…Insights From Life Science Sales
“Cold calling is dead”
Having been in remote customer facing roles for over 25 years, I want to discuss some of the statements I hear and share some of my own insights. Remote selling is more common now, particularly since the pandemic. Its long been understood that people buy from people so being there live on a call has got to be the best way to show you are a real person remotely. Speaking live to someone is also the fastest way to get an answer to your question. So as sales people, it’s in our interest to be able to make calling work for us.
What role do emails play?
Sales people see emails as an attractive volume approach; understanding they will get a lower response rate but knowing they can target 100s or 1000s of prospects, they feel they still have a good chance of a positive result. This is of course true but it’s important to think about what is happening to the vast majority of prospects who do not respond. To maximise your response rate each email should have 20% personalisation and this takes time. When the prospect receives the email, they can choose not to respond, even if they are interested, and you have no idea why. We jump to the conclusion that they are not interested but if you are targeting accurately, that is most likely not the case – they are interested but missed the email, too busy to respond etc… The most effective email outreach is complemented with phone calls. If you are sending out excellent educational emails and your prospect reads them, you are getting your prospects interested, whether or not they are responding, and this is a great way to warm them up for your call – but don’t let your competitor call them first, they are already warmed up to the solution you both sell.
Why don’t younger people like calls?
Firstly, phone calls are an interruption; they are an interruption for older people too that has perhaps just been accepted for too long. Younger people see it as a waste of time to listen to someone talking for 10 minutes about something that could be put in a couple of sentences on an email and I tend to agree with them. Younger people are teaching us to be respectful of everyone’s time and that’s important. So to be a modern caller, you need to be polite (acknowledge you are interrupting) and also be able to communicate your ask in the shortest time.
“I can’t get anyone to pick up my call”
This has been the case for some time and it’s not getting any easier. You need to be resilient and prepared with long lists. You also need to identify the right days and times to call for your customer base. Calling continuously through the day is not effective use of your time. Focus your calling at peak pickup times, do not look at email, block your calendar, switch off notifications. And in between your peak call times, send your meeting invitations, do your emails, prospect research and list preparation. This is effective time management.
No-one likes sales calls
Try putting yourself in your prospects shoes. How many calls have you taken from cold callers who make a long speech? You switch off – it’s too much to take in and you have not yet decided if you want to listen. And it gets your back up – why do they think they have the right to intrude and take up your time uninvited! At best you give them a “No” and you may even just put the phone down. The cold caller now feels demoralised – they have spent ages preparing and practising their script, they have delivered it perfectly and they have not got the result they are looking for.
A way forward for sales calls
Remember, as a cold caller you are interrupting your prospect. So instead of trying to sell to them on the spot or trying to get all of that discovery information you desperately want, acknowledge you are interrupting and make it your aim to secure 30 minutes at another time convenient to them, to have a proper discovery call. This shows them you respect their time and that you have something valuable to share. Maintain a lively tone and finish swiftly, make it a pleasant and easy experience for your prospect, so they feel that when they join your meeting it will be time well spent.
Cold calling is by no means dead. We just need to adapt to a different way of doing it. Some aspects might have got harder and we can combine it with emails (or text/InMail) but calling is still the most effective way to move a sales conversation forward. Calling is one piece of the remote selling jigsaw. It’s often touted to be the toughest job in sales but can also be very rewarding when done right.
A remote selling function is cost effective so if you are thinking about adding this to your organisation I’d love to learn more – do get in touch.
