We all know that contacting your customer for the first time, especially if you haven’t had prior contact with them may be hard, but what does it actually mean to cold call, and what is cold calling definition?
I’m here today to tell you all about what cold calling is, how to use it, what is the difference between cold calling and warm calls, and social calls.
All of these terms might scare some of you, but trust me – it’s not as hard or unpleasant as some of you might think.
When attempting to sell goods or services, all of these are practically mandatory, so if you’re planning on going into sales, you’ll need all of these!
Now that I’ve stressed the importance of cold calling (and everything surrounding it), let’s jump in and see what’s behind this term.
Do keep in mind going forward that these are practical skills that can be implemented on a daily basis, so don’t look at this as theoretical content!
What Is Cold Calling?
Many people aren’t familiar with this term, but that doesn’t mean that cold calling isn’t common. On the contrary, cold calling is one of the most common ways of contacting a person that might turn into a lead or a customer.
Because of the nature of cold calling and contacting a person for the first time, this may seem unpleasant to many of you, and it can be if you don’t know how to approach this method.
First of all, let’s take a look at what cold calling actually is, and then we’ll discuss how to approach it and use it to your own advantage.
| Cold calling is making an unsolicited visit or phone call to someone, in an attempt to sell goods or services. |
In other words, it’s the first contact without any basis to a potential customer. In the world of sales, these calls are quite common, and chances are you’ve got one or two of these calls yourself.
Cold calling is often used to make the first contact with a potential customer and inform them about what you’re selling in order to catch their attention and direct it towards that.
How Is Cold Calling Used?
As I’ve mentioned earlier, there is really only one scenario where you can use cold calling, and that’s if you haven’t had contact with a potential client or customer before.
It may also be after a couple of promotional emails or other content that you haven’t gotten an answer for.
Calling someone without them expecting it might be an unpleasant situation, so you have to be careful when doing so.
The approach is everything, and it can mean a world of difference between a successful cold call and an unsuccessful one.
In order for you to have the right approach, you have to be able to develop a certain model of communication that will always come off as pleasant.
For that, it would be good to work on these skills:
- Clear and concise speech
- The pleasant tone of voice
- Not wasting time/getting to the point quick
- Persuasive arguments for buying what you’re selling
- Non-aggressive way of asserting your terms of sales
All of these may seem painfully obvious to some of you, but trust me when I say that people forget these things more often than you’d think.
We’re now going to take apart every single one of these aspects in order to explain to you why they’re important.
Clear And Concise Speech
If you’re mumbling your words, speaking in slang, using terms that your potential buyers aren’t familiar with, and things that overall make communication worse and more difficult should always be avoided.
Using language that your customer can understand is crucial if you want to explain to them why they need what you’re selling and to move closer to sealing the deal.
The Pleasant Tone Of Voice
A pleasant tone of voice is probably as important as clear and concise speech. If you’re speaking too loud or too quiet, or if you come off as just someone who’s trying to sell something, you won’t get good results.
A pleasant approach is key to ensuring your client that you have their best interests at heart. If you show them that, trust will start to build, and you’ll eventually come to a point where you’ll be able to present what you’re selling without any difficulty.
Not Wasting Time
Time is of the essence, and nobody likes to waste it. Especially people who are busy and don’t have much time to waste. That’s why you have to get to the point quickly without much “fluff talk” that wastes time.
This doesn’t mean that you start presenting your product or service the moment someone picks up the phone – it means that you should stick to the necessary information without any exceptions.
Persuasive Arguments For Purchasing The Product/Service
Often people need persuading, especially if they get a cold call that they haven’t been expecting, and that’s where you have to have your answers ready.
I’ve been a witness to countless occasions where potential buyers ask “why is this product for me?” or “why do you think I should buy what you’re selling?” and that’s where sales reps find themselves confused. Have your answers ready if you want a smooth phone call!
Asserting The Terms
People that are interested (and sometimes people that aren’t) like to negotiate the terms of sales or buying your product or service. You should keep in mind that, besides selling, the main point of sales is to sell under your terms to get the most out of it.
This doesn’t mean that you don’t budge even a little bit, but it means that you should work towards closing the deal under your terms, and not theirs. But, if this may result in you losing your buyer, try and work something out!
Cold Calling, Warm Calls, and Social Calls – What’s The Difference?
There are many terms that are similar to each other, especially in sales. That’s why I assume it’s important to know the difference between these three in order to use every single one of them to their fullest potential.
I’ve explained what cold calling is, and in order to save time for both you and me, let’s look at the meaning of other terms that we haven’t taken a look at yet.
Warm Calls
“Warm calling is the solicitation of a potential customer with whom a sales representative in particular, or his firm in general, has had prior contact.”
This is the official definition of warm calling, but that doesn’t tell you much.
Much different from cold calling, warm calls are often quite pleasant and easy to do. If someone has had prior contact with a potential client, a good part of your job is already done.
All you have to do is speak with them in order to gather information regarding what they think about the prior contact from your company, what they think about the product, have they informed themselves about it afterward, etc…
Anything that may lead you to close the deal is important, and these are directions that will show you how interested the customer really is.
Social Calls
Social calls are probably the most interesting of the bunch. Using social media to brand yourself and attract the attention of potential customers online is quite important and fun to do!
Contacting people that might be interested or your potential customers over social media isn’t always that simple. But, you are not to worry. When it comes to social media, customers contact you and interact with the content you put on your social media, for the most part, so you don’t have to do as much!
How And When To Use These Calls?
It’s obvious that these three types of calls are quite different, and shouldn’t and can’t be used at the same time or under the same circumstances.
The hardest one is cold calling since you’re just establishing the contact with a potential customer, and on top of that, many things depend on how the cold call is going to go.
For example, a person might show some interest in what you’re selling, but if you call them for the first time, and the cold call doesn’t go well, then you’ll potentially lose that customer.
Just because of that, I’d strongly advise you to go back up and read about things that will help your cold call go the way you want it to go.
Warm calls are much less difficult, which doesn’t mean they’re easy. Just calling somebody that has had previous contact with you or one of your colleagues doesn’t mean that the deal is locked.
You’ll probably find yourself in a situation where you’ll have to nudge the potential buyer towards the outcome that you desire with subtle tactics that involve vast knowledge about sales.
And in the end, the social calls do seem to be the easiest one out of the bunch. Social media is the place for casual discourse, so you don’t have to keep your “formal face” on all the time.
On top of that, people often come into contact with what you offer without you contacting them first which makes a world of difference if you have a ton of work and a limited time frame.
Later on, you can turn those people into leads, opportunities, and finally – customers.
Cold Calling Definition – Summation
All of this goes to show you how little cold calling definition means if you don’t apply it in your work.
You can know all the terms and be familiar with all the theories, but if you don’t know how and when to use cold calling and other alternatives, it won’t serve much to you.
Using cold calling may seem intimidating, especially to those who have never done it before, but trust me – it’s not that frightening!
Of course, you’ll run into some people that aren’t pleased with the fact you called them, but those instances are rare and forgettable. You should use this tactic to contact people that may genuinely be interested in what you’re selling, and you should keep that in mind.
Also, don’t give up the instance you have an unpleasant experience. Brush it off, and keep calling!