Helpful Summary
- Overview: We provide insights on how to train your team in cold calling, highlighting the importance of core focus areas, training methods, and best practices.
- Why Trust Us: At ServiceBell, we have a stellar track record of improving cold-calling processes for numerous sales teams, leading to higher response rates and conversions. Our clients report more booked meetings and increased confidence.
- Why It Matters: Effective cold-call training builds essential skills, ensures consistency, and keeps sales teams up to date with trends, resulting in better performance and more sales.
- Action Points: Implement cold-call training best practices, including leveraging technologies like ServiceBell’s AI Dialer.
- Further Research: Check out the ServiceBell blog for more insights and industry news.
Does Cold Calling Work for B2B Sales?
Contrary to what you might think, cold calling is incredibly effective for B2B enterprise companies because it works great in volume and creates human connections.
We know because we’re experts in outbound sales ourselves, empowering B2B sales teams to outreach more efficiently with parallel dialing.
Yes, typical conversion levels look intimidating, and not in a good way, as the average success rate of B2B cold calling is 4.82%. That’s not even a close rate—it’s merely a lead-gen rate of prospects who pick up the phone.
Assuming a typical connection rate of about 5%, that means from a list of 1,000 prospects, you can expect two or three leads.
Sounds underwhelming? Hold on a second!
Cold calling lends itself to scalability, especially with parallel dialing, which lets you dial multiple numbers simultaneously! And it offers something other channels don’t—a human touch, because you get to talk to prospects directly!
In fact, Gong reports that companies can increase their cold-calling success rates to over 10% by simply asking the other person how they are and cultivating a personal, empathetic conversation. All of a sudden, those 2–3 leads from 1,000 prospects turn into five leads!
When done right, cold calling is an invaluable source of leads for B2B sales teams. You can directly connect with prospects quickly and at scale to pitch your product or services and fill your pipeline with demos or meetings.
But cold calling is also notoriously difficult. What challenges do SDRs typically face with cold calling?
First of all, it’s nerve-racking. You could easily lack confidence, be afraid of what might happen, and freeze up or not know what to say. And explicit rejection is also discouraging. We’re human after all, so how can you not let it get to you?
Plus, you need to be nimble. Remember, this is a live conversation, so any hypothetical question or concern could arise that you have to prepare for.
That’s why training your sales team on the best cold-calling techniques and tips can optimize your outbound-dialing investment and empower your sales reps to be their best.
We’ll guide you through everything you need to improve your sales team’s cold-calling game.
Why is Cold-Call Training Important for B2B Sales?
Training your sales team on cold calling is a top priority for any company interested in growth. It helps SDRs build selling skills, familiarizes them with your product, and develops their confidence & communication abilities.
Let’s take a closer look at this importance. How does cold-calling training benefit sales reps?
Skill Acquisition and Development
The number one reason for cold-call training is to learn the skill of cold outreach. No one is born with cold-calling skills, so when you hire new sales reps, you need to train them with a robust program.
Cold calling is no child’s play, but training makes it easier. In fact, top-performing sales reps are 1.6x more likely to have received training than other reps, so you support both your team’s development and your company’s bottom line by upskilling SDRs with the resources they need to succeed.
Consistency in Execution
Every company has a house style—a unique way of performing tasks that aligns with your values and goals.
Likewise, you have specific cold-calling methods and strategies developed over time for your sales reps to master. Cold-calling training helps you establish consistency in how your SDRs perform their duties.
Remember, successful execution in cold calling comes down to consistency. Just like building small habits to perform well over the long-term comes down to the little things day in and day out, cold calling is all about showing up and doing the grind, even when it’s not fun or sexy.
Staying Up to Date With Market Trends
Marketing and Sales keep evolving, so there’s always something new to learn. Regular training ensures your sales team stays ahead of curves.
For instance, AI in outbound sales is a developing advancement that sales reps need to stay on top of to succeed.
AI cold-calling training with an AI dialer empowers reps to incorporate AI into their outreach processes, enables them to dial more efficiently, and equips them with lead intelligence from intent signals like website activity to talk to prospects with confidence.
Top Focus Areas for Cold-Call Training
Cold calling, a key sales tactic when leveraging outbound dialers as part of a B2B outreach strategy, is a tough skill to master. But there are specific areas training should cover to maximize performance.
Here are the top 8 areas to focus on to train reps for B2B sales:
1. Communication Skills
Cold calling is an act of direct communication, so basic communication skills are not negotiable when training your sales team.
