B2B cold calling can be incredibly challenging. The person you are speaking to rarely has sole authority to purchase. A successful B2B call must excite your prospect about what you have to offer and encourage them to lobby other members of their business to become your customer.
An effective B2B cold calling script can increase your chances for success in closing new clients along with your company’s chances for continued growth.
How to Increase Your Prospects with a Killer Cold Calling Script
Cold calling is primarily a numbers game. Around one out of every ten calls you make will succeed so the more you call, the more you win.
There are ways to boost this metric so if you reach your daily quota, you still have the opportunity to set an ever-increasing amount of new appointments.
Here are some best practices for planning effective B2B cold-calling scripts that increase your chances of conversion:
Fit Your Product to the Right Business
If you sell accounting software for small and medium businesses, calling the chief of accounting at Microsoft might not be the best place to start. If you promote home heating systems, better to begin with neighborhoods in Michigan.
The first step is to identify the ideal audiences for your product. It could be by business size, location, industry, even a department within the company. You can triple your chances before dialing the first number by identifying two to three ideal audiences to target.
Talk to the Right Person
Once you have discovered your target group and decided on the right companies to reach out to, find the best people inside those companies to make first contact with.
The Ideal Customer Persona (ICP) is the optimal type of person inside your target business you want to talk to. Marketers pinpoint your ICP by their age, job title, marital status, salary range, even personal likes and dislikes.
Using this information, you know who inside the company to look for.
Is it the head of development or a business analyst? Is it person A in accounting, or person B, C, or D?
Is it the father of three who likes to bowl or the mother of two who is being fast-tracked to a management position?
The best moment to make a call is when you have total confidence that this is the person who wants to speak with you.
Scale the Most Important Hurdle of the Call
The first obstacle every script must hurdle is pronouncing your contact’s name. If you have trouble saying someone’s name accurately, put their name through a site like Pronounce Names and practice reciting it a few times first.
The Best B2B Cold Calling Scripts
Here are some scripts and snippets to engage your prospects with a thoughtful conversation about what you can do for them.
Offer to Solve their Problems
Hi [FIRST NAME], this is [YOU] from [YOUR BUSINESS].
I've been learning about [THEIR BUSINESS] and am curious about how you manage [A CHALLENGE THEY HAVE THAT YOU CAN HELP THEM WITH].
At [YOUR BUSINESS], we help with
- [one value of your service]
- [one value of your service]
- [one value of your service]
Is this something we can help you with?
If they say yes. Offer to book an appointment to talk about solutions. If they say no, ask:
Can I send you a follow-up email you can look at later?
If they agree, email resources and links to help them and make a follow-up call the next business day. If not, thank them for their time and ask if there is another point of contact in the company you can reach out to.
Establish Rapport
The most challenging part of a sales call is to make the person you want to sell to, feel like they aren’t being sold. The key is to disarm them so they feel like they are buying something instead. That’s where establishing rapport comes in.
Deviating from the script here and there to ask them a personal question helps. It can’t be too personal, but you can lighten up the mood by asking:
“Are you a football fan?”
“Are you a cat person?”
“I saw at your last job you did XX. Is that why you are now doing YY?”
“I see you went to Virginia Tech. Did you take any courses from professor Johnson? Does he still forbid students from sitting in the back three rows?”
Warm the Call with a Voice Mail
If the gatekeeper tells you the contact is busy, ask if you can leave a message. Once you leave a voicemail, the next call isn’t completely cold. You can leverage your voicemail to “downgrade” your next call attempt as a mere follow-up:
Hi [NAME], I left a voice message the other day about [THE PROBLEM YOUR BUSINESS SOLVES], and I wanted to see if you have time for a quick chat.
We [TWO SENTENCES ON HOW YOU SOLVE THE PROBLEM WITH YOUR PRODUCT'S FEATURES]. I'd love to demonstrate how we can achieve [BENEFITS TO THEIR BUSINESS OF SOLVING THE PROBLEM].
I can schedule a quick call for you tomorrow afternoon or early next week, or would you like to learn more right now?
A Way to Win on Every Call
What happens when, early or midway into your pitch, you realize that your contact either lacks the authorization to make a purchasing decision or isn’t interested?
You can make new contacts. Once they say their final no, ask them if they would be kind enough to mention people in their company, department, or even other people they have done business with whom might be interested.
Remember to be specific about where they might know someone and to offer incentives for each name they give:
Is there anyone in your business who could see great results by [SOLVING THIS CHALLENGE]? We are happy to offer them an extended trial period.
Have you worked with people who could use [YOUR PRODUCT]? It’s our company policy to offer a $30 Amazon gift card for anyone who wants to help their friends learn about what we have to offer.
Leverage Referrals
Once someone refers you to someone they know, you can use that name recognition to your advantage. It’s kind of like getting in with a new group of friends because you are friends with one of their friends:
Hi, I’m [YOUR NAME]. [REFERRER’S FIRST NAME] said I should call you about [SOLUTION TO PROBLEM YOUR PRODUCT SOLVES]. We discussed [RESULTS GENERATED BY YOUR PRODUCT] and how it can help him.
He’s a great guy, especially concerning [SOMETHING PERSONAL AND GENERAL ABOUT THE REFERRER].
Here is where your contact will laugh or agree with you. Establish rapport by talking about this shared interest.
Do you have a few minutes to talk?
General tips for Good B2B Cold Calling Scripts
A good script will get you deep into the conversation. If you want to convert that conversion into a qualified lead, reinforce your words with some solid tactics:
Research Your Prospect
Learn about who is on the other end of the line and see what you have in common. Go onto their LinkedIn account to discover their skills and see if you share some. Find out where they worked in the past and if you know people there. Check other social media sites to discover their personal hobbies, where they like to travel to, and important milestones in their life.
- Their job history tells you if they are attracted to the glory of a success or are repelled by a fear of failure.
- The company page or website tells you what they value most along with their goals.
- A personal page tells you where they grew up, their favourite sports team, or their alma mater.
Here’s a tip! Find one “fun fact” about the person and plan the right time to reveal it to them.
Send an Email First
If the person you want to speak to has a personal assistant screening their calls, the best way to bypass the gatekeeper is to discuss an email you sent that you want to follow up on.
Instead of “I am calling about a new SaaS system,” it’s, “I am calling to follow up on an email he saw yesterday.”
Sending an email first lets your prospect know what you are about, how you can help them, and that you will be following up with a call. It’s an effective way to get straight to the person you want to speak to.
Run from the Robot
Every line Sean Connery spoke on film came from a script. Did you ever see that in his performances?
Of course not. He injected emotion into his words, knowing how to get excited, when to make a small joke, and where to pause for dramatic effect.
The number one fail for cold calls is when a salesperson sounds like a robot reading a script.
Make your prospect feel like they are talking to an old friend by adding emotion to your words. When they ask you anything, give them the best information with enthusiasm to score that first and most important conversion – from a sales call to a friendly dialogue.
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Check out some of our other blogs that you might find interesting:
- 5 Steps to Writing the best cold calling scripts
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