Too many B2B sales teams view cold calling as antiquated, ineffective and problematic. This notion is untrue and likely stems from sales professionals who lack the necessary resources and expertise to execute a successful cold-calling campaign.
When a cold-calling strategy is appropriately formulated and rolled out by professional outbound marketers, it is a highly effective method for generating qualified B2B leads. Here are six ways cold-calling strategies can help a B2B company generate qualified leads.
Demonstrate Your Business as an Industry Resource
Businesses that show they are experts in their field and are relied upon by other organizations as an industry resource can more easily nurture potential customers through the B2B sales funnel. Cold calling is an effective way to demonstrate a company’s expertise and knowledge to prospects.
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Accurate presentations of industry trends, emerging technologies, and valuable technical information can all be relayed in a cold call.
When using a well-planned cold-call script and a targeted contact list, your prospective customer can learn how they can rely on you, the vendor, who is reaching out to them. Accurate presentations of industry trends, emerging technologies, and valuable technical information can all be relayed in a cold call.
For instance, let’s consider a startup SaaS company with a program to streamline patient data information. The company knows that alleviating industry-wide pain points would be helpful to health administrative professionals. A well-appointed cold-calling campaign can educate health admin teams on the benefits of using the new software.
Establish Trust with a Potential Customer
Good trust between a vendor and its customers is essential for a business to develop and grow. Trust development should begin at the earliest stages of a potential customer-business relationship and then be nurtured once a connection is established.
Cold calling is often a prospect’s first point of personal contact with a brand. Therefore, it must be seen as a key opportunity to validate and encourage a customer’s trust. Through cold calling, a business can explain in detail the products and services it offers, discuss how it plans to help the prospective customer meet their goals, and answer any questions.
When done correctly, cold calling establishes credibility, trustworthiness and expertise, which are important factors in the decision-making process.
Learn What a Customer’s Needs Are
A cold-calling campaign can be used to learn about customers’ needs and how to better serve them. A cold call is an excellent opportunity for a business to clarify what it can do for its prospective customer, whether that be through specific product recommendations, post-sale premium services, or other capacity-building strategies.
For example, let’s consider a cold-calling script for an emerging tech startup. The company knows its product is particularly useful to non-profit organizations. However, it isn’t aware of its full industry potential. Through a targeted cold-calling campaign, they can learn what specific best practices are most critical to serving their customers best.
Learn About a Customers’ Pain Points
A key benefit of outbound marketing strategies, such as cold calling, is to learn a customer’s relevant pain points. Once cold-calling research identifies specific pain points, further communications can be tailored to direct a customer towards an appropriate solution.
Identify a Customer’s Nurturing Requirements
Cold calling can provide valuable opportunities to learn about a potential customer’s nurturing requirements. By understanding their current needs, a cold-caller can provide solutions and recommendations to the customer and better ensure long-term success.
For example, suppose a cold caller learns that a potential customer is interested in a long-term relationship with the business. In that case, they can relay that information to the business development manager, who can then provide a proposal for a strategic partnership that outlines the benefits of working together.
Accurately Inform Prospects about Product Information
Education-based marketing is becoming increasingly important within the B2B sales industry. Cold-calling methods are an excellent way to capitalize on the growing trend.
This is because relaying accurate, technical product information to a potential customer is often best done through a one-on-one conversation. In B2B dealings, where products are often highly specific in nature, personal contact through a cold call is often better than an email or a website landing page alone.
Support Multiple Outbound Lead Generation Efforts
In B2B marketing, creating a sales strategy that combines both inbound and outbound lead generation strategies is an optimal approach. It’s one that will likely yield greater leads than the use of a single lead generation method.
Cold calling, as an outbound strategy helps to strengthen and validate other outbound marketing efforts such as:
- Paid digital marketing campaigns
- Search engine optimization
- Social media marketing
Cold Calling is Essential to an Integrated B2B Sales Approach
At LGI, we recommend that our clients employ an integrated marketing approach that includes both inbound and outbound methods. Cold calling is beneficial in a well-balanced marketing strategy. It delivers information on a customer’s current needs and offers insight into your inbound marketing efforts.
Consult Lead Generators International for Expert Cold-Calling Services
Our professional cold-calling services always cater to a business’s individual needs. We don’t offer pre-packaged solutions, simply because we know a cold-calling campaign’s success is directly connected to how well it’s tailored to the needs of the campaign’s targeted prospects. For an in-depth look at how we can help generate leads for your business, contact us today.
Tyler Dawson
President, LGI Sales & Marketing Group Inc.
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