by Marta Malyk | Sep 25, 2023 | Cold Calling, Sales, Sales Best Practices
When it comes to lead generation and closing new business, it’s probably not going to be a surprise to hear me say that I believe that cold calling is a critical component. I have had potential clients challenge me, asking: “Why not just ‘drop in’ to a likely customer? If you drop in and they’re willing to talk to you, you might even be able to close business that day.”
As owner of One of a Kind Sales, I work with businesses that provide solutions that may represent a significant investment for their customers. In my experience, a successful, same-day close is highly unlikely for this type of sale
The Pitfalls of the “Drop-In” visit
- An in-person visit requires non-productive travel time. A 30-minute drive means an hour wasted.
- If you happen to catch a prospect who is willing to talk to you, this person may have agreed because you’ve asked for a very short period – not what you’d need to close new business.
- You may be unprepared to have an in-depth discussion because you can’t predict which of the prospects you plan to visit will be able to see you.
- It is unlikely your prospect is prepared to have the conversation that you would need to have to close new business.
Ultimately an in-person visit to someone who does not know you (a cold visit) should have the same objective as a cold call: to qualify the prospect and make an appointment for a more substantive meeting.
Why Cold Call?
- Since the objective of the call is to qualify the prospect and set an appointment, there is no need to do any research on the prospects you speak with. Preparation is minimal.
- You can qualify more prospects more quickly by cold calling. There is no wasted “windshield time”. There is only the gap between one cold call and the next.
- Making an appointment allows your prospect the time to collect their thoughts so that the discussion will be more fruitful.
There is a direct relationship between the number of appointments with qualified clients and your sales numbers. Increasing the number of qualified appointments we make will result in increased sales. As an experienced cold caller, I would place my bet on using cold calling to drive sales growth any day. Cold calling is a skill that is often neglected in sales training.
If you would like to explore how cold calling can impact your business, please reach out to me at 908-879-2911. At One of a Kind Sales, we are experts at cold calling and would love to help.
by Marta Malyk | Sep 11, 2023 | Best Sales Practices, Cold Calling, Lead Generation, Sales
Businesses that consider using call calling often ask questions about its effectiveness. At One of a Kind Sales, having made thousands of cold calls, we can attest to its effectiveness in generating leads. But I recently came across some statistics from the RAIN Group about how direct outreach, including cold calling, is regarded by business decision-makers. Their research showed that more than half of senior decision-makers prefer to be contacted by phone. When businesspeople are actually in the market for a solution, more than 71% of them say that they want a salesperson to reach out to them directly. And up to 50% of sales go to the “first mover” – the solution provider that reaches out first to the potential buyer.
Often, we hear salespeople complain that prospects don’t pick up the phone, but the statistics show that 67% or two-thirds of buyers have picked up the phone at least once for a new provider in the past year. Making a direct phone call to a prospect is regarded as the most effective tactic by almost one-third of salespeople and you’re more likely to get new business from this type of direct outreach than from an email campaign. Yet many salespeople who are tasked with lead generation don’t have specialized cold-calling skills.
For people who sell for a living and any business that has a sales objective, evaluating the effectiveness of your lead generation efforts is important. Because we have limited time those resources must be allocated effectively. We believe that a business should have multiple channels to generate leads – a mix of inbound and outbound methods. Our experience combined with the statistics regarding the perception of cold calling among decision-makers strongly suggests businesses should be using cold calling as one of the lead generation channels.
What’s important about these statistics is that they show that if you are calling a list of people that are likely to need your solution you have a strong likelihood of qualifying strong leads and converting them.
Do you wonder if Cold Calling would work for your business? If so, give us a call to find out. At One of a Kind Sales, cold calling is our specialty. We qualify leads and set up appointments for our clients so that their salespeople can go in a close new business. We also train sales teams to do cold calling and can ensure that you have the proper systems in place to maximize the impact of cold calling. Reach out to us at 908-879-2911.
