B2B cold calling. For most, we’d rather have a root canal or retake the SATs than pick up the phone and call potential B2B or medtech prospects. (So we don’t!) But, done right, it’s an essential B2B marketing tactic that produces results.
We’ve broken down the foundation of effective B2B cold calling strategy and implementation. These are simple techniques to share and practice.
However, even with the best cold calling training protocols, sometimes your team would rather close the sale than fill the pipeline. When it’s time to outsource your B2B or medtech cold calling, reach out to Volkart May.
Our dedicated contact center and experienced lead-generating staff make a quantifiable difference for all our B2B and medtech clients. Contact us today to find out how we can help you close more sales.
B2B cold calling is an essential segment of the sales cycle
Though inbound marketing tactics like SEO, PPC (Pay Per Click) and relevant content production have revolutionized marketing, B2B sales still require human connection and consensus-building.
Even when more and more decision-makers research products and services online, person-to-person communication cements relationships, creates trust and provides a fast track for those purchasers to buy with confidence.
B2B and medtech products are often complicated and expensive. Most require purchase approval from several stakeholders. Buyers in these sectors will never simply “point and click” through a purchase, so human communication in the sales cycle will always be required to close.
B2B and medtech sales teams live and die by their customer relationships. Establishing a cold calling protocol that bypasses gatekeepers and qualifies leads is paramount to generating relationships that outpace the competition.
Challenges to successful B2B cold calling
Effectual cold calling requires tenacity and stamina, all while keeping a conversational, neutral tone of discovery. These skills are deceptively simple, yet they take time to practice and master.
Cold calling is also about volume. It may take many calls to produce a single result—like finding a needle in a haystack. This reality can burn out salespeople, even if they excel in other areas like negotiating, scheduling, performing product demos or closing.
B2B cold calling strategy 101
When launching a successful outbound call campaign, consider the following:
- Time management: Most sales staff cannot sit down and randomly call dozens of companies. First, create a list of your target companies. Then, factor in time zone differences and decision-maker availability. This preparation ensures your actual call time will be focused and productive.
- Integrate customer call data: Have a repository for the information you learn during your calls. Even if you don’t reach the final decision-maker, you will learn essential facts from gatekeepers and influencers. A CRM system or customer database is ideal to organize this content for future marketing, and for scheduling followup calls.
- Target the right prospect list: Group your cold calling targets by criteria like company size, industry, contacts obtained from recent trade shows and webinars, or inbound inquiries from your website. Then, call these segments in groups, where you can tailor a specific message to each audience.
- Clarify your desired cold call result: Cold calls do not result in immediate sales. Decide what your call to action will be before launching your outbound call campaign. Cold calls should move a lead through the sales funnel with steps like identifying the right decision-maker, scheduling an appointment, receiving more product information, uncovering a pain point, opting into an email list or uncovering a purchasing timeline.
- Research industries, not companies: You’ll increase your cold calling efficiency with general industry knowledge of current product trends and helpful tools rather than pouring over the history of any one organization. Save that level of detail for later in the sales funnel.
Have a script, but don’t read it
Not everyone excels at shooting from the hip during a cold call. It’s crucial to have general information about your company and product, a call to action, plus any other essential conversation points where you can reference them as prompts.
Sales prospects can tell immediately when a caller reads a script word-for-word. Consider creating a call guide over a script. This helps callers stay on track, but enables contact center staff to engage in a more thoughtful and natural conversation.
Think of a call guide like a checklist. The salespeople making calls should tick items off the list as the call proceeds. Typical items include:
- Call greeting
- Purpose of the call
- Gatekeeper dialogue
- Decision-maker verification
- Key points about your product/service
- Qualification questions
- Lead generation questions
- Contact information verification
The call guide also helps the team with frequently asked questions and objection handling.
Consider outsourcing your B2B cold calls
Regardless of the size of your prospect list, outsourcing your cold calls increases the impact of your sales and marketing efforts. Hiring the right dedicated contact center to serve as your brand ambassador is never the wrong choice.
Outsourcing your cold calls yields many benefits:
- You’ll save on infrastructure. Technology increases your results when it comes to calling. When you outsource, you let the pros buy and manage the software and equipment needed for professional calling.
- You’ll worry less about in-house staff burnout. At the same time, you’ll find more “haystack-needle” leads with help from outbound call specialists.
- You can scale calls up or down quickly. That’s because contact centers specialize in high-velocity calling. When you need more leads or have and urgent deadline, you can accelerate efforts (without adding more staff).
- Your sales team can focus on what they do best—closing sales.
Outsource your B2B cold calls with Volkart May
With Volkart May as your B2B cold call partner, you’ll identify more decision-makers, schedule more appointments, generate more qualified leads and ultimately, close more sales.
Our cold call specialists accurately and personably represent your brand and execute your call objectives with experience and excellence.
Contact us today, and we’ll design a customized call strategy for unparalleled results.
