As a sales rep, you know when you’re able to make a human connection with a prospect, you’re in a great position to do what you do best — making the case for how your company’s products or services will satisfy a need.
But making those connections are becoming increasingly challenging, especially when you’re trying to reach key decision-makers with demanding schedules. However, cold calling doesn’t have to be a worthless pursuit.
Here are 3 common obstacles to successful cold calling, and a clear method on how to overcome each of them to close more deals.
1. Not Giving Prospects Enough Upfront Information
Some companies are still resistant to putting too much information “out there.” After all, you’re also giving your competitors insights into how you operate. Yet, you’ve got problems if you’re not investing resources into building out content that educates the buyer. Studies show that 94 percent of business buyers are researching their options online, with nearly 85 percent checking business websites to educate themselves.
Let your prospects get into the driver’s seat when it comes to gathering information. Provide plenty of objective materials online that will help them understand why your products and/or services are worth exploring. Be prepared to guide them through a more complex explanation after they continue to show interest by downloading materials or reviewing demos on their own.
2. Making the Call at the Wrong Time
With today’s ability to gain deep insights into the buyer’s journey, your sales team should never be in the position of calling the wrong person at absolutely the wrong time. The data you gather through your lead generation efforts, including white papers and other download materials, you should be able to pinpoint when a prospect is ready to have a conversation. Not only that, you should be equipped with the right messaging based on the information the prospect already has gathered. Resist the temptation to immediately jump in on a call too early in that process.
3. Not Calling Soon Enough
As you may have already heard, your chances of qualifying a lead are significantly higher if you call within 5 minutes. That rate drops by 21 times if you wait 30 minutes, according to the Lead Response Management Survey.
By fine-tuning your strategies for contacting your prospective clients, you can overcome the obstacles to effective cold calling. It’s not only a matter of determining who and when to call, but being fully prepared with the right message.
MonsterConnect has been helping companies with the challenges of cold calling by connecting sales reps to key decision-makers. Find out how we can do the same for you. We’ll be glad to provide a demo of our prospecting enablement.
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