By incorporating topics that teach articulation and clarity, your team members can nail product messaging with utmost clarity. This way, your prospects can understand the purpose of the call and your value proposition.
Active listening is another communication skill to include in a cold-calling training program. Teach sales reps to listen attentively and never interrupt the prospect and train them to ask clarifying questions that show they’re genuinely interested in what the prospect is saying.
2. Confidence-Building
Let’s face it, cold calling is not for the fainthearted. A sales rep’s confidence takes a blow each time their call is dropped or a proposition is rejected.
Steady confidence-building training fortifies your sales team against the consistent shutdowns they will receive.
To build confidence in B2B SDRs during cold-calling training, try the following:
- Give positive reinforcement in feedback and always make criticisms constructive
- Provide direction over a dialogue; confidence builds when reps know what to say
- Prepare questions and set responses that reps can ask
- Create practice calls and have someone else pretend to be a prospect
- Set end goals so reps know the agenda
3. Prospect Research
Knowing the individual or business you’re calling and planning to sell to is one of the best ways you can prepare for a cold call. The more data, information, intent signals, etc., SDRs are provided and can learn to find & study during cold-calling training, the more prepared they’ll feel.
You can guide your team to conduct proper prospect research using the following tips:
- Use online resources
- Leverage social media
- Use CRM tools to track previous interactions
- Research prospect’s challenges and needs
- Try ServiceBell’s parallel dialer to gather intent signals
- Review their competitors
4. Product Knowledge
Teach your sales reps all about the product they’re selling. Ground them in features, benefits, and unique selling points.
A solid understanding of the product is essential to inform the prospect, make a value proposition and manage objections.
Prepare documentation that includes typical pain points and buyer sentiments to help SDRs rame conversations and understand the target personas. And have them read client testimonials, product reviews, and scripts of past calls too.
The more collateral you provide to reps during cold-calling training to help them learn the product, the more likely they’ll book meetings and find success.
5. Use of Sales-Enablement Technology
B2B companies with modern sales stacks that utilize tools like analytics, lead intelligence, and AI dialing are 1.5x more likely to outperform other companies that lag behind.
Train your sales reps on how to best use your CRM, marketing-analytics softwares, dialers, and more during cold-calling training so they can make the best of these tools to book more meetings.
ServiceBell is a perfect example of technology that streamlines the cold-calling process and drives conversions. Teams can now do more in less time with the advanced AI Dialer that enables teams to dial up to nine lines at once and detects if it’s a person or voicemail connecting so that you can drop pre-recorded voicemails to optimize efficiency further.
6. Rapport Building
When cold callers establish a personal connection with prospects, that’s where magic happens. That’s because people value real, human conversations where they feel heard and cared for.
Teach your sales reps techniques that help them build rapport with their prospects, such as:
- Speak in a friendly tone; 38% of language is comprehended via tone
- Put yourself in their shoes; ask yourself what it’d feel like if you were them
- Show genuine interest in what the prospect is saying; use their language when responding to what they say
- Find common ground to make the conversation relatable; e.g., if they also work in sales, maybe your lead data shows they took the same career path as you’re taking
- Ask open-ended questions; e.g., “What’s your biggest challenge right now?”
7. Objection Handling
It’s normal for prospects to raise objections to cold callers’ propositions, so train your team to anticipate pushback and coach them on how to respond to common objections.
Techniques that will help SDRs overcome resistance include:
- Showing empathy
- Active listening
- Reframing objections
- Sharing social proof
- Addressing specific pain points
It helps to prepare a list of responses to typical objections that SDRs can study during their training. Answers to doubts or questions about benefits, competitors, functionality, pricing plans, value props, and more can help your sales reps feel confident to cold call like champs!
8. Call Scripting
Call scripts are the foundation of any successful cold-calling campaign, especially when training new employees or rookie SDRs.
Scripts provide a clear structure of what to say, the narrative of the pitch, and important selling points.. A good call script contains the key points of the call—a reliable framework that can reduce anxiety, leading to more persuasive conversations.
When training B2B sales reps on cold calling, share call scripts with them and teach them about how & why the script was written, highlighting these best practices:
- Define your objective for the call
- Open with a friendly and personalized greeting
- Make it concise and straight to the point
- Ask qualifying questions
- Put forward your value proposition
- End with a clear call-to-action
Effective Cold Call Training Methods
Cold-call training has its peculiarities; because cold calling is more direct than inbound lead-gen and more challenging than outreaching to warm leads with previous touchpoints, training for it demands unique methods.
