Cold calling is a marketing technique in which a company representative contacts an individual (potential customer) to share their sales pitch. It is an unsolicited and unexpected marketing call, unlike warm calls, which are pre-scheduled or follow-up calls. The key difference is that in cold calling, you never know how the other party will react.
Cold calling, while not universally applicable, can be a valuable tool in your sales arsenal. However, it’s not without its challenges. If you’re considering incorporating this approach into your sales strategy, here are some data to consider.
What is cold calling?
Before you understand the exact meaning, imagine your phone suddenly rings, and someone starts talking: Hello, I have called you from company A. We provide services related to cosmetics and health products. Would you like me to introduce you to our services and discounts?
Yes, this was one of the worst cold-calling cases that probably happened to many of you. Now, we will get to know the general concept of cold calling…
Cold calling is when the potential customer lacks background in the seller’s services. That is, There is no relationship between the customer and the seller, and the customer has no background regarding the seller’s services.
For instance, imagine you receive a call from a car dealership you’ve never heard of, offering you a special deal on a new car. This would be a cold call.
Pros & Cons of Cold Calling for Lead Generation
Cold calling, despite being an age-old marketing contact strategy, can still be a powerful tool when combined with other techniques. Its potential to significantly promote your products or services should inspire hope and motivate you to explore its benefits. For instance, one of the pros is that it allows you to reach new customers. On the other hand, a con could be that it can be perceived as intrusive by some potential customers.
Pros of cold calling
1. In cold calling, you can reach new customers!
If someone isn’t actively looking for your company’s products or services, they’re unlikely to discover your website. So, it’s your job to find them. With cold calling, you can contact people who fit the profile of your typical customer and tell them what your business has to offer.
2. You can find skills in your field of sales and work!
Cold calling is a fantastic training ground, especially for new salespeople. It offers a unique opportunity to hone your selling skills through repeated practice. This emphasis on learning and improvement should encourage and inspire you to embrace cold calling as a skill-building exercise.
It can take some time to get confident and comfortable talking to potential customers through cold calling, but the experience can go a long way in helping you master your craft.
Having a few conversations with potential customers helps you get real-time feedback so you can correct your mistakes in the future.
3. You can get relevant information and make a human connection
Cold calling in telemarketing can be a great way to get relevant information and make a human connection with a potential customer.
- When you contact a customer via email, the person can ignore the correspondence or carefully review their response before contacting you.
- But when you call someone, they may be more willing to give you valuable information.
- In addition, you can establish a human connection during the call and gauge the personality, sense of humor, etc., which can never be understood through email.
4. You can increase the conversion rate!
Some businesses use cold calling for their business just to get the benefits of cold calling. This includes increasing the conversion rate. Apart from that, it may help to raise the lead, which is a potential customer who has shown interest in your product or service, and improve its quality.
5. You can get instant feedback!
Cold calling is one of the most effective telemarketing strategies that provides immediate and valuable feedback. This real-time feedback allows you to optimize your products or services according to your customers’ needs, giving you a sense of confidence in your sales approach. Therefore, cold calling does not only allow you to introduce the brand and make sales. It also provides an instant overview of your current products and services.
6. It’s affordable for you!
Cold calling is the most cost-effective way to increase sales and introduce your products and services. Although you still need to pay for calls and software, it is cheaper than other methods. Another advantage of cold calling is that you can sell from home or outside, regardless of where you work.
Cons of cold calling:
1. It can be a bit of a downer!
Let’s be honest; most people do not enjoy unexpected phone calls and may find them annoying and unpleasant. Most of the time, they don’t want to take the time to hear your salesperson’s voice and explain, and they want to hang up as soon as possible. Plus, since the call isn’t scheduled, you might catch the person at the wrong time!!!
2. It is useful only sometimes, not always!
Even if you’ve succeeded with cold calling, you shouldn’t use it as your entire sales strategy. According to the findings, cold calls’ conversion rate is lower than leads and sales opportunities. So, while cold calling can be helpful in some situations, it may not be useful in others, and the people you contact may not treat you well.
3. The number and amount of sales through cold calling cannot be measured!
Another reason is that you usually cannot predict how many sales will result from cold calling. This inconsistency can put your business at financial risk and increase the costs of the marketing and sales team due to not having a specific telemarketing plan.
4. Its relative attractiveness is lower than other channels!
As technology advances, the relative attractiveness of cold calling has decreased compared to a variety of modern methods of communication, including:
- Social media (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn),
- Text messaging
- Referrals from existing customers
- Webinars and networking groups
Even more recently, “cold emails”—which require a much smaller investment per customer—are preferred by marketers, even if they’re not the most effective at generating leads.
