Winning new customers with cold calling?

Cold calling—long regarded as the supreme discipline and an unbeatable tool for qualifying customers—is an immensely important instrument for acquiring new customers. It presents a number of challenges even for sales professionals, because you have to pick up the phone and speak with complete strangers—people you often cannot even reach easily.

No wonder most salespeople have respect for it and the temptation is great to outsource this work to the secretariat, an intern, or even a call center. But that is exactly what you should never do. Why? Because 9 out of the 10 commandments of cold calling are: “Perfect preparation is half the battle!”

In B2B, with a product that requires explanation, you will have worked through your call list before you have even briefed an external provider or intern sufficiently to handle the conversation reasonably well. But that is not the main benefit. In addition to saving time, there is your greatest asset for sustainable sales success—the customer relationship.

Here are 6 tips for greater success when initiating new customer relationships by phone.

1. Do not prepare well—prepare perfectly!

You simply cannot spend too much time preparing. We assume you have already done the address research and provided potential customers with initial information as part of an email campaign. Now the goal is to contact everyone who received your email within two to three days afterwards. Prepare a contact list. Whether it is an Excel spreadsheet, a sheet of paper, or a target list in a CRM is irrelevant—as long as it allows you to add a few info notes for each customer, a follow-up reminder, and a call note.

Now research each company online. Is there a team page on the website with contacts? Are there references, showcases, or solution portfolios on the site? What does the local press or community newspaper write about your potential customer—are there any special events you could use in the conversation? Now that you know a bit more about the person you will be speaking with, you are more motivated to talk to them, right? Resist the temptation to grab the phone and call right away.

First, write everything down carefully. You do not know whether you will get through the first time, and once some time has passed—perhaps after two or three more calls—you may no longer remember what you just researched, and the effort will have been wasted.

TIP from sales practice: I like to note down ten contacts, one per page in an A5 notepad. Each contact gets a header with basic info such as name, phone number, and website. I also keep a ballpoint pen and a highlighter handy. Before dialing, I open the website so I can look through additional information (references, service portfolio, etc.) during the call—this helps me more in the conversation than sitting in front of my CRM screen. Afterwards, I write down the content. In the bottom right, I assign a status (more on that in 4) and set a follow-up date. I highlight both, as well as anything agreed, such as “send presentation.” Then it is on to the next call until all ten are done. Five is fine too! And the CRM? There is plenty of time for that later!

2. Set a goal and pursue it.

The call list is ready, you have done your research, and now you are ready to start? Not so fast. First, you should clearly remind yourself why you are making these calls in the first place. Your goal must be realistic. Ultimately, you want to sell, but you certainly will not sell a product that requires explanation over the phone—especially not on the first call. Hardly anyone will cheer after you introduce yourself and your product and say, “Great, that is exactly what I need—come by right away.” This is also the reason why some salespeople—not a few, believe me—look down on cold calling: they think only about immediate revenue and lose out as a result.

If you navigate around this pitfall and make cold calling one of your most important activities, you will have a decisive advantage over around 80% of competitors and will certainly be rewarded with greater success. You would not believe how many providers of products that require explanation do not do any active new-customer acquisition—or do not do it themselves.

Put yourself in the other person’s shoes: even if the potential customer has an immediate need, you are still a complete stranger to them. But here and now, in this conversation, you have the chance to change that. Your goal is to build a relationship. In doing so, you lay the foundation for future sales success—whether short-, medium-, or long-term does not really matter; you simply set the appropriate follow-up dates for each case.

If you do this consistently, you ensure a steady flow of leads to work on. Your goal is to get a little closer to the potential customer with each new call until you can ultimately convert them. That may be today, in three months, or in a year—but you never let up and you stay on it. This is where customer qualification begins—and that is your real goal.

TIP from sales practice: Do not worry about calling at an inconvenient time—this happens. One call too many results in a brief rejection that the customer will usually have forgotten half an hour later. One call too few, on the other hand, means the more persistent colleague from Company XY gets the deal. Stay on it—friendly, relaxed, and polite—but always purposeful. That is professional: your counterpart may absolutely notice that you are serious about your offer.

3. Lead the conversation.

You finally want to dial? A little patience—an important part of the preparation is still missing: the call script. After all, you want to take the lead in the conversation and ensure you learn what you need to know. At the same time, you do not want to sound like the annoying student from a market research institute or a pushy directory salesperson. To avoid being brushed off immediately, you must:

• get past the gatekeeper
• capture attention
• deliver your pitch
• keep the conversation open

We assume you have researched a contact person who has the authority to purchase your services; anything else would be a waste of time. If you want to reach such a decision-maker, there is often a hurdle in larger companies: the switchboard, the secretary, etc. The first step to overcoming this is to use the correct name of the person you want to speak to. Practice before you start—say out loud and confidently: “This is Hans Müller from Musterfirma. Please put me through to Mayor Huber / Dr. Meier.” Be polite, but avoid conditional phrasing so you do not sound uncertain.

Also prepare yourself for the dreaded question: “What is this about?” To avoid the temptation to introduce your company at the wrong time, prepare sentences that

• contain a complex matter that the secretary likely cannot do anything with: “It is about the EU funding program for Industry 4.0 within the framework of the European Single Market. Please put me through.”
• create the impression that there has already been contact: “It is about an aspect of our email correspondence that I would like to discuss with him. Please put me through.”
• or insist firmly and confidently: “I need to discuss this with him personally. Please put me through.”

