How to Train SDRs in Cold Calling? Coaching Tips & Ideas

Cold calling is still a powerful, if high-stakes, tool in the world of B2B sales. However, the key to success is having a skilled and trained sales team like Sales Development Representatives (SDRs). Curious to know how to train SDRs in cold calling? Look no further. 📞

• Why Is Cold Calling Training So Important?
• How to Train SDRs in Cold Calling? [8 Tried & Tested Techniques That SDRs Must Know]
• Final Thoughts
• FAQs

In this article, we’ll first explore why cold calling training is critical for sales teams. Then, we’ll move on to how to train SDRs and offer practical, tried-and-tested tips & ideas for coaching your salespeople to be successful cold callers. So stay with us!

Training Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) in cold calling requires a structured approach. 
Provide script guidance, role-play exercises, and constructive feedback. Encourage active listening, objection handling, and continuous improvement to equip SDRs with the skills and confidence needed for successful cold calling.

Why Is Cold Calling Training So Important?

Cold calling specialists are not born; they are trained! So, you cannot expect your sales reps to be professional and proficient in cold calling from day one.

With structured and organized cold calling training, you can expect your sales team to:

1. Know how to overcome their stress and anxiety during cold calling.
2. Know how to prioritize leads and make more targeted calls accordingly.
3. Know how to professionally handle cold call objections & rejections.
4. Know how to convince qualified leads to buy your product or service.

Based on having said that, the training of an SDR manager in cold calling is a high priority because:

1. It makes them more efficient in marketing campaigns.
2. It increases their self-confidence.
3. It equips them with the skills to adapt to customer behaviors.

How to Train SDRs in Cold Calling? [8 Tried & Tested Techniques That SDRs Must Know]

Now that we understand the importance of cold calling training, let’s dive into how to train SDRs effectively.

In this section, we detail an eight-step cold calling framework for your SDRs. Ask them to follow these steps carefully. 👇

1. Create a Targeted Lead List 🎯

Before anything else, build a quality, targeted sales lead list to supplement your prospect database.

This list should include comprehensive information about potential customers, such as demographics (name, contact information, job title, etc.), firmographics (company name, company size, location, etc.), technographics, geographics, social media, and more data.

Sales teams can use these targeted lists for future advertising campaigns.

Well, if you want to know how to create a comprehensive list of prospect data, let’s explore this five-step process together:

1. Define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): This is a detailed and complete representation of your business’s ideal customer. Identify a list of companies that fit your industry and ICP.
2. Collect key data: Find their contact information and social media. To speed up and facilitate data collection, you can use third-party lead gen tools like CUFinder, which provides reliable B2B contact data via its data enrichment tools.  
3. Sync data with your CRMs: Integrate prospect data lists into your sales pipeline tools, marketing automation, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms like HubSpot and Salesforce. This will help you access and store all the data in one trusted place.
4. Update your prospect list: Review your qualified lead information periodically and regularly update it with more accurate and recent information.
5. Segment the list of prospects: For further follow-up, try to categorize your potential customers into specific groups based on the information you have about them.

2. Research Your Ideal Potential Customers 🔍

I know you want to just pick up the phone and call. But take our word for it: you’ll have more success if you spend even a minute researching your phone sales lead before cold calling.

76% of top telemarketers say they “always” research prospects before contacting them (LinkedIn’s Global State of Sales 2022).

So, don’t hesitate to research your prospects’ information before reaching out to them. The more prepared you are to talk on the phone, the less nervous you’ll be.

Here’s a three-step approach to getting the most out of your pre-cold calling research:

1. Time limit: Try to set a time limit for researching your prospect. Allocate a maximum of 3 to 4 minutes to each lead. And just focus on gathering the important data for each of your prospects.
2. Correct pronunciation of the name: Always check the correct pronunciation of the prospect’s name. Nothing is more annoying than when someone calls you for the first time and pronounces your name incorrectly. If this happens, the potential customer will no longer listen to you. To find the correct pronunciation of the customer’s name, ask them, “I want to make sure I pronounce it correctly. How do you pronounce your name?”
3. Social media profiles: Start by reviewing your prospect’s social networks. For example, look at the LinkedIn profiles of your target likely clients and pay close attention to their recent posts, interests, professional history, mutual connections, etc. A smart sales rep uses this valuable data as a conversation starter to build a productive relationship.

3. Have a Strong Cold Calling Opener 💪

Now, your call is no longer cold. You’ve created and reviewed your target list and done some research before picking up the phone. I promise this extra task is worth it. Now, let’s go to the main story: How to create a strong cold call opener.

Your cold call opening line is exactly what grabs any prospect’s attention in the first few seconds of your cold call. If your opener is good and effective enough, it will definitely pay off the first time.

As a result, it will take little time from your leads. Most of your prospects prefer and like a short cold call.

So, look for winning, compelling, as well as short & sweet opening lines.

Wondering how to create a concise and powerful cold call opener? Don’t worry; here are some important tips to help you out:

1. Focus on your tone of voice: In order to catch the customer’s attention from the first moment and communicate with them as well, say your first sentence confidently, energetically, and unwaveringly. Use a friendly yet professional tone, and make sure you are actively listening to the prospect’s needs. 
2. Start by introducing yourself: Include your name and your company in your opening line.
3. Use the pattern interruption: Say something you usually didn’t say. This trick will help you get your customer down from the start.

4. Craft a Winning Cold Calling Script 📝

As a sales rep, you know that cold calling is not like talking to your friends or family on the phone! Many sales experts recommend that SDRs need to create a written personalized script for each prospect. 

