The 9 Best and Most Effective Tools for Cold Calling
Cold calling is a numbers game. Even if you have done your homework, have a list of somewhat qualified leads and start dialing full of optimism, you will get rejected. And you will get rejected a lot. Most of the time, you will be calling at the wrong time.
Cold calling success comes down to optimism and patience. In fact, to get the yes at the end of the call, you will have to stay persistent and provide real value to the prospect.
Furthermore, to be able to fill your quota, you will have to be as efficient and effective as possible.
Interesting facts about Cold Calling
- 48% of sales reps are afraid to do cold calling [Source: ValueSelling Associates]. If you are one of them, see our tips on how to motivate yourself before doing a cold call.
- Don’t worry about rejection because 82% of buyers accept meetings with salespeople who reach out to them. [Source: RAIN Group]
- And 69% of buyers accept calls from new providers [Source: RAIN Group]
- It can take between 5 and 8 touches to generate a conversion [Source: RAIN Group]. Most cold callers give up after 4.
For you to have a more effective cold calling routine and make your life more organized, we reached out to 50 sales experts for the essential tools you need for telesales success.
Other categories were mentioned but we selected the categories that had the most consensus and the tools that were mentioned the most in each category.
This list does not only include what kind of tools you will need but the recommended tools in each category.
The 9 most effective cold calling tools experts recommend:
- Cloud Phone System
Recommended tool: Ringover - Scheduling platform
Recommended tool: Calendly - Screen Sharing solution
Recommended tool: CrankWheel - Revenue intelligence
Recommended tool: Gong.ai - Sales engagement platform
Recommended tool: VanillaSoft - Lead Management software
Recommended tool: MyPhoner - Conversation Intelligence Platform
Recommended tool: Rafiki - CRM software
Recommended tool: Freshsales - Predictive Dialer
Recommended tool: RingDNA
1. Cloud Phone System
What is a cloud phone system?
A phone service that enables you to direct your phone calls through the Net. A cloud phone system, as the name suggests, is stored in the cloud which means that there is no maintenance cost.
Why is it important for Cold Calling?
With a cloud phone system, you will be lowering costs and you can more easily manage your phone system. Your agents will be able to make calls through the system on their desktops or mobile phones and it’s easy to create redirects.
Recommended tool: Ringover
Ringover combines unlimited calls, group messaging and video conferencing into one easy-to-use app. You can integrate it with your CRM and helpdesk tools in just a few clicks with no expertise needed.
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Yann Abrassart |
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2. Scheduling platform
What is a scheduling platform?
Scheduling platforms make it easier for you to manage your schedule and appointments and give you a better overview of your busy days. There are multiple scheduling tools or suites available as well as niche products that focus on a specific angle of scheduling needs. For enhanced scheduling, explore tools addressing specific needs for a comprehensive scheduling issue solution, ensuring seamless and efficient time management.
Why is it important for Cold Calling?
Scheduling tools are not going to save you when you make first cold contact with a prospect. But they can help you become more efficient. They give you an overview of the day and can work both as a task list for the day or help you set up appointments or follow-ups more efficiently.
Recommended tool: Calendly
Calendly is a niche tool that makes appointment setting so much easier. You send a link to your calendly page and the person you are setting up an appointment with selects available time. Calendly then syncs the appointment with both your calendar apps.
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Jamie Opalchuk |
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3. Screen sharing solution
What is a Screen sharing solution?
Screen sharing, as it suggests, enables you to share your screen with prospects. There are multiple options available, ranging from using specific screen sharing tools to using screen sharing features in collaboration platforms.
Why is it important for cold calling?
Screen sharing is important to break the ice and make your pitch visual, especially for more complex products such as insurance or digital products. Picture is worth a thousand words and by using visuals during cold calls, your prospect is more likely to understand visuals than just words.
Recommended tool: CrankWheel
CrankWheel is made with telesales in mind and works every time, even over bad Internet connections. Unlike collaboration platforms such as Teams or Zoom, your prospect is not required to install anything. You can start a session and send a link via email or SMS or just tell them your public link and they can enter the session in seconds. Prospects can connect on any device, mobile and desktop.
