Cold calling is a subject that divides sales professionals as much as a PSG -OM.
On the one hand, those who consider this practice as outdated and intrusive, even useless in a world where your prospects are increasingly wary of calls from strangers.
On the other hand, those who defend it tooth and nail and who consider prospecting as an effective method to generate leads and increase their performance.
In this article, we will demystify the preconceived ideas about telephone prospecting by answering the 6 most common myths about it.
The "experts" have declared it, cold calling is over!
Yes, negative reviews have undermined the confidence that people had in cold calling. For years, many thought leaders in sales and marketing have heralded the end of this method.
But believe me, cold calling is still effective and should not be abandoned.
And for those who need numbers to believe it: the 1ʳᵉ million ARR from Modjo was almost entirely generated by "cold calling."
Cold calling is an important tool, but like trade shows or your content strategy, you need to think about your strategy, your message, your persona, etc.
It will always be easier to pretend it doesn't work than to figure out how to do it right.
I understand that it can be frustrating if your hours of cold calling don't yield immediate results. Instead of giving up, persevere and practice regularly to become an expert.
Don't be discouraged, the results will come eventually!
Prospecting is a monotonous activity without much interest.
Many salespeople are forced to do cold calling and therefore see this work as a monotonous activity that can quickly become discouraging.
It's amazing how thankless a job it can be. And, as soon as your manager puts pressure on you by demanding "50 calls a day", the activity just becomes unbearable.
Basic advice if you are a manager: don't do this!
We talk about it in our latest program Methods, tools and mindset to master sales prospecting. Go take a look.
The customer's buying journey must be followed to the letter.
Selling by following the customer's buying path is crucial, we agree on that.
But, we may have taken it a little too much to heart. We've gotten to the point where we're over-applying this idea.
By not wanting to bother them, we forget that we are there to help them solve their problems.
The salespeople who do the prospecting are robots!
Frankly, no one wants to be a robot.
Scripts are essential to structure the prosception method, but most people don't know how to use them naturally. As a result, they either speak like robots or they don't know what to say at all. And then it's a mess.
A script must be learned, understood and finally adapted to your personality.
The words quantity and quality are antinomic.
For a long time, people have considered wine in cubes to be a low-quality product, intended for those who are looking to drink a lot without spending too much.
It's a bit the same for cold calling: often seen as a low-quality method, but which allows to make a lot of sales in a short time.
And that's where the problem lies. If you want to radically increase your conversion rates, you'll have to work on both aspects:
- How do I get the most qualitative approach possible?
- How do I leverage my method to address more and more leads?
Telephone prospecting is effective if you follow these good practices
- Don't be afraid of rejection.
- Practice, practice and practice.
- Prepare solid questions and answers.
- Don't waste your time with irrelevant leads.
- Avoid going off script until you are ready.
- Use technology to automate tasks that can be automated.
Now that you have the right mindset, the right tools and the right techniques, you can succeed by aiming for quality and quantity.