You may find yourself needing to do some serious soul-searching here. Am I personally convinced that I am offering the customer something they can actually use? Will they be able to see my call as useful information? The better the preparation, the more convinced and convincing you will be—because the risk is lower that you end up with someone who cannot do anything with your service. Your own conviction and a bit of sporting spirit will help you if your prepared sentences are not enough and you need to add something more.

Now you have made it. The decision-maker is on the line. Introduce yourself briefly and to the point: “This is Hans Müller from Musterfirma. Good day, Dr. Meier/Mr. Mayor.” Now give your counterpart time to respond with a greeting. Then be sure to remember the competency check. Verify that you are really speaking to the right contact person: “This is about WiFi access solutions in your in-house network. Am I speaking to the right person?” After all, you are offering useful, well-founded information and do not want it to fizzle out in the wrong place.

You are speaking to the right person? Very good—now you can briefly introduce your company. Ideally, use a pitch, but in any case keep it short; 40 to 50 seconds should be enough. Do not mention your sent email yet; instead, ask an open question:

“Dr. Meier, we at Musterfirma are based in Musterhausen and have been providing secure, efficient solutions for guest WiFi for XY years. Our focus is on the best value for money far and wide. We have information on EU funding for guest and citizen WiFi access that is intended to benefit municipalities like yours. To what extent is this topic relevant for you?”

This way, you have asked an open question and provided the reason why you made the call. That builds trust and creates an open atmosphere for discussion.

An open question that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no creates good conditions for developing a conversation. When the time comes, listen actively, but never lose sight of your focus: you want customer qualification.

4. Qualify your customer.

Now you pursue the actual purpose of your call. Your counterpart answers your question about the relevance of the topic. You listen and steer the conversation only if it threatens to drift—always polite, relaxed, but firm. If you refer to an email you sent, be prepared for the other person to have not read it yet or not remember it. You can then either offer to go through it with them right away, give them a brief summary over the phone, or—if that does not work—arrange an appointment to speak again after they have read it.

In any case, during the conversation you should determine which status you want to assign to this customer, along with the associated follow-up:

1. no need / no interest – [follow-up in 9–12 months]
2. no current need / general interest – [follow-up in 2–6 months or as agreed]
3. current need / interest – [schedule an appointment immediately or follow-up in 1–2 weeks or as agreed]

There are finer gradations, but these three are essentially sufficient. Always observe and document your conversations with a status. Over time, you will become more and more routine and will be able to assign the most appropriate and effective argumentation techniques to each of the three statuses, waste less time, and become increasingly efficient at closing deals. Sooner or later, you will become an expert in cold calling—and it pays off!

TIP from sales practice: Many salespeople react with disappointment when the customer is already taken care of and signals no ambition to change providers. They assign no status. In doing so, they lose opportunities. Because an astonishing amount can change in a few months: external circumstances give the topic new relevance, a decision-maker is replaced, the cards are reshuffled. New call, new opportunity—use it!

5. After the call is before the call.

You have worked through your call list and qualified all customers. Now it is about not letting follow-up dates, agreements made, and all the data you collected rot away in a drawer—time for documentation. After a batch of five or ten calls, a change of pace is welcome anyway, so transfer all data and dates securely and neatly into your CRM, an Excel list, your customer file, your calendar, or whatever you use for follow-ups.

By qualifying, you have significantly improved your time and resource management. You now know which customers you want to focus on in the short term and what priority you should assign to them. If you stick to this type of prioritization, your sales success will get a powerful boost.

Tip from sales practice: Make sure nothing can disappear from view—you worked hard for it. For that very reason, you will also keep all appointments. As a rule, your counterpart will not take your offer more seriously than you do yourself. Set the example of how serious you are.

6. Beloved routine, or: no pain, no gain.

An old saying, and an old truth. But that does not mean you cannot make yourself comfortable. Establish a routine and design it so that you feel comfortable with it. Approach new-customer acquisition in general—and details such as getting past the gatekeeper—with a sporting attitude, and also with humor. It is fun to refine your rhetoric, try out charm offensives, and simply observe how people react to what on the phone. Experiment a little—what could possibly happen?

And also ensure a feel-good factor at your workplace. For example, I love doodling on a sheet of paper while I am on the phone. I also like quiet music in the background and I am quite intolerant of interruptions. In the past, I liked to sit in the meeting room to make calls, took my laptop with me, hung a note on the door saying “Meeting—do not disturb!” and worked through calls for 90 minutes straight. My mobile phone was off and my email client closed. These days, I enjoy it more to handle five to ten calls spread throughout the day, each of which my Outlook calendar reminds me of. That happened because many other tasks are on the daily schedule, such as writing scripts. I now almost prefer calling on my mobile and walking around the office—or even out on the terrace.

Simply observe how your calls are going, what you would like to change, and which disruptive factors should be eliminated. There is a solution for many things. Loud open-plan office? Sound-absorbing partitions. No privacy zone? Perhaps another room can be used, such as the meeting room or the cafeteria outside meal times.

Whatever it is that you need or that bothers you, do not hesitate to address it. Sales success is the foundation of every healthy company. Take your needs seriously. Your managers will support you—especially if you promise them that it will increase sales figures.

With these 6 tips, you should be able to significantly increase the success of your cold calling. Be sure to review this and document the results. This way, you can track successful measures and apply the experience to further activities.