responsibilities to handle. They can hardly spare time and patience to field cold calls and listen to endless details about products and services.
If you manage to connect, make the best of the time you get with the prospect. Convey the most valuable things, and avoid going on tangents and overdoing your monologue. A crisp message is often enough to create an impact.
Choose the right time
Besides cutting short the call duration, you must also choose the right time to call your prospects.
Most executives are tied up during certain times of the work day, and they prefer to skip business calls after the end of the work hours. Being a startup, you may struggle with timing the calls due to resource constraints.
Thankfully, you can outsource b2b cold calling services to connect with the prospects on the right day and the right time. They have ample experience in the industry, so they are in a good place to work on lead targeting at relevant timings and with the best positioning statements.
Highlight value first and price later
With B2B cold calling, value is the selling point. If your prospects fail to see the value in your product, they will not seal the deal, irrespective of the pricing range. Your sales call should highlight the value through the benefits and relevance of your products to their business and its needs.
Once you create a foundation of the call by defining the value, you can introduce the pricing. Remember to keep a negotiation margin because your prospects will probably bargain on price.
Being open to negotiation enables you to consolidate a client relationship enough to make it last beyond just one sale.
Ask open-ended questions
Making your cold calling plan successful is about encouraging the prospect to speak up. Last but not the least thing that you should do is to tout every feature of your product until they get frustrated enough to hang up.
A cold call has to be a two-sided conversation, and open-ended questions are the best way to make people talk.
Give them room to explain their needs so that you can understand their challenges and expectations better.
The valuable insights let you perfect your sales pitch in the first place. Moreover, it fosters a better connection with the lead, and there are good chances it will translate into a strong relationship down the line.
Be ready to face a pushback
The worst thing a new business owner has to deal with during sales calls is an objection. It is daunting and disappointing, and you may find yourself at a dead end.
Be prepared to face such situations more than once during cold calls. Most prospects do not respond at all, and many will simply say no.
A few may come up with valid objections, so you must be ready with answers to them. Familiarize yourself with the potential objections you may encounter, and have convincing answers to address them.
The best option is to let an expert handle these situations because they are more experienced and confident than a startup team.
Follow a close during your calls
Goal-oriented cold calls are winners, so ensure having a target in some shape or form. Of course, you cannot target sealing a deal with every call.
But look for small targets such as getting more time with a long call to your prospect or fixing a follow-up call a couple of days later.
Whatever target you pick, keep it actionable and realistic. It can guide you with the progress of the call, so focus on it throughout. It should be the minimum output you must get, though you may get a better one if you are lucky.
The Final Say
Although cold calling has its share of challenges as a lead generation strategy, it need not be a big deal for new businesses.
You only have to follow some rules and best practices to get viable outcomes with the strategy. Even better, outsource cold calling to have experts handling your B2B prospects and converting them at a good rate.
Still having any concerns? Feel free to contact us.
