Cold calling succeeding in 2024: the complete method

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Well Prospecting on the phone can allow the salesperson to win a sales force not negligible. This method is a source ofopportunities but also of stresses.

La telephone prospecting Remains a sales technique to know and master in order to reach the largest possible audience. La first interaction Will Decisive for the rest of the relationship and for the smooth running of the conversion cycle.

What is cold calling?

Cold Calling: Definition and Quick Explanations

The Cold Calling, or Cold call In French, is a telephone canvassing technique.

Thanks to the emergence of Means of communication, prospecting has been reinvented. The Phoning allows a Productivity gain important.

By making calls from a fixed location, the commercial optimizes its times And the number of people contacted.

The principle is simple. The seller contacts prospects in order to their introduce company products or services.

It is this rapidity runtime that makes this method also popular, even today.

However, this is not a contact spontaneous. The action of calling is simple but its readiness must be structured.

The objective is to reach individuals who could transform in patrons. At this stage, they are still only opportunities potentials. The salesperson will have to swap with them in order to To know And of the convince.

The aim? Feeding the customer portfolio with new profiles, develop Sales and improve the repute of the company.

For this, the salesperson will have to be patient, disponible but above all to have theexpertise necessary. During interactions, he Represents the company And is themiddleman appointed for all these potential leads.

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What is a cold call?

To do To know the commercial proposal and understand the expectations of the public, salespeople use numerous channels and communication media.

By multiplying contacts, they ensure that most of theAudience targeted. Each individual has their own preferences in terms of Making contact. That's why there are several ways to prospecting telephonically.

La prospecting is an integral part of missions of a salesman. It is this approach that makes it possible to create new opportunities business.

The Cold Calling is not a spam call but a thoughtful contact With topics And defined goals in advance.

It is a direct marketing action on prospects who are not yet Involved in a purchase decision. That is to say that they do not Don't know again the company or its proposal.

So a cold call is a Outgoing call on an audience that is not yet receptive to the offer. At this stage of prospecting, the subject is still general. As the discussions progress, the topics covered will be specified. The aim is his present the proposal and to seek to convince to join.

One Cold call So is a Prospecting method initiated by the salesperson in order to develop its customer base. It is an intuitive tool that allows sales teams to promote a direct contact And a lasting relationship With the Prospect questioned.

Incoming Call vs Outgoing Call: Explanations

One Incoming call is a call made by the Prospect himself. That is, the individual contacts the company with a certain knowledge of the offer. These prospects will surely have seen or heard about the proposal via the various communication media set up by the marketing. However, these indications are incomplete and lead the prospect to take the first step. They usually call to ask for informations Or tips.

Les account managers who respond to this request have the same duty to quality only salespeople. They must be able to determine the motive of the intervention and manage the rest of the process. They will know Respond to their questions but also the redirecting to the agents competent for the negotiation and sale part.

One Outgoing call is initiated by a venture Or a external service provider. The commercial employees of the structure contact a particular Or a vocational (B2C or B2B) for their present an offer. Here, the interviewees are not at the origin of this call, nor are they necessarily applicants. Although they had previously been identified, the salesperson must reach the convince. For this, he will Start, the interrogate and look for them build loyalty.

La telephone prospecting And the distance selling are difficult exercises but nevertheless necessary for renewing the customer base of the company.

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What are the pros and cons of cold calling?

1. The advantages of cold calling

• Understand customer expectations and needs

One of the major advantages of cold calling is the possibility of target your interlocutor. Thanks to informations available publicly on networks, the salesperson can collect data valuable information on the individuals to contact. La diversity Of springs And tools allowing this researching Allows him toanticipate your approach. It will gather all this information on the CRM. This allows him quick access for therefresh as the exchanges progressed. By identifying prospects who represent a sales opportunity, he optimizes his prospecting. If the individual finds himself in the offer, he will more easily adhere to it.

• Encourage a human and social relationship

The Telephone channel maintains a certain human connection. The exchange is made of Viva voix. The salesperson therefore has access to emotions And to direct reactions of the prospect through his voice. The leads Deliver more easily on their needs, expectations and cravings If they feel Listened on the other end of the phone.

The salesperson must therefore personalize your approach according to the profile of the prospect in order to encourage a relationship of trust. The objective, beyond closing a sale, is to build the foundations of a long-term collaboration. Exchanges bring added value To thecustomer experience.

• Quickly visible results

Cold calling can be decisive in A few minutes. Let the return be positive or negative, the salesperson quickly understands the turn that the exchange will take. Attention and The interest of the prospect can disappear in a few seconds. The commercial Feels these variations in Tone of their voices And at the form of their answers. If the prospect does not find himself in the product and issues objections, the salesperson has an interest in avoiding Wasting your time. It is better to move on to another contact than to persevere and retract later.

