8 Cold Calling Tips for B2B Sales Success

Partners 11 Aug 2021

B2B marketers and sales professionals are increasingly pivoting towards digital marketing and other models of generating awareness and profit. It may seem like cold calling – a relatively traditional sales technique – is becoming outdated.

That, however, is far from the truth.

Even nowadays, numerous sales representatives rely on this method and consider cold calling as one of the most effective ways to attract new customers.

So, let’s take a look at why cold calling definitely deserves a place in your sales playbook.

Cold calling as an essential part of B2B sales

While there are numerous techniques that you can apply for B2B sales, cold calling remains an essential part of the process. One of the major reasons is that senior-level buyers prefer being contacted by phone. In fact, 57% of C-level and VP buyers prefer phone calls.

It makes a ton of sense.

Unlike other sales methods, cold calls give you a chance to communicate with prospects in real time. Having their complete attention during these calls gives you a good shot at converting them into customers.

However, cold calling, especially in B2B sales does have its share of challenges. The B2B buying journey is more complex and trickier than the B2C and it also involves quite a few decision makers (6 – 10 decision makers for multifaceted B2B solutions).

Due to what may become a lengthy process, you may lose the prospect’s attention or they may decide to proceed with another product as the time stretches on.

Of course, sometimes there may be situations you can’t control. But what you can control is how prepared you are before jumping into the cold call.

So, let’s look at some of the best cold calling tips that will help you succeed.

8 tips to improve your B2B cold calling strategy

Now that you know all about the challenges in B2B sales, let’s take a look at the best cold calling tips you can leverage to boost your sales.

Know your prospect well

As a B2B sales rep, it’s essential that you know your prospects well. To make a cold call successful, take time to research your potential prospect.

Searching for information about companies has never been easier – you can explore the business and market they operate by browsing their website, as well as competitor’s websites. Going through the annual reports, press releases, or articles can also be beneficial. Another way is to scroll through the company’s social media networks. For example, LinkedIn can be a valuable source for reaching the right decision makers.

One more valuable step to get a better idea of your prospect is to create your ideal buyer persona. This set of criteria can tell you exactly the kind of lead that is the right fit to become a prospect and later, possibly, a paying customer.

A combination of behavioral patterns, location, psychographic, firmographic, and other aspects helps you figure out how your ideal customers think, what they like, where they are located, or what their pains and needs consist of.

Here are tips to find the right data for crafting the best ICP.

Connect with your sales team – who knows your customers better than the people who constantly talk with them.

- Ask customers directly – design a list of the most important questions and create a simple survey to find out what they really think.
- Explore your analytics – analyze the data from the platform such as Google Analytics to acquire details about gender, location, devices, online behavior, and many more.

Take a look at your other sources – gain the data from your CRM system, social media channels, chat conversations, or even your call recordings.

Knowing all this information can help you to understand the prospects’ problems better and pitch your products or services as solutions for them. This way, you can also identify what the possible deal breakers may be.

Learn how to handle a cold calling script

Creating a customizable cold calling script is a great practice that can help you pitch to your prospects better. It also comes in handy when they ask you certain questions that may be tough to answer.

However, you must not stick to your script all the time. Don’t be afraid to venture away from it sometimes. In fact, a script-based call might feel robotic and can be counterproductive.

The most important part of your sales call is to prepare an introduction. You don’t want to undermine the call right from the beginning.

We have some useful tips for that phase:

Make your approach personalized – simply mention the facts you gained researching the prospect to create a friendly atmosphere.
Example: “Hello {prospect’s name}. I’m reaching out to you because I noticed /company’s name/ started to promote products on multiple social media platforms. We can help you manage all your social media channels by providing social media management tools to simplify the processes. . .”
Show them you appreciate their time – prepare the sentence that will convince them to listen to you.
Example: “I understand you’re probably very busy and receiving lots of offers every day, but with a few minutes of your valuable time, I can introduce you to a solution that can significantly help your business. . .”

A cold calling script is clearly something that boosts a salesperson’s confidence and builds a professional approach, but the key is to use them wisely.

Use a local number to build trust

When you are situated in a different country than your prospect, a great cold calling tip is to get a local number for whatever state you are about to call. There may be some apprehension when prospects see a number that’s not local. They might consider you a scammer, which is not a trust builder.

