What is Cold Calling?
Cold calling is when you reach out to people that aren’t yet your clients. The hope is that you can offer them your insurance services and see if they’re interested. Cold calling can be a great strategy for expanding your client base, but it does require both skill and time. Many insurance agents rely on cold calling for a large piece of their outreach and marketing.
Should You Be Cold Calling?
If you’re currently looking for new clients, then cold calling could be a great way to get them. If you’re someone who loves talking to other people, then this could be a great outreach strategy for you.
Getting Leads
There are multiple different ways that you can get leads for cold calling. The method that you use will most likely depend on what resources you have available to you and how much room is in your budget. Some people prefer to pay for a list of leads. This is a great way to save yourself time. However, you need to be careful where you purchase the list from. You’ll want to make sure that you trust your source, so that you don’t waste your money on a list of leads that isn’t worth your time.
Once you have your list of leads, it’s important that you organize them. You’ll want to have a system that you can use to remember whether or not you’ve called someone, as well as the outcome of the call. You can have a column for people that you won’t be calling again, as well as a column of promising leads that you want to follow up with. Doing this is important and will make sure that
Be Prepared for Multiple Outcomes
Cold calling can have a lot of different outcomes. You’ll most likely get a variety of responses from people and you should be emotionally prepared to deal with it. Most people probably will hang up, which you shouldn’t take personally. Remember to celebrate your successes and not let your failures bring you down.
Having a goal for each cold calling session can help you with your mindset. If you achieve those goals, then you can be sure that you’re on the right track. If you’re not able to meet your goals, then you can make any needed adjustments.
Develop a Pitch
Having an effective pitch is one of the most important parts of cold calling. You’ll most likely develop your pitch over time and make adjustments to it as you see fit. It’s important that your pitch works for your ideal client, so feel free to make any changes that are needed.
Your pitch should have a clear call to action. It’s important to think about this and be strategic with what you’re asking for during your call. Do you want to set up a meeting time where you can discuss insurance options further? Do you want them to check out a website and fill out an intake form? Knowing what your end goal is will give you direction and clarity during your calls.
If you’re not sure how to start building your pitch, there are lots of samples that you can find online. Taking a lot at these pitches can provide you with more information and guidance about how to get started.
Think About Your Tone
Your tone is one of the most important parts of cold calling. Sometimes people might not be happy when they pick up the phone, so it’ll be up to you to set the tone for the call. You want to be calm and yet engaging. You should remain mindful of your tone throughout the call, so that you can remain professional.
If you’re interested in working on your tone, consider asking one of your friends to hop on a practice call with you. You can then record the call and listen back to it. This is a really helpful tool that you can use to work on developing a professional tone. Consider doing this exercise every couple of months, so that you can continually work on your tone.
Developing Your Strengths
When you’re cold calling, you should think of ways that you can further develop and utilize your strengths. If you’re someone that does really well when you’re spontaneous, then you might not want to heavily rely on a script. However, if you’re someone that gets nervous when talking to strangers, a script might be the right choice for you.
Thinking critically about what your strengths and weaknesses are is one of the best things that you can do for your business. You should continually work to find opportunities that will allow you to utilize your strengths and work on your weaknesses.
Using a Script
Most people rely on a script when they’re cold calling. Having a reliable script is one of the best things that you can do when you’re setting up your cold calling routine. You’ll most likely end up memorizing your script.
You shouldn’t be afraid to change your script if it isn’t working. If you notice that people are hanging up constantly during a certain point in your script, then you might need to make some edits. Paying attention to the cues that you’re getting will allow you to better communicate with your leads and increase your cold calling success.
Utilize the Information That You Have
There are a lot of different things that you can do to increase your cold calling success and taking advantage of the information is one of them. If you know someone’s name, then make sure that you include it in their script. This is a great way to make your calls more personal and reduce the amount of times that you’re hung up on.
If you’re ready to learn more about cold calling, let us know. We’re here to provide you with additional information and answer any questions that you may have.