Overview
Cold calling works. A call to a prospect gets their attention, humanizes you, and distinguishes you from a mass of emails in an inbox. Cold calling also presents an opportunity — not necessarily to close a sale, but to move a prospect forward in the sales process. Apollo research shows that just making a call, in addition to an auto-email, results in a 6% increase in meetings booked.
Yet picking up the phone is a mental game that can be daunting even to seasoned professionals.
Who should I call? How should the call start? How often should I call?
Cold calling is an art that can be practiced and honed. Apollo has assembled template call scripts, answers to common questions, and best practices to help you get started.
Wanna level-up quickly? Check out cold calling strategies from Apollo Academy in our course How to Make Cold Calls on Apollo.
Looking for guidance on compliance, caller reputation, or avoiding spam flagging? Check out Protect Your Caller Reputation and Stay Compliant.
Check out the following sections to dial in to what works best on the phone.
Practice Your Pitch
The more accustomed you are to dialing, the more confident you sound, and the better your calls will be over time.
In the Perfecting the Cold Call Academy course, Apollo recommends a seven-day sprint to practice calls:
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record your pitch | Practice 25x and record your last pitch | Practice 25x and record your last pitch | Practice 25x and record your last pitch | Practice 25x and record your last pitch | Practice 25x and record your last pitch | Practice 25x and record your last pitch |
Dedicate time to practice this framework, and your confidence will grow as your pitch improves.
Consistent time blocking, and acknowledging your progress goes a long way towards perfecting the pitch.
Ready to make some calls? Get started in Apollo.
Refine Your Script
Cold calls typically last less than a few minutes. All of the pre-call anxiety boils down to a few seconds of talk time. But unscripted conversations can make a prospect feel like you weren't prepared to talk with them, and they can make you feel even more anxious.
To ensure your calls are effective, prepare some general dialogue in personalized call scripts:
- Try to use your own voice and make the dialogue sound natural.
- Don't make your script too complicated. The goal of a cold call is to connect briefly with a prospect and move them to a more formal meeting.
The Opener
Use the first 10 seconds to ask for your prospect's attention so you can let them know the reason you're calling.
Hi {PROSPECT}, this is {YOUR NAME} from {COMPANY}. How have you been? I know we didn't plan this call. Do you mind if quickly walk you through why I called, and you can let me know if you think it's worth a follow-up call?
The Hook
If they agree to continue the conversation, use the next minute to introduce the topic and engage in a short exchange to uncover their pain points. Draw attention to the prospect's role and company so they know you're specifically targeting them and not just pitching to anyone. Get to a question as soon as possible.
When I speak to VPs of marketing like you, they're overpaying by up to 31% for their outsourced lead gen. Curious - what is your take on outsourcing versus doing in-house?
People are conditioned to respond to questions, and this approach shows you've done your research on them and their pain points. It moves the conversation forward with an open-ended question and makes the prospect reflect on their current solution.
The Close
End the call with an accepted next step. Ideally, the next step will be a scheduled 15-30 minute meeting to more thoroughly discuss the pain points that you uncovered.
Great! Let's put down 30 minutes on your calendar for a walkthrough. How does your calendar look over the next week?
Did you know? You can use AI research to generate a highly personalized cold call script, unique to each prospect.
Anticipate Objections
Objections are inevitable. Prospects may have reservations about price, value, relevance, or purchasing ability, among other factors. These signals can influence the course of your conversation, but they don't have to lead to a dead end.
To improve your objection handling skills:
- Practice your response to the most common objections you hear. The three R's can help: Recognize their objection, restate their objection, then resolve the objection by proposing an alternative solution.
- Research the strengths and weaknesses of your competitor's products so you can better differentiate them from your products.
- Conduct informal A/B testing to determine which responses are most successful, then iterate on them to improve.
