Why Do Rookie Sales Reps Don’t Like Cold Calling?

There are two groups of cold-calling people: telemarketing firms and professional salesmen. Cold calling is all they do for telemarketing firms. For experienced salesmen, cold calling is one weapon in an arsenal of several techniques.

However, not every sales professional enjoy cold calling. There are several reasons why salespeople don't like cold calling, but successful salespeople never fear rejection and try to modify their approach with every attempt. 

There are three primary reasons why rookie sales reps do not like cold calling. What are those? Let’s explore.

Lack of Preparedness 

No one wants to do a job if they don't have the right resources, technology, and preparation to succeed. Resources, technology, and preparation will prepare you to succeed and build confidence. The reverse is also true; lack of proper resources, technology, and training undermines confidence.

For cold calling, this boils down to four key factors. 

1. Have you got a written script?

2. Do you have a written list of objections?

3. Is your script effective? 

4. Does your script make you sound like a professional whose clear purpose is to build value for the customer? Or is it no different than a credit card company?

Lack of Ability to Differentiate 

Professional SDRs need to distinguish themselves in a busy space. This is challenging to do and becomes more difficult over the phone – particularly when the salesperson rattles off the same lines as the prospect heard from your competitors.

Sales representatives don't like to make cold calls because they lack the ability to distinguish themselves from others. There are a lot of tricks and strategies to differentiate that have been attempted over the years, including fake polling and surveys, but they all result in a lack of trust as the call turns into a sales call. It's hard to distinguish yourself and sound authentic on the phone, but it has to be done and it has to be real. The only way to distinguish yourself is to build interest and add value to your prospects.

Inability to Create Value for the Prospect 

Salespeople succeed when they create value for their prospects and customers. If a cold call doesn't give you the chance to build interest for a prospect, it doesn't feel like a valuable use of your time.

There are sales organizations that have worked out how to generate value before they demand value over the phone. They are always calling for appointments. But calls are important to the prospect, as they give the prospect something more than a request for an appointment. The reason telemarketing is so frustrating for people receiving the call is because it is a one-sided talk; it is not about generating value for them. This leaves the telemarketer frustrated too as the time and energy they invest in the call do not yield results.

Wrapping Up

All of the above factors contribute to poor performance, and poor outcomes are contributes to less activity. Fixing and Improving the three factors above will render it cold calling valuable for prospects as well as sales reps.