Cold calling can be tough for salespeople. It often feels like you’re constantly getting rejected, and it’s hard to even get people on the phone. However, despite these difficulties, cold calling has remained a viable approach because it can lead to significant deals. Now, there’s a powerful new way to do it: AI cold calling.
Thanks to AI-powered cold calling, sales teams can call more efficiently, employ smarter strategies, and increase their chances of success. Let’s look at what AI cold calling is and how it can help you sell more.
What is AI Cold Calling?
AI cold calling uses artificial intelligence to make the cold calling process better. It helps salespeople teach people about their products, build relationships with potential customers, and close deals. Sales teams use AI tools that look at customer information (from CRM systems) to make their cold calls more successful.
AI cold calling also helps sales professionals with tasks such as scheduling calls, identifying the most promising leads, and more. This lets salespeople spend more time building relationships with potential customers.
It’s important to know that AI cold calling is different from automated calls, or “robocalls.” With AI cold calling, honest salespeople are still talking to customers. The AI is like a smart helper that can dial numbers, record information, and perform other tasks.
The Benefits of Using AI in Cold Calling
Simply put, AI is changing how cold calling works, making this tough sales tactic much more powerful. Let’s dive into the advantages of using AI to make your cold calls more successful:
- No More Note-Taking: With AI sales tools, salespeople can focus completely on their conversations instead of trying to listen and write notes at the same time. After the call, you get an accurate written record right away, so you can review it and decide what to do next. If your AI tool is connected to your customer database (CRM), it will even automatically log the call for you.
- Smart Conversation Help: AI can tell you how a conversation is going, like if the person sounds happy or upset, and it can even recognize important words. This means salespeople get real-time feedback and tips. If the conversation goes off track or a good opportunity comes up, the AI can help the salesperson adjust on the fly.
- Easier and More Accurate Lead Scoring: Based on your sales goals, AI can track important details and quickly score leads to see which ones will be most valuable. Instead of salespeople manually guessing which leads are best, AI can do it, giving salespeople more time to talk to people and build relationships.
- Automatic Follow-Ups: After a salesperson makes a cold call, AI can send automated follow-up emails to leads at set times. This stops leads from being forgotten and greatly reduces boring administrative tasks for salespeople.
- Personalized Call Scripts: Creating unique call scripts for each person can take a lot of time. AI can use customer information to create a script tailored to the person being called, giving salespeople a great starting point.
- Planning Future Calls: By using AI sales tools, salespeople can make sure they say the right things during important follow-up conversations after the first cold call.
- Coaching for Sales Teams: AI’s ability to look through lots of information for insights is a huge help for sales teams. It can analyze what was said in cold calls to find common problems and suggest ways to get around them and close a sale.
Best Practices for Successful AI Cold Calling
Thinking about using AI cold calling in your sales operations? Use these best practices to make sure your cold calling process is successful:
Start Small
Begin by using features that solve specific problems in your sales process, like time-consuming tasks such as note-taking or lead scoring. Also, ask your sales team what they struggle with during cold calls, such as writing scripts or planning follow-up calls.
One way to introduce an AI cold calling tool is to do it slowly. Have your most open-minded salespeople try it first before using it across the whole team. AI can work wonders in sales if your team understands its value and how to use it best, so make sure to explain the benefits and offer training early on.
Connect Your AI Tool with Your CRM
To get the most out of an AI cold calling tool, it’s very important to connect it with your customer relationship management (CRM) system. Machine learning allows AI to learn and get better by looking at past interactions and other key information stored in your CRM.
By reviewing information from call records and notes from salespeople, your AI cold calling tool will continue to improve how it creates call scripts, helps score leads, and coaches sales professionals.
Analyze and Adjust
Look at important numbers to see what’s working and what isn’t. Using AI for cold calls isn’t a “set it and forget it” thing. You need to constantly look for ways to make your AI tools perform better. You might also find that some tasks should go back to human salespeople.
For example, see how your AI cold calling tool handles lead scoring and compare it to how humans would do it. If your team uses AI-generated call scripts but struggles to get sales, review how your AI product is handling this to see what’s not working.
Check for Compliance
Local privacy laws and rules can be tricky, so check your AI sales tools to ensure they follow all the rules. Recording calls and storing customer information are two common areas where rules can be complicated.
When choosing a cold calling tool, conduct thorough research to ensure the provider’s product complies with the relevant privacy laws in your area. It’s also important to regularly train staff so they understand the rules and how to use AI tools properly.
The Bottom Line
While AI cold calling tools can do a lot for sales teams looking to increase productivity and personalize their outreach, they don’t replace the human touch. Things like emotional intelligence and empathy are unique human qualities that technology can’t currently copy. Instead, AI can be a smart partner with human salespeople for greater efficiency and valuable insights.
Sales teams that use this partnership will not only see their cold calling success rates go up, but they will also see their profits grow.
FAQs – AI Cold Calling
Here are some common questions and answers about AI cold calling:
Are AI cold calls legal?
AI robocalls, which are calls made automatically without a human talking and use AI-generated voices, are now against the law according to a recent change by the FCC. These types of calls can be very misleading and have been used to trick people on purpose.
What are AI calls?
AI calls use technology to copy familiar voices to trick family and friends. This is a tactic increasingly used in phone scams. All scammers need is a short recording of your voice to create an AI robocall.
Is cold calling a real job
Yes, cold calling is a real job where people call potential customers from a list. These jobs often focus on trying to sell things or set up meetings with potential customers.
Can you cold call internationally?
Yes, cold calling is still one of the most effective ways to find new customers, even internationally. For successful international campaigns, it helps to have phone numbers from different countries.
Is B2C cold calling legal?
Yes, cold calling to individual consumers (B2C) is legal in the US. However, businesses must comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) to avoid violating the law and incurring penalties.
Is cold calling easy?
While the idea of cold calling is simple, doing it well is very challenging. It means trying to sell something to someone you’ve never talked to before, and consistently doing it successfully is even harder.
What skill is cold calling?
Cold calling is a sales method where businesses contact customers who haven’t talked to the salesperson before. It usually involves talking on the phone, but it can also mean going door-to-door.