B2B Sales Calls – Unscripted Does Not Mean Unprepared

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B2B Sales Calls - Unscripted Does Not Mean Unprepared

To be successful in complex B2B sales, the ability to converse easily and naturally with decision makers, and speak knowledgeably about the product or service you are selling is essential.

I’ve often mentioned before that scripted calls are not a successful method for B2B lead generation.

One-sided conversations do not result in a real qualified lead with the potential to move along the sales pipeline to a close, and therefore do not have a place in complex sales.

For effective B2B lead generation and business development, callers need to be experienced enough to have an unscripted interaction with C-level decision makers, and be prepared to listen and interact on an executive level.

However, it’s important to distinguish between being unscripted and unprepared.

Meaningful Interactions Download

Outline A Successful Call

When you get a decision maker on the phone, you have a very short window of time to grasp his or her attention. Projecting confidence and creating a sense of urgency are effective methods to spark an interest and extend the cold call.

Creating a clear plan and vision for how you want the call to play out, what talking points you want to cover, and what questions would allow you to truly qualify a lead can help get a quality conversation started and leave a good impression on your prospect.

Consider what elements your call needs to be successful:  

  • Do you have a concise message that you can convey quickly and confidently at the outset?
  • What open-ended questions can you ask, specific to the industry or organization, to  uncover business pains?
  • What are the names of businesses you have helped before that are similar to this one; do you have relevant statistics or details you can share?
  • What are the possible and appropriate next steps for this prospect based on where they are in their buying process?

Experienced callers should be able to have a real conversation and handle off the cuff discussions. In fact, creating a unique and memorable interaction is a solid and proven method for B2B lead generation.

But by preparing and considering an outline of what your best call would look like, you ensure that you won’t miss important talking points, and you’ll be better able to steer the call in the direction you want it to go. This is a very different method than reading from a canned script you didn’t even write for yourself, and it is a great way to prepare for a productive sales call.

Executive level decision makers are usually busy and are often on the receiving end of some very bad sales calls.

Stand out from the bad calls with a confident and concise message that is backed by knowledge to increase your chances of a successful sales call.

John

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