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7 Best cold email templates to increase your response rate

Posted on by Pranav Dalal

Sending cold emails with zero reply rates sucks, right? Following the path of cold email experts can boost your response rates. Find out more in this info-packed guide about how you can turn the tables in your favor in cold emailing.

Before we dive into cold email templates, we want to make sure you understand cold emailing. Let’s look at the definition.

What are cold emails?

A cold email is a sales email you write to a potential customer you haven’t engaged with before. Before you create your cold email, you do online research to get the correct email addresses of the people fitting your buyer persona. 

Examples of cold emails include:

  • Marketing personnel send emails to create awareness about and promote the company’s products
  • Salespeople send bulk emails to people with whom they have no relationship to promote their solution

Could there be a difference between cold emails and marketing emails?

Difference between cold emails and marketing emails

In summary, salespeople send cold emails to people who have no relationship with their company. Email marketing is for building relationships with existing buyers through the marketing team. 

Your company should use a dual strategy to maximize the benefits of cold emails (outbound marketing) and email marketing (inbound marketing). Now let’s jump into how you can create cold emails that work.

Characteristics of successful cold emails

Because we want to zero in on cold emails, let’s jump into what makes a charming cold email with high open and conversion rates.

  • Use your real name. Remember you’re reaching out to someone unfamiliar with you. To break down that wall of suspicion, be legit. 
  • Contact details. It’s critical to be open and transparent by including your contact info, website, phone number, social media profiles, job position, etc.
  • Relevant content for the customer: Here, you need to understand the problems the prospect is trying to solve.
  • An explicit request with specific details
  • Conversational to build a relationship rather than asking for a sale

Later on, we’ll consider top secrets to boost your cold email conversion rates as we wrap up. Meanwhile, you’ll also need to appreciate the difference between awesome cold emails and spam.

Cold email vs. spam

Email Service Providers have sophisticated filters to detect spam. Here are some features that can make your emails spam.

  • Spam always uses fake identity or name
  • The email sender excludes their contact info
  • Lacks individualization as the sender delivers the same message to several people
  • Sales-focused; it’s pushy
  • It’s a good candidate for a spam filter

Here’s an example of spam.

example of a spam email
Source

My Gmail sent the email to my spam folder because it has all the spam characteristics. I’ve never played Casino, but here I am with a $2500 reward. That’s crazy, right? And those attachments are red flags.

twitter quote on effective cold email

With this in mind, let’s uncover some approaches to create cold emails with a high open rate and a conversion rate. 

Cold email examples (plus approaches)

There are several copywriting techniques you can use to write personalized cold emails. 

  • Write a personalized email using the AIDA approach (Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action)

Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action - AIDA approach

Attention means getting your recipient’s attention through the subject line and opening statement. You can do this by researching more about your prospect to help say something in the introduction that’s familiar to them.

Interest is about pointing out the potential customer’s pain points. It’s about them and not your business.

Desire shows how your product or service can solve the customer’s problems. Validate your offer by including testimonials, case studies, etc.

Action means asking the prospect to take specific action on your offer.

AIDA in action.

an email example for save time and get leads that used AIDA approach
Source
  • Brief, Blunt, & Basic-3B’s to nail your cold emails

    The cold email approach favors a simple but direct message. 

    Brief requires that you keep your emails short.

    Blunt says, cut to the chase. Say your benefits about your products or service right away.

    Basic insists on avoiding long-winding sentences to put across your message. Concise is the word.

    BBB in action
an email example of Blunt Brief and Basic
Source
  • Make a specific offer to your potential buyer through BAB (Before-After-Bridge) to appeal to their pressing needs. Create a visual perception

    Before means that you should specify the challenges, your prospect faces in your email. But limit the pain points to what your product can fix.

    After is explaining the bright future, the client can experience without their challenges. If possible, back up your claim with some stats and social proof.

    Bridge now says showcase how your product’s benefits can help them reach those future goals.

    BAB in action.
An example of Problem After Bridge (PAB) with Call-to-action (CTA)
Source
  • Emphasize the pain points of the potential buyer with PAS (Problem, Agitate, and Solve). Hit hard on their problems

    Problem is all about knowing the exact problems the customer wants to solve.

