How To Get Your Sales Team Making MORE Sales Calls

Look we get it, making calls can be SCARY and if you're new to sales, it might be something you are dreading or trying hard to avoid.

You might be a sales leader who is fighting the battle to try and get your sales team to make more calls, because you know that more calls is likely to lead to more pipeline and more sales. But it is?NOT?that simple...

Let's address a few myths and confusions first:

1. Cold calling is?NOT?dead. You will have prospects out there that aren't on social media, that don't really reply to emails, and the?ONLY?way you'll ever have a chance of getting their business is to pick up the phone and call them.
2. You may only get a 1-5% conversion, but it?DOES?convert.
3. Yes LinkedIn, social selling, email, video, they all work really well, but they work well?ALONGSIDE?cold calling.

So, let's assume that you, or your sales team, maybe aren't making as many calls as they could...

Here are 5 ways you can get your team (or maybe yourself) making MORE cold calls and generating more business in 2022:

1) Make calls WITH your sales team

If you want to get your team making more calls there will be few better ways that picking up the phone with them. Whether you're able to do this in the office, or maybe create a virtual call session where the team all logs on through Zoom, if they see you making calls they will be motivated and inspired to make more calls as well.

This isn't something you have to do every single day, but even once per week or once per month will have a?HUGE?impact. Do you make calls with your team? Does your sales manager make calls? Let us know in the comments.

Let the team see you lead from the front line and lead by example and you'll lead them to make more calls.

2) Set the RIGHT KPI's and expectations for cold calling

One of the biggest, and most common, mistakes that sales leaders make is they focus their KPI's and expectations on the?NUMBER?of calls a sales rep should make. Firstly these numbers can often be quite high (eg 100 calls per day) and so can be quite intimidating to salespeople, but they also encourage salespeople to make calls just to hit that number, so they don't care if it doesn't connect or just goes to voicemail.

You need to put your focus not just on the amount of calls they make, but on the?CONVERSATIONS?that they have.

100 calls might create 10-20 conversations, so why not set that as the KPI? Let your team know that you're looking for real conversations, not just calls.

3) Provide training AND coaching for cold calling

It's important to provide regular training on cold calling but even more important to provide?COACHING. You should be listening to some of their calls on a weekly basis providing constructive feedback and coaching on what they might be able to do differently or better to increase their results.

Show them that you're there to not just support them but to?HELP?them get the best results that they can possibly get.

All successful athletes have coaches and the same applies to sales.

4) Give them tools to HELP making cold calling easier

Technology can help make cold calling a lot easier and more effective if used properly, and it's your role as a leader to provide this. Maybe you're a salesperson and your company doesn't provide it, so why not source it yourself? Show them that it works.

We personally recommend?Pipedrive CRM?to salespeople and sales teams and they have an amazing cold calling integration called Toky.

Pipedrive's?Toky?integration allows you to automatically log inbound and outbound calls, record them and click to call inside of your CRM. You can call leads and contacts with a single click without leaving Pipedrive CRM. You can try Pipedrive completely free for 30-days?here?and start using their?Toky?integration (alongside their many other amazing integrations to sales tools)

5) Create ENGAGING competitions and leaderboards

A lot of salespeople are competitive, it's a good quality for them to have, so create friendly but motivational competition. Have unique monthly competitions and rewards and create a leaderboard that allows them to see how they're doing against their peers.

Perhaps one month the top prize is cash, the next it's a special pair of trainers/sneakers, maybe it's a fast food voucher, get creative and keep it fresh so the team are motivated each month.

Make sure it's fun and engaging and support anyone who struggles or who slips to the bottom. Maybe make calls with those struggling to help them do better and show them that you've got their back.

Now we want to know YOUR biggest tip to help sales teams make more calls...

Add it into the comments and let us know what you do to motivate yourself or your team to make more cold calls.

To make successful cold calls you'll need a good CRM to ensure those cold calls progress into pipeline and sales..

That's why we are so passionate about?Pipedrive, one of?the?world's best CRM's used by over 100,000+ companies in 179 countries.?You can try it for free right here.?The?best?sales?managers choose?Pipedrive?because it is DESIGNED specially for?sales?teams and has been voted?the?easiest to use CRM.

They normally offer 14-day free trial but if you follow one of our links in this newsletter you'll be able to get an?extended?30-DAY FREE TRIAL?and as a bonus, if you choose to use?Pipedrive?after your trial, you'll get?20% discount?on your first year (that's a pretty amazing offer if we're honest!).

If you're potentially interested in trying?Pipedrive?out, we have a few extra resources that might help:

VIDEO -?The?5 best features of Pipedrive CRM

ATICLE -?10 reasons salespeople LOVE Pipedrive CRM

VIDEO -?Import prospect details instantly from LinkedIn using Pipedrive

ARTICLE -?Why salespeople are switching from their current CRM to Pipedrive CRM