It’s worth mentioning that cold calling scripts should be crafted based on the interests, preferences, needs, and concerns of your leads. 

If you want to know how to write a cold calling script for your business or want to learn more details about it, don’t worry. Here’s a standard framework for creating a comprehensive and winning cold calling script for SDRs; let’s take a look: 

1. Introduction: First, introduce yourself by saying your name and the company you work for. 
2. Rapport: To prove you’re familiar with a prospect and their company, establish a rapport by asking your prospect a question. 
3. Positioning statement: Use a positioning statement to show your audience that you understand their challenges by keeping the conversation genuine and challenging.  
4. Common objections: Prepare responses to common objections to keep the conversation going.
5. Appreciation: Show your appreciation by saying thank you to your prospect for their time. 
6. Closing: Have a clear Call To Action (CTA) for the next steps.

To learn how to write cold calling scripts, our article about “Real Estate Cold Calling Scripts” is a must-read source! It can help both realtors and telemarketers learn how to write scripts for their cold calls.

5. Utilize Handy Cold Calling Intelligence Tools 🛠️

To simplify, handle, and track the process of cold calling, use essential tech tools, like CRMs and automation tools. 

1. Call recording and conversation tools: Many third-party conversation intelligence and call recording tools allow sales managers to record SDRs’ calls to evaluate their performance.
2. Call automation and dialers: Modern automated dialer tools save time, reduce the stress of manual dialing, and also enable more calls in less time.
3. CRM systems: With CRMs such as Pipedrive and Outreach, SDRs can increase the productivity of their lead generation process, especially their cold-calling approach, and ensure that no leads are wasted. These marketing automation tools simplify the call process by organizing and prioritizing sales leads.  

6. Prepare to Handle Objections and Rejections 👎

It’s normal to encounter prospects who oppose your cold calling and are not ready to buy. There are many reasons why they want to avoid buying from you, such as using other tools, not having enough time, not being interested, not having the budget, etc.

So, it’s essential to anticipate their objections or even rejections. 

The more calls you make, the better you can identify potential objections. As such, try to have answers ready for customer objections.

But sometimes, when the customer simply isn’t interested in listening on the phone, and your sales rep can’t convince them. In this way, you need to train your sales team to be prepared for these rejections. 

Let them know that it’s okay to be rejected. The key thing here is self-confidence and motivation to continue.

Your SDRs can practice with their colleagues repeatedly by using professional scripts that include all the reasons for customer rejection and objections, gaining enough experience as a result.

7. Consider the Best Time to Cold Call ⏰

To improve your sales success in cold calling, you must reduce the number of call attempts. To do this, you need to be strategic and identify the best time to cold call. Remember that cold calling is effective once you do it at the right time. 

Usually, at the beginning of the week, all employees are busy, and on the other hand, everyone likes to relax on the weekend. So, if you call in the middle of the week, it is the best time to get the desired result.

According to studies conducted by Close, Wednesdays & Thursdays are the best days to make cold calls.

Now, let’s see what are the best hours to reach prospects. The opening & closing time of work, lunch time or an hour in the afternoon, which is the peak of business meetings, are not suitable for making a cold call.

If you want to make cold calls that lead to more deals being closed, we suggest calling during the best times of the day – between 10-11 a.m. and 4-5 p.m.

8. Determine Benchmark Metrics for Cold Calling 📈

Since there is no one-size-fits-all approach to setting up cold-calling KPIs, you can choose them based on factors such as products or services, industry, company size or deals, and more.

To get started, just use the benchmark criteria that work best for scoring.

To evaluate the performance of your cold-calling efforts and rate your sales reps’s performances, take advantage of the following two common metrics:

1. Quantitative metrics: Total number of successful cold calls in a specified period such as weekly, monthly, or yearly, etc., duration of successful cold calls, and cold call conversion rates
2. Qualitative metrics: tone of voice, conversation speed, productivity, and objection handling.

Final Thoughts

In this article, we’ve laid out an eight-step framework for training SDRs in cold calling. This will help your sales team learn the ropes of cold calling. If you’re in a hurry, here’s a quick guide on how to train SDRs to cold call: 

1. Create a targeted lead list
2. Research your ideal potential customers
3. Have a strong cold calling opener
4. Craft a winning cold calling script
5. Utilize handy cold calling tools
6. Prepare to handle objections and rejections
7. Consider the best time to make a cold call
8. Determine benchmark metrics for cold calling

Just keep in mind to teach your SDR managers and sales team that failure is the beginning of any success. This is an important part of their learning and training process for cold calling. It allows them to refine their solutions in this challenging but rewarding aspect of B2B sales. So, invest in training, empower your team, and watch your cold-calling efforts yield fruitful results.

FAQs

1. What is a cold calling training course?

Cold-calling training courses are helpful and effective programs designed to teach SDRs and sales teams the latest cold calling and prospecting techniques.

2. What is the goal of cold calling training?

The purpose of cold calling training is not just to teach the sales team how to close the deal but also to build a strong relationship, expand the network, and provide a value proposition.

3. How many cold calls should an SDR make a day?

According to Klenty, if an SDR spends 4 hours on the phone, they should make an average of 50 to 54 targeted and winning cold calls per day.

4. How to structure a cold call for SDRs?

To structure a cold call for SDRs, research the prospect, introduce yourself, explain how your solution meets their needs, ask open-ended questions, handle objections, and suggest the next step with a strong CTA.