10 Cold Calling Techniques for SDRs in 2022

A traditional sales method, cold calling, has been around since the mass use of the telephone. The goal of this technique is to contact individuals and companies who haven’t initiated interest with the organization that’s calling them. While some feel this is an outdated concept, it continues to be an essential sales approach for many companies. The primary reason is there aren’t enough warm leads. Additionally, cold calling is one of the most direct, lowest cost, and fastest ways to initiate the sales process.

However, there are some challenges with cold calling. For instance, it’s not easy to just call a contact and offer your service or product. Therefore, this method has low conversion rates because the lead doesn’t expect to be called since there was no supporting campaign or pre-introduction.

What is sales engagement? Read this blog.

For this reason, many sales development reps (SDRs) struggle with cold calling as they find it challenging to maintain a consistent rate of success or find the motivation to encounter an entire day of rejections. Luckily, there are many cold calling techniques, tools, strategies, and tips that can improve success while keeping you motivated to contact the next lead.

Keep reading to learn more about how to improve your cold calling success!

Cold Calling Techniques

Address the Prospect’s Needs

Don’t start your call by spewing product features. Instead, understand what the prospect’s needs are and how you can meet with them with your product or service. Giving a useful idea is always beneficial to the customer and makes you look less sales-y.

Be Persistent with Follow-Ups

10% of sales are closed after four follow-up attempts with 80% of sales closing after five. Therefore, be persistent with follow-ups to close a sale.

Call Daily Throughout the Day

Experts have found that there is no inconvenient time to call during the day. Therefore, make calling attempts every day, throughout the day.

Don’t Sound Like a Salesperson

Always consider that your leads don’t know you and receive countless cold calls throughout the day, which is why they will be on guard during the discussion. For this reason, you must sound different than all other salespeople who call them. Instead of speaking like you are trying to sell them something, speak like you are there to help.

Focus on Call Durations

Keeping the decision-maker on the phone for as long as possible (within reason) will help you improve the likelihood of a win and build rapport.

Follow-Up Quickly with Inbound Leads

Contacting inbound leads is a suitable place to step your way into the role of a cold caller. This means the contact completed a form on the company website, so they’re interested.

Learn to Love “No”

Unfortunately, SDRs receive many shutdowns that include the word “no.” This can be disheartening if you don’t learn to love it. Receiving a firm “no” means the prospect has no interest or sees no value in your product or service so you can leave them in the rearview mirror to focus on the “yes” leads.

Pay Attention to the First Sentence

In other words, your opening line is the most critical part of the conversation. If you begin with, “Hey, this is Mary from Company X. How are you doing?” and continue with a boring sequence, you’ve lost their attention. Don’t use the same dull introduction that all other SDRs use as this will annoy your prospects and make it obvious that you are selling something like everyone else. Instead, break the pattern by implementing a more provocative or creative opener. Be in control when the conversation begins.

Use Other Touchpoints

If you aren’t fond of cold calling, other touchpoints, like social media or email, can be an engaging warm-up to cold calls. Share a relevant comment or blog post and be friendly and authentic without becoming spammy or stalker-y. You can also contact the prospect via text message (with their approval).

Utilize Technology

Numerous excellent sales technology options improve efficiency and effectiveness. This software helps you search and connect with leads, learn about industries and companies, and efficiently dial prospects, all of which improve your sales outreach efforts.

Cold Calling Techniques that Really Work

While all these cold calling techniques work well, some are more prominent than others. For instance, you want to focus on the prospects' needs, be persistent with follow-ups, don’t sound sales-y, follow-up quickly on inbound leads, pay attention to your opener, and utilize technology to improve efficiency.

Cold Calling Tools

While there are many cold calling tools available on the market in the form of software, not all are created equal. There are several categories of cold calling software. First, phone dialers can increase prospect conversations by up to 800%. Human-assisted power dialers are ten times faster, so they increase productivity. List-based flow dialers can intelligently order your prospect list which significantly increases productivity. Click dialers place sales calls directly with a single click without needing to manually dial.

Second, automated multi-channel sales software allows you to utilize social media, text, video, email, or the phone to contact cold leads. This software type also ensures follow-ups never fall through the cracks. Finally, predictive cold calling tools allow you to place a score on sales leads and prioritize them based on that score. That means higher-profile customers are given the most attention.

Cold Calling Strategies

Finding the best cold calling strategy will help you prepare for your conversation with a cold lead. First, you must understand the opportunity through mental preparation. The best SDRs have an entrepreneurial chip because they are creating something from nothing. Second, continuously practice with your manager and teammates before reaching out. The last situation you want to be in is having a high-value prospect and freezing up or not being able to control the conversation. Third, sound like a human by doing your homework. Finding your voice and tone is critical to the success of your cold calling campaign.

Cold Calling Tips

Even the most experienced sales team members can feel intimidated, frustrated, or stressed when making cold calls. To improve conversions, there are specific tips you can follow. First, by shadowing a successful SDR, you can better understand how they implement so many successful conversations and ask questions to learn specific approaches. Second, gather all information about your prospect before dialing the number. This will help you prepare for their questions and focus on their needs. Third, always clearly amplify your message.

This comprehensive list of cold calling techniques that really work and have been valuable to countless companies can help you improve your conversations with prospects. Don’t wait any longer to hop on the phone and implement these points today!