Master the Art of Cold Calling: 4 Tips for Boosting Sales

It takes thick skin to be a cold caller. The unreturned messages. The right-off-the-bat hang-ups. The downright rude remarks. Even still, there are some people who thrive in the B2B cold call world. They’ve got the same resources as you. And the words on the page of their scripts aren’t any different than yours. So, what’s their secret? And what do you have to do to start seeing the same kinds of results? That’s where the art of cold calling comes in. The art of cold calling is that extra “something” that lets other salespeople close more deals than their colleagues. It’s the soft skills that go above and beyond those scripted words on the page. And it’s exactly what you need to start becoming a better cold caller. This guide takes you through four tips for mastering the art of cold calling. Inside, we’ll look at how to improve your mindset, boost your confidence, build rapport on cold calls, and more. And for you, that means closing more deals and taking home bigger commission bonuses. Mastering the Science of Cold Calling Before jumping into the art of the cold call, let’s look at the other equally important side—the science. There’s plenty of research out there on the hard and fast rules of selling well. Research like this: * The faster you respond to sales leads, the better. After a sales lead demonstrates interest, their response rate to calls drops by eight times after the first hour (CallHippo). * Salespeople with higher contact ratios make more sales. A whopping 80% of sales require five follow-up calls after the first meeting with a buyer. And 44% of sales reps give up after just one negative response (MarketingDonut). * Day of week and time of day matter. Wednesday and Thursday are the best days to call and from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm is the best time (Hubspot). * Meeting your buyers’ needs counts (and is rare). Only 38 % of buyers feel salespeople who’d called them delivered information relevant to their needs. But 83% of the salespeople who made the cold calls thought they were spot-on (Hubspot). * Buying decisions require lots of stakeholders. Seven people are involved in the buying decision on average. Plus, it takes at least five of them to agree for a sale to happen (Salesforce). Be sure you take these insights into account when building out your sales processes. Because without the proper science-backed foundation, mastering the art of cold calling won’t get you anywhere. Mastering the Art of Cold Calling: 4 Fantastic Cold Calling Tips Contrary to what you may believe, great cold-calling B2B sales people aren’t born—they’re made. And when you follow the four tips below, you too can master the art of cold calling and become known as a cold calling break on your sales team. #1: Believe In the Product You’re Selling This one’s simple. But it’s also vital. If you don’t believe in the product you’re selling, you’re never going to excel at selling it. That’s because buyers can sense insincerity. Your body language, facial tics, and other barely perceptible cues hint at whether you’re telling the truth. And if you wouldn’t buy what you’re selling, those cues will communicate that to your buyer. So if you don’t stand behind your product, it may be time to find something new to sell.