subject: Turn Cold Calling Into Warm Calling [print this page] Being able to transform cold calling to warm calling can have a noticeable impact when working to generate leads by picking up the phone. Cold calling could be defined as calling a prospect that has no idea who you are and why you are calling. Making calls that could be labeled more as warm are calls where there is some existing relationship or knowledge.
The challenge here is that most likely when you are working on lead generation and appointment setting, the majority of your calls are closer to being cold than warm. The prospects simply do not know you and there is no existing relationship. Although, there are some very simple and practical things that you can do to make cold calls appear as if they were warm.
1. Name dropping
When someone answers a cold call, whether they are a gatekeeper or a target prospect, they are likely going to be trying to identify if you are a friend or a foe. A friend would be someone who has some sort of existing or past relationship with the company. Either there is current work going on or there was work completed in the past. A foe would be someone that does not have any existing relationships and is more of an outsider trying to get in.
To perform warm calling and make the other person on the phone think we are more of a friend than foe, we can perform some name dropping. This would be to mention other people in the organization that we have worked with or have talked to.
If you are cold calling, you might not have any existing relationships or interactions. In this scenario, you can simply name drop people that you are planning on meeting with. For example, you could name drop other people in the prospect's organization that you are planning on talking to.
2. Mentioning an initiative
A tactic to shift to warm calling that is similar to name dropping is to mention an initiative that the prospect has going on. This will give the impression that there is some existing knowledge and relationships.
The challenge here is that you might not know of any initiatives. You can possibly uncover one by performing some research on the prospect or by collecting information on previous cold calls. If you are not able to identify an initiative, there are many that are generic that all organizations have like projects to decrease cost, increase sales, decrease risk, etc.
3. Asking qualifying questions
Many cold calls that sales people place revolve around the sales person giving information as they try to sell and try to build interest. If you shift from giving information and move toward collecting information, you can take a step away from cold calling and one toward warm calling.
To help with this, you can incorporate two or three qualifying questions into your cold calling script. When you shift from trying to sell to just trying to collect some information and learn a little more about the prospect to figure out if they are a good fit for what you have to offer and how you help businesses, then you will create a much warmer setting.