5. Durability and customer loyalty is limited!
In telemarketing and cold calls, customer retention and loyalty are very limited; usually, the customer experiences a purchase only once.
6. Not sustainable!
To succeed in cold calling, marketers must work tirelessly. The problem here is that:
• It may take hundreds of phone calls in a day to find the right person to buy from.
• Even then, there is no guarantee that they will treat you well even if they are interested in the product.
Which is a good tip when dealing with cold contacts?
A skilled and specialized telemarketer must have a unique style and technique to continue the conversation. What is the best cold-calling technique? In the following, we examine some essential techniques and strategies.
1. Think of the phone call as a marathon
Remember that this is a long-term marketing process, so you are not dealing with a sprint race. Potential customers need time to make a final decision. In today’s market, access to information provides many options to customers.
It gives the customer more time to decide. On the phone call, as soon as you set up an in-person appointment or a follow-up call with the customer, you are considered the winner of this marathon!
2. Guess the outcome of the conversation intelligently
Sometimes, at the beginning of a cold phone call, you can know the depth of the person’s passion and interest in continuing the conversation. Of course, this requires a lot of practice and experience. If you conclude that talking to the customer wastes time, you should end the conversation soon. Continuing when the customer is uninterested in the conversation is pure suicide!
3. Specify the script in advance!
Of course, the conversation process cannot be predicted, but it can be controlled to some extent. You can prepare a specific script according to the information and specifications of the potential customer. Of course, you may encounter a talkative or a taciturn customer. Anyway, you should be prepared for these things.
4. Be regular and persistent
What is the meaning of follow-up in cold calling? According to statistics, more than 80% of successful phone sales happen on the fifth call attempt. If the customer’s answer is negative, try the last email or text message. No one knows the future!
5. Check your daily activity
Keep notes of your phone calls throughout the day to avoid confusion and forgetting important points. For example, write the names of the people you called, the exact call time, the critical conversations you exchanged, etc.
Naturally, you cannot remember all your calls. This will give you a general and regular framework. It also lets you know the customers’ contact details and appear more prepared for the next calls. This will increase your confidence during the conversation and customer search through cold calling.
Will cold calling work in 2024?
Let’s take a look at the data!!!
LinkedIn research has shown that less than 2% of cold calls lead to meetings or deals.
A study by Baylor University found that only one appointment or deal was made for every 209 calls made.
Yes, cold calls seem even more inefficient when considering that few of these appointments become deals.
But how much of this is due to bad technique? And why do some sales managers still insist that a phone call is desirable?
It’s true that methods like “cold email” are much faster and more scalable than cold calling, but don’t forget:
- First, cold calling gives immediate feedback on whether a customer is worth pursuing.
- Second, ignoring emails, sending them to spam, or filtering them is easy.
- Third, it is true that young professionals prefer digital interactions, but older decision-makers may prefer telephone interactions.
Can AI make cold calls?
Yes. Artificial intelligence has been in the cold-calling field for some time and has proven very effective for businesses looking to streamline their sales and marketing. AI automates many relevant but time-consuming and repetitive tasks, such as dialing and receiving qualified leads, allowing sales teams to focus on more strategic activities.
Additionally, research shows that AI cold calling can give businesses deep insights into customer behavior, preferences, and desires. Businesses can use these insights to adjust their approach and increase conversion rates. However, please choose the right solution. Ensuring it is aligned with your business goals and objectives is essential for AI cold calling.
CUFinder: the super lead generator
One of the things that is very important in cold calling is that the contact number of the leads is correct. On the other hand, for the calls to be effective, you must contact the most relevant leads, which requires reliable lead generation.
The surefire solution to this process is CUFinder. Why? The first thing that stands out in this platform is the guarantee of more than 98% data accuracy. This means you can be confident in the information you get from CUFinder. Not only do you have very suitable and reliable leads, but you can also easily find their correct and direct contact numbers with our various services.
I must also remind you that with CUFinder’s various services, you can access information from more than 419 million users and 262 million companies. Our database can create one of the most complete CRMs for you, or if you already have customer databases, you can complete them with our database. If you still have doubts about using CUFinder services, start your free trial and try it yourself.
Conclusion
Cold calling does not help attract customers and increase sales. But it can be a good solution for beginners. Taking help from this technique, if done correctly, has a probability of 8% in the fourth and fifth calls.
Try to talk about the customer’s services and demands in the conversations you have with the customer so that the customer can communicate with you more easily. You can get in touch with CUFinder consultants with any questions.
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