How Phone Calls Are Important For Your Lead Generation

Nowadays, you are less likely to generate a phone lead and, what’s more, connect with these leads. People block unsolicited calls and emails, and there is no doubt in producing fewer conversions.  Lead generation cold calling is harder than it was before.

Although it’s an enticing idea to reach a large number of audiences, the Keller Research Center at Baylor University reveals only 1% of cold calls generate appointments in the end.„Calling without a compelling reason is not the best start for a successful future of telephone lead generation.”

In this modern age, you will find that it’s best to start with pre-heated leads. Call lead generation is evolving. Welcome to this era of warm calling! Talking to the people who already know about your business and are ready to convert with a little encouragement works best for any business. Cold lead calling service has to face the new reality of warm calls.

A warm lead is someone who has shown an interest in your product or service.

Since people are aware of your service and selling points, the whole sales dynamic becomes simpler and fruitful. This means less time spent on luring the potential clients into your business and thereby better conversion rates. It also applies to lead phone. If you are wondering how to generate leads without cold lead calling, keep on reading.

How Warm Phone Calls Helps Your Lead Generation Process?

Warm calling, in contrast to cold calling lead generation, can keep your sales pipeline full even without enough inbound leads. It sets the tone for a productive and long-lasting relationship. The only criteria is to know how to use warm calling most effectively and efficiently. We’ll discuss how to do that in the below section. Lead generation call center owners – this is your time to learn a few new tricks.

1. Recognize Your Ideal Buyer

Begin with studying your current buyer personas. It helps you identify your ideal buyer quickly and improve both warm and cold calling lead generation. By learning the fundamental similarities between your successful clients and the targeted prospects, you can quickly sell your products to the new users and higher retention rates.

Segmenting your current customers and allocating more of your marketing dollars to acquire similar prospects saves your time from chasing the wrong leads. But how to do it?  How to generate leads without cold calling?

Multiple platforms offer lookalike audience targeting. One such example is Facebook, which helps you reach target customers by developing the right engagement funnel.

RELATED TOPIC: CallPage Facebook Lead Ads integration – Capitalize on the Power of Call Back and Advertising

2. Learn More about Target Audience

Researching is crucial in any warm calling or even in cold calling lead generation. You can’t deliver real value if you don’t know your prospect’s interest. Use some of the popular social media channels such as LinkedIn and Twitter to learn more about your phone lead. You can also use tools like Linkedin Automation tools, facebook tools to get best results for lead generation. At least, you need to know their: 

• Job Title
• Present Company
• Number of Years in Business
• Company Location
• Value Proposition

Knowing these basics is essential before dialling any number or connecting with any lead phone. It helps you determine the problem any business is likely to face, and thereby you can tailor your help. That is, if you are targeting a company with only 50 employees, their pain points will be entirely different from a 1000-person company.

Similarly, if you want to sign a deal with any of the company executive, you should identify their educational background through apps such as LinkedIn and try to determine the problems they would face.

3. Be Respectful of Your Prospect’s Time

Today, a sales call doesn’t require you to have a long conversation to get the product sold. It has evolved a lot and thus consuming less time than your old telemarketing strategies, or any lead calling service. Now your warm leads know exactly what they want, and thereby, selling your products to them is pretty easy if you have researched well enough.  

You need to understand that your first call is just an opening, and you need not sign off the deal. So decide on a number of minutes you want to speak to them. Keep it short and precise. 

So, what should be the ideal length of your sales call?  

As per Gong’s analysis report, prospects are 12% likelier to show up for the first meeting if you schedule the call for 30 minutes rather than 60. This makes sense too. People are busy, and asking them to spend an entire hour is risky.

And, in these 30 minutes, don’t worry about cramming in as much information as possible. You can do it later based on the previous conversation. Always try to be respectful of your prospect’s time. So, the primary rule of telephone lead generation – mind the time!

4. Always Leave a Voicemail  

There’s no specific rule that your prospects should pick your call. When they fail to answer you, you may immediately move on to the other call. I suggest you not to do that. Voicemails can help you here. They serve as an essential medium for business communication and call lead generation.

Voicemail lets your messages be easily updated as it reduces the need for an external (clerical /managerial / receptionist) support.  

Here are a few ways to use a voicemail when your potential customers are away from their phone: 

• You can simply leave a quick tip and say you’re happy to share more if they’re interested.
• Tell them about any helpful strategy or resource for their business that you’re going to share with them in the next call or email.

RELATED TOPIC: 11 Phone Selling Techniques That Work

5. Perfect Your Sales Opening

Every employee of lead generation call center knows that lead calling an executive isn’t an easy task, be it cold or warm leads. You have only a few minutes to capture their attention as well as demonstrate your brand value. So, come up with a perfect opening line!  

Since your prospects or phone lead have no idea who you are or what your company provides, it’s essential to introduce yourself and then wait for them to respond. However, all this while you should sound powerful and assertive as prospects are more likely to respond to someone who’s confident and influential. 

Basics of Opening a Sales Call – a principle of every lead generation call center:

• Greet the person with respect. „Good Morning, Mr. John” is much better than, „Hello, Mr. John” or „Hi, Mr. John.”
• Introduce yourself and your business. You can tell – „My name is XXX; I’m the CEO of XYZ Firm. This call is regarding your interest in our product.”

Thank them for investing their busy time. Show that you respect their time with this statement – „Thank you for answering my call. It’s going to involve a minute or so of your busy schedule so that you can get back to your work.”

6. Email Follow-Ups Are Essential  

Follow-up emails are exceedingly crucial for businesses that aim to make business through lead generation calls. It’s one of the main rules of both warm calls and lead generation cold calling. A research report by Woodpecker, a SaaS company that automates emails and follow-ups, shows that a campaign with even a single follow-up converts 22% more prospects. 

Since most of today’s business communication takes place over email, choosing this medium to track prospect’s progress plays an important role. Moreover, your prospects are most likely going to open your message as they have previously spoken to you over a phone call.  

In case, if they didn’t answer your calls but listened to your voicemail, they’ll recognize your name as it is familiar now. If they didn’t listen to it either, then at least emails give you a chance to connect with them if you are lucky!  

Consider this sample email template from HubSpot. You can use this if you don’t receive any response from your prospects after leaving a voicemail.

MUST-READ: 6 Ways to Effectively Follow Up with Your Leads

7. Call Your Prospect Again

If a prospect/lead phone isn’t answering your call or voice mail, try reaching them later. Call them at different timings to identify when they’re most receptive. For instance, you can try calling them early in the morning as they won’t be busy at their desks. Is there any other optimal time to catch someone at work?

CallHippo took the data of over 1000 to determine the right time to make a call lead generation. According to Call Hippo’s research report:

• The best time to call your prospects ranges between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.
• The second best time is between 11 a.m. and 12 a.m.
• The minimum attempts to call your prospects is 6 times.

Bottom Line

Now you know that there is nothing as effective as a warm phone call when it comes to striking the human chord. Although it requires a lot more research than any average cold call, it’s more likely to double your response rate when executed appropriately.

 If it seems complex, worry not. Remember this thing: 

Nobody likes to receive a cold call. It gets you off on the false foot with the potential client/phone lead and puts you at a direct disadvantage. That is, they never asked you to call, but you probably have interrupted them in the middle of their busy schedule.

On the other hand, warm calls are promising. It only requires you to give a little push in the beginning. But once done, you will find drastic improvements in your sales rate and leave lead generation cold calling behind.

With CallPage, you can start talking to more potential clients, improve the efficiency of your sales process and make your salespeople more efficient. Get in touch with one of our experts or Start a free trial.