There are countless ways that you communicate with potential and current customers, one of which is the age-old tactic of cold calling. Cold calling can take up the majority of your sales rep’s time, especially if they are reaching out to unqualified leads. In fact, it takes an average of six calls in order to make a sale, according to a study detailed by Resourceful Selling.
When it comes to dealership sales, solid cold calling techniques can mean the difference between countless hours spent on lackluster sales pitches versus efficient lead generation. After years in sales within the radio and wireless communications industry, here are some of our top sales cold calling tips for dealers.
1. Choose Your First Words Carefully
Open Your Call With Questions
Above all other sales cold calling techniques, it’s important to add value to your busy customers’ lives and to do it as quickly as possible. This technique asks that you create an opener that shows that you’re aware of their circumstances and willing to learn how you can help.
Another way to incorporate questions into the conversation is to ask for an invitation into the conversation, again showing an awareness of their perspective.
Get Specific
Another valuable cold calling tip for two-way radio sales is to show that you’ve done the research on their business and project. Open the cold call with a reference to a real event in their business, such as a product launch. This sales cold calling technique shows credibility that you not only know about a particular issue but that anything you suggest is also tailored to their needs.
According to the RAIN Group Center for Sales Research, 62% of businesses looking for a solution to their problems welcome a touchpoint from salespeople. Make the most of every call with openers that hook your customer in the first 10 seconds.
2. Tailor Your Cold-Call Script
An effective tactic is tailoring your script to your customer (or, at the very least, the type of customer). With this particular cold caller tip, start with selecting the key types of customers. For example, emergency services operators and warehouse managers, and develop targeted scripts that focus on each sector’s specific pain-points.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to go unscripted. Although it’s important to consider the efficiency of cold calling scripts, establishing an easy conversation with your potential customers is highly valuable. This makes a difference when they are about to make a decision on what product they need and who they trust to purchase it from.
3. Know What Questions to Ask
Sales cold calling techniques have long involved a very scripted phone call that often ended with the customer wanting to hang up as soon as possible. When preparing for a cold call, developing some key questions to come back to when speaking with a customer will ensure that you receive the information you need to determine if your lead is qualified and, further, determine which solutions you can provide.
Ask what their work environment is like and explain how your product or service can fit into their workplace and what they need out of your recommended solution. By having these questions, you can deviate from the script, knowing that you can work the questions that you need answers to into the easy rapport you’ve already established.
4. Research Your Leads
Beyond pain points that similar customers have had, get to know the specific customers that you are calling by doing a little research on their particular role at their company, their market, and how you’ve helped similar businesses in the past. This step can include researching the place of work and visiting their LinkedIn profile to find common ground and get a sense of what they might be needing.
5. Get Your Leads to Tell You Their Problems
Enhance Your Salesforce With M4D Multi-Touch Cold Call Campaigns
In the end, every sales call is after one goal: to get you more leads. M4D has led the way with software that not only collects information regarding customer opinions through surveys but also makes calling prospects much easier to implement with data collection from qualified leads.
Want to forget about managing cold calling altogether? With M4D’s Cold Call Campaigns, our team handles all the grunt work and book appointments to fill your sales pipeline with high-quality leads. Learn more about M4D cold calling here.