Check out these example responses to common objections:
| Objection | Response |
|---|---|
|
Not interested I'm not interested. Thanks. |
I expected that might be the case. You get tons of these calls, but every now and then, it makes sense to listen to the right call. I'm hoping this is that call. |
|
Timing You can contact us in {X} months. |
That makes sense. It's rare when my timing is perfect. {MOVE TO YOUR CALL SCRIPT} |
|
Working with competitor We have {YOUR COMPETITOR'S PRODUCT} already |
Hey, I know it sounds like you're happy, but would it be a horrible idea for you to review your options, if your current vendor is unable to help you {MENTION IMPROVEMENT DUE TO YOUR PRODUCT}? |
|
No budget We're not making any purchases right now |
Would you be open to exploring options beyond what you have now, just so you can have this in your back pocket for the future? |
|
Email me instead Can you send me an email with the details? I'll take a look. |
Hey, just so I don't do you a disservice and flood your inbox with a bunch of irrelevant information, or send you an encyclopedia of info, would it be okay if I asked you a couple of questions? |
|
Not a priority Sorry, this is not a priority for us right now. |
I completely understand. Priorities can shift quickly. Can I ask what your current top priorities are? Sometimes, aligning our solutions with your goals can reveal new ways to add value that you might not have considered. |
|
Demoed your product We tried your product. It didn't work out |
Hey, I know you may not want to try us again, but would you be open to seeing how we've addressed these issues? |
|
Cost How much does your product cost? |
It depends, but it can be anywhere from {PROVIDE A PRICING RANGE}, depending on licenses and other factors. Can you see yourself falling in that range? |
Know Who to Call and When
Before you dial, ensure your contact list is truly ready and that you are keyed in on the best moment to dial. Use features like buying intent and website visitors to anticipate when to reach out.
To help determine who to call, make sure you know your Ideal Customer Profile and then use Apollo to find new customers. Thoroughly filtering contacts before cold calling increases the likelihood that you're dialing qualified prospects.
There are several ways to narrow your list of cold call prospects in Apollo:
| Target recommended contacts | Apollo provides recommended contacts based on the personas you create, so they likely match the criteria you seek. |
|---|---|
| Use demographic and firmographic filters | Apply multiple search filters such as job title, location, company size, and revenue to narrow your contact list. |
| Use the phone status filter | With the phone status filter, find saved contacts with valid numbers, especially useful when adding contacts to a sequence. |
| Use buying intent topics | Leverage buying intent to see which companies are actively researching topics related to your product. |
| Identify website visitors | Track companies that visit your website, then filter prospects based on their visit behavior. |
Ready to make some calls? Get started in Apollo.
Follow a Multi-Channel Strategy
Cold calling should be just one aspect of a multi-touch, multi-channel sales strategy. Every prospect responds differently. That means, in addition to dialing, you should reach contacts via email, social media, and other avenues, to connect with them where they are most likely to engage.
Create sequences to plan and execute a multi-channel sales strategy at scale, then add your contacts to a sequence to automate outreach and tasks through email, calls, and social media touches. Sequences also allow you to iterate on your multi-channel approach through email A/B testing.
Report on Calls
Apollo provides an analytics dashboard that details call performance across the team.
To report on team call performance:
- Launch Apollo and click Analytics > Dashboards, then select the Call engagement performance dashboard created by Apollo.
- Adjust the date range if needed, and review the widgets for call performance.
- The rep performance widget identifies which reps make the most effective calls. Pair these results with call recordings to find areas for coaching and growth, and to share great calls with the team to amplify everyone's game.
- The most engaged contacts widget identifies which types of prospects engage best with your team's calls. Adjust your outbound strategy to prioritize those types of contacts.
- Use data across widgets to A/B test the team. Provide one call script to half the team and another one to the other half. Review the results to determine which script performs better.
You have now reported on call performance.
Next Steps
Here are some great next steps to keep up the call momentum:
| Protect Your Caller Reputation and Stay Compliant | Learn how to stay compliant and protect your caller reputation by avoiding spam flagging, following regulations, and using Apollo's built-in safeguards. |
|---|---|
| How to Cold Call Effectively in Apollo | Follow the Cold Call Checklist to nail every call and set up meetings smoothly. |
| Dialer Overview | Check out the Dialer Overview to set up your dialer and start dialing in seconds. |
| Use Call Purposes and Dispositions | Use call purposes and dispositions to track outcomes so you report on calls and optimize your strategy over time. |
| How to Make Cold Calls in Apollo | Master making cold calls to connect with more prospects, build effective scripts, and boost your close rates. |
| Cold Calling Tips to Book More Meetings Faster | Discover cold calling tips to dial smarter, boost your connect rates, and book more meetings. |