    Agitate gives more info about the seriousness of the problem with stats, personal experiences, case studies, etc.

    Solve is now arriving on the scene like Superman to fix the problem. 

    The idea of this strategy is to emphasize the discomfort the buyer is likely to experience if they don’t take immediate action to fix their pain points. 

    PAS in action.
An example of Problem Agitate and Solve PAS
Source
  • Grab your recipient’s attention by using questions (Question, Value Proposition and Call To Action, QVC)

    Question means you straightaway launch into the email with your offer prefaced with a question. 

    Value Proposition is about highlighting the benefits of your product to show how they outweigh its price. Show your customer why your product or service is better than others. You may use testimonials to validate your reasons.

    Call To Action is a persuasive and robust statement asking the recipient to perform a specific action after you’ve made your case.

    QVC in action.
QVC
Source
  • Pamper your potential buyer with praise to activate dopamine. (Use Praise, Picture, and Push)

    Praise requires that you understand your prospect’s success story and commend them for it. It could be that the client’s company has made groundbreaking technology, or they have been recently promoted. Find something praiseworthy to include in your message.

    Picture aims to clarify how your product can solve specific problems. Use the cause-and-effect method to strengthen your case. 

    Push says present your offer as the solution, but without giving away lots of details. Your goal is to create interest in your product. 

    PPS in action.
An email example of Praise Picture and Push (PPP)
Source
  • Present your product like the star of the show with SCH (Star, Chain, and Hook)

    Star requires that you make a persuasive introduction about your service or product or even an idea. Let it shine like a star.

    Chain is all about providing more information about why your product is the star. How can it solve the customer’s challenges?  Stress the strengths by using social proof, case studies, testimonials, etc.  Focus on stimulating interest and desire for your solution.

    Hook says conclude with a potent call to action.

    SCH in action.

    Let’s also dive into other cold email templates, which may follow the strategies we mentioned earlier. 
an email example of SCH i.e. Star Chain and Hook
Source

Types of cold emails with high response rate

types of cold emails with high response rate
  • Email for introducing yourself

    The purpose of this email is to build a relationship with your prospective customer. You want to tell them who you are, what you do, etc. Note that you’re not selling anything yet. 

    Here’s an example.

    Hi Sophia, 

    I know you’re busy, so I’ll not take much of your time. The main reason for my email is to introduce myself because I love connecting with people in my industry. 

    My company, ABC Corporation, is a global manufacturer of widgets. I’m a keen follower of your company and am always looking forward to your latest developments.

    If you find some spare time, you can reach out to me via email. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

    Thanks so much for taking your precious time to read my email. I hope we can link up in the future. 

    Cheers,

    Emma Williams

    ABC Corporation
  • The hard sell email

    Use a hard sell email if you want a customer to buy your product or service in the short term. If possible, you ask for a meeting to make a demo. The approach can make some people uncomfortable or even disappear from your radar.

    Check out an example below.

    Hey James,

    Are you looking for a way to email marketing campaigns to generate profitable sales?  With user-friendly email marketing software, you can roll out targeted campaigns.

    While your website can generate leads, you can do more marketing automation to segment your audience and customize your messaging. 

    My only goal is simple: to help you set up effective marketing software to boost your revenue. 

    If you want to understand the importance of the right email marketing software to hit your sales goals, take the time to reply to this email. 

    Hundreds of my customers have seen skyrocketing revenue after using my email marketing tool and strategies.

    Is now the time to take your email marketing campaigns to the next level? The answer may be yes.

    Cheers,

    Emma Williams

    ABC Corporation
  • The soft email

    This email aims to initiate a conversation hoping to sell your offer in the future. It’s the opposite of the hard sell email. See an example below.

    Hey Sophia,

    As the marketing executive of ABC Corporation, it’s my role to connect with people in my industry who can help us with top-class knowledge and feedback about our services.

    Finding industry experts isn’t easy, but I hope you can assist.

