Outbound Calls Strategies From a Sales Leader

Outbound calling is a game-changer for organizations. It can change the way you engage with your customers and boost sales. 9% of all outbound calls result in successful conversions. So, in a nutshell, we need to realize that traditional marketing techniques, such as cold calling, will never go wrong!

Let’s delve deeper and learn how to handle outbound calls using Cloud Telephony Software. Read on to find out how to craft a perfect outbound call strategy and get to know the best global practices that can increase the chances of a positive conversion.

What are Outbound Sales?

A highly effective marketing technique, outbound sales, is the process where sales agents get in touch with customers and deliver their pitch. Outbound sales teams can use emails, instant messages, or calls to contact potential customers. 

Cold calling or the practice of making calls to sell your products or services, is the most popular way outbound sales teams achieve results. Some of its advantages include:

• Targeted outreach 
• Personalized engagement with customers
• Instant feedback 
• Hassle-free calling and cost-effective

How to Effective Outbound Calls Strategy?

Outbound calling is a challenging function and comes with its own set of difficulties. 52% of outbound marketers feel that their marketing efforts are “ineffective.” It is often disheartening to fail at cold calling, despite careful planning and hard work. 

So, what is the solution? Is there any way to create a fail-proof outbound call plan?

It’s not rocket science! Following a focused outbound contact strategy can streamline customer communication and help your team get better bottom-line results. Go through these tips that can make a difference in making outbound calls work.

1. Specify Key Performance Indicators

To meet your final objectives, it is vital to specify short-term goals and key performance indicators. Managers should be able to check progress and assess the success of outbound call campaigns by measuring KPIs. Here are some standard performance metrics that are worth tracking for better results:

1. Average Call Handle Time ( Length of all Calls/ Total Number of Calls)

It is important to monitor the amount of time that your agents spend on calls, or it may result in a waste of time and effort. A higher average handle time could indicate that sales representatives do not negotiate skillfully and need to be trained in customer service.

2. Conversation Rate ( Number of Final Sales/ Total Number of Calls)

By keeping a tab on the conversion rate, you will know how effectively call agents are capturing new customers and closing deals. A low conversion rate is a danger signal that indicates that sales representatives are not utilizing time constructively.

3. First Call Resolution

Make sure that your agents are not making an endless number of calls to close a deal. Try to maximize first call closures that save precious time, and ensure that sales reps crack the deal at the first instance of customer communication!

4. Occupancy Rate (Total Time Spent on Calls/ Total Time Unavailable)

Monitor call (call monitoring) occupancy rates to check agent productivity. If you notice low call occupancy rates, it probably means that sales agents take time to complete each call and need better training to speed up the process.

2. Target The Right Audience

Blind cold calling is not going to get you anywhere. 42% of sales representatives feel they do not have enough customer information before making a call. You need to ensure that your call lists consist of qualified leads to increase the chances of successful conversions.

Conduct adequate research on your prospect’s purchase history, demographics, product preferences, and location to deliver a personalized pitch. This can help sales agents build a genuine rapport with prospective customers and guide them through the sales pipeline.

Use the right technology to ensure that you target the right audience segments. Most marketers use sophisticated CRM tools to gain access to essential customer data to close sales effectively. Investing in an integrated customer relationship management solution can help sales agents make outbound calls faster and store all vital information in a centralized repository for easy access.

3. Craft The Perfect Sales Script

Your outbound calling strategy can significantly benefit from having sales agents use a formulated script for prospective customers. It gives sales representatives a ready-made blueprint to enhance two-way communication flow and say impactful words that make a positive difference.

Sales scripts should be crisp and concise. They should deliver a clear message without being verbose or flowery. Find the most powerful words to engage with clients and keep them hooked on to the conversation. Include your sales agents to collaborate while creating the script to be familiar and comfortable with the final pitch. 

4. Boost Team Morale With Incentives and Training

Your outbound calling strategy cannot work without an essential ingredient – a team of motivated call agents! You need to hire the right people and work at refining their skills through regular training sessions.

Incentives are a smart tool to motivate your sales representatives to push themselves beyond the limits and close deals quickly. Work out a short-term and long-term incentive plan that includes monetary commissions, prizes, and recognition awards. Provide adequate feedback so your sales team members know what they are doing right and can chalk out a performance improvement plan to deliver excellent results.

5 Essential Outbound Sales Tools for Efficiency

Outbound sales tools are a boon in the current competitive business landscape. It helps sales agents save time, deliver personalized pitches, and improve communication. Since only 16% of marketers say that outbound sales practices provide the highest quality leads for sales, organizations need to invest in automated tools to push prospects down the sales funnel.

Choosing the right outbound sales solution can prove to be a challenging task. Organizations need to research the available options in the market and assess their unique business requirements before investing in any outbound sales platform. Here are five essential outbound sales software applications that can lead to better conversions and bottom-line results:

1. Outbound Sales CRM

Highly popular and practical tools, outbound sales CRM platforms can help agents keep track of prospects and capture contact information. They organize every part of the outbound sales journey, simplify tasks, and enhance customer engagement.

Why You Need It: CRM solutions automate making outbound calls, storing contact data, and personalizing sales pitches.

Try Out: Close, Zoho, Pipedrive, Salesforce, and FreshSales are leading CRM software that can enhance your outbound contact strategy.

2. Sales Intelligence Solutions

Capturing business intelligence from the environment is crucial for closing successful sales deals. Investing in sales intelligence solutions helps companies gather useful information to decide which leads are worth engaging with and which leads should be discarded.

Why You Need It:  Sales intelligence software is a potent tool that gives your sales representatives all the information they need to deliver the right pitches, generate leads, and sell smartly.

Try Out: DiscoveOrg, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and Datanyze are specialized sales intelligence tools that can drive better outbound call results.

3. Contact Information Tools

If your organization cannot immediately afford a fully-featured sales intelligence solution, there are plenty of cost-effective contact information tools that can help you capture lead information. They maintain all essential customer data in a centralized place and organize it in a structured manner.

Why You Need It: Contact information tools are useful as they store details such as customer name, address, email or phone number, and purchase history in electronic form for easy access. 

Try Out: Hunter.io, RocketReach, and UpLead are some leading contact information tools that have advanced database management functionality.

4. Communication Platforms

While your sales team can use generic tools such as Google to email and communicate, it will perform far better with a separate specialized communication platform. An automated communication solution can help the sales team streamline communication, collaborate on projects, and share information seamlessly.

Why You Need It: Dedicated communication channels save time and help team members exchange information faster.

Try Out: Outreach, Prospect.io, and Close are ideal communication solutions for teams looking to maximize sales engagement.

5. Social Networking Tools

Harnessing the power of social media networking tools can optimize your outbound calling strategy. It can help sales agents engage with contacts and build a positive brand reputation.

Why You Need It: Social networking tools can empower sales representatives and connect them to the target audience on various social platforms.

Try Out: Buffer, SproutSocial, and Hootsuite are good tools for sales teams that want to connect with customers on social media management channels.

It is not easy to devise a streamlined outbound contact strategy. You need a strategic plan, a motivated team, and the right set of tools to capture lead information. Follow the best global outbound sales practices and learn along the way on the journey. 

Invest in advanced software and sophisticated tools that will automate simple tasks and enhance outbound call agents’ operational efficiency. Let us know what worked for your team and how you maximized your outbound contact strategy – sharing ideas can never go wrong!

Tirtharaj Raman

A Backpacker with keen interest in Digital marketing. Responsible and passionate for building a digital culture at SoftwareSuggest. Grabber to implement new competitive ideas to analyze and boost online presence. Could be found in mountains and solo traveler by birth.