When was the last time you sat through a cold call?
...Probably was a very, very, very long time ago. With today’s advanced customer expectations, you will be lucky to even get someone to answer their phone. With so many other channels that customers prefer like social media, texting, email, and automation it has become increasingly harder to convince customers to answer calls from unknown and unfamiliar numbers.
Knowing this, it is no secret that outbound call centers MUST be confident and equipped with two essential components: first, a highly targetted lead list – which can be either purchased from a reliable vendor, or nurtured and strategically generated by your in-house or external marketing agency. After you have secured a targetted list of leads, the next component is to master your sales team's cold calling capabilities so when a potential customer does answer–they will be inclined to listen to your offer and qualify themselves – ensuring you're maximizing your productivity and overall revenue.
With such a strong focus in the call center industry being placed on burning through leads, it is oftentimes the call centers with a focused approach that do the best. Oftentimes, this is due to the expert scripts that outbound call center managers put together for their agents to use.
What Makes A Great Cold Calling Script?
I. Personalization
Nearly 75% of online customers get frustrated with websites when content (promotions & offers) appears to have nothing to do with their interests. This is increasingly true for customers on the phone. Study after study has shown that in the digital era, personalization is pretty much everything to salespeople and marketers.
While doing in depth research into each and every potential prospect sounds extremely daunting. By not doing your due diligence in 2017, you are leaving your company vulnerable to always losing leads to competitors that are doing their research.
By leaving your script open for inserts with personal touches then you are giving yourself that added chance of closing on the first call.
To personalize your calls even further, find a call center solutions provider that can also add your contact's local caller ID to your call to increase the chances the customer picks up the phone. Convoso's platform includes the capability – check it out here: Personalize my outbound calls with Local Caller ID
II. Personality
When was the last time a robot talked you into buying something?
Odds are, never. The same exact notion can be stated for your salespeople. There is nothing more lethargic than a boring old fashion sales call. With the typical sales jargon and stiff responses.
In 2017, you simply cannot afford to have scripts that don't inherently make your agents more upbeat in their sales approach. Salespeople should be expected to sell with personality and care behind them.
While not every salesperson will be able to upsell or qualify with pizzazz on the first call...you can instill company values and correct sales techniques in your onboarding and training process.
“On the phone, the tone is 86% of our communication. Words we actually use are only 14% of our communication. “ - ContactPoint
III. Precision
Artificial intelligence in call centers is ways from granting you the ability to have a completely autonomous call center. Currently, there's no mainframe or computer out there that can carry your scripting efforts for you. This means that your cold calling scripts need to be built out with the precision and accuracy for more than adequate conversations.
Your rebuttals need to be calculated.
Your agents need to be trained on when the right time is to close.
Your agents need to be able to read the caller and gauge whether or not they can be a fit for your company down the line.
According to Telenet, In 2007 it took an average of 3.68 cold call attempts to reach a prospect. Today it takes 8 attempts.
These intricate script actions are all possible if you are precise and calculated. Below you will find a cold calling script template that is designed with precision for increased first call closes:
