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Home » Marketing Articles » How To Make Your Cold Calling Effective

How to Make Your Cold Calling Effective

4 examples of effective dialogue in cold calling

How can we make cold calls "work" when we're talking to someone we haven't met, about something they may not need? Well, it's really simple. First we look at how to relate to them rather than hoping they'll relate to us and our solution.

When we approach cold calling with a question about what their needs are, potential clients respond much more readily to the idea of talking with us.

To help you with this, here are a few examples of dialogues within four very different industries.

Example: Staffing

In the staffing or recruiting industry, the goal is to call a company and identify whether they need help finding new staff.

The old cold calling approach is, "Hi. My name is... I'm with XYZ Staffing Company, and we offer these services. I'm just calling to..." And by that time, the person pretty much says, "We're not interested," right?

With this new cold calling approach, the idea is to think about the problem you're solving. The problem you're solving is helping them find good people.

So I would start the conversation with, "Maybe you can help me out for a second?" And they usually say, "How can I help you?"

I reply, "I'm just calling to see if your company is still looking at finding good, quality employees to hire?"

The response to that is likely to be, "Well sure. Who's this?" This is a normal response which we want to be ready for. I would simply say, "My name is Ari and I'm with XYZ Staffing Company and we help companies identify and find good people. I'm just calling to see if your company is in a situation now where you're looking to hire and find new people."

Example: Software

Let's say you're in the software industry, and that you sell software to improve the productivity of an organization. What you want to do is focus on the problem that you solve specifically.

What most software salespeople do in cold calling is say, "Hi, we sell software to help improve productivity." But that doesn't really identify the problem it solves. You have to focus specifically on an issue.

So, for instance, the software might solve a problem with lost paper-based documents. That's a very specific issue.

In this case, I might call and say, "I'm just calling to see if your company is having issues with lost paperwork because of manual paper-based filing systems."

See how specific that is? It's very directed to the problem in their world. This is in contrast to, "I want to see if your company is looking to buy some software or looking to improve productivity," or something similar.

Example: Advertising

Advertising is a very good example. Typically, what most advertising sales folks start with is an introduction. They talk about their advertising product or services that they offer.

But with our problem solving approach, the question becomes, "What does advertising solve for people?" The first thought usually is that it gets people leads. It gets more branding.

Let's go deeper than that. What do leads do for companies? Leads provide sales, right? So if I sell advertising, I might call and say, "Maybe you can help me out for a second. I'm just calling to see if your company is open to new ideas of generating leads for your business."

From this place, the discussion unfolds around their world, and not your advertising.

That's the real shift in making cold calling relevant to their world.

Example: Collections

Another example is the collections industry. Typically, collection agencies call companies to see if they can be hired to collect invoices that are unpaid. They usually talk about their services as opposed to making their cold calling focus on the problem.

The client is looking to bring in more revenue from invoices that aren't paid. So an approach might be, "Maybe you can help me out for a second?" The reply is once again, "Sure, how can I help you?"

"I'm just calling to see if your company is still having issues with unpaid invoices." And the response probably will be, "Well, yeah, we are. Who's this?"

You can then respond in a very relaxed tone, "This is John. I'm with XYZ Collection Agency. I'm just calling to see if you'd be open to some new ideas on how to better solve that problem."

These are some examples of how to make your cold calling relevant to the other person and his or her needs. Practice this, and you'll find that your cold calling conversations become more relaxed. You'll no longer have to shift into an artificial "salesperson" role.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

10 Habits Assuring Career Self-Sabotage

:::Expert's Classic "Fatal Flaws" of a Doomed Employee:::

You're fired! This succinct phrase strikes more fear into the heart of the working man than any other. Why is it, then, that many well-intentioned and reasonably astute professionals hear these words chronically throughout their career despite all best efforts? Below are the top 10 self-destructive workplace habits sure to endanger one's longevity on the job.

Even with this small amount of insight, many aspiring professionals can learn how to maintain their good standing in the workplace and actually excel on the job rather than self-destruct. Employee turnover hurts not only those receiving their 'walking papers', but employers as well since this is a costly, through avoidable, expense.

With this in mind, serial "Labor Losers" can benefit by knowing these 10 key ways to get your self canned:

1. Failing to have a life plan â€" All very successful people have a clear life plan, whether memorized or actually written down. They create it, massage it, and refer to it often.

2. Not keeping your skill set current â€" The business landscape is ever-changing and there is more demand for jobs than supply. Not staying on par with colleagues and those vying for your job will be a deathnell.

3. Failing to deliver results â€" Winners in business know that it's all about accountability. Those who harbor a sense of entitlement for simply having put forth effort, irrespective of the results of those efforts, are guaranteed to fall by the wayside.

4. Confusing efficiency with effectiveness â€" Those who think that communicating via e-mail replaces the need to actually talk with people around them fail to recognize the importance of personally connecting with others in today's highly automated and technological environment. Communicating in person whenever possible is imperative for success-seekers.

5. Believing that you are irreplaceable â€" There is no room for "divas" in the workplace. As soon as you convince yourself that you and only you can do the job "right", your star will surely start to fall.

6. Knowing all the answers â€" The old adage remains true: knowledge is power. Professing to know it all can readily stagnate a career. Winners remain unceasingly interested in learning new ideas and approaches.

7. Surrounding your self with "brown-nosers" â€" Losers like having people tell them how smart they are, whether or not it's true, while successful managers and other professionals accept and encourage intelligence and creativity in others.

8. Forgetting to give credit to others â€" Losers inappropriately take full credit for positive events despite the help or input received by others, while Winners give credit where credit is due. Losers inevitably reap what they sow.

9. Failing to self promote â€" Bragging is one thing, but letting colleagues throughout your industry know of your success through case studies, promotion bulletins, or other such tools is quite another. Losers often fail to recognize the importance of letting others know about their successes, or go about it in entirely the wrong way.

10. Losing perspective â€" Intuitive business people recognize that, despite their best attempts to do everything right, sometimes they approach roadblocks and seek the advice and perspective of a respected friend, colleague or even a business coach. Those who fail to recognize their shortcomings are destined for the unemployment line.