Often, the very first impression your company makes comes from a sales prospecting call. Your business development reps receive a list of potential B2B or medical technology buyers, then reach out to see which potential customers are interested in your product or service.
How well these calls go sets the tone for the rest of your business relationship. That’s why it’s vital to hire and train the right resources for top-of-the-funnel sales cycles.
A professional and engaging contact with your sales prospects helps strengthen your brand, create a lasting connection and most most importantly, convert more B2B buyers into qualified leads.
Don’t overlook the human dimension in cold calling
Even for seasoned field sales reps, making cold calls doesn’t always come naturally. That’s because sales prospecting calls need to accomplish a number of specific tasks.
A first call and convincing sales pitch with a medtech or B2B prospect should achieve sales goals like these:
- Navigate to the correct decision-maker
- Introduce your company and product
- Gather information to determine the next step in the sales process
At the same time, there’s a very important human dimension to consider. Cold calls should also:
- Establish a genuine connection between seller and buyer
- Make the prospect feel comfortable and important
- Begin to build rapport and trust
Create a welcoming space for sales conversations
Achieving these objectives takes practice. There’s both an art and a science behind effective sales prospecting calls.
The “art” comes from the power of one-to-one, human conversations. Intangible characteristics like personality, charisma, warmth and humor all help transform a sales prospecting call into a safe and welcoming space for conversation.
The science of B2B and medical technology cold calling applies proven techniques and measurable metrics. Training, sales technologies, reporting and repeatable processes all help make outbound calls into a discipline that’s targeted and efficient.
Both ensure your business development team (or your outsourced lead generation partner) make a positive first impression.
Confident outbound callers enjoy their jobs and generate more leads
Training plays a critical role in boosting your results with medtech and B2B sales prospecting calls. That’s because successful sales reps share a common trait: They believe in themselves. This confidence helps them weather the ups and downs of cold calling.
Effective sales prospecting callers are confident in themselves, their knowledge and their sales approach. They truly believe in the company and products they represent. When this occurs, their enthusiasm shines through during inside sales phone calls.
Untrained callers make a poor first impression for sales organizations
It’s easy to spot an untrained business development caller lacking sales skills. They’re usually nervous. They often rush through their pitch. They stumble over questions. They become flustered easily. They immediately launch into product updates. They neglect to pause, listen and make the sales call into a rapport-building conversation. These behaviors create red flags with your valuable B2B and medtech target audience—turnoffs that result in lost opportunities.
Confident cold callers like those at Volkart May enjoy their jobs and as a result, convert more prospective clients into qualified leads.
- They’re well-trained with all the information they need to generate genuine leads for your product or service.
- They can answer questions easily and look forward to making the next dial.
- Most importantly, they make a great impression from the very first “hello” until the final “good bye” of the sales call.
Business development call guides, lunch-and-learn sessions with subject matter experts, role-play, mentoring and other techniques all help build and reinforce confidence for outbound sales reps.
Nurture diversity and authentic communication in the sales team
What else contributes to making a great first impression on healthcare and B2B sales calls? Placing value on authentic communication styles.
Typical “telemarketing” gets a bad rap for its monotonous, script-reading format that drains the life from sales conversations. No one wants to talk to robotic, high-pressure callers.
Instead, it’s essential to harness the diversity and personality in your business development team. After all, prospective customers are people, and real people want to communicate with individuals who express genuine empathy and interest.
Today’s inside sales teams come from all walks of life. They have vastly different backgrounds, personality types and communication styles. Tapping into each outbound caller’s authentic style creates a positive touchpoint with prospects and a lasting impression that in many cases will lead to more closed deals.
Start building relationships with prospects on the right note
As we all know, there’s only one chance to make a good first impression. There’s no substitute for trained, confident and authentic lead generation conversations at the top of your sales funnel.
When you need experienced resources for medtech and B2B lead generation, Volkart May can deliver. Our 30+ years of experience, proven processes and professional calling for outbound sales strategy can supplement your internal team and sales activities or provide outsourced inside sales muscle to make a lasting impression with every call. Contact us to learn more.
