What’s the first image that comes to mind when you think of B2B cold calling? Those annoying people that always miraculously seem to call during dinner time? A pushy Wolf of Wall Street wannabe who isn’t going to leave you alone for the next month?

B2B cold calling, when done right, is neither pushy nor irritating but a massive driver of sales. In fact, according to HubSpot, 78% of decision-makers polled have booked an appointment or attended an event that came out of a cold call.

What is cold calling in sales?

If you have a sales job, you probably already have a good idea what cold calling means. But it’s important to remember that cold calling is different from warm calling. On a cold call, you’re reaching out to someone who hasn’t asked you to – and very likely hasn’t even heard of you – early on in the buying process. A warm call, on the other hand, is when you talk to someone who’s already been “warmed up” (i.e., they’ve filled out a form on your website or interacted with your brand).

B2B cold calling tips

Why is cold calling so hard?

When you’re cold calling someone, you have to start the relationship from zero. That can be tough, and you have to get used to the idea of rejection. And a lot of that rejection happens before you can even have a conversation with a prospect. 90% of respondents to a Truecaller survey said that they only respond to calls if they recognize the caller’s name. 

Plus, cold calling can feel repetitive. It’s a bit of a numbers game – you have to make a lot of calls to keep up. It can take as many as eight calls just to get in touch with a prospect. Depending on your sales goals, that can translate to 60 calls or three hours of talk time per day

That’s a lot of work, but it’s still worth it. According to the RAIN Group, 82% of buyers will accept a meeting from sellers who reach out to them first.

Best tips for successful cold calling

So, at the risk of sounding too much like a pushy salesperson, you should read on. Because you’re going to need to learn these top 16 B2B cold calling tips.

1. Practice social selling to avoid stranger danger

Your prospects will respond better to a random stranger calling them if they have some level of familiarity with you or your company. All thanks to the Mere-exposure effect (TLDR: you like familiar things because they are familiar), we feel warmer toward those we know. This is why we recommend you follow your prospects and/or their company on social media like LinkedIn or Twitter. Like their posts or retweet something you enjoyed on their Twitter, so that by the time you pick up the phone and say, “This is Jim from Dunder Mifflin,” they’ll know who you are. 

You can also use the time spent on your prospects’ social media to learn more about your prospect and discover some small yet meaningful details to use for personalization. We’re not recommending you pretend that you’re a Celtics fan if you don’t know a thing about basketball or do anything creepy. But if you notice something on their profile that aligns with your hobbies or values, feel free to throw it into the conversation. This is a sure-fire way to make yourself more memorable and make the conversation more enjoyable on both ends.

And while you’re at it, make sure your profile is top-notch too. 82% of buyers look up sellers on LinkedIn before they even respond to any outreach attempts. Be sure to keep your profile up-to-date and post valuable content frequently.

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2. Know your prospect

Before you pick up the phone, take your time to do a little homework. B2B cold calling is all about addressing pain points and adding value, so make sure you know as much about your prospect’s company as possible before you start. This will help you fine-tune your pitch (and establish credibility). And that extra work pays off: high performers spend about six hours per week researching prospects.

 Here are some key points you might want to look into:

  • Product or service offerings
  • Company size
  • Number of employees
  • Industry verticals 
  • Decision-makers

Tip: If the idea of doing extra homework puts you off, we recommend doing it the easy way with a lead enrichment tool like Lusha Extension. Lusha has a multi-browser chrome extension that works on websites like LinkedIn, Owler and Gmail to instantly find important company information. In just one click, Lusha does all the prospect research for you, revealing important data points you’ll need to know about a company pre-cold call.

3. Master your opener 

It only takes 7 seconds to form a first impression, so when you’re trying to grab a prospect’s attention, you gotta think fast. You could have the best B2B cold calling scripts in the world, but if your opener sucks, you might just get hung up on. 

Friendly openers are always a good start. Here are some stats on do’s and don’ts: 

DON’T: “Did I catch you at a bad time?”

