Want to know the secret about B2B cold outreach?
While everyone else is avoiding picking up the phone by sending an email, you can be creating promising leads for your business through cold calling with a cold calling company. B2B cold calling is far from dead, and this essential guide will show you why.
Why Do B2B Cold Calling?
In a world of endless technology, it’s tempting to wonder whether B2B cold calling with a cold calling company is still relevant.
We all know what it’s like to pick up an annoying sales call and question why anyone would do it. The thing is, there’s still no substitute for starting a conversation with someone, and (good) cold calling is still the best way to do this.
Your sales pipeline needs leads, and for many businesses, cold calling with a cold calling company is the way to fill it.
For those people who are thinking back to the last time they picked up a call from an unknown number and are still dubious, we’ve got the stats to back it up!
B2B Cold Calling Statistics
Is cold calling worth the effort for B2B businesses?
Strangely, the proof is not in B2B cold calling statistics. On the surface, when you look at a 2.5% success rate, which a recent study put the cold calling success rate at, it’s not very impressive.
When you dig into the details though, this can be a significant number. If you’re making hundreds of calls a day, which is entirely possible, then you’re creating a good number of leads.
So, what else do the stats say?
- 57% of C-level executives value information from phone calls with sales reps (RAINGroup)
- 82% of buyers say they have accepted meeting with sales reps after a series of calls (RAINGroup)
- Reps have to make an average of 6 calls before converting on their goal (Salestrail)
- 48% of salespeople never make a single follow up call (Invespcro)
It’s clear from these B2B cold calling statistics that there’s plenty of room to optimize outreach and improve results.
B2B Sales Call Guide to Improve Your Outreach
Like anything, there’s an art to cold calling. Nobody wants to pick up a call just to have someone sprint through a scripted sales pitch. Instead, it should be a conversation, and these six B2B cold calling tips will help you get the most out of your outreach.
Your List Is Essential
It doesn’t matter how great your salespeople are, if you’re constantly calling the wrong people you’re not going to have success.
Yes, B2B cold calling is partly a numbers game, but it’s also about the quality of those calls. If you’re going to make calls, then you might as well make sure you’re calling the right people. For B2B cold calling, this means:
- Researching the right companies to contact
- Finding the right people to contact within those companies
This step will take some time, but list building it’s an essential part of cold calling with a cold calling company. If your approach is scattergun, then it’s going to reflect in your results.
Start the Call Right
As consumers, we all know the feeling when you get a sales call and the agent spends the first few seconds stumbling over their opening line. Rightly or wrongly, it’s an immediate sign to you that this conversation isn’t going to be a great use of your time.
First impressions count, which means the first few seconds of the call are vitally important.
Make sure you have all the information you need and are prepared to start the conversation on the right foot.
Give people a reason to stay on the call.
It’s a Two-Way Conversation
One of the biggest problems we have in sales and marketing, no matter what medium we’re using, is that we become overly focused on our own goals. This is natural - we’re making the call for a reason.
Of course, we have goals with our B2B cold calling, but they need to be achieved through the prism of helping the prospect achieve their goals.
To do this, sales calls have to be two-way conversations and you have to ask questions.
Techniques like SPIN selling have been proven to be extremely effective and they’re completely centered around asking questions. To be able to help people achieve their goals, you first need to understand their pain points, but to do that, you’ve got to have a two-way conversation.
Know Your Products Inside Out
Your goal is to help people realize that they need your product. To do this, you’ve got to understand your audience, but you’ve also got to understand your product inside out.
It seems like a simple requirement, but if you’re not prepared for complex questions, then it’s going to tank your sales pitch.
When you're dealing with B2B sales, it’s likely you will come across buying committees. Each person brings their own professional knowledge and will have questions that test your knowledge of the product.
If your product knowledge isn’t up to scratch, then it’s going to be much harder to create leads and progress the sale.
Scripted vs Unscripted
A lot of people ask whether B2B cold calls should be scripted.
While scripts can be a great guide, your goal is to have a conversation and that requires some spontaneity. Good sales scripts should be rough guides to give salespeople hints on how to continue the conversation, but the real skill lies with the salesperson.
Good sales calls tend to follow a distinct pattern, but what happens in between should feel organic.
Leverage Technology
You don’t want to be spending your time sifting through lists and dialing numbers. You’ll spend enough time listening to a dial tone and connecting with voicemails, so you want to automate the process as much as possible.
Technology can make a huge difference to the success of your cold calling, so it’s important you find the right software to meet your needs.
Conclusion
There’s a reason people think cold calling with a cold calling company is a thing of the past - because too many businesses do it poorly.
Getting B2B cold calling right is a process, and it’s one you perfect over time. While these tips can help you improve the conversion rate of your cold outreach, sometimes you’ve got to hand it over to the professional to get the best results.
When you work with a company like SalesHive, you’re working with people who know how to get results. We’ve been perfecting our processes so we have B2B cold calling down to an art.
You can buy into this experience and see results immediately.
Learn about cold calling and hiring a cold calling company with SalesHive!
