Telemarketing Software Featured Article

If you ask anyone, they’re bound to tell you that cold calls are no fun. Not for the person having to make the calls or for the people receiving them. That’s because they are just like the name indicates – cold. They aren’t usually based on prior relationships and they sometimes come from out of the blue. This can frustrate possible customers because they feel like they are just trying to have their money taken.

For sales people making the call, it can be difficult to meet sales goals when people on the other end of the phone are already against the idea all together. So how do you add some personality and charm to these calls and get people warmed up to them?

A recent Small Business Trends piece offers some great tips on things agents can do to succeed with cold calling the first time around – so they don’t have to keep trying and possibly annoy callers further.

Cold calling is still a very necessary evil today. Some of these interactions can still happen via the telephone, but agents are also out there having face to face first time meetings with prospective customers and even chatting with them online.

For this reason, it’s important that agents are trained with how to best handle these calls and offered telemarketing software that will assist with getting the most successful outcomes.

A safe starting point is a script. As you read and write this, think about the tone of voice you should have and your target audience. What kinds of things are they going to want to hear, how will you explain why your product or service will fill a void in their lives? It might even help to record yourself, as the article suggests, and play it back to hear how you sound and if improvements are needed before making any actual calls.

There’s also a right and wrong way to warm up to people. Small talk and good energy are great, but doing it in moderation is key. You want to sound knowledgeable, excited and relatable, but you don’t want to waste precious time or risk having the prospect bored and uninterested by the time your pitch comes.

Another great tip, and I’m sure we can all speak to the truth of this, is to not be pushy with someone. Nothing’s worse than feeling forced or obligated or being pressured into buying something you don’t want. This will leave a bad taste in a prospect’s mouth and is not a great way to get off on the right foot with them.

Finally, you should take notes during all these calls. If you’re making a lot of calls, chances are you could forget specifics from each chat. Having notes about specifics of the conversation and key points to follow up about will go a long way in turning your cold calls into hot leads.