Cold Calling Is Not Effective

Cold calling is no longer an effective prospecting method. It doesn't work and it is a waste of time and energy. Instead, in today's enterprise sales world, it’s all about warm calling. Taking a warm calling approach will lead to a prospecting to meeting conversion rates of 10 to 20%, as opposed to 1 to 3% when cold calling.

I am sure we can agree, the pandemic has forever changed the way people work and interact. Engaging with today’s buyers is far more different and difficult than it was a few years ago. If a buyer or a prospect has never heard of you, never heard of your Company, or has no frame of reference to have a discussion, it will be extremely challenging, with very low odds, to engage in a voice-to-voice conversation.

Today’s decision makers are overscheduled and hyper-focused. They move faster and have very little time for distractions. As a result they resolve to spend little to no time on the phone (or in a Zoom - Teams video discussion) with people they do not know. They tend to exclude anyone considered to be irrelevant from their communication channels.  

Today most sales people are relying too heavily on e-mail sequences and are reluctant to pick up the phone. Folks, we are not in the business of managing sequences - we are in the business of selling and selling starts with having conversations with people. It's way too easy to ignore or delete an e-mail, and a voice-to-voice conversation is where most of the magic happens.  

Intentional, personalized contact attempts turn into conversations and conversations turn into opportunities. What’s your plan have 4 to 5 conversations per day, every day? 

Below are 6 proven suggestions, and when embraced, I'm confident you will maximize the results of your prospecting / conversation efforts and significantly improve the quality of your pipeline. 

1) As the old saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail

This is so very true and the first thing you need to create is a thoughtful Prospecting Playbook. An ideal prospecting playbook will include the correct Behaviors, Attitude, and Techniques needed to maximize prospecting results. Your daily and weekly prospecting goals / KPI’s. Pattern interrupt examples, a pain based 30 second commercial, and an 8-touch plan (4 voice mail examples and 4 email templates).

Research shows the average prospect responds on the 6th to 8th contact attempt and over 50% of sales people give up after the 1st attempt. To maximize prospecting success, you need to develop and embrace an intentional 8-touch plan for prospecting using a “referral” talk track and an 8-touch plan for following up on a "gated lead” (request for information, a white paper download, or a webinar registrant) talk track. The key ratio is 1:1….. one phone call (or voice mail) per e-mail sent each day, and all 8-touches need to be made within a 4-to-5-day period.

For a free copy of my 22-page Prospecting Playbook template, shoot me an email at tmassie@sandler.com . 

2) Identify “what good looks like”

What type of company or organization that would benefit the most from your product or service and who within the organization would be the ideal decision maker? Once you identify your ideal companies and individual persona’s, make a list of your Top 50 target accounts. Keep in mind, the biggest companies are not always the best prospect targets, so select a mix of small, medium, and large targets. Why 50 target accounts? So you can focus on being thorough and intentional. When done correctly, effectively prospecting 50 target accounts will take you a few months. 

As you are selecting your Top 50 target accounts, it is important to first reach out to all your current customers, past customers, and strong industry relationships to ask them who they may know that might benefit from your product or service. According to the experts, a referral is the number one lead source and while 87% of customers and business relationships will agree to give you a referral when asked, only 14% of sales professional will even ask. Be one of the 86% of sales professionals that always ask for referrals, it will change the trajectory of your career and income. 

Once you select your Top 50 target companies, it is important to identify, who within the target companies are your 3 to 5 ideal customers. Depending on the product or service you are selling, this could be the Vice President of IT, Vice President of Marketing, Vice President of Engineering, Vice President of Operations, Vice President of Quality, Vice President of Sales, Chief Financial Officer, or even the President. It’s critical to identify real decision makers, and not waste your valuable time on non-decision makers or low level influencers.

3) To maximize your prospecting effectiveness, it is important to assemble baseline information 

Now that you have identified your Top 50 target accounts and 3 to 5 most ideal people within the target account to prospect, you need to obtain their email address, office phone number or better yet, mobile phone number. If this information isn’t already in your CRM, use applications like Zoominfo, Apollo io, Hunter io, or Signal Hire to get it. 