How do local numbers help?

It may instantly win the confidence and trust of your prospects, as they would feel that you’re local, even though it’s not the case.

You can easily get a local business number for a foreign country via a phone company, services such as Google Voice, VoIP provider, or a telephony software solution.

Reach out to prospects at the right time

Your prospects may not be available all the time. They are probably busy people in high management positions with countless other priorities.

Setting the right time for your first call may require a bit more patience and well-planned tactics. A study found that the best days for sales calls are Wednesdays and Thursdays. Don’t bother to call on Friday, definitely not on Saturday or Sunday. Monday is also not the best option, since everyone is just starting their week.

The best time is either between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. in the morning or between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. in the afternoon. The worst time for cold calls is between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., when everyone is just settling down to start their working day.

But still, the most effective way is to simply ask your prospect about their right time – it’s that simple. The fact is that they are more likely to become a buyer if you call them at a prearranged time.

Provide help instead of hard selling

Your prospect may not know about your brand or the solutions you offer. Research shows that if you start pushing a product on a prospect within the first minute of your first call, around 78 % of sales calls won’t bear fruit. Don’t ruin your first impression by overwhelming your potential customer with all product features. Save that speech for the next time. Build a relationship instead.

You should efficiently provide the prospect only with information that exactly fits the needs of their business. That way, you will directly hit his/her pain point.

You can say something like this: “I understand how complicated it may be to keep up with excellent customer experience trends. However, I believe what can help you. . .”

Use the right technology and tools

Technology plays a major role in boosting your sales. It does not help your sales strategy when your phone calls are constantly dropping, the sound quality is terrible, or you are experiencing delays.

These situations make you look unprofessional and may cost you a potential customer. That is why you need to think twice in choosing the right software for the job.

Another benefit of using technology in sales outreach is that it can help you automate a ton of related, routine tasks, such as call logging, call reports, automatic dialing, or callbacks, and help you scale your sales process dramatically.

Once you’ve gotten on a call with your prospects, you can automatically collect their email addresses and let a machine send out wrap-up emails for you. This would help you move them down your sales funnel faster and boost your conversion rate as well as improve business sales in the long term.

Review the calls for future improvements

Reviewing your progress is absolutely essential for your business’ growth. Analytics programs, integrations that measure your performance, and features such as call recording can be of significant help.

This way, you can review your data and gain many priceless insights, such as who your customers are precisely (helps to create ICP), what they require, and what their pains, needs, likes, and dislikes are.

You may also see what went well during the sales process and what may be improved in the future. Managers have an opportunity to evaluate their sales staff’s capabilities and learn which courses or training can be incorporated into future employee education.

This is how automation modifies your cold calling strategy and improves your chances of getting appointments.

Incorporate your cold calls into multichannel sequences

When it comes to the effectiveness of your sales process, cold calling definitely has to be a part of your multichannel sales engagement strategy.

Automating various communication touchpoints can help you take the hassle out of the day-to-day work of sending emails, scheduling calls, and more. They also give you the opportunity to reach out to the prospects on the channels that they prefer. Why wait until people find you when you can go where they already are?

Multichannel sequences also provide a more omnichannel experience to your prospects and help you move them seamlessly through the funnel.

For instance, you can create a multichannel sequence that starts with emails and moves on to calls. When you set such a sequence up, you’ll get a daily stream of leads that you can call or email that day and build stronger relationships.

Conclusion

Cold calling, an important part of the sales process, also has certain challenges. It’s complex and may take longer, but in the end, it’s definitely worth all of your effort.

Research your prospects well before getting on calls with them. It’s equally important to be attentive and natural during the call and only reach out to your prospects at the right time.

There are several points that can boost the success rate of your cold calls. For example, incorporating the right set of tools and leveraging multichannel automation can help boost your effectiveness.

Finally, make sure you review your cold call stats regularly to understand how to improve.

Natalia Mrazova
For the last 3 years, Natalia has been working as a PR and Marketing copywriter. Throughout her career, she has acquired experience in various topics, yet her main expertise is technology related content. Currently, Natalia is a copywriter at CloudTalk, a SaaS startup. She cannot imagine a day without providing meaningful content and helpful information to her readers.