Can you imagine popping by the office of a prospective Executive you have never met without a pre-arranged appointment and actually meeting them? It doesn’t happen often! Cold calling is the identical experience – unsolicited calling, uninformed calling – hoping someone may answer, with the exact problem you can solve.
Cold Calling defined:
Visiting a prospect (who may or may not know the visitor) without a prior appointment, OR calling a prospect (who does not know the caller) for a sales appointment, OR making unsolicited phone calls to strangers, usually to generate a sale (BusinessDictionary.com)
According to a study by the Keller Research Center at Baylor University, only one per cent of cold calls ultimately convert into appointments. That’s one appointment for every 100 calls.
What if you could increase your conversion rate of appointments while significantly increasing your sales pipeline?
It’s the Cold that is Dead – not the Calling!
– Trish Bertuzzi, CEO, The Bridge Group
Warm calling is where it is at my friend!
Warm calling defined:
A sales call, visit or email that is preceded by some sort of contact with the potential customer or prospect, such as a direct mail campaign, an introduction at a business event or a referral (Investopedia).
The stronger the connection between yourself and the prospect, the warmer the call is. Your goal is to enable a conversation with a prospect who may be aware of your company or product or have a business need you can solve. It’s up to you to discover who is ready to talk.
Light the fire by utilizing multiple touch points; email, voicemail, social networks and direct mail. You need at least two-to-three touch points in order to elicit a response, through ongoing and compelling content clearly articulating value.
In fact, sales reps who articulate value see five times greater engagement with their potential buyers and 74 per cent of buyers choose the organization who was first to add value and insight (Corporate Visions).
Your Marketing team is invaluable when attracting prospects to enable a warm conversation. Digital Marketing can reach a global audience and drive very targeted campaigns, building brand awareness and product interest.
Webinars, case studies, white papers, industry thought leadership and continuous nurturing through email campaigns, demo offers and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) all introduce prospects to your offerings.
Search-driven leads have a 14.6 per cent close rate compared to just 1.7 per cent for cold leads.
Come out of the cold and increase your pipeline by retiring your old outreach methods and adopting a warmer approach!
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This article was published more than 1 year ago. Some information may no longer be current.