Sales organizations spend a lot of time and energy focused on conversions, but sales prospecting calls matter a lot, too. However, before you get a person to buy, you have to succeed in turning a prospect into a viable sales lead.
The following is an overview of strategies and tips to improve your sales prospecting calls so you can succeed at this critical step in the selling process.
Communicate Authentically
Worrying too much about making the perfect call actually does more damage than good. You need a certain level of confidence to engage prospects in an authentic way. Think about your sales calls as a conversation aimed at helping someone rather than a communication strategy that requires pinpoint precision.
There are limitations on the phone relative to face-to-face communication. However, an emphasis on genuine conversation is more likely to resonate with prospects than an overly business-minded effort.
Know What Matters
To achieve authenticity, know what matters the most to your targeted prospects. Identify the key demographic, geographic, firmographic, and behavioral traits they possess. More importantly, outline the problems, challenges, and concerns that your business or consumer prospects have.
If you focus too much on the product or solution, you overlook the more deep-rooted problems or issues that your prospects truly care about. Think about how these problems get in the way of a consumer’s quality of life or a company’s capacity to optimize revenue and profits. Starting your conversation on this level makes it more clear to your prospects that your desire is to help.
Create Some Warmth
Simply accepting that you have no choice but to call prospects cold is impractical in the digital age. There are many opportunities for you to add some warmth before the call.
A social media presence is one way to create some warmth. Build your audience and engage prospects on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other relevant channels prior to making your call. Even if a prospect just has some familiarity with your company and brand, it simplifies your ability to earn attention and interest.
Spend your time on social media sharing information and resources, establishing credibility, and engaging people that fit your targeted profiles.
Have a Plan (and Schedule)
Even with the previous point about authenticity, you still want a plan in place before making sales calls. Planning and practicing enable reps to communicate more dynamically and confidently.
In addition to messaging plans, think about how to optimize your schedule for making prospecting calls. A dedicated and intentional time allows reps to focus their mental energy on this one part of the job. Sporadic or spontaneous calls are often burdened by other responsibilities that are on the caller’s mind.
Block out particular parts of the day for prospecting calls and eliminate distractions in the environment.
Conclusion
These strategies and tips for optimized sales prospecting calls will help you efficiently turn prospects into viable leads.
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