Timing is everything in sales. Knowing when to reach out to a potential customer can be the difference between a successful sale and a missed opportunity. Perfect timing means catching people when they’re most open to considering your products or services.
If you’re aiming for perfection, warm calling could be your ideal approach. It’s different from cold calling, where you call people out of nowhere. With warm calling, you reach out to people who’ve already interacted with your brand in some way, like attending your webinar or filling out a form.
Each warm call increases the probability of you being in the right place at the right time, improving your chances of closing the deal and building lasting customer relationships. While it might sound like a big step, switching from cold calling to warm sales calls is not hard at all. Here’s how to improve your sales process with warm call tactics.
The role of warm calls in the sales process
Warm calls play a pivotal role in the sales process. These calls put you in contact with people who have expressed interest in what you’re selling. Maybe they signed up for your newsletter to get the latest news and insights into your industry. Or perhaps they liked a post on your social media, showing their curiosity about your brand.
Since the prospect already knows a bit about your company, they’re more likely to listen and talk to you. This means you don’t have to spend much time explaining who you are. Instead, you can get right to talking about how your product or service could benefit them. It’s also a great way to personalize the sales pitch to the potential customer’s needs and interests.
Cold calling vs. warm calling vs. hot calling
When it comes to reaching out to prospects, there are 3 main types of calls used in the sales process: Cold calling, warm calling, and hot calling. Each type has its own sales strategy and works well in different situations.
Cold calling
A cold call typically goes out to people who have never interacted with your company. Essentially, you’re reaching out to a complete stranger, hoping the prospect answers and engages with your call. Even with an excellent cold call strategy, this approach can be tough because the person isn’t expecting your call and doesn’t know anything about you. The chances of landing the sale can be lower, but it does allow you to get in touch with a lot of people quickly.
Warm calling
Warm calling is when you get in touch with prospects who already know a little bit about your company. They may have looked at what products or services you offer and even explored their features and benefits. Warm calls are usually easier than cold sales calls because the person is probably interested in learning more about your brand’s offerings. So, they’re more likely to accept your call and engage with your sales pitch.
Hot calling
Hot calling is when you call prospects who are very interested in buying from you. The main difference between hot and warm calling is that hot leads are often ready to purchase and may even be expecting your call. That’s because they have likely engaged with your brand’s Marketing or Sales team several times before. Hot calls have a high success rate, but it’s only possible to make these calls after nurturing leads to the decision stage of the buyer’s journey.
Warm calling tips and tricks for sales reps
Warm calling requires a solid game plan to take prospects from interest to a sale. If you do it right, it shows that you honor the prospect’s time and focus on relationship building, not just closing deals. Ready to make that happen? Use these tips and tricks to convert warm leads to paying customers.
Find the decision-makers by learning about the company’s executives
Each company has decision-makers with the power to approve or deny a sale. If you’re not looping these individuals into the conversation, you won’t seal the deal. Before making calls, take time to identify the leaders who decide on purchases.
Visit the company’s website and LinkedIn pages to learn about the company’s executives and Management team. Focus on people with backgrounds in areas related to what you sell and who oversee relevant departments and budgets. For example, if you offer new tech systems, the Chief Information Officer probably has the most relevant purchasing authority.
Reaching the decision-makers might be another hurdle to get past. While initial calls might be with lower-level staffers, keep politely asking to speak to or meet with the executives with purchasing power. Aim to loop in these VIPs early, even if questions come through their teams first.
Prepare a friendly introduction and many key talking points
You’ll land more sales if you sound polished yet friendly when making the first call. So, well before dialing, it’s wise to plan what you’ll say to break the ice. Also, prepare many key talking points by sketching a sales script addressing the customer’s needs and wants.
Start the sales script by warmly introducing yourself and your company. Share a quick overview of how you help businesses like theirs and why you’re reaching out. Prepare to briefly go over your offers but focus more on uncovering pain points you can solve first.
Come up with multiple open-ended questions about daily challenges the person faces or goals they want to achieve. Then, jot down the next steps you’ll share with the customer, even if it’s just sending helpful information their way.
Acknowledge the initial interaction to create an instant connection
Warm sales calls build on having some type of initial interaction with leads before that first call. If you’re active on social media, your social selling efforts may have created that initial connection. The prior contact could have also happened via webinar signups, e-book downloads, or blog post comments.
Whatever the case, openly acknowledge those first touchpoints early in your call. You might say, “I noticed we’re connected on LinkedIn and you shared some posts from our page. Was anything particularly useful so far?”
Calling out these interactions makes an instant personal connection. It shows you pay attention to the lead’s unique needs versus blasting out general sales pitches.
Practice warm calling techniques with mock sales calls
Smoothly leading sales conversations takes skill. Before contacting real leads, practice your approach with mock calls to boost confidence and fine-tune your approach. Role-play warm sales call scenarios with a sales manager to refine your friendly opening, product or service overview, and questioning strategy.
