Everything You Need To Know About Making Outbound Calls

Outbound calls are still an amazing way to close sales and generate buzz around your business' offering.

Yet, if you ever received an annoying call from a pushy salesperson and hung up your phone in frustration, you can safely assume that outbound calling is only as effective as the underlying strategy.

The question here is how can you make productive calls that won't frustrate your prospects.

In today’s post, we’ll define outbound calls and provide you with a few strategies that will help you start seeing results.

What are outbound calls?

The easiest way to define outbound calls is by describing them as any call from a company to a prospect made to close a sale, generate interest in a product or a service, or any other purpose.

While the simplicity with which we define outbound calls is easy to grasp, making an effective call is anything but. This is especially true when comparing outbound calling to its close relative - inbound calling.

With inbound calling, the customer is calling the company and is already expecting to talk to someone. Since the prospect was the one who made the first move, the tone and the mood of the interaction that follows will be completely different.

When your business is the one doing the reaching out, you'll have a limited time to make a positive impression. Furthermore, you have to work around the fact that the person on the other end of the line may simply not be receptive to your efforts. They may not have the time at the moment, but may also not be willing to talk to a sales rep over the phone.

Strategies for making effective outbound calls

Due to all these challenges, your team needs to learn certain strategies that ensure you’re not wasting your time and money making unproductive outbound calls. 

Here are some that are bound to (no pun intended) work:

1. Use call scripts

When making outbound calls, it’s important that your sales reps are always prepared and familiar with all the key points they need to hit when connecting to another person via phone. 

One of the best ways to achieve this is by using call scripts. 

Despite their shoddy reputation, they help sales reps cover all the main talking points in a constructive manner. In addition, they are also valuable in minimizing damage in tricky situations such as sales objections or complaints. 

If you’re considering writing a sales script, go beyond just the talking points and try to make the text sound natural. Most people can easily tell if a person talking to them is reading scripts instead of actually having a human conversation. 

2. Establish call flows

Call flows are an important part of inbound calling. These are automated paths that a caller is funneled through after calling a business. You can take inspiration from this technique and formulate a full diagram that maps out all the strategies for all the scenarios that may occur when making calls. 

For example, you can establish a clear flow chart for each of these common occurrences:

• Prospect hangs up the phone
• Customer who was offered an upgrade wants to cancel or downgrade
• Customer is excited about your offering and you’re considering upselling them
  
  

3. Implement training sessions

If you want to see results, your team will have to buckle up and hone their craft in regular training sessions. 

You can do these for reps of all skill levels. Rookies can learn more about basic selling strategies or communication skills. At the same time, you can help senior operators improve their chops with intensive training on things such as scenario planning or call scripts. 

4. Find the perfect time to make calls

Although not all prospects or customers are the same, there are certain times in the day when people, in general, aren’t open to talking to a sales rep. Avoid times when prospects may be having breakfast or dinner, when they’re on their commute, are getting ready to go to or leave work, and so on.

The perfect time is not that easy to establish as it will be heavily dependent on your customer profile. 

5. Don’t be pushy

Despite your best efforts, a prospect may not need what you’re selling or have the time at that particular moment to engage in a conversation.

While confidence and persistence are key when making outbound calls, at some point, you need to cut your losses and move on to the next person who could be ecstatic about what you’re selling. 

6. Record your team’s calls

Sales reps will likely not appreciate the fact Big Brother is overseeing them while they work, but that’s no reason to shy away from using those recordings to pinpoint problem areas and possibly even double down on certain techniques that are leading to positive results.

To achieve this, it's necessary to keep a close eye on key metrics such as:

• Connection rate
• Average handle time
• Conversion rate
• Occupancy rate
• Abandon rate

This data can ultimately prove invaluable when deciding on the trajectory of your outbound strategy and how to fine-tune your tactics to improve results even further. 

Call your way to success

When combined with other digital marketing tools and strategies, outbound calling can be an extremely powerful tactic. While doing it effectively may require a lot of resources and training, eventually, all the effort will be reflected in your overall sales numbers. 

But what can you do if you don’t have the resources to implement these tactics? Should you give up?

Absolutely not!

Just as with other areas of your business, you can outsource your outbound calling to a third-party call center. In fact, there are many benefits to doing so. 

For instance, you cut down on your overhead, save money on personnel, while also maximizing your budget and improving your overall results.

Here at Aspen Media, we’ve been providing call center services to businesses around the nation for over three decades. All our agents are trained and familiar with the most fruitful calling techniques that you can make full use of without spending an exuberant amount of cash. 

Contact Aspen Media at 800-853-2240 or fill out our contact form and start calling your way to success!