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Bruce Bourgeau |
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4. Revenue intelligence
What is Revenue intelligence?
Revenue intelligence tools use AI to develop forecasts and spot sales opportunities. RI tools collect and analyze important data to give insights on how accounts are performing, sales trends and hidden opportunities.
Why is it important for Cold Calling?
Sales forecasting becomes more accurate, you can see if and which pipelines are at risk, increase performance and to automate certain CRM processes which in turn can improve customer relationships.
Recommended tool: Gong.ai
By using machine learning and AI, Gong analyzes data that helps sales teams by finding patterns from its database of hours of sales conversations.
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Cornelius Fichtner |
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5. Sales engagement platform
What is a sales engagement platform?
A sales engagement platform should be a part of your sales engagement strategy. It helps your interactions with prospects across channels. You can book meetings, make phone calls and send messages inside one piece of software which makes your work more efficient.
Why is it important for Cold Calling?
It gives you both the tools to communicate and the overview of communications inside the same platform. You can use separate tools alongside your CRM but when you have reached the threshold of two to three, you might want to consider an all-in-one tool or start using integrations with your CRM.
Recommended tool: VanillaSoft
VanillaSoft assists teams in managing large amounts of leads. You may develop a unique formula to evaluate leads as they come in using its lead scoring tools, ensuring your agents speak to the highest priority prospects first.
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Vaibhav Kakkar |
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6. Lead Management software
What is Lead Management software?
Think of it as a CRM but for prospects. You fead leads from the lead management system to your sales team and when they have become customers, they become part of the CRM. Instead of filling your CRM with bad leads that won’t convert, you filter them out.
Why is it important for cold calling?
It helps you stay organized and gives you an overview of the leads that you are currently nurturing to become customers.
Recommended tool: Myphoner
Myphoner automates and streamlines the flow of sales operations by keeping tabs of leads through each stage of the funnel and makes sure that they are being nurtured until the sale is closed.
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Anthony Martin |
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7. Conversation Intelligence Platform
What is a conversation intelligence platform?
It’s a software that uses algorithms to analyse what is being said or written to deliver analysis of sales conversations.
Why is it important for cold calling?
By using real time analysis of your interactions with prospects and customers, you are much more likely to get results. You will see which parts of your sales script deliver results so you can fine-tune your pitch more effectively. Some more advanced conversation intelligence platforms even have the option to give you hints and advice during the conversation.
Recommended tool: Rafiki
Rafiki helps you by spotting deal risks and upside opportunities. It can also help in improving sales conversations. The software records and transcribes conversations and provides an analysis of them.
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Roy Morejon |
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8. CRM software
What is a CRM system?
In essence, Customer Relationship Management software gives you an overview of your relationship with your customers. It stores contact information but also when and how you have interacted with the customer as well as information on when it’s best to contact them and other things your sales team has noted during interactions.
Why is it important for cold calling?
Cold calling can often be about qualifying leads which means that the agent needs to be effective in making as many calls as possible. CRM helps agents to be organized and effective. CRM is most beneficial after the first cold call, to build and nurture the relationship.
Recommended tool: Freshsales
Freshsales enables you to manage your relations with existing and potential customers. It includes sales lead tracking, sales management, tracking events and more. You can send personalized bulk emails and activities of the emails.
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Evan Tarver |
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9. Predictive Dialer
What is a predictive dialer?
A predictive dialer works in a similar way as an automatic dialer; dialing automatically from a list of prospects and routing the call to an agent when someone picks up. The difference between predictive and automatic dialers is that predictive dialers dial when it’s likely that an agent will be available when the call is connected to the prospect. When the sales team has many ongoing conversations, the system slows down and picks up again when the team is available.
Why is it important for cold calling?
Again, cold calling is a numbers game. It’s important for agents to make as many calls as possible. With a predictive dialer, you are not risking that a prospect picks up and has to wait on the line for an agent to pick up.
Recommended tool: RingDNA
RingDNA imports data from your contacts and calls prospects from their own area code. They claim that leads are 400% more likely to pick up the phone when they see a local number dialing them.
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Ryan Stewart |
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If you are interested in gaining more skills in telesales, check out our previous article on the best tips, tricks and techniques for cold calling from our panel of experts.