4) Make Your Target Prospects First Connections on LinkedIn

You have identified your Top 50 target accounts and 3 to 5 most ideal people per target account to prospect. You should have 150 to 250 names with contact information assembled in your CRM. With your LinkedIn Premium account, it is important to connect with each of the prospects on LinkedIn to become a "first connection". Once you have subscribed to LinkedIn Premium, you are also able to send inMails, and see who has been checking you out on your LinkedIn profile. In addition, you can make thought leadership post and repost your company announcements. Whoever is a first connection with you on LinkedIn, they will see your post in their feeds and more importantly, you will see any of the prospects post or comments to post in your feed. This is a key beginning step and tactic to turning cold leads into a warm leads.  

5) Obtaining Referrals Through Your LinkedIn Connections

According to a report by Heinz / Influitive, 84% percent of B2B decision-makers start the buying process with a referral, and enterprise sales professionals found a 70% higher conversion rate when leveraging a referral. As mentioned in above, the best way to convert a cold lead into a warm lead is by getting a referral. With the 150 to 250 contact names associated with your Top 50 target accounts, what is your plan to obtain a referral for your target contacts? First, start with LinkedIn. At the top of each persons LinkedIn page, under the persons name, and above the blue “message button", you will see listed mutual connections (if any).

Based on experience, greater than 50% of the time, I found mutual LinkedIn connections. If you see a mutual LinkedIn connection, call the mutual connection or send the mutual connection an InMail asking them if they know the target prospect and if they do, can you mention their name. Once your mutual connection confirms the request, follow the 8 step referral prospecting tactics in my prospecting playbook. 

Using the referral, your first voicemail and email might sound something like this:

Hi <first name of prospect), I recently had a conversation with <mutual connection name> and he/she feels it might be important we speak. <Prospects first name > my name is Thomas Massie, and my phone number is 617-512-1066, that’s Thomas Massie, 617-512-1066.

When leaving a voice mail, it’s important to leave your name and phone number twice, just in case they are not ready to write it down the first time. 

When sending an email, put the first and last name of the mutual connection in the subject line of the email. It is sure to get the prospects attention.  

6) Creating Warm Leads That Are Not Referrals

For the 150 to 250 target contacts that could not fall into the category of a referral, we still need to embrace various tactics to make them a “warm” lead. To make the remaining targets into a warm lead, you need to do a little research and find a personalize reference point that will resonate with the target prospect, lower their defense wall, and create an open mind to engaging.

A personalized refence point could be things like a LinkedIn post made, a LinkedIn article (like this one), a common LinkedIn Group, webinar participation, or tradeshow panel participation by the target prospect. Other personalize reference points could be a recent announcement made but the target prospects Company or if the Company is a public Company, key comments made in the annual report or CEO’s shareholder letter could resonate with the target prospect.

Reach out examples:

Let’s assume you seen a post made by one of your target prospects. Your personalized email might look like this:

Re: Your LinkedIn post

Hi <prospective contacts first name>,

I saw the post you made on LinkedIn, and it really resonated with me. I do have a few questions regarding ______________and would like to have a brief discussion. What day and time is best for you to have a 10-minute discussion?

All the best,

Your name

A personalized voicemail might sound like this:

Hi <prospective contacts first name>, I saw the post you made on LinkedIn, and it really resonated with me. I do have a few questions and would like to have a brief discussion. <Prospective contacts first name>, my name is Thomas Massie, 617-512-1066. That’s Thomas Massie, 617-512-1066.

The key of turning a cold lead into a warm lead is personalization. Demonstrating to the target prospect there is some type of connection you share and you have taken the time to learn about them and their Company.

Think about the examples above, not only are you demonstrating personalization, you are also subliminally stroking / complementing the target prospect. When they read your email or listen to your voicemail, what quickly comes to mind is, “oh my LinkedIn post really resonated.” This creates a bit of personal pride, will lower their defense wall, and even welcome a conversation.

Remember we are in the business of selling and selling starts with having conversations with people. So be intentional, face your fears, pick up the phone, and make it a warm call!

Good Selling!

My name is Thomas Massie and over the past few decades I have been the CEO, President of 4 tech companies that experienced rapid growth, became market leaders, and all 4 achieved successful initial public offerings (IPO's) on NASDAQ.  Cumulatively my 4 tech ventures have generated over $1 Billion in revenues. I'm the President & CEO of Topline Performance Solutions Inc., maximizing Sales & Leadership results. Are you ready to go to the next level? What’s holding you back from greatness? Let's talk: 617-512-1066 or tmassie@sandler.com

Let’s connect: Twitter @Thomas_Massie, LinkedIn , or visit tps.sandler.com