Cold Calling Scripts – Should You Use Them?
Cold Calling Scripts
To use cold calling scripts or not is a debate that has been raging in sales for years. Many commentators and sales gurus put convincing arguments for both sides of the debate. Let’s discover the truth on their arguments.
Those Apposing The Use Of Cold Calling Scripts:
The traditional arguments gainst the use of scripts for cold calling tend to fall into the following categories:
- Makes staff seem robotic and they can appear as if they are just reading from a piece of paper without engaging the person on the other end of the line.
- It forces the caller to use words, tones and approaches that may not be natural for them which will make them come across as being unnatural and uncomfortable.
- It removes the caller from focusing on the other person becasue they can’t spend their call listening to the reactions of the other person and tailoring their answers based on the other person responses, their indirect communication.
- It increases pressure in the telephone call because it is forcing an unnatural dialogue where there is pressure for the telesales person to say what they have been told to say without letting the other person speak or engaging in a two way communication.
Those For The Use Of Cold Calling Scripts:
The main arguments for the use of cold calling scripts are:
- It enables new staff to hit the ground running far quicker than they ever would left to their own devices. They can start work and use the proven words and approaches that have made other people in the company succesful. This will allow them to get quick initial success and stop them feeling the need to desert in the crucial first 90 days of a telesales role.
- The use of scrits for cold calling allows a uniform approach that has proven to work in that particular business. All levels of sales people can use the woeds and approaches of the top performing sales people to allow them to be far more succesfull than they ever could be on their own.
- It allows a way to test and measure different approaches to scientifically trach what is working and what is not working. By using cold calling scripts the company is actually allowing a way for innovation to be proven to be working or not.
- Sales is a science and few things are unique and have never been tried and tested before. By utilising script sfor cold calling you are benefiting from years and years of proven research around what is working in sales, sales psychology, buyer behaviour, influencing skills and negotiation skills.
Our stand point is that scriots are essential for many reasons. We dont see scriopts as the tip of the iceburg that is represented by such things as cold calling opening lines otr objection handling answers. The sript is the manifestation of the companies sales process, the way the company represents the value it offers to the market place – infact its whole sales success system.
Far to often we have consulted with companies who tell us thy are dead set agains using scripts for cold calling. When we ask to see their sales manual which outlines their sales process and the statements of value they bring to the market place, they rarely have them. New starters and olh hands alike, are generally told to get on with it with very little intervention from thr company.
This is wrong!
It is the companies responsibility to systemise and script out every sales interaction for the maximum returns from their salespeople. The arguments and proof of the successes are huge. The arguments against pale into insignificance.
If staff are robotic and appear to be montone in following a script then it is because:
- They have no passion for what they are doing
- They are reading the script rather than ‘being the script’. They should know the script off by heart so it is a fundamental part of their sales approach. This will give them to the confidence to listen to the other person, zig and zag in the call and to focus on providing value.
So should you Use Cold Calling Scripts?
Absolutely. If you are in sales and are not using cold calling scripts then you are leaving money on the table for you and your business.
How To Cold Call
How To Cold Call
The chances are that if you have arrived on this page then you have been searching the internet for “How To Cold Call” If you have then I have great news and some bad news for you.
The bad news is you are asking the wrong question. You are asking “How To Cold Call” when really you should be asking questions like:
- How can I win new business?
- How can I sales prospect for new business?
- How can I win more business by phone?
- How can I Offer value to the other person when I call?
- How can I develop multiple ways of sales prospecting to add to my phone prospecting?
- How can I develop an approach to calling that is not ‘cold’ and adds instant credibility and engages the other person enough to want to have a business discussion with me.
Pure cold calling is dead. Selling by phone is alive and well and flourishing but not by cold calling. Traditional cold calling entails a scatter gun approach of calling anyone who you think might be interested in your service with a vague reason for your call. One that typically adds no value to the other person.
Sales has moved on so much in the last ten years that if you are still trying to figure out how to cold call then you are seriously going to be left behind in the battle to be a top performing sales person.
How To Cold Call - the good news!
There are hundreds of ways to prospect open to you and yes that includes by using the phone.
- Phone – Never cold call. Determine a strong list of targeted prospects that you can offer a valid business reason for your call. This is a process of warm calling. Determine what potential value you can offer people and why they should listen to you. Become an expert in your industry and keep track of trigger events that lead people to want your services. For example it might be companies that are expanding, or contracting, companies that are relocating, companies who have just won investment ot companies who have won new contracts. All of these can be ‘trigger events’ to tell you that now is a perfect time to ring to intoduce yourself and what you can potentially do for them
- Email – Get good at developing fantastic ways to cold call by email – or better still warm call by email. When done correctly, great sales prospecting emails can get upto 40% response from completely cold contacts.
- Webinars and video email – Don’t get left behind in your sales prospecting efforts. New technology gives some fantastic ways to break through the traditional cold calling clutter and get yourself seen.
Your success is determined by the questions you ask yourself. So no longer as yourself “How To Cold Call” but instead ask how you can win more new business with fantastic sales prospecting.
Cold Calling Techniques – Are There Any Secrets?
Cold Calling Techniques – Are there Any Secrets?
Cold Calling is one of the most firecely debated areas of sales and had been for decades. The reason it is , is because it is probably the hardest part of the selling process. It is the ultimate sales prospecting skill – the ability to pick up the phone and cold call someone you don’t know and engage them in a conversation about your products or services.
Do Cold Calling Techniques Work?