Why? Openers like this have a 0.9% success rate. Ouch. Lesson here: if you give someone on the other end of a cold call an easy out before they have a chance to learn your value, they’re going to take it. 

DO: “Hey how are you?”

Why? You have 3.4X higher likelihood of booking a meeting with this opener.

DO: “The reason for my call is…”

Why? Beginning with a proactive reason for your call increases your success rate by 2.1X. Prospects want to know why you’re calling and why they should listen – so make sure you tell them. 

DO: “How are you doing?”

Why? Believe it or not, this opener Increases your cold call success rate by 6.6X. It’s a simple, conversational opener. 

4. Marie Kondo your data with a well-organized CRM

In order to become successful at B2B cold-calling, you need to store a lot of information about your prospect and their company. You know all that research we just told you that you should do? In order for that to work, you’re going to need to keep things tidy. 

Keeping an endless pile of scribbles, notes, google docs, and excels is a surefire way to let leads fall through the cracks. That’s why you need to make sure you’re using a CRM tool (and no, we don’t mean just make sure you have a CRM… you have to actually use it). We recommend using an awesome CRM tool like Hubspot to keep track of everything, such as:

  • Contacts
  • Customer profiles
  • Interactions history
  • Notes
  • Tasks
  • Reminders
  • Collaborations
  • Projections
  • Analytics

Game-changer: Lusha Extension helps you find the personal phone numbers and email addresses of your prospect, and then exports all the data straight to your CRM of choice. This is going to keep your CRM clean and tidy, and also make prospecting a breeze because you won’t waste time manually entering data.

5. Dial the right people the first time 

If you’ve been following along with us so far, you’ve done your prospect research and figured out which decision-maker you need to contact. The next step is finding their correct phone number, which can be more difficult than you think. And if you talk to the wrong person in the company, the results could be pretty bad. 52% of sellers say that wrongly targeted outreach can directly contribute to a loss of ongoing sales. 

Sure, LinkedIn and Google can provide you with some office phone numbers, but it’s pretty unlikely you’ll be able to reach a decision-maker using those dead-end HQ numbers (and that’s before we even get into the discussion of how many offices are now remote-first, making those HQ numbers even less useful). With a B2B intelligence platform like Lusha, you can get your prospect’s cell phone number and email address. That way, you can spend more time on the phone selling to decision-makers, and less time tearing up the internet looking for their phone numbers.

6. Ask happy customers for referrals

Wouldn’t you rather answer a call from a company you’ve heard great things about, rather than a complete stranger? The answer to that is so obvious it’s basically a rhetorical question. So how come only x percent of sales people use them?

A referral can warm up that cold call. A LinkedIn study showed that cold calls that reference a common connection (like a referring customer) are 70% more likely to end with a booked meeting. 

A whopping 92% of people say that they trust referrals from people they know…but only 11% of salespeople ask for referrals. So don’t be shy! Ask your satisfied customers to name-drop you.

7. Learn to overcome common objections 

Like it or not, hearing “no” is just part of the B2B cold-calling experience, and it’s something every sales person gets used to hearing. But sometimes, you can still turn the conversation around into a “yes.” It all comes down to objection handling. 

The top sales reps respond to objections with a question 54.3% of the time (compared to 31% for average performers). Which makes sense: it shows the prospect that you’re listening to them, and it gives you more information to help understand their situation better. 

Here are ways you can overcome some common objections

Objection 1: “Send me an email instead.”

Response: “I can certainly do that; what’s your email address and what information can I include in the email to make sure it’s most helpful to you”?”

Objection 2: “Now is not a good time.”

Response: “No worries. When is a better time to have a three minute conversation? I’d like to first make sure we’re even a good fit before we talk at any length, so I won’t need much of your time.”

Objection 3: “Let’s talk next month; I can’t make a decision now.”

