The Beginner’s Guide to Cold Calling (With Cold Call Sample Script)
Looking to start cold calling but don’t know where to begin? Check out this no-nonsense guide that walks you through an easy-to-use framework and some cold calling best practices.
This article was written by people who have experience with cold calling. This isn’t an article written for SEO purposes, meaning you’ll get practical and actionable advice.
Before We Dive In
There are a couple of things to remember before hopping on the phone:
You’re going to get a lot of rejections, and that’s okay! Get your head in the right state to prepare for this:
The best way to get better at cold calling is to cold call. Develop a plan and hit the phones quickly
Everybody has their own strategies for cold calling, so don’t get discouraged if you see people recommending different strategies. Find out what works best for you and your business
Voice tone plays a critical role in cold calling. Here are a few tips:
Avoid upward inflections at the end of sentences. These upward inflections make you sound like a classic telemarketer, meaning prospects immediately put up their guard.
Slow down. Speaking fast makes you sound nervous and less confident. Speak at a slower pace and make sure you clearly communicate your points in a concise manner.
Eliminate buzzwords. Prospects can see right through it. Speak to your prospects like you’d speak to anybody else.
Avoid the 'script' voice. Do you have a phone voice? If so, you may want to practice your scripts to sound more like a friendly conversation between friends. Prospects put their guard up when they feel like they are being sold to.
The cold call framework we outline in this guide consists of 5 parts: Openers, open-ended questions, the pitch, objection handling, and the close. Let’s dive right in!
Openers
How to open a cold call is one of the most debated topics in sales. Openers fall into two categories, permission-based openers, and non-permission-based openers.
Permission-based openers ask for permission to pitch, while non-permission-based openers forego the permission.
Here is an example of a permission-based opener:
“Hi Lisa, it’s Bob from(your company), I know you’re not expecting my call, but can I take 15 seconds to tell you why I’m calling?”
Here’s an example of a non-permission-based opener:
“Hi Lisa, it’s Bob from (your company). How have you been?”
So which type of opener should you choose? The reality is that there is no correct answer. Pick the one that works best for you. We suggest to A/B test them. Make 100 calls using each opener and see which one has the best results.
Open Ended Question
The next part of the cold call is the open-ended question. This is the step where you will provide relevancy and demonstrate why the prospect should keep speaking with you.
This part typically consists of two sections, the explanation about why you are reaching out to them specifically, followed by an open-ended question. Here’s what that might sound like:
“The reason I’m calling is that I’ve been speaking with a number of other sales leaders who mention that their demo-to-close ratio is decreasing. I was curious, what steps are you taking at the moment to make sure that your reps are making the most of their demos and are closing more deals?”
The first part of this section can incorporate any type of research that you’ve done as it relates to the company or prospect. Whether the prospect just started a new role, the company raised money, or you noticed some other type of buying trigger, you can incorporate it here.
Then, your next question should open up the conversation and lead directly into the product/service that you are selling.
Pitch
The pitch happens directly after you’ve discovered a pain point from the prospect. Pain points are typically uncovered after you’ve asked your open-ended question. This is the part of the call where you tell the prospect what problem you can solve and why they should care. Be careful not to simply state what your company does. Make sure you emphasize what your company solves. It could sound like this:
“We work exclusively with sales teams on helping them to eliminate administrative tasks and get more time on the calendar so they can spend more time on revenue-generating activites. Our platform proactively updates the CRM without reps having to manually input all of the information, meaning less time updating the CRM, more time on the phones, and a bigger pipeline .”
Objection Handling
This section will vary depending on the specific industry and product/service that you sell, but there are still a number of generic objections that prospects will give you. Here are a few of them:
“Send me an email”
If you cold call, you’ve certainly heard this brush-off before. There’s a number of different ways to work through it, but here’s one way you could handle this. The first attempt should be to steer the email to a short discovery meeting. It could sound something like this:
“Absolutely, I can send you an email. But oftentimes when I send over emails, it tends to result in a few follow-up questions. Would you be opposed to setting up 15 minutes later this week to dive a bit deeper and show you how we can solve (insert common customer problem)?”
If they don’t agree to the meeting, the second attempt should be to collect as much information as possible.
“Got it. Just so I can help keep your inbox clean, what type of information are you looking for in the email?”
After the prospect says what type of information they’re looking for, try asking one last time for the meeting. It could sound like this:
“I’ll send you the information over shortly. Why don’t we do this? I’ll send that information over, and then let’s set up some time later this week to discuss the information and so we can dive deeper into how we solve (problem X).”
Make sure to tailor these responses to your specific business.
“I’m going into a meeting”
A great way to overcome this objection is with humor. Here’s an example:
“Calling people during meetings is actually one of my superpowers! Mind if I take 30 seconds to tell you why I’m calling to see if it’s even worth calling back?”
Incorporating humor into is a great way to ease the tension on a cold call.
“We already have something for this”
This is a tough objection to overcome because their current solution may be perfectly fine for what they do. If you have a solution that’s better, you need to get straight to the point and tell them why. Dig into their pain and lead them to a better solution.
“Sounds like Company X’s way of solving (problem ABC) is making your life easier, but have you ever thought about (insert reason why your solution is better)?
Given that we’ve helped other people who were previously using Company X, would you be opposed to exploring how we can help you solve (problem ABC) in ways outside of your current capabilities?”
“I don’t have budget”
“I figured. Most people I talk to don’t have budget at the moment. I was hoping to share how we’re helping other (title)’s solve (problem ABC) so when it comes time to reevaluate budgets you’ll know what’s out there.”
Closing
So you’ve nailed your opener, cruised through your illumination question, perfected your pitch, and aced your objection handling, it’s now time to close the call. Let’s start with a phrase to avoid.
Avoid this phrase or any variation:
"I'd love to learn more about your business and show you a demo",
Here's why. When salespeople ask prospects to meet so they can learn about a business, it says that they've done zero research. Why would a prospect meet with you if you don't know anything about their business?
Additionally, "show me a demo" isn't specific enough. Tell them exactly what you'll be helping with.
Here's an example of what you could say.
Identify a pain point and say "one of my colleagues actually just helped a very similar company solve this exact problem. Happy to loop him in for a quick chat. Have a few minutes on Friday morning to hear how he did it?"
Tailor it for your specific business, but make sure the prospect knows exactly what you are helping with.
Next, try to send the invite over to the prospect while you’re still on the phone with them. This may sound difficult, but there’s a way to make it easy. Send over a barebones invite with no information on it, just focus on locking in the time.
“Just so I know I got your email right, can you hit accept on the invite when you get it?”
Then update the meeting information at a later time with the relevant details.
Conclusion
Everybody has different tactics for cold calling, but the best way to get better is to start dialing. We hope this guide will help you in your outreach efforts! Happy dialing!
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