The Human Touch in Cold Calling

No matter what you’re doing right now, cold outreach should be a part of your game. I’m returning to episode 1605 with Tanner Stewart, Sr. BDR Manager at Activated Insights, where he shares three tips on how to handle every single cold call. 

Meet Tanner Stewart

• At the time of the interview, Tanner was an account executive at Home Care Plus. Previously, he worked as a BDR with the same company for approximately two years. In these roles, he gained experience in conducting cold outreach every day. Now he is a Sr. BDR Manager with a new company, Activated Insights. 

The Biggest Challenge Sellers Face When It Comes

To Cold Outreach

• Tanner shares how most sellers don’t know which prospects they should call in the first place to close a deal. 
• He shares that if you’re calling hundreds of the wrong people every day, you’ll have little success. 
• It’s best to focus on the right people and the right message to reach your goals.

3 Things Every BDR Must Master When Doing Cold Calls

1. Be a human, treat your prospects like humans.

·  Be genuinely interested in your prospects. If they ask you how you are, be genuine and vulnerable. This helps them bring their guard down. 

·  Instead of starting a call by saying, “Here’s what we are doing and how we can help you with,” start with, “I’ve been talking to some folks, and here are trends I am seeing in the industry. Are you seeing this as well?”

·  Be present when making calls, and when they do answer, don’t be afraid of the interaction or being genuine.

2.  Product selling vs. solution selling

·  Avoid the temptation to dive deep into your product. It’s not bad to want to give them information about your product, but think about relating what you tell them back to what they have told you about their challenges. Take the time to genuinely care about the prospect and alleviate their pain points.

3.  Ask questions and know when to ask them

·  Instead of diving into your product, ask them a question. You can ask them if what they are doing is working for them.

·  Little follow-up questions help you dig deeper. A great question is, “Can you tell me a little more about that?”

·  Once you’ve booked the demo, don’t be afraid to ask a few more questions to figure out what they are hoping for.

“Don’t be afraid to be yourself. As scary as someone’s title may be, deep down, they are also human. Be yourself and enjoy it!” - Tanner Stewart. 

Resources

Follow Tanner on LinkedIn. If you like more guidance with improving your sales skills, join my Sales Mastermind Class. Thinking about starting a podcast yourself? Learn more about Blue Mango Studios. 

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2.  This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3.  This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.