Cold Call 2.0: discover the future of customer prospecting
Prospecting customers is a task that is part of the daily life of those who work with sales. There are several strategies to get new leads and one of the best known is the cold call, that technique in which the seller or responsible for pre-sales reaches out to someone who may not even know your business to offer the product. This technique brings good results, but it also carries with it some disadvantages. And, more and more, it is losing ground to cold calling 2.0. Have you heard? Cold calling 2.0 is one of the most modern methods of do active B2B prospecting (which focuses on business-to-business sales). The basis is the same as calling as we’ve always known it, but adapted to this increasingly connected world and people increasingly valuing their time. Also called calling 2.0, this model is based on the use of e-mails, app messages and, of course, also by telephone – but in a more specific way. Much more than using new means, however, cold calling 2.0 has a different proposal. Instead of looking for a lot of sales, he focuses on better sales, with a higher average ticket and greater added value. This is because, from the beginning,prospecting is carried out supported by surveys. Even if you keep getting in touch with prospects who may not even know your company, it’s already known that they have a need to fill – and that your company has the means to do that. Another point to highlight is that cold calling 2.0 has developed targeting B2B business, and not the final consumer. Traditionally, business between companies takes longer to complete and involves more interaction. And that is precisely what calling 2.0 proposes. Remembering traditional calling You probably ever heard of cold calling and if you work in the sales area, it is possible that you have already made use of this strategy. This model is quite old and is still used today, being a classic method of active prospecting. A cold call is the model in which someone makes contact by telephone with a lead in order to present their product or service. Often, the person receiving the call is not even aware of the existence of such a product or company – or even that he was a potential customer for it. And that’s precisely where the name of the strategy comes from: it’s a cold call, in which the potential customer is approached without him having expressed interest. This system is widely used because it brings immediate results, unlike inbound marketing models where conversions tend to happen in the medium term, albeit spontaneously. But like all sales strategies, cold calling has strengths and weaknesses. Among the disadvantages, one of the main ones is the possibility that the person receiving the call will consider the approach inconvenient – ​​and this has a strong potential to make the company offering the business opportunity equally inconvenient. Also, the focus in this model tends to be on a quick sale. The seller’s conversation has a more persuasive tone, with the aim of ensuring a negotiation as soon as possible. The main intention is in the moment sale, and not necessarily in a relationship between companies or between company and consumer in the long term. Thus, although it brings immediate results, it does not always ensure their perpetuity. And what is cold calling 2.0? Cold calling 2.0, or even cold calling 2.0, is a method of actively prospecting for new customers, with whom no previous negotiations have been held, but without using the traditional cold call. It is, after all, an evolution of this model. As we have seen, in the past this type of prospecting was done through phone calls to contacts gathered in large lists by the marketing team. Even if it gives results, the method is not exactly efficient: the lists invariably also have uninterested contacts, which often represent precious wasted minutes. With cold calling 2.0, you start using new prospecting tools, which include contact via email and WhatsApp. And surveys have already shown that more than 70% of those born between the years 1980 and 2000 – the so-called Millennials – prefer that negotiations be handled by email, not by phone. These are people in this age group who currently occupy strategic positions in companies. However, there are still other reasons that make calling 2.0 a more interesting model. It allows the negotiation to be more pleasant and to develop gradually. Instead of a phone call that can represent a direct denial, exchanges of emails and WhatsApp messages allow the approach to also be consultative. In other words, this type of prospecting is more analytical. This makes the team responsible for capturing new leads identify whether it is ready to move forward in a negotiation or if it still needs to be worked on better. In this sense, cold calling 2.0 also becomes very useful for retaining customers, since it allows the sales team or even pre-sales make a more complete prior diagnosis of that potential client and everything that can be offered to attract him. The importance of prospecting new customers The sales sector is historically one of the most important of companies. This does not mean that it is more relevant than development or production – which, after all, produce what you want to sell –, but without a team prepared to put that product on the market, little progress is made. In addition, it is sales that bring revenue to companies and, therefore, sustain them. Therefore, having a solid customer base is essential to maintain the financial health of any undertaking. But always relying on the same sales volume impedes growth and is, at the same time, risky. Many times, an important client stops doing business with you for a number of reasons, billing drops and this can bring harmful results. Thus, being on the lookout for new leads should be a constant goal. However, on many occasions, this alone is not