6 Tips to Improve Your Cold Calling Results
By Nick Smith
20th February 2025
Email may be the fastest & lowest-cost method of reaching new prospects, but second only to meetings the phone remains king for converting prospects into paying customers.
Despite dialling mobile numbers with smartphones these days, little has changed since the dawn of cold calling given the psychology of building relationships & factors prompting people to buy remain constant.
Here are six quick tips that can help swing the odds of your next call in your favour.
1. Have a valid reason for calling
B2B prospects need to know three things early in a conversation – who you are, which organisation you represent & why you’re calling.
Most people don’t want to hear you’re calling to sell them something, and its a mistake to conceal it if you are. Prospects will uncover the truth eventually, and they may feel like you’ve used deception to hide your true intent – which is more likely to result in damage to your reputation than a sale.
A better approach is to have a genuine alternative reason for calling. For instance you could seek to inform your prospect with useful advice or even provide a free trial of your service, perhaps you could ask if they’re interested in exchanging referrals, or express desire to build a relationship to establish stronger ties with their industry.
The key is not merely to appear genuine, but to be genuine in your willingness to help others.
2. Prepare before calling
The nature of cold calling makes it difficult for prospects to trust someone they haven’t spoken with before.
You can help break the ice with a warm-up email, mentioning who you are and that you’re planning on calling them at a particular time. You can also prepare for your conversation by performing some basic research on their organisation – by visiting their company website or social media pages.
This can help you establish if they’re a good fit for your offering to judge if a phone call is worthwhile, it can help you identify the key decision maker you need to reach, and may even reveal some of the challenges your prospect is facing that you can help solve.
3. Have a script, but be prepared not to use it
Cold calling scripts are controversial because it can be off-putting hearing someone reading directly from one.
Which is why scripts should be kept short & memorised instead of read, and shouldn’t be adhered to if it means interrupting or boring your prospect. A script can be a great conversation opener and starting point, but its essential to deviate from them whenever your instincts tell you to.
Scripts can provide structure to conversations, can help you verbalise technical jargon or difficult concepts in efficient language that’s hard to make up as you go, and can serve as a fallback position when you aren’t sure what to say. Scripts can also boost your confidence because you won’t be forced to think on your feet for the entire conversation.
You can find some great examples of cold calling scripts here.
4. Ask constructive questions
Asking questions of your prospect is essential so you can qualify them as being suitable for your offering and in a position to afford it, but also to uncover any objections they have to taking the next step or purchasing.
It’s human nature to struggle with revealing difficult truths, so prospects may resort to camouflaging their true objections unless you probe their misgivings. “Now isn’t a good time” may be a cover for prospects being unconvinced your value proposition stacks up, being distrustful of an organisation they’re unfamiliar with, or simply to mask confusion because they aren’t sure how your offering can help them.
Adopting a professional & respectful tone and demonstrating authority in your field can help convince a prospect your questions are intended to help build understanding, with the goal of establishing a constructive relationship that’s mutually beneficial.
5. Prepare responses to common objections
Prospects will inevitably have objections that need to be addressed before they’re ready to take the next step towards purchasing.
With time & experience you’ll learn effective responses to common objections, but in the early days it can help to write down & memorise some prepared responses as its usually better to have an answer ready than reply with “let me check and get back to you”.
One difficulty is objections can be frustratingly vague, examples being “I’m not interested“ or “now’s a bad time” which tell you little about why your solution may be a poor fit and whether you should disqualify a prospect.
It rarely hurts to ask follow-up questions in a respectful tone to probe beneath the surface, but if your prospect is clearly a poor fit you shouldn’t feel obliged to convince them to purchase something that won’t serve their needs.
6. Actively listen and show empathy
Giving prospects your full attention & focusing the conversation around their responses is one of the most crucial ingredients for cold calling success.
Active listening builds rapport with your prospect since we all appreciate it when someone takes the time to really listen to us, but you can take that a step further by demonstrating genuine concern & empathy for your prospect and the challenges they face.
This goes beyond cold calling and the role of sales, demonstrating you’re the kind of person others are encouraged to respect and be in business with. Respect is always a two way street, by providing it to others we’re more likely to receive it ourselves.
Hopefully these tips not only improve the results of your next cold calling session, but make the whole process easier and encourage you to keep going.
Sales and business in general is a numbers game, so taking action to reach new prospects by phone & email pays long term dividends – consistency is key and the rewards often compound over time.
You’re welcome to give me a ring anytime on 1800 961 500 to discuss the finer points of cold calling & emailing.