Articles

Is Cold Calling Still Effective? Reevaluate Your Customer Service Strategies

by Maggie F. Marketing & Communications

Want to upgrade your customer care efforts? Consider outbound calling services and reevaluate your cold calling strategies to execute more enhanced support. This can help you attract new clients and also increase your customer retention rates.


Why Cold Calling Still Exists

Despite the common belief that cold calling leads to nowhere, businesses of all sizes and from all industries and sectors are still using cold calling tactics to reach and engage new prospects. These companies can handle their outbound call volume by either outsourcing to a contact center or using in-house services for outbound cold calling


Which begs the question, is cold calling still an effective sales strategy? The answer to this is subjective and depends on who you ask. In simple terms, cold calling works, if you are doing it right. So, are you doing it the right way?


Make Your Company More Visible: Let Them Know You Exist

Most of the time, businesses become successful when customers learn of a product that can solve issues they didn’t even know existed. And so, a top priority for any company, old or new, is to market and advertise. Marketing strategies can do this but cold calling is another more personal way of reaching customers.


Cold calling means contacting potential clients from a list of leads determined through market research. This generally entails calling a customer, informing them about your product or service, and attempting to sell it to them. And so, outbound calling strategies are generally used by salespeople and appointment setters. In the very least, cold calling lets you tell the world, or your target audience, about your services and special offers.


Display Proximity

One reason why individuals love big companies is that they have offices and representatives everywhere, making it incredibly easy to contact them when in need. And so, demonstrating proximity can be beneficial as well. An outbound calling service may prove useful for a business with a high outgoing call volume. 


If you get this service from a cloud-based phone service provider like United World Telecom (https://www.unitedworldtelecom.com/), then you can even customize your caller ID to display a local or international number that you purchased previously. This means that when you are calling Floridian residents, you can display a local area code number as your caller ID instead of wherever your physical location actually is. Locals are more likely to answer a number they recognize than a random, unknown one. 


Train Your Agents and Collaborate Between Departments

Sales may seem like just a sales team’s job but input from the marketing department can further boost the outcome. Take market research into account to understand your ideal audience’s preferences so that you can target them better. Consider factors such as:

  • The best days to contact prospects

  • The best times to call

  • How lead generation can be improved, etc.


Sales teams know who is buying and what motivates buyers to make a purchase and marketing teams can identify who should be targeted. Together, these teams can put together a strong and ideal buyer persona that can streamline sales efforts.


Then, train your agents, reps, or employees to conduct themselves in the best ways possible. Positive attitudes, active listening, possessing the ability to answer customer questions, and so on, are necessary to increase the conversion chances of a call.


Evaluating Strategies: Questions to Consider

Even if you think you are doing well, chances are, you can do better. When rethinking strategies or upgrading marketing efforts, consider these questions:

  • What makes my product or service stand out?

  • Am I targeting the right customers or businesses?

  • Am I generating referrals?

  • Do I have the desired number of returning customers?

  • How can I improve customer retention?

  • Is my product satisfying current customers?


Answers to these questions and customer feedback can help you identify areas that need improvement and highlight points that can attract customer attention.


Improve Customer Service: Re-think Your Strategies

So the bottom line is: cold calling can still be effective, with the right attitude and communication tools. Consider investing in cloud-based communication solutions that can support your outbound calling needs and offer ways to improve it. And before you know it, cold calling will turn into sales and warm calling.


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About Maggie F. Junior   Marketing & Communications

3 connections, 0 recommendations, 16 honor points.
Joined APSense since, May 1st, 2020, From West Palm Beach, United States.

Created on May 8th 2020 13:32. Viewed 427 times.

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