Landing your next B2B customer: Cold Calling

Do you hate cold calling prospective B2B customers??If so, you’re not alone because most people dread it.?When I first started cold calling, I dreaded it.?I was afraid of being rejected.?Even worse, I imagined that the prospect might get angry with me for interrupting their work day. ?

So, let’s tackle this nasty subject. This is the first in a series of articles to help you land new B2B customers.?Let’s look at how I tackled cold calling.

I wanted to be successful at finding new customers for my clients, so I created an approach to overcome my fear. For each prospective customer, I started with researching how my client’s products and services could make a prospect more profitable.??

The second step was to develop a script for the cold call.?I would introduce myself and ask for permission to give a 30 second explanation of why I called.?With permission granted, at the end of 30 seconds, I would ask an open-ended question that couldn’t be answered with “Yes” or “No”.?If the client expressed an interest in learning more, we would continue the conversation.?If they were not interested, I would thank them for their time and say good-bye.

As a third step, I practiced some mock calls with a friend, where they pretended to be the prospect.?My friend answered with a variety of responses, including being as difficult as possible.?This was very helpful in building my confidence. I also learned that asking for a key employee at the prospective customer organization tended to progress the conversation.

The fourth step was to research a prospective organization by perusing their website.?I often found my client’s products and services were a good fit and I was confident that I could help the prospect increase their efficiency and profitability.?If key employees were not listed on their website, I scanned the organization’s Linked-In page to identify which employee would most likely be interested in the opportunity.

The fifth step was to begin making cold calls.?I found that some people said “No” to the opportunity.?However, they were almost always polite and courteous.?When the prospect did not answer, I left a brief voice mail message with a “teaser” that invited them to call me back. In time, I became more comfortable with cold calling.?With feedback from customers my script got better and better.

Here’s an example of a typical cold call that I make today:

“Hi, I’m Teddy from Malfort Polytechnic’s Centre for Innovation in Design.?May I take 30 seconds to tell you why I called today?”

95% of the time the response is “Yes.”

“We turn our customers’ leading-edge ideas into reality by collaborating on innovative machining, scanning and 3D printing. We are very flexible with our prototyping and process expertise while delivering at half the market cost. That may sound too good to be true, but it’s accurate. How does that sound to you?”

If the employee I targeted doesn't immediately see the fit, I explain the potential efficiency and profitability benefits that I saw in my research. However, most people see the potential and reply with something like “That sounds very interesting.” Then we discuss the next step, which is either emailing a weblink and brochure or setting up an introductory videoconference call.

After you adapt this process for your organization, you will know your cold call has been successful when you and your prospect agree on the next step. In the next quarter’s article, we will discuss the next level of landing your next B2B customer: Perseverance. In the meantime, if you prefer to outsource cold calling, contact me.?