Under the conditions of having a powerful argument, phoning is a fast way to Capturing attention of the prospect. Obviously, it is impossible toanticipating all the steps, but it allows you to have a global idea of the probability ofthe Success of a sale by identifying priorities to be addressed.

• A quick and inexpensive launch

Telephone prospecting does not require communication costs or Of marketing. The main tool, the telephone, is not an element pricey or intricate.

A cold calling operation Get ready however, upstream by building a database (CRM). The salesperson will have to Take the time of target prospects to be contacted thanks to networks And to informations that he has.

In this process, the longest part is not the launching But the exchange time with leads (questions, objections, negotiations...). This commercial technique therefore requires a real organizational capacity in order to manage the large number of calls and exchanges per day.

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2. The disadvantages of cold calling

• Prospects are not asking for the call

The challenge of cold calling is to succeed in convincing a person who does not you Don't know That you are there solution to his needs. 

Cold calling is a delicate exercise. The salesman only has one short Time-lapse To get the attention of a person who has no previous acquaintance of his existence, or even no desire to know him. Even if the aim of the targeting work is to limit incompatibility of the exchange, the character unexpected and intrusive of the call can make this practice less Impactful. The flow ofSpam calls That individuals receive daily may cause you to lose interest in your message. It is these factors that often explain a low receptivity customers.

• Cold calling is an intrusive sales method

Most people don't like unexpected calls. La multiplication call centers and cold calling techniques make this practice Repetitive and Disturbing.

It is therefore all the more difficult toswap And of Capturing attention of the prospect. In this context, he will surely find this approach too much intrusive or anxiogenic. His attention span will be relatively short and he will have a predisposition to want to hang up quickly out of tiredness of being disturbed.

It can be difficult to convince The prospect of pros of your business when it prefers échanger avec des business préalablement identifiés et avec qui il se sentirait déjà plus familier. Le commercial doit donc anticiper son approche avec beaucoup de précaution. C’est-à-dire contextualiser l’appel, travailler son argumentation et trouver le moment optimal afin de réussir à capter l'attention des prospects dans les meilleures conditions possibles.

• Le phoning demande du temps et de l’investissement

Lancer une opération de phoning n’est pas coûteux ou long à mettre en place, il s’agit surtout du temps d’échange avec chaque prospect qui est chronophage. 

Le commercial doit gérer un carnet de contact bien rempli avec de nombreux leads qui ont chacun leurs besoins, leurs questions et leurs envies. Il doit dédier un temps de disponibilité à tous afin d’amener chaque relation jusqu’à la vente.

Face au temps et à l’énergie que le phoning demande, on peut s’interroger sur la productivité de cette méthode. Le canal téléphonique comprend non seulement des obstacles techniques (changement de numéros de téléphones, messagerie vocale…) mais aussi humains (manque de temps, clients non réceptifs ou non disponibles). L'interlocuteur doit être endurant sur le nombre d’appels passés dans la journée, dont beaucoup ont échoué, tout en se tenant prêt à tenir un argumentaire si une opportunité apparaît. 

• L’appel à froid n’est pas une méthode miracle

S'il est facile de décrocher le téléphone, il est tout aussi simple de raccrocher. Chaque appel ne dure en moyenne que quelques minutes. Beaucoup d’appels sont passés mais peu aboutissent. Les acheteurs attendent de la part du vendeur une proposition de nouveauté impactante et attrayante ainsi qu’un vrai dévouement pour l'expérience client. La mission la plus complexe pour le commercial est de réussir à combiner la quantité et la qualité de ses échanges afin d’atteindre ses objectifs. 

C’est pour cela que le phoning peut se révéler inadapté à certaines situations. C’est le cas par exemple de beaucoup de TPE (Très Petites Entreprises). Leur structure rend le processus d’appels à froid trop chronophage pour le peu de ROI (Return On Investment) à moyen terme. 

De même, cette technique de vente ne se révélera pas convaincante pour des acteurs très importants qui préfèrent commercer qu’avec des entreprises connues en qui ils ont confiance. Dans ce cas, il sera préférable de passer par d’autres interlocuteurs qui pourront faire remonter l’information en interne et ainsi faire connaître votre existence et vos offres.

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Comment faire du cold calling ?

Faire du cold calling dépend essentiellement de la capacité du commercial à travailler sa prospection. Un bon démarchage demande bien plus que argumenter et conseiller les prospects. 

Ces campagnes de phoning se divisent en plusieurs étapes. 