There is a lot of debate as to wether cold calling is dead. Firstly let me say that yes – cold calling is dead, and winning business by phone is alive and one of the most profitable ways of winning new business. But surely that is a contradiction? Well, no its not. You see, cold caling describes the act of picking up the phone and making absolutely cold contact with someone you have neve spoken before. Unfortunately, in practice in the real world, it often entails a cold contact with no real reason for the call either.
It is often perpetuated by bad sales teams who’s only strategy is to smile and dial and cold contact people from the Yellow Pages or other vague and untargeted databases. When they ring it realy is a cold contact because they have no value that they are adding to the convesation from the perspective of the person they are calling. Cold calling like this is often represented by weak cold calling opening statements such as:
“Mr Smith, we a re a full sevice design and print company that can handle all of your requirements. Would you be interested in our services?”
Of course, Mr smith wouldn’t!! Where is the relevance for him, where is the value add?
Herein lies the contradiction. Yes cold calling is dead if you use approches like this because you will be struggling so much you will be constantly searching for those next cold calling techniques that will magically open up the doors for you. I hate to tell you this that these magic cold calling techniques don’t exist. Yes, there are plenty of structures, approaches, proven words that sell, and ways of delivering value statements that can be called cold calling techniques but these are the icing on the cake.
The cake itself is the way you structure your prospecting activities. You see, it is not about cold caling techniques but more about warm calling or integrated sales prospecting. With warm calling you have very tightly defined the type of person or business you would like to contact and you have developed multiple approaches that are all based on adding value to their business. This act of warm contacting can be by phone, just as much as it can be by email, direct mail, postcards, or networking. It is not about cold calling techniques but more about the value you bring to the other party.
If you can identify and verbalise value that is relevant to the other person then you won’t be reliant on cold techniques.
What Is A Cold Call?
What Is A Cold Call?
This is a business to business sales site so after the initial history about ‘what is a cold call’ the rest of the article will show you how you can be more effective winning new business with cold calling and sales prospecting.
If we use the definition from the trusted resources that is wikipedia, then a cold call is:
“the process of approaching prospective customers or clients, typically via telephone, who were not expecting such an interaction. The word “cold” is used because the person receiving the call is not expecting a call or has not specifically asked to be contacted by a sales person”
There are a number of different approaches to cold calling and answring ‘what is a cold call’:
- Cold calling to consumers either by Phone or Door to Door. From our perspective this is a prehistoric way of winning new business and is thankfully on the way out. Indeed many areas of the worls impose severe financial penalties for door to door cold callers. Telephone cold calling to consumers also has some tough penalties associated with it and there are procedures in place to allow you to opt out – UK opt out list and the US Opt out list Did we say that we don’t endorse cold calling consumers?
- Business to Business Cold Calling – This is the process of calling individuals in business, generally without them requesting the call or asking for the call and introducing your self with a view to opening up a communication about doing business together.
What is A Cold Call In Business?
Unfortunately, many people have very negative views of what is a cold call and mostly these views are brought about by sales people themselves. Our view is cold calling is dead. Winning busijess by phone is alive and strong and a fantastic way of getting new business. It’s the cold part that has died a death.
There is no excuse in todays information age to be making blind, untargeted cold calls in a business environment. The cold element refers to the fact that you have no strong reason for the call, you can’t add any value to their business and generally the call is all a ‘me, me, me’ perspective.
Selling by telephone has evolved and if you don’t want to die out like a sales dinasour, then you need to eveolve with it. You should be developing a system of ‘warm calling’ where every action has been strategically planned for the maximum impact and relevance to the other person you are calling. Your system will incorporate:
- A highly targeted list of quality potential business contacts
- A valid reason why they should engage in conversation with you – from their perspective – not yours!
- Some testimonials, case studies or ‘name drops’ of businesses they will know that you have done business with
- Specific ways you may be able to help their business and how you could do it.
So What Is a Cold Call?
Warm calling as part of an integrated sales prospecting system is the way to win new business in the modern sales arena. So to answer the question – What is a cold call? The answer must be that it is a long dead way of winning new business that only the dinasours are still clinging on to!
Cold Calling Tips: Can you Be A Success With Tips On Cold Calling?
Cold Calling Tips: Can you Be A Success With Tips On Cold Calling?
We see a lot of sales people searching the net looking for cold calling tips and techniques. We are not sure why?
Firstly, are you searching for the right thing? Are you looking for ways to increase sales and increase your sales effectiveness through enhanced sales prospecting or are you just after some cold calling tips? For a more detailed look at the differences see our other post http://coldcallingconfidence.com/how-to-cold-call
Secondly are you still cold calling? I have to say this and at the risk of offending you but if you are still pure cold calling, you are a sales dinosaur who will be extinct in the not to distant future. Today is the age of warm calling, social engineering, integrates sales prospecting systems – not the old worn out, borderline offensive and aggressive cold calling techniques and tips based approach.
Thirdly, tips and techniques never got sanyone anywhere! Do you think Tger woods decided to be the best in his field and then went on a hunt for some tips, tricks and techniques?
You are damn right, he didn’t!
He developed a system, he trained, trained, trained and trained, he sought out the best in the field and hired them as coaches and mentors and he invested in continuous education from the best sources he could find.
I’m sorry if this is a bit of a shock approach for you but if you have made a decision to be the very best in your field then searching the interner for free cold calling tips will only waste your time.
Invest in your continual development, develop an integrtated sales prospecting system and stop being a seeker of cold calling tips and your sales success will be guaranteed.
