To make sales and stay on top of the game in a competitive market, businesses must engage in various sales techniques. The digital era has provided numerous avenues, particularly for inbound marketing. Aggressive businesses have also found ways to leverage traditional outbound sales techniques such as cold calling. There is much curiosity, however, on the difference between cold calling and warm calls. Perhaps you have been using these methods interchangeably. But what exactly do they mean? And on that note, what are social calls? This article discusses each of these terms in length.
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What is Cold Calling?
Cold calling is a traditional sales technique where a sales rep contacts a prospective customer who has not shown any interest in a product or service. Because there has not been any prior communication between the two, the prospect will not be expecting the call and may find it intrusive or annoying.
This sales method worked quite well in the early 1990s. Today’s buyer, however, relies on the power of the internet to research, compare items and buy all from the comfort of their couch. Such a buyer is also unlikely to answer a random prospecting call from a stranger.
Given this scenario, you may be forgiven for thinking that cold calling has no place in modern sales strategy. In the traditional sense, yes. Research shows that 90% of decision-makers do not take cold calls, while only 2% of such calls are successful. Despite this bleak outlook, businesses that have incorporated modern strategies in their cold calling techniques continue to register success.
For example, social media platforms have made it possible for a sales rep to research a prospect before making a call. This research can help you understand the business and what problems it may be dealing with. This way, you can design your proposition as a solution. In the digital era, sales reps have no excuse to make truly cold calls similar to the 1990s.
What is Warm Calling?
Warm calling refers to contacting a prospect with whom you have had some prior interaction or who has shown an interest in your product/ service. An example of a warm call is when you contact a prospect who left a comment on your social media pages or one who signed your product book at a launch. The significant difference with a cold call is that, in this case, the prospect has interacted with your product/service, and they know about it.
Warm calling has the edge over cold calling in the sense that the prospect has already shown some interest in the product or service. Research shows that warm calling raises the success rate of selling from 2% to over 30%.
Referrals also fall under warm calls. When a happy customer recommends you to someone else who may be interested in your product/service, contacting them counts as a warm call. Fortunately, referrals carry a perceived element of trust, making it much easier to sell.
Even then, a sales rep must be well prepared when making the call to ensure that they offer the value that the prospect desires. This can be done by identifying where or how the prospect showed interest, as this is key to building trust during the call. Like a cold call, a sales rep must research the prospect to understand their pain points and design an appropriate response.
What is Social Calling?
Social calling or social selling is a sales technique that leverages social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to find and connect with sales prospects. In social selling, a business positions itself as an authority in a specific area. For instance, a business may write informative blog articles, post product demos, or share how-to guides on a topic. In doing so, it brands or positions itself as an industry expert and thereby the go-to solution to a problem the prospect might be having.
To clarify, social calling does not about bombarding prospects with calls or private messages on their social media platforms. It is about positioning and waiting until the right time to engage a prospect. For example, a business may post a how-to demo on a particular product, and the prospect leaves a question. This is an opportunity to engage the prospect with more product information.
Although it is a relatively new style of marketing, social calling is already making waves. Statistics show that sales reps who use social calls outsell their colleagues who do not by 78%. It also offers 45% more sales opportunities. With such statistics, social calling proves to be an effective B2B sales method that can eventually replace traditional cold calling.
Conclusion
Cold calling, warm calls, and social calls are all different variations of sales prospecting. Cold calling is the least efficient of the three, as it involves contacting prospects who haven’t shown any interest in a product or service.
Warm calling is more efficient as it involves contacting prospects who have shown some interest in a product or service. Since such prospects have already interacted with the product and possibly asked for more information, they are more qualified leads. This means they are further along in the sales funnel and may require less time to convert.
Social calling/selling is a relatively new technique in sales prospecting. It is less direct than the other two and requires more time to qualify leads. The strategy relies on putting useful information out there and letting prospects interact with it. By developing a relationship with prospects, a business positions itself as an authority. The goal is for prospects to come to it when they decide to buy.
Businesses may wonder which of the three sales techniques to employ. The answer is it is best to use all three as part of a successful sales campaign. Each strategy has its pros and cons, and when leveraged correctly, can boost sales in a highly competitive market.
