Improving lead generation through phone calls – how and why

No one can deny that the world we live in is changing rapidly. But with it, the marketing and sales methodologies that we have used for years are changing, as well. As a salesperson, you have to stay on top of the industry trends and follow new ways of approaching prospects. In the past, you would spam people with cold calling, and it would give results. But now, things are very different. People are much more cautious, and they need to know about you before you offer them anything. So, let’s see how you can work on improving lead generation through phone calls.

As we said, it’s the best idea to start with pre-heated leads. You want to call only people that already heard about your brand and know what you do. You know that they need what you sell, so your chances of scoring a deal are much higher. The whole process becomes a lot simpler, and your conversion rate goes up.

By now, all the benefits of warm calling should be obvious. So, all that is left is for us to show you a few tricks that you can use to make the most out of it.

Recognize your ideal buyer

Take some time to study your current buyers. Analyze your best clients and see what they all have in common. This way, you should figure out who your ideal buyer is. And when you know it, write it all down. Use all the information you have about your ideal customers to create your buyer personas. Make profiles of imaginary people with real names, ages, locations, education, job positions, and even background information. The more you can go in-depth, the better.

When you know who you’re marketing to, it’s a lot easier to sell what you’re selling. So, take as long as you need to do proper research. Social media is a great place to find the kind of information you need. Find the people you work with at the moment, and see what you can learn from their LinkedIn and Twitter profiles.

And if you already have a social media following, you can use Facebook to get more leads. Spend some of your marketing dollars on targeting a lookalike audience, and you’ll save yourself plenty of time. When you know who your ideal customer is, it’s easy to reach them.

Be respectful to your lead’s time

When you’re calling a warm lead, you don’t need a long call to get the product sold. If you do your research, the prospects will know what they want, and you’ll know what you can offer them. And if you have a ConvertMore callback widget installed on your site, you’ll be sure that you’re calling them at the ideal time. So, the process will be easy.

In essence, if you schedule calls, it’s a good idea to limit them to 30 minutes rather than 60, as most companies do. And if you think about it, it makes sense. People are busy, and they’re more likely to show up if you ask them for just half an hour of their day.

And don’t be pressured to cram as much information as you can in this time frame. If everything goes well, you’ll have plenty of chances to direct them into the details more later on. For now, focus on creating a pleasant experience, and your leads will know how to respect that.

Always leave a voicemail

No rule says that your leads have to answer when you call. And if they don’t, most salespersons just move on to another call. However, that’s not what you should do. Instead, leave a voicemail, and that can bring you closer to turning that prospect into a customer than you might think.

So, always have something prepared to say if a call goes to voicemail. To help you go in the right direction, here are a couple of ideas on what you can talk about:

• Leave a quick, but a unique tip that they can use, and say that you’d be glad to share more if they want to talk to you.
• Tell them about a helpful strategy or source that you’re going to talk about with them in your next call.

Work on your sales opener

Whether we’re talking about warm or cold calling, talking to an executive is never an easy task. Every sales agent knows that you only have a few minutes to capture their attention and show the value you can bring to them. If you miss that window, all the chances are that your efforts will be in vain. But if you have a perfect opening line, you can turn things your way with ease.

Always assume that you’re reaching someone who doesn’t know who you are and what your business offers. So, the first thing you want to do is introduce yourself and wait for the person you’re talking with to respond. Here, you must be polite, but you also should sound powerful and assertive. People will respond better if you’re confident, and this is one of the tested ways to shorten your sales cycle.

Follow up with an email

For a company that wants to make money through lead generation calls, follow-up emails are vital. Sending them is one of the main rules of call lead generation, and you can’t do business without them. With just a single follow-up, you will convert 25% more prospects. And now imagine what you can do with a whole series of automated emails going out after every call.

The leads are more likely to open the email if they have already spoken to you on the phone. And even if they didn’t, they heard your voicemail, so they’ll know what the message is about. You have nothing to lose by sending these emails, but you can win a lot. So, it should be clear why you must do it.

Call them again

If you didn’t get to talk to a prospect, and they’re not answering the email either, feel free to call them again. Try to reach them at a different time of the day and figure out when they’re most likely to pick up. For improving lead generation through phone calls, you must be persuasive and persistent. The more you focus on warming up your leads, the easier it will be to sell them something. Do the preparation properly, and every call will be a warm breeze.