Here are three effective training methods for B2B cold calling so your SDRs can grow to reach their potential and fill your organization’s pipeline.
Live Role-Play
When role-playing, trainers act as prospects for trainees to act out scenarios. It’s very realistic and interactive, letting trainees practice their skills in a dynamic and spontaneous setting.
Before a live role-play, arm your trainees with the following arsenal:
- Call script
- Objectives of the call
- Buyer personas
- Product pitch
- Objection-handling responses
Shadowing
Shadowing involves a trainee observing a more experienced sales rep during a live cold call. This cold-call training method enables a new rep to study an experienced one and learn from them.
After the exercise, the seasoned cold caller and the trainee discuss the call, highlighting the strategies used and lessons learned. With time, the trainee starts to participate in the calls and later graduates to making calls themselves.
Workshops and Seminars
Reps can learn valuable tips and strategies for cold calling through workshops and seminars. At these meetings, you can teach theories, trends, customer expectations, and best practices.
Make these classes as interactive as possible to boost learning and execution.
Recorded Call Analysis
Instruct cold callers to analyze a recorded cold call to identify the strengths and weaknesses in the pitch. Have them point out areas for improvement to ensure they’ve internalized any gaps and to give feedback on their analysis to finetune tactics and improve performance.
Peer-Learning and Support
Peer-learning is an effective cold-call training method for teams to share experiences and learn from one another’s successes, challenges, and mistakes. (Pro tip: build consistency by scheduling regular debriefing sessions for teammates to share their experiences.)
ServiceBell’s Virtual Salesfloor makes peer-learning a breeze. Teammates can dial together, auto-mute when a prospect picks up, and enter Live Listen mode to learn together and give real-time support. It’s a great way to coach your sales team.
Best Practices for Cold-Call Training
There are no rigid formulas on how to train your outbound sales reps, but some practices have proven effective in building a solid team and increasing response rates. Let’s check them out!
Provide Constant Training Resources
Make cold-call training a regular exercise. The sales market is ever-changing, and new cold-calling tools are designed every day. You need to train your team constantly to keep them in the loop so they can meet—nay, exceed!—their targets.
Regular training sessions also build your team’s confidence. Equipping them with the latest techniques and strategies gives them much-needed motivation in the cold world of cold-calling.
Combine Training Methods
One training method is insufficient to build a vibrant sales team. Experiment with different cold-call training methods and choose the most effective ones. When you choose multiple methods, you address different learning styles and needs.
For example, combine live role-plays with shadowing and recorded call analyses for best results and to build a well-rounded & dynamic sales team.
Invest in Soft Skills
Every worker needs soft skills for better efficiency and productivity. This is especially true for sales teams since they interact directly with prospects and represent your company.
Teach soft skills in cold-call training to boost communication, empathy, active-listening, and relation-building abilities.
With soft skills, sales reps can perform their duties more effectively and build trust with potential clients, leading to better interactions with prospects, enhanced customer satisfaction, and higher conversion rates.
Offer Mentoring Opportunities
Assign mentors to new sales reps to develop your employees’ cold-call skills. One-on-one coaching from experienced senior reps helps guide junior reps and builds their confidence.
Mentors can also give hands-on training to mentees by demonstrating effective cold-calling techniques while mentees listen and provide real-time feedback during live practice sessions for an instructive and supportive work environment.
Track and Monitor Performance
It’s important to assess how effective your cold-call training is. Analyze insights to improve your training strategies.
Decide what Key-Performance Indicators (KPIs) to use, such as:
- Success rates or meetings-booked rates
- Lead quality from booked meetings
- MQL-to-SQL conversion rates
- Close rates or win rates
- Average deal sizes
- Length of phone calls (for efficiency)
Fortunately, ServiceBell’s dialer for B2B cold calling provides call recordings and robust analytics to uncover the exact places where your team struggles, Complete with performance breakdowns to pinpoint who exactly needs specific coaching opportunities.
Train Smarter and Convert Better With ServiceBell
Want higher response rates and improved conversions? Train smarter. Get familiar with the core focus areas of cold-call training so you can drive your efforts in the right direction and master training methods for the best results.
And remember, smart B2B sales teams leverage effective outbound dialers. ServiceBell’s Outbound Dialer takes a lot off your team’s plate, saving time, increasing productivity, and helping you book more meetings with higher-quality leads.