Cold Calling: Is Your Tech Start-Up Using the Right Tone?

Cold calling remains one of the most popular sales tactics used by tech start ups. As you may know, it involves calling prospects with whom you've had no prior contact. If you know the phone number of a potential buyer, you can call him or her to pitch your tech start up's products or services. While there are many elements that affect cold calling success rates, tone is arguably one of the most important. If you use the wrong tone, you won't experience positive results from your cold calling efforts.

Speak Clearly

It's important that you speak clearly when cold calling prospects. If a prospect can't understand what you are saying, you probably won't land him or her as a buyer. A successful cold calling strategy requires the use of a clear tone that's easy for prospects to understand. If you speak clearly, prospects will acknowledge your message, resulting in a greater chance of scoring a sale.

Speak Loudly

In addition to speaking clearly, you should speak loud enough so that prospects can easily hear you. You obviously don't want to scream. Rather, you should maintain an appropriate volume that's loud enough for prospects to easily hear. How do you know if you're speaking loud enough exactly? A simple solution is to record yourself on your own voicemail, after which you can play it back.

Be Energetic

You should exhibit energy when cold calling prospects. To say sales reps perform a lot of cold calls would be an understatement. One report found that the average sales rep performs 45 cold calls per day. If you're aligned with the majority of the sales reps, you may get exhausted midway through the day, which can manifest in the form of low energy. Whether it's the beginning of the day or the end, you should maintain strong energy when cold calling prospects.

Listen

Cold calling requires listening. In the B2B industry, buyers often consist of executives -- specifically C-level executives -- who are busy running their own companies. To keep them engaged, you need to ask the right questions. If you spend all your time talking without giving prospects the opportunity to speak, they'll become disengaged.

Many elements can affect cold calling success rates, one of which is the tone in which you speak. If you use the wrong tone, you'll struggle to acquire leads and sales. You can improve your tone when cold calling, however, by following the practices outlined here.

However if you want to improve your cold calling rates, be sure to use our project reports. These are identified projects where the sales lead is in need of your tech services. Take a look at a few sample sales leads or project reports.