For even better results, record your warm call practice sessions and review the conversation to improve. Look for instances where you could ask better follow-up questions or convey product features and benefits more clearly. Through this process, your poise, listening abilities, and sales pitch flow will become second nature by the time you reach out to new leads.
Experiment with timing to see when warm sales calls work best
Results from warm calling outreach can vary greatly depending on when you call. Finding the ideal contact times enables you to connect with more decision-makers and get better results.
To do that, track response rates over days and weeks to identify patterns. Note the number of contacts reached and how long you talked, sorting the calls by factors like day of the week, time of day, and even holidays versus normal weeks.
If the new data suggests better call times, adapt your timing to reach more warm leads when they’re most likely to take your sales call. This improves your chances of having serious sales conversations that get outstanding results.
Get warm leads talking by asking open-ended questions
During warm calls, resist the urge to pitch your product immediately. Instead, use thoughtful, open-ended questions to learn more about the customer’s priorities and pain points, like:
- Which systems would offer the biggest benefits if improved?
- What current projects are a top priority for your team right now?
- Where do you see the most business growth potential in the next year?
As the customer shares, ask follow-up questions that dig deeper into the specifics, like “What obstacles slow down your team’s progress the most day-to-day?” Avoid yes/no questions in favor of exploring ideas.
Listen carefully to gather info about needs and pain points
Success with warm sales calls relies much more on listening than talking. Let your prospects guide the early sales chats by focusing on completely understanding their challenges. Give your full attention when they describe the issues they face. And summarize what you hear to confirm you understand.
Encourage the potential customer to get specific. Find out how problems directly hurt their work productivity, costs, or customer service. Note where they lose money, time, or clients from bottlenecks. This will allow you to highlight how they’ll benefit from your products or services later in the call.
End the initial sales conversation with a call to action
Before wrapping up the initial warm call, suggest the next steps to keep the momentum going. Start by going over the key pain points and needs shared with you. Then, talk about how your solutions squarely address those issues.
After the overview, provide specific follow-up actions based on where they are in the purchase process. For example, if they’re interested but not yet ready to commit, send additional materials to review, like product demos or customer success stories. Or, if they’re nearly ready to buy, schedule a call to discuss pricing, purchase methods, and implementation.
Follow up by email and with direct mail advertisements
The work doesn’t end when you hang up after a promising warm call. Interest fades fast without prompt follow-up to reinforce key messages and next steps.
Send a recap email within 24 hours highlighting vital talking points from the conversation. Include relevant attachments like brochures, product sheets, and case studies. Thank them for the chat and restate suggested actions.
To nurture continued awareness and education, you could also send materials from your direct mail campaign, such as:
- Product demos and samples
- Sales sheets focusing on relevant features
- Case studies that align with their vertical
As these personalized printed materials arrive, they keep your brand top of mind for your prospects while adding value to your business relationship.
Make additional calls to build rapport with the warm lead
A single call won’t close a complex sale. Warm leads need many positive interactions before they become hot leads ready to purchase. Aim to make regular warm call check-ins over time to guide your leads to the finish line.
Ideally, you want to schedule these follow-up calls every 2 weeks or so. Each warm call should cover something new, like pricing help and reviews, to increase knowledge piece by piece. Also, build rapport by remembering things the potential client shares and asking how their projects are going. Above all, be helpful whether they are ready to buy yet or not.
Record warm calls to assess and adjust your sales technique
Working on your warm calling skills is a must if you want to improve your sales win rate. But first, you need to know where you excel and what needs work. You could record your calls with different prospects to learn more. Just remember to ask them for permission before you start recording to respect their privacy and comply with legal regulations.
Carve out 30 minutes every 2 weeks to revisit the calls and assess where you stand. As you listen to each call, objectively assess strengths like clear value proposition overviews or progress moving the sale forward. Take note of any areas needing polish, like tighter rapport building or key detail summaries at the end of the call.
Use the insights to improve your skills and showcase growth from call to call. Doing this early and often will be a game changer for your warm outreach approach and results.
Share valuable content to streamline the sales outreach process
Sending useful content to leads is a powerful way to show them you want to help, not just sell your products. This makes your outreach more welcome and effective, leading to more sales.
Aim to send a steady stream of value-driven materials, such as:
- Blog articles addressing their pain points
- Short video tips showcasing your expertise
- Tools like return on investment (ROI) calculators
- Research reports with original data insights
- Full-length product demos and tutorials
Your content positions you as an advisor sharing no-strings-attached advice rather than a sales rep only wanting to close the deal. People will naturally look forward to your insights and sales calls as a result.
Break free from cold call challenges with warm call success
Cold calling is a challenging path. Trying to engage total strangers leads to hang-ups and headaches. But warm calling is different—these leads already know and like you. Conversations start positively, resulting in higher win rates and less frustration. So, the next time cold calls have you questioning how to boost sales, remember the warm and welcoming opportunity right before you. Shift to nurturing warm leads and say goodbye to making cold calls for good.