3 Things To Avoid While Teleprospecting
Posted by
Chris Lang on Thu, Jun 02, 2024 @ 03:00 PM
I talk to a lot of cold callers. My company puts out about 4000 outbound activities a day to prospects so it would be bad juju to shun the people cranking out dials. That being said, a bad cold caller can be an infuriating experience for the listener and ruin your chances of getting a lead. Here are a couple of things to avoid when making cold calls, as brought to you by some of our inside reps.
“If you go straight into a sales pitch without introducing yourself and explaining why you are calling you are going to lose the lead” – Sarita M.
I couldn’t agree with Sarita more. There aren’t many things worse than having someone dial you and then pour into a 3 minute elevator pitch without even asking how you’re doing. Lead off your calls by telling the prospect who you are and exactly why you’re calling before you shove a pitch down their throat. Otherwise you come off as selfish and rude.
“Make sure you are aware of who you are trying to talk to.” - Steve W.
Have some knowledge about the company and title you’re calling. This leads to the familiar, “how much research” question. In order to avoid having your prospect hate you while not over researching, follow this guide of what to know prior to the call:1- The prospect’s name and title (seems obvious), 2 – The company name (still pretty obvious), 3 – What the company does...kinda. For example if you were calling the treasury you should know they handle the money, but you don’t need to know about the intricacies of the departmental agencies and operational bureaus. Assuming the desired result is finding a lead, you just need to know what the prospect does.
“Have a conversation like a normal human and don’t just try to plow through qualification questions” – Jill R
The response rate on automated messages is terribly low. You sound like an auto response if you simply go from question to question without (god forbid) showing some interest in the answers. You may even want to have some discussion and ask questions that are not on the script! (gasp) Ask a question, listen to the answer and then discuss their answer a bit. I’m not saying you should discuss their big win in the 4th grade spelling bee, but don’t just use the prospect to hit a lead number.
Keep these obvious, yet frequently forgotten faux pas in mind.