HOW TO MASTER TELEPHONE PROSPECTING: GUIDE AND TIPS
Telephone prospecting, which is part of cold calling, represents a great challenge for many entrepreneurs. However, by using telephone prospecting correctly, it is possible to gain many new customers for your company. We give you tips on how to proceed with cold calling.
In addition, use our interview guide which explains step by step how to successfully convince customers during a phone call and find out in which situations cold calling is actually prohibited. Our advice for successful telephone prospecting: use a prospecting software.
WIN NEW CUSTOMERS WITH TELEPHONE PROSPECTING IN THE B2B SECTOR
When sales don’t meet expectations and the boss bursts into the office, most employees know what’s coming: it’s time for cold calling.
But cold calling is not only a must for established companies – start-ups in the B2B sector should also regularly pick up the phone and seek contact with the customer. Apart from the chance to find a new customer, cold calling also allows you to get valuable feedback from your target group and to improve your product.
Telephone prospecting: proceed in stages
Cold calling is the most important discipline in prospecting and there are many rules to follow. With the following guide, you will avoid fundamental mistakes and become a master of telephone prospecting thanks to our advice.
Defining the target group: Who are your customers?
Before you start cold calling, the first thing to do is to think about the target group that might be interested in your product.
Researching and obtaining contact information of potential customers
After defining your target group, you should now look for concrete companies that match your target group for telephone prospecting. This can be done via the Internet, telephone and business directories or by acquiring contacts from address databases.
Preparing for the interview
Good preparation is essential for telephone prospecting. Learn about the company you are calling and its industry. Think about the most likely objections and adapt your argumentation accordingly.
Overcoming the secretary
The larger the company, the more difficult it is to get in touch with the decision maker. When cold calling, you don’t even have to try to sell your product to the secretary, as this usually fails. Usually you are asked to send an e-mail with information to the company’s info@ address, which is rarely successful.
HOW TO MASTER TELEPHONE PROSPECTING
When you make a phone call, ask to be put in touch with the right person, whom you have previously googled or searched for on a first call. Never speak in the conditional tense, so that the secretary has no freedom of decision: “Put me through to Dr Bauer, please! If the dreaded question about the reason for your call comes up, you have several possibilities to answer during the telephone prospecting:
Give the impression that you are already in contact with the decision maker, for example, by hinting, “This is an aspect of our last contact that I need to discuss with him.”
Bring up a topic outside the office management decision-making realm, such as “This is the new cloud technology we’ve been talking about, with double SSL encryption.”
Or the confident variant for cold calling professionals: “I need to discuss this topic personally with Dr. Bauer.” In this case, the tone and voice must of course sound sufficiently confident.
If the decision-maker is available, you should now hand over to him/her.
The interview with the decision-maker
You have cleared the first hurdle in telephone prospecting: on the other side of the line is the presumed decision-maker. Now it’s time to convert them into a customer. The following interview guide will help you in this process.
TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL TELEPHONE PROSPECTING
You have learned how cold calling works. The following tips will help you to improve your cold calling and to stop being afraid of cold calling:
. Cold calling is like sports. Warm up by calling smaller companies at the beginning, whose rejection will not be a problem for you.
. Make sure that the first interview is short! No interviewer likes to listen to a stranger for a long time. Especially if you can hardly express yourself.
. Take notes for your next call! This will make it easier to start the conversation on the second call of your telephone prospecting.
. Be authentic. If you sound human and friendly, you will sell better.
. View objections in a positive light. The customer is already interested in your product.
. Ask questions! Find out what the customer wants. This will increase the conversation time and turn the sales meeting into a discussion between equals.
. When cold calling, regularly call the person you are talking to by name. This creates proximity and gives the impression of respect towards the decision-maker.
. Don’t just describe your product, but emphasize the benefits your caller can get from it.
. Don’t try to sell! Conduct a conversation on an equal footing and gain trust. If you give your caller the feeling of a sales talk, resistance will automatically form.
. Phone prospecting is a numbers game. Don’t give up and be persistent. Don’t take rejections personally, but learn from them.
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