Response: Follow the objection up by asking questions about what needs to be done before the call next month, and make sure to schedule it over the phone and put it in your calendars. Try asking:

  • What information might you need to know before then?
  • Is there anyone else who needs to be involved in the conversation?
  • If you’re having a meeting about finding a solution to your problem, can I be a part of that meeting, even over the phone?

8. Bounce back like a champ 

Bad B2B cold-calling experiences are just part of the job description. There’s always going to be someone who you caught on a bad day who’s taking it out on you. It shouldn’t happen too often if you’re cold-calling the right way, but there will always be outliers. 

But still, even if they’re rare, those hostile phone calls can loom large in your mind. 48% – almost half – of salespeople are afraid to pick up the phone and make a phone call. It makes sense – having an unpleasant conversation with a prospect can shake your confidence or kill your mood. When that happens, here’s what you can do to bounce back after a nasty call.  

Don’t: hang up and immediately complain to your entire team about what a jerk that caller was. You could interrupt their focus and productivity, and you probably won’t feel any better. 

Do:

  • Get up from your desk.
  • Go for a walk/ get some air.
  • Grab a coffee or a snack.
  • Do something nice like listen to your favorite song, watch a funny youtube video.
  • Get back in the ring! Pick up that phone and try again. You got this. 
  • When you’re feeling up to thinking about that call again, ask yourself if there was any reason the call may have gone that way–  was it a bad time? Did you reach out to someone in the wrong position? Sometimes there’s no good reason for a bad call, but it’s a good idea to explore what you could do to prevent more of them.

B2B cold calling how to get over a bad call

9. Talk value before price. 

Timing is everything! With B2B cold calling, the time you introduce certain topics into the conversation can be the difference between a hang-up and a sale. You wouldn’t propose to your girlfriend on the first date, right?  So don’t bring up pricing in the first minute. 

But that pricing conversation is going to have to happen. 58% of buyers want to talk about pricing on the first call (compared to 23% of sales reps). So when should you bring it up? The trick is to make sure that they understand the value before they think about the numbers. Superstar sales reps work in pricing three-quarters of the way into the call, once the prospect is hooked and interested.

10. Ditch your script 

Static pitches are so over. Remember that one of the main goals of a cold call is to develop a relationship with your customer and build trust. You can’t build trust if you sound like a robocop. Plus, if the conversation veers off and you only know one script, you’re doomed. Don’t believe us? Cloud-based call center software contactSPACE noticed an entire 50% increase in contacts per hour after ditching stale sales scripts. 

Your cold call should be an exchange of information. When it comes to scripts, keep it loose. Have your main talking points and questions ready as well as your objection handling responses. Make sure you can demonstrate the product’s value in a number of ways, and tailor your value proposition to the individual client and vertical. If you need a template, we have a sales script generator you can try out. Just remember to stay agile and go with the flow of the conversation; a sales script is a guide, not a rule.

11. Use the right language

Not all words are created equal. Words can transform the way you feel. And feelings like confidence, strength, and trustworthiness can all lead to a “yes” from your prospect. Add this language into your scripts and prepare to win more sales:

  • Your prospect’s name- This makes prospects feel respected and important. Who doesn’t love the sound of their own name? But work it in naturally; don’t be creepy about it. According to Gong, top performers use their prospect’s first name an average of 4.1 times per hour, and it correlates with a 14% higher close rate
  • Successful- Because everyone wants to succeed, this word is very compelling to prospects. Top sales reps use it 4-6x every hour on sales calls. 
  • We- Successful cold calls use 65% more collaborative language like “we” instead of “I.” Why does this work? It’s more inclusive and makes the seller (and prospect) seem like they’re part of something bigger. 
  • Imagine– When you use this word, prospects can picture the success that your product will bring them. They’ll think about the benefits, not just specific features.
  • Decisive language- Use words such as, “certainly” and “definitely”, and phrases like “we can do that”, to demonstrate your confidence in what you’re selling. This confidence will give off an air of authority and make your prospects trust you more.