• Identifier son public : Le but est d'être sûr de contacter les bonnes personnes. Ce travail a l’avantage de permettre d’initier une conversation plus facilement et avec plus de chance de succès. For this, the salesperson makes surveys and constitutes datafiles on software in order topinpoint potential customers who are receptive to the offer.

• Define your goals: The salesperson must target steps and key indicators. This data will determine the unwinding of the prospecting campaign and the necessary resources to achieve it. In general, the two main goals of the business are toreach new markets And do Grow the influence Of business.

• Establish a clear action plan: With the help of softwares And informations at your disposal, the salesperson establishes a prospecting file with all the important data and contacts. Everything he's going to need is in a CRM software so that he has quick access and can update them as needed.

• Preparing an argument: The sales argument consists of a Impactful hook to arouse the interest of the prospect and then of a presentation. The aim is toTo introduce the business and His proposal to the prospect. He does not have to have a pre-made speech but can think of a guideline Or a presentation pitch. He should know adapt to the profile contacted and to the turn of the discussion. The commercial also has a Duty to listen in order to identify the motivations and obstacles to exchange and to purchase.

• Communicate with the prospect : The most decisive but the longest step is to work andcommunicate with the target audience concerned by the object of prospecting. These interventions are carried out in order to Sales And of scores, but also commercial relationship And of marketing. The aim is to succeed in convincing them to adhere to the proposal but also ofencourage a relationship of trust. THEcustomer experience And the availability of the commercial are important.

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How do you make a good cold call? Our advice

Phoning requires a good sales technique And a careful preparation to convince the prospect that your proposal is the one they need.

Tip 1: Use a call script

One call script allows the salesperson to prepare to the best of his answers to the questions of prospects. The salesperson thinks about a set of points constituting topics of discussion which could be addressed in future exchanges. Often, this list is included in the CRM software So that he could refer directly to this script during his phone calls.

Tip 2: Have a good preparation

In order to optimize call time and its chances of success, it is essential to Understand your target. A work ofidentification Prerequisite allows the salesperson to know who he is talking to. He can easily find this information on internet, but it will especially be necessary to interpret and know how to use opportunities to your advantage. The salesperson will be able to personalize your approach depending on the context and the profile contacted.

Tip 3: Set up an effective sales pitch

A good argument is a way to conquering and build loyalty customers.

The goal for the salesman is not to stay fixed on his telephone script. It is a strut and does not replace a natural and captivating grip. Demonstrate persuasion andlocalization will make you win in credibility. It is this approach that will know Interpell the prospect.

Tip 4: Maintain a correct and professional attitude

The objective of a cold call is to understand motivations And the brakes to the purchase of the individual. This information is essential to do match the good or service to his needs and thus conclude an agreement. But the salesperson must be careful not to show off too much. intrusive.

It must follow the 3P : Politeness - Persuasion - Perseverance. Integrate these three values To his speeches And to his demeanour optimizes the chances of success.

Tip 5: Talk to the prospect

The salesperson must Leader the call but does not have to take up all the space. He should not only talk about himself and his proposal. It must lead the prospect to indulging about their needs or preferences. This step is part of the qualification of the prospect. The salesperson collects information on the individual's profile and practicesActive listening. These elements will be valuable in order to understand his prospect and offer him a adapted added value.

The salesperson must Hot note the information collected during the exchange and enter it into the CRM. Thus, there is no risk ofoblivion And of confusion.

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The 4 essential prospecting tools for cold calling

Use a CRM to get organized

The CRM is surely the most useful tool wholemeal To power a prospecting campaign. This database must be supplied continuously by the salesperson as exchanges take place. To be effective, it must be updating regularly in order to constitute a reliable source of information.

Use phoning software like Aircall or Ringover

Les teleprospecting software are essential to optimize telephone contact. These platforms include many useful features to boost the productivity salespeople. These solutions make it possible toparse all the data useful for evaluating call performance (average duration, frequency, etc.). This dashboard provides an overview of theactivity of the sales team and his efficiency.

Use social networks

Use and interpret shared information on social networks are part of the salesperson's missions. Knowing how to search for data useful to his work allows him to keep up to date with news of the middle, of current trends and even ofCompetitor activity. It is also an effective channel for pinpoint and Inquire On the target profiles to contact. Social networks like LinkedIn are a very powerful international tool that makes it possible to achieve more large audience.

Use prospecting software

In order to manage their business and gain in productivity, salespeople must think of ways to optimize their time. Some tools such as prospecting software make it possible to automate certain tasks. Ses functionalities include all canvassing actions. The aim is to simplify the work of the salesperson. He can Contact more leads and ensure a quality follow-up. It has access to commercial pipeline In order toanticipate reminders (email or call). Les activity statistics are updated gradually in order to maintain a relevant strategy.

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