Cold Calling: 5 Tactics of Master Salesmen

Even for experienced salespeople, making calls to strangers can be nerve-wracking and stressful. But cold calling is a necessary skill for any salesperson. 

The truth is that every great salesperson must conquer their fear of cold calling to further their career. There are many ways to improve your call skills, including dealership phone training. 

If you’re making cold calls and need help figuring out why you’re getting such a high rejection rate, this blog is for you.

Here are five tactics that will help you conquer your fear and close more deals.

1. Be Confident 

Sales is a challenging field. It’s even more challenging when you dread making cold calls because of the fear of talking to strangers. The first step to a successful call is to be confident.

Being confident means that you’re not trying to be something that you’re not. When you’re being confident, you’re being genuine and authentic. You’re not trying to fit into the role of “sales rep.” 

You’ll sound and feel more relaxed if you are confident in your delivery. And your prospects will be able to sense this.

2. Use a Script

You might think being confident and scripted are mutually exclusive, but they’re not.

You know the saying, “practice makes perfect,” right? Well, it does! You want to ensure that each word you speak during the call is something you’ve practiced a dozen times or more. 

As you continue to make more calls, practicing your script will help you remember what to say and how to say it. There are different ways you can practice making cold calls. 

You can record yourself making a call, then listen back and review your performance. You can also use a mirror to visualize yourself making the call.

You’ll soon find that making calls is no longer a daunting task but something you feel comfortable doing. 

3. Know Your Numbers

If you’re making cold calls, then you must know your numbers. What do we mean by this? You must clearly understand your average deal size and close rates. You must know what your target customer would be willing to spend. You must know how long it typically takes to close a deal. 

Knowing these things will help you stay consistent during every single call that you make. You’ll be able to stay on track and stay focused. 

You want to avoid coming across as pushy. Instead, you want to come across as helpful. 

4. Add a Touch of Humor

Weaving a little humor into your cold calls can go a long way. It can help you stand out and make the prospect you’re speaking to feel more at ease. It may make them more receptive to the sale.

However, you don’t want to make the call silly or turn it into a joke. Share a story or talk about something relevant to the situation or the industry. 

5. Timing is Everything  

Cold calling is an effective sales strategy for closing more deals and increasing revenue. But timing matters. According to a Crunchbase study, Fridays are the worst days to make cold calls. 

The study also found that the most successful calls occur between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. Wednesday is the best day of the week for cold calls.

Cold calling is a common way to generate new and returning business leads. But it’s only as successful as the caller.