Even with the growth of online and inbound marketing methods, cold calling is a strong and successful method for B2B lead generation and business development. You may wonder, when the world has become dominated with email, social media marketing, and even online messaging apps to make connections, why is picking up the phone still powerful?
Below are three reasons why picking up the phone remains a proven and powerful method for qualifying prospects and making the connections that are needed for B2B sales.
B2B Lead Generation – 3 Reasons to Pick up the Phone
1) It builds trust
The sales cycle for B2B sales is long and may require adjustments along the way. Building a relationship at the outset is a big factor in keeping things running smoothly and efficiently. A phone call that involves a meaningful interaction and a real conversation about solutions is a more effective way to build trust with, and nurture, your prospects than any form of electronic messaging.
When you have a direct conversation with a key decision maker ensuring him or her that your goal is to find a solution that fits their complex problem or business pain, the trust that is built will carry through the sales cycle to the close.
2) You have a better chance of reaching the right person
Getting your message out using email and social channels is a legitimate way to gain name recognition, establish legitimacy, and share your overall message.
However, for complex B2B sales, it simply cannot stand alone as a lead generation method.
When you want to reach the person within an organization who makes the decisions, the most effective and efficient way is to pick up the phone and simply talk with them.
Committing to making the calls – and following up in a timely manner – will get you talking to the key evaluators who have the ability to take next steps much faster than blanketing an organization with emails and hoping to get a response from a decision maker.
More importantly, once you’ve gained an audience with that person, the personalization and conversation you are able to have on the phone is much more powerful than an email that lists the features and benefits of your solution, product or service.
You have the opportunity to ask open-ended questions and truly qualify the opportunity, rather than spend time back and forth with emails only to discover your product or service is not a good fit.
3) A good phone call will stand out
As more and more organizations are following the trend of digital marketing with emails, blog posts, newsletters, and other written communication, a commitment to personally making the calls is a way to differentiate yourself from the competition.
Now, I know that there are still plenty of people making calls out there; as Principal and Co-Founder of an outsourced inside sales – lead generation company, I am on the receiving end of many of them – but most of them are frankly, quite bad.
Callers are inexperienced and reading scripts, often only wanting to qualify a lead as lightly as possible to try and get me to agree to setting an appointment. As a result, truly professional calls are a refreshing change of pace.
If you are prepared to discover and professionally reach a decision maker, answer questions, and be willing to listen in order to uncover business pains then your good phone call will stand out and your efforts will pay off.
Pick up the phone and generate more B2B qualified sales leads
The seemingly infinite ways we have to reach out to people can make it easy to justify not picking up the phone. Let’s face it, when done properly, most would consider it a chore.
For some industries, a well-crafted email or captivating image might work. But for solid B2B lead generation, real conversations and human connections are still necessary to begin the sales process to drive and close complex sales.
Jim
