8 Effective Cold Calling Tips

SaaS B2B sales relies heavily on cold calling to set up demo meetings with potential customers. In the following, we share with you 8 cold calling tips that we found especially useful.

Cold calling is the activity of reaching out to potential customers who haven’t yet expressed interest in your products or services. In SaaS B2B sales you will rely heavily on cold calling to set up demo meetings with potential customers. Luckily, in the 21st century this doesn’t mean that your reps will be sitting at the table with an open phone book on their lap, and calling everyone from A to Z. Reaching sophisticated customers requires sophisticated skills and techniques, so we’d like to share with you 8 cold calling tips that we found especially useful.

1. Use a CRM

A customer relationship management or CRM software makes all the difference in your sales efforts. Far from being just a high-tech list of all your leads, it’s also an indispensable sales tool. Depending on the software of your choice, it may contain your incoming leads’ interactions with your website and logs of communications with you or your colleagues. This may include phone calls, chat logs, emails, and personal notes to remember. With all this information at your fingertips, you can study up on the leads, including their interests and their pain points, and you can personalize your call accordingly.

Along with company required reports, record your learnings as well, and share them with your manager and the other reps. Constant learning from personal experience and from your team members will help you excel as a salesperson and will boost your success. 

2. Work with a cold calling script

Don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise: having the upcoming conversation mapped out before you is one of the best routes to sales success. Far from being a line-by-line monologue, the sales script is the salesperson’s ally, and your brand’s great defender. 

While nervousness may cause you to talk too fast or stumble on your words, and stress to forget important points, the script’s line-by-line dialogue keeps you on task and reminds you what to say.

3. Use formal introduction

Keeping in mind that your aim is to make a good impression and to establish trust, say your full name and your organization when you call a decision-maker.

Just like Kathleen in the movie scene above, people in a B2B setting expect a full name at introductions. In order to trust the person on the other end of the line, they need to know precisely who that is and what company they are calling from. 

4. Open with the reason for your call

Once the lead knows who you are, you need to explain why they should care. After you successfully do that, you’ll be able to adapt the scripted conversation to their needs. 

While you sincerely mean to help them, don’t try to cram too much information into this first contact. Keep in mind that as a SaaS salesperson, you are trying to reach decision makers to schedule demo meetings with them.

5. Mind your pace and tone when cold calling

While we don’t advocate sounding like an over-enthusiastic “car salesman”, be mindful of the pace and tone you use during your calls. Talking too fast, may cause you lead to not understand you, and sounding robotic may be a turn-off. Strive to sound confident, knowledgeable, and open. Once again, you want to create the image of a respectable person with a valuable offer who’s worth their time. 

6. Let the lead talk

Given that you likely have a given number of calls to make in a workday, you might tend to keep your call lengths short. However, keep in mind that learning more about your leads can help you better position your product as the perfect solution. Spending a few minutes per cold call on listening to their problems and needs will help you achieve your goals. So give them the opportunity to talk. 

7. Ask open-ended questions

Instead of driving the conversation into a dead end by a Yes or No question, try something like, “How would you feel about trying out a new SaaS sales solution?” Even if the call ends with no meeting scheduled, you’ll sign off with a wealth of information that will give you an edge in your next call.

NOTE: Like you did above, when you ask these questions, be prepared to listen. You’re not going to learn much if you zone out just waiting for your turn to talk again.

8. Track and improve

Keeping all the above in mind, track what techniques worked and which need some tweaking. Make relevant note in your CRM system, and revise your sales script to reflect the new knowledge you gained. 

Is there a spot in the script where people shut you down >50% of the time? Keep rewriting that section until you stop getting rejected. Similarly, analyze the response rate of your questions. Which of your open-ended questions score more talk from your leads? Use those more often.

B2B cold calling is a crucial component of your company’s marketing and sales strategy, even when cold callers are working remotely. Keep refining your cold calling skills and techniques, to ensure continued success for you and your organization.