12. Nail down your timing

The best time to make cold calls is a hotly debated topic. Some argue that the best time to cold call is early in the morning before people have had a chance to get settled into their day. Others believe it’s later in the afternoon when people are more open to talking.

Ultimately, the best time to cold call depends on your customer base and what times of day they’re most responsive. You might need to look at internal data and decide what works best for your ideal customer. But as a good starting point, keep it between the hours of 10AM – 4PM. And it makes sense – too early, and people might be caught up in, well, getting caught up. Too late, and they’re just trying to keep enough motivation to finish out the day. 

Of course, you should always test different times and days of the week to see what works best for your business. You might find out something surprising works for you that doesn’t work for the general public

13. Slow it down

Believe it or not, top performing sales reps speak 6% slower on calls than their other cold-calling colleagues. Top performers spoke at 171 words per minute (WPM), while the average was 182 WPM. 

Why does the speed of your talking make a difference? Well, if a rep is talking too quickly, they might come off as impatient, nervous, or in a rush to get through the conversation. It might even seem like they’re just rushing to read through the main points of a script. All of this will rub off on your prospect, making them feel more uncomfortable with the conversation. 

On the other hand, reps who speak at a more relaxed pace probably make their prospects feel comfortable and at ease – not rushed. 

Taking your time to talk at an easy pace will help you make sure that you’re closely listening to what your prospect is saying and not just rushing through a checklist.

14. Say less, listen more

You probably got into sales because you’re a personable, talkative, outgoing person. While these are all wonderful traits that will help you win sales, B2B cold calling should be about listening, not talking. We’re talking therapy-grade listening skills here. According to Gong, top sales performers have a 46% to 54% talk-to-listen ratio, meaning that they speak less than half of the time. Remember though, there’s a difference between just waiting for your turn to speak and actually listening. 

So why does it work? Well, the more a prospect talks, the more important information you’ll learn that you can use to develop a connection with them. Listening will also keep you from rambling. Let your prospect pause without jumping in; if you let them think and speak again, they may offer up more valuable information that can assist you in closing the sale.

B2B cold calling tips

15. Remember you’re selling value, not features

You need to remember the big picture, you’re not just selling a technical product or service, you’re selling something that is going to add value to your prospects’ life. The best B2B cold calling reps spend more time talking value than features (and by the way, that data holds true moving into discovery calls and presentations, too). After all, if someones letting go of money they need to know that it’s going to improve their lives. Here are some examples of value-related subjects that you should spend time talking about:

  • Prospects’ pain points
  • Return on investment
  • Prospects’ business challenges
  • Projected agendas and timelines

16. Watch your tone

As much as 93% of your cold call’s potential success can be attributed to your tone. When your prospect can’t see you, your tone of voice has to carry the weight of non-verbal communication. And that’s a pretty big weight, because according to the 7-38-55 rule, spoken language is responsible for only 7% of communication. 38% is through tone of voice, and the rest is body language. 

Part of your tone will need to be figured out in the moment – you want to meet your customer where they are and not bouncing off the walls in excitement if they’re in desperate need of their afternoon coffee. Best practice is to start with a calm, confident tone.

So how do you get there? There are a few things you can do to make sure you’re conveying a good tone. Keep a watch on your volume – too loud may come across as aggressive, but too quiet and suddenly you’re timid. Sit up straight to naturally project a more confident presence, and smile when you talk so that friendliness comes through in your voice. If you record your calls, take some time to listen back and review where you shine and where you might be able to improve.

Feeling ready to jump in the ring?

As a final note, remember that B2B cold-calling is all about creating connections and relationships. Forget the product and its fancy features for a second, and remember that at the end of the day, that first call is about trying to click with a prospect. Always lead with kindness and respect; your 5-minute call has the opportunity to make someone’s day. 

When you’re ready to dial, remember to use Lusha to instantly find your prospects’ phone numbers and email addresses. 

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