Do cold call sales tactics have a place in today’s data-driven, multichannel world?
Yes, argue sales leaders from Agility Recovery and Duda, Inc., who sat down with Built In Colorado to share how they leverage cold calling to power growth.
According to the National Association of Sales Professionals, B2B cold calling is one of the most effective ways to connect with new prospects — even if, as identified in a study NASP cites, more than 60 percent of salespeople say that cold calling is the worst part of their jobs.
But, done right, cold calling doesn’t have to be painful.
“Cold outreach is something that can be powerful or dreadful, so I suggest finding a way to make it a game or a competition,” said Agility Recovery Account Executive Nick Madrid.
As conversation with Agility Recovery and Duda, Inc. made clear, enthusiastically embracing the power of cold calling — and gamifying the process — provide an impactful way to mine opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise be there. Built In Colorado sat down with two sales experts to learn more about what Duda, Inc. Sales Development Representative Paige Burkett calls “the art of cold calling.”
Agility Recovery provides business continuity and disaster recovery services, including data backup and resiliency building.
How often do you use cold outreach methods? Why and when do you turn to these methods?
I use cold outreach methods every day, whether it be cold calls or cold emails. It’s a large part of my outreach. Not a day goes by without it.
Cold calling is effective if you prospect correctly. Finding the right person to call is one of the most important things to do. Otherwise, you might need to make five calls to get to the decision-maker you need to talk to. It can be very effective when used the right way or a total time-killer, so it’s important to supplement your process with proper prospecting.
Please share a time when cold outreach worked for you. What did you do and why was it successful?
There is one particular instance that comes to mind where a cold call turned into a valuable conversation. I made a cold outreach to a banking prospect who had disaster recovery come up in their monthly board meeting. My prospect had no clue where to start, so it was not a priority for him.
I booked a follow-up call and asked him questions to get him thinking about the most important aspects of his business and what he needed to be operational during any physical interruption. Once he saw that we could save him time and money during an interruption, it became a no-brainer. I was able to take an approach that was more informational and personal, which helped the outreach succeed.
How do you use cold outreach as a way to complement your other sales strategies?
Cold outreach is an everyday activity that complements my other sales prospecting strategies by adding touchpoints and “at-bats” to my pipeline. I can reach decision-makers faster by cold calling them directly and humanizing the interaction rather than sending something that seems “salesy.”
I can reach decision-makers faster by cold calling them and humanizing the interaction.”
Duda, Inc. is a web design platform provider serving online publishers and large hosting companies as well as freelance web professionals.
How often do you use cold outreach methods? Why and when do you turn to these methods?
At Duda, our business development team and account executives use cold outreach every day. We have a healthy inbound funnel but in order to supplement that motion we also deploy strong cold outreach tactics in conjunction with air cover from our marketing department.
Our solution is white-labeled, but, according to survey results completed by third parties, we still have strong brand awareness. Our data show that, even if our first cold outreach is not effective, we may be able to increase brand awareness and entice those prospects to come back on their own when the timing is right for them. Although initial pipeline generation may not be the outcome, we do find it helps our business development in both the short and long term.
Please share a time when cold outreach worked for you. What did you do and why was it successful?
Cold outreach is truly an art at this point. One of the keys is omnichannel outreach. You have to be able to effectively communicate with prospects through more than traditional methods. A phone call or email is not enough. Occasionally, we can deliver through one channel but more often than not it takes more than one avenue.
Cold outreach is truly an art at this point.”
Our best results come when we follow up in each channel and tell the prospect we are doing so. For example when leaving a voicemail: “Hey John — insert reason for calling — I’m going to go ahead and send over an email now too. Feel free to reply there if that’s easier. Talk soon.”
Using multiple channels to reach out on the same day consecutively has shown meaningful results for our team.
If someone is going to employ cold outreach methods, what should they definitely do and what should they definitely avoid?
If you’re going to implement cold outreach into your business strategy there are two things you should do immediately.
First, find a tool that is going to help you secure phone numbers, email addresses and any other contact information you’d need to reach out. We use Apollo and have had success.
Second, get started. Initial cold outreach can be uncomfortable. You just have to get started and keep going. The next “yes” is just a few “no’s” away.
It sounds simple but avoid giving up. Success with cold outreach can be a numbers game or a strategic game. Figure out what makes the most sense for your business; ask other similar businesses what they do. Keep going.
