Tips from the Trenches:
BDMs Talk Cold Calling Success

How to Effectively Complete a Cold Call for Different
Industries
By Cecilia Boston, Business Development Manager

I’ve been at Concept for the last three and a half year. Within these last couple of years, I have called into many different industries. The benefit of calling within different industries is that you quickly learn that every call will not be the same. You deal with different pain points, learn different approaches with certain decision makers, and find ways to get past the gatekeepers.

CB Headshot - TFT

Practicing Patience

For example, when I was calling into the logistics industry, it was very different than the material handling industry. The reason being is that when calling into a logistics industry, you are more than likely following up with a decision maker who has already showed interest in a product or service, which automatically gives you control of the conversation. You only have a handful of questions you need to confirm to qualify it as a lead, then you pass it on to the next person.

My pace is also slower than a material handling call because there may be some language barriers. You must have patience and make sure you speak clearly. I find myself repeating myself a lot on logistics phone calls. Therefore, I can’t stress enough on how crucial it is to have patience.

Getting through Gatekeepers

When calling into material handling, 90% of the time you have to go through a gatekeeper. Which honestly can be one of the hardest parts of the call. A pain I know almost everyone deals with when calling into any industry is getting past the front desk without getting hung up on, which happens more often than we like to admit.

I’ve found it useful to go into the call as casual as possible. When asking for the decision maker I don’t share my name or the company I’m calling from and I make it sound like I know the decision maker I’m calling personally, instead of sounding like I’m in sales. For example, I like to say something along the lines of, “Hi is Bill in?” Or, if that’s too casual for your liking you could always say “Good morning/afternoon, is Bill available?” Most of the time the gatekeeper won’t ask questions and transfer you through. However, if you do get the stricter ones who ask who you are, where you’re calling from, and what your call is in regard to, you should elaborate.

"Closing for an opportunity is similar across each industry. Never give them an option to say no and never ask the decision maker if a rep can stop out regarding the need they mentioned they had on the phone."

Another tip I’ve learned when overcoming their objections such as “we aren’t interested” is to simply ask “what are you not interested in?” Most of the time they don’t even know what your call entails. Also, don’t be afraid to call back if someone hangs up on you. I actually enjoy calling back and stating “I’m sorry I believe we got disconnected.” Most of the time they don’t know what to say.

Taking Control of the Conversation

Now, when speaking with a decision maker in the material handling industry you want to get straight to the point on who you are, what your company does, and why you are calling. You must take control of the conversation and if you don’t, you probably won’t end the call with an opportunity.

You don’t want to come off as if you're reading a script or your surveying the decision maker. Trust me, they will just get irritated with all your questions and end the call as quick as they picked it up. You want to make it conversational. I know when calling in material handling you must ask a lot of information about marketing intel and that it can sound very survey-ish. You must ask open ended questions, this won’t only help you close an opportunity now but you are also lining up timeframes for future needs and building that pipeline. Also, most of the time when asking an open-ended question, they can’t just give you a yes or no answer. They must elaborate more. I always try to add in questions that I don’t have to ask but it makes it sound more like a conversation. I like to ask them something along the lines of “how often do you use the units?” after you confirm how many units they have. It gets the decision maker talking and you have a better idea on if this account will be a good fit for when calling next time around.

Using Your Title as Leverage

Let’s say the decision maker in any industry asks you a question that you don’t know how to answer. You don’t want to tell them that you have no idea because then they will question your knowledge of their industry or that you can’t answer a question about your company. When this comes up, you should use your title as a leverage. “I’m a new business development manager but that would be a great question for my rep..” Just leave it at that and move on to the next question.

Again, Take Control of the Conversation

However, closing for an opportunity is similar across each industry. Never give them an option to say no and never ask the decision maker if a rep can stop out regarding the need they mentioned they had on the phone. This is what I meant when I mentioned earlier about taking control. Be confident in the call and once you hear that buying signal you follow back with “well what I would like to do is have my rep stop out regarding tire replacements, what would be a good date and time for them to stop out?” If they say decline the offer at least you attacked the situation head on. Move onto the next call.

Calling a decision maker from one industry may be similar or completely different from another industry. If you’re confident and take control of the call, you’ll have no trouble closing opportunities for any customer!

Contact Concept by filling out the form below for help with Material Handling lead generation and management!