How MSPs Can Warm up Cold Calls
There’s no sugarcoating cold calls. Most people dread them, but they’re a necessity. To keep yourself accountable, one approach is to add time to your calendar to guarantee you aren’t making excuses to skip cold calling. “Once you find a time that works for you, you’ll get more accustomed to regularly making these calls. I liked to make them in the early morning and at the end of the day. This was the best chance of getting the decision maker on the line: while they were sitting at their desk,” said Eric Torres, former MSP and current Channel Development Manager at Datto.
Another approach is to make cold calls a bit more fun with gamification. “We’ll set up a competition to get our team excited about it. The more fun you can have with it, the better. For example, we’ll set up a time frame to make the calls. During this time, whoever performs the best, gets a free lunch on the rest of the team,” said Shaun Kamps, Sales Manager at River Run Computers.
When you’re on the phone with potential customers, it may be helpful to use a script. However, don’t read directly from it. Instead, use it as a guide during the call to ensure you are touching on the most important bullet points. If you’re reading directly from a sheet, the person on the other end of the call will likely notice, which can quickly end the call before it gets a chance to truly take off.
Despite what you may hear, cold calling is not dead, according to Kamps. “If anyone tells you that you don’t need to cold call anymore, they are absolutely wrong. Cold calling is the most efficient way to find out how people feel about your product and for you to promote brand awareness.”
Successful cold calling requires a high-quality list. The MSPs we spoke with agreed building a list organically is a better option in comparison to purchasing one from a vendor (although, they didn’t totally dismiss the latter.) For building these lists, the most successful methods involve researching local companies, attending industry events and trade shows, and capturing lead data from gated content such as eBooks, webinars, or videos. Make sure you’re constantly evaluating your lists. One way to accomplish this is through segmentation. Every quarter or so, spend time going through the names and categorizing them with a grade of A, B, C, or D. Kamps’ goal is to touch every “A” prospect once a month and move on from there if necessary. “Once we get them on the phone, we work to learn as much about them as possible.”
In our eBook, Cold Calling Made MSPeasy, we’ve consolidated a list of no-fail cold calling tactics from industry-leading MSPs who’ve mastered the game. Download today and turn your cold calls a bit warmer.
