If you’re reading this, you’re probably a sales representative exploring new ways to connect with leads seamlessly. Yes, we understand how crucial it is for you to outreach a wider base of prospects, and to convert a good number of them. And that’s why we’re here to guide you.
In the current scenario, one of the best options to connect with a good number of quality prospects is through phone calls- an old is gold tactic. You can find that proof in the below table:
Here, you could see telemarketing has an average ROI of 200% which is much higher than others.
But, are you aware that there are different types of calls?
There are three types of calls- cold calls, hot calls and warm calls.
What is the difference between a hot call and a cold call?
Cold calling refers to reaching out to prospects with whom you never had prior interaction. They were probably never aware of your product and certainly not shown interest in the same. Your role here is to reach out to these prospects and make them aware of your product and service. And further arouse the interest so that in the future they would go for your product/service.
It is an extremely challenging process as most prospects just ignore calls (a natural reaction that most humans give to strangers with whom they never had prior interaction). Sales representative have to be smart, dealing with such prospects as it would drain their energy- they have to convince prospects to listen to them for a few minutes!!!!
It’s a balancing process where you can’t just push your sales pitch. You must have a smooth, persuasive tone to hold their interest. You could first start with breaking the ice and later moving on to business conversation.
Now moving on to hot call– just as the name suggests it’s the contrast of cold call. Here the prospects have shown high interest in your product/service and are on the verge of becoming customers. They have asked for more information, and are in constant touch. A hot call also suggests that the prospects almost believe that the product would make their life easier and before making a final decision they are doing detailed research.
This call is therefore strategized to convert hot customers, sales rep’ has all focus on this prospect. The aim is conversion at the earliest before things go south (in such scenarios prospects going for competitor’s product).
The technical hot and cold calls are really challenging as one call(cold) needs to approach a stranger while the other call(hot) is to close the deal- the final push.
Now, we’d understand the differences between other calls:
Warm calling vs cold calling:
So, what is warm calling?
As you can guess warm call refers to, calls to the prospect who had prior contact with the organization. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are willing to buy your product, in short, potential customers are just aware of your services or product. And you call them to take things forward leading to conversions.
These calls are efficient than cold calls as the prospect knows they are conversing with a rep’ from a known organization. According to a statistic, warm leads (leads through warm calls) are 50% more likely to become customers than cold leads. In addition to that, another finding is that warm calls have a success rate of nearly 30% to 50% which is huge, while the success rate for cold calls is just 1% to 3%.
Now the most important part, how do you handle different customers in all these varied calls?
The answer is, you have to follow different tactics for all the 3 calls- warm, hot and cold. So, find out more below:
How do you convert through cold calls?
As we know these prospects aren’t interested at first. The reason- somewhere out of the blue you call them and almost coerce them to listen to you. The approach should be as follows:
- Have a professional tone and make them believe the call is for their benefit. Practice a lot as it might seem simple but making them believe that is very challenging; they would get similar calls a lot in a day.
- Ask them if they are free to converse for just a few minutes.
- Yes, now you have less time to build the rapport but don’t directly jump to sales pitch.
- First two sentences should be about their business, later you could ask do they have any business challenges.
- In most cases, you’d hear an affirmative answer, then you could introduce your product or service. Remember to align your product features with their business challenges.
- Later you could give your contact number or email id to contact at a convenient time (most prospects don’t convert in a single call; you need to follow-up with them).
- Before ending the call, here is a trick to keep them engaged. Remind them you have good offers for a limited period. It would motivate them to contact you at the earliest. The FOMO- fear of missing out is real and works for most customers.
How do you convert through warm calls?
- Now here, warm calling meaning is the prospect is aware of your product/ service through prior contact.
- So, you don’t need to put in as much effort as you do in cold calls. Ask the prospect what they think about your product/service.
- If they don’t have much to say or don’t have information, provide them with the right content.
- Later proceed to ask, about the recent business challenges and how they are resolving them. If they have found a way, you could convince them how your product could be the one-stop solution for their challenges and could resolve them better.
- Give examples of how your existing customer has the same challenges and how your product resolved them.
- If needed, show them the testimonials, case studies and others. The social proof, where some customers post good reviews on social media could also be shown.
- Finally ensure that you’re in touch with the prospect. Ask them when they are free to discuss the same.
How do you convert through hot calls?
- This call is easier than a warm and cold call but just for conversation. The real push starts when you have to close the deal.
- As a sales rep’ you must know there are many competitors in the market and prospects would have already compared your product to competitor’s product.
- You need to show the USP of your product/service and how in the future it would be the best investment. Showcase wherever your product is better than the competitor’s product. This way, the prospect could analyze and make a decision faster.
- Mention how the pricing perfectly justifies the features and services offered by the product.
- You need to represent yourself as a business guide, who understands the ins and outs of the prospect’s business. This way you could win the complete trust of your prospect.
- Last but not least be in touch with your prospect, don’t pester them but also track whether they are having second thoughts. Losing prospect at this stage could be a great loss for any sales rep’.
Conclusion:
So, you see as a sales rep’ you must have the skills to use these calling tactics and convert prospects into customers. This blog helps you further by explaining in detail how each calling works, what are the benefits of each calling tactic and many more. You must leverage all these tactics at the right time and push the prospect down the sales funnel.
With time, you just get the intuition to interact with varied customers at the right tone and content.