Calling the Shots: Turning Cold Calls Into Hot Prospects...Turn cold calls into warm calls with data Just as data intelligence has transformed every other aspect of business, it's

This article was written by James Hooker, President and CEO of Televerde and published by Sales Initiative in May 2016. Sales Initiative is inspiration for the professional management of sales, providing an essential mix of easily digestable, interesting and shareable content.

By James Hooker

Calling the Shots: Turning Cold Calls Into Hot Prospects

Does the thought of cold calling

make you wince? I won’t be surprised

if you say yes; even the most

seasoned sales rep shies away from

cold calling. But, cold calling used to

involve dialing strangers and

eeducating yourself on the fly about

their business. Strangers who - let's

be honest - didn’t really want to

spend their time on your sales pitch.

CCold calling has evolved significantly

in recent years. True, strangers still

don't want to be interrupted. That

hasn’t changed. But this has: you,

the salesperson, have access to

information about the lead’s

organisation, persona and industry

that empowers you to get very

targeted and precise in your

aapproach. You’re not wasting their

time; rather you’re offering something

of true value.

Some leaders will tell you the cold

calling revolution began with the

advent of the Internet... But my

observation is the recession that hit

around 2008 forced sales reps to

really fine tune their approach.

As companies reined in their

spending, only the most gifted reps

were still successful. They set a

Calling the Shots: Turning Cold Calls Into Hot Prospects1

You, the salesperson, have access to information about the lead’s organisation, persona and industry that empowers you to get very targeted and precise in your approach.

high bar - and soon every other sales

professional was forced to elevate their

game.

If you want to refine your cold calling,

you’ll want to incorporate two

essential practices.

TTurn cold calls into warm calls with data

Just as data intelligence has

transformed every other aspect of

business, it's revolutionised cold

ccalling. You have the ability to know

who you’re calling and strong insights

into their organisation needs before

you even hear their voice. In fact, the

prospect expects you to show that

level of awareness. Bring up a major

initiative from your research and you’ll

hahave their attention. If you have to ask

remedial questions, they'll wonder why

you didn’t bother to research them.

Additionally, your prospects will

generally be informed if you’re

targeting them correctly. It's no secret

the buyer's journey has changed –

after consuming content on their

own, B2B buyers enter the cycle at

different times and stages. You'll

need to meet them at that level of

understanding by knowing your

ppersonas and how to sell to them.

After all, no one wants to be

interrupted for an unexpected or

random pitch - but a conversation

that resonates and offers value will

grab their attention.

SSo how can you foster that immediate

connection? Share compelling

information in one of 3 areas:

company, industry or role. A few ideas:

Company:

Find out their focal areas by reading

through Hoovers, their earnings

announcements and annual reports.

You’ll know what they’re prioritising.

IIndustry:

Do some research on their industry

challenges. Maybe you know that

tech companies are investing in

marmarketing automation, yet only ten

percent or less are using it to its full

potential. That opens a door for you

to offer to optimise the prospect’s

investment.

Role:

Let’s say you’re speaking to a

finafinance leader. You might touch

directly on their revenue goals by

saying, "We’ve helped Company X

and Company Y generate this dollar

amount in opportunities.” Not only

does that establish your authority,

but you’ll immediately have their

aattention."

Speaking of data, make sure yours is

pointing you toward the right targets.

At Televerde, we've found most

ccompany’s prospect databases are

only 60% contactable, with 40% of

bad data. That means their team has

been wasting 40% of their budget

contacting people who will never buy

from them or no longer work at the

company. Make sure your team is

spspending their time on the best targets.

Give your sales team superpowers with advanced training

Being a 'natural' at cold calling is all

well and good, but training is what

takes reps over the finish line. You

can’t fake it on the phone. You might

begin speaking to an HR leader, who

transfers you to a finance executive,

who then puts you in touch with the

opoperations team. You need to

understand what each area prioritizes

and understand how to make a

compelling case from every angle.

Calling the Shots: Turning Cold Calls into Hot Prospects2

Being a 'natural' at cold calling is all well and good, but training is what takes reps over the finish line.

1. Foundational business acumen

training is essential.

Your team should understand

enough basics on finance, operations

and cost control to conduct a

persuasive high- level business

conversation. No, they don’t need

aan MBA, but they should be able to

pass a Business 101 class.

2. Next, you'll focus on specific

campaigns and products.

What are you selling? Why? What’s

the challenge it solves for? A single

ssentence about the value proposition

will not suffice – your team needs to

understand the nuances of that

product for each persona and its

value across audiences.

33. That brings us to the third layer:

diving deep into buyer personas.

While contact centers do often focus

on this, they tend to specialise its

staff. But, that's not going to work in

terms of speaking effectively to

different operational areas. Every rep

must be able to conduct high value

dialogues with business executives in

every department. The moment they

bbegin reading off a script, the

connection will die.

You might be thinking that it’s easier

to just start dialing for dollars,

especially if you have high turnover

and don’t want to invest in deep

product, personal and industry

ttraining. That’s where the lack of

effort becomes a self-fulfilling

prophecy.

Train the right people and you’ll have

a successful team, which often

means longer staff tenure and

ultimately, happier customers. We’re

lucky enough to live in an era of

precise data and valuable insights;

use them and you’ll take your cold

calling game and resulting ROI to

an advanced level.

Find out how you can find warm

leads.

televerde.com 888-787-2829

Train the right people and

you’ll have a successful

team, which often means

longer staff tenure and

ultimately, happier

customers.

Calling the Shots: Turning Cold Calls into Hot Prospects3

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