    Our primary services include SEO for small businesses, email marketing, and content marketing, all of which I’m sure you’re familiar with within your current role. 

    Would you need one or more of these services? Is there anything specific that would improve the possibility of working with our organization? 

    I’m pretty aware you’re busy, so I’ll end here. If you find some spare time, I would love to know what you think. 

    Thank you for your time.

    Cheers,

    Emma Williams

    ABC Corporation
  • Social media email

    You want to make a connection on social media with a prospect. In this case, you can use social media email to warm up your target audience. Check out this email template.

    Hey James,

    As a regular social media user, I’m always looking to grow my social network. I sent you a connection request after discovering your name on LinkedIn.

    I would be honored if you accepted my connection. I’m also available on Facebook and Twitter. 

    t’s not easy to communicate through email in this busy business world, but feel free to file my information. I know that sometimes connecting on social media might not make sense.

    Anyway, I’m super excited that I came across your LinkedIn profile. Let’s keep in touch. 

    Cheers,

    Emma Williams

    ABC Corporation
  • The free help email

    It’s an email where you offer your likely buyer free advice on something you’re an authority in. Make sure that you clarify your expertise, specific assistance, and delivery method.

    Use the example below as your email template.

    Hey Sophia,

    As an SEO expert in content marketing, my primary goal is to help businesses rank for the right keywords, boost traffic and revenue. 

    I was reviewing your website and admire what your company is doing.  You can use a few other SEO tactical issues to take your strategy to the next level. They include using proper keyword research, website crawling, and auditing tools.

    Do you have time for a call to discuss these crucial tactics? Would you like me to send you my report on my research? Whatever option you’ll choose, it’s free of charge. 

    I’m eager to talk more, offer some advice and get to know your company.

    If you think this is great for you, shoot me a quick reply. Thanks for your precious time. 

    Cheers,

    Emma Williams

    ABC Corporation
  • The ‘I Think We Met’ email

    You can use this email to reach out to an individual you met at a trade show, conference, webinar, etc. Check out the email template.

    Hey James,

    I hope you’re doing great. I’m not sure if you remember me, but we were speakers at the same webinar a couple of weeks ago.  I enjoyed your great ideas and insights and even implemented some of the advice you shared with the audience.

    My company is expanding its email service to suit the needs of businesses of all sizes. I recall you saying that you need a service similar to our offer. Do you still need an email service provider? Have you found one? 

    Even if we may not have the opportunity to collaborate, I hope to get a response from you. I still cherish the practical advice you gave at the webinar.

    Thanks so much for taking your time with me.

    Cheers,

    Emma Williams

    ABC Corporation
  • Personalized video thumbnail

    It’s an approach that Lemlist recommends. You create a video customized to suit your potential buyer’s brand. Also, include their logo, custom messaging, colors, and a play button for generating clicks. 

    Here’s a brilliant cold email template.

With all these excellent cold email examples, you’re good to go. Here are the key points to remember to create super cold emails with responses.

Top secrets for creating successful cold emails

First, it’s critical to understand your email open rate. Your email open rate refers to the number of recipients who opened your emails. For example, if you send duplicate emails to 50 individuals and 25 open the emails, your open rate is 50%. 

But open rate excludes the same people reopening your emails.

The other crucial cold email metric is the response rate. Research states that the average reply rate is between 1-5% via Dailyblogging.org. However, you can boost your open and response rates by following the tips below.

  • Personalize your cold emails
prospectly image typing

Think of yourself getting a nameless email. How would you react? You won’t even pay attention. Here are vital things you can do to create personalized cold emails.

  • Mention the prospect’s name in the greeting or subject line
  • Include their company’s info, job position, or any accomplishment
  • Tailor the email to suit the recipient’s needs; research the customer
  • Provide water-tight proof of why your sales email is worth reading
  • Analyze your reply rate through A/B testing your emails
animated a/b testing image by prospectly.com

You may never know which of your emails subject lines perform better until you put them to the test. A/B testing can help you see what can work. 

A/B testing is sending different versions of the same email to varied email list segments. Say you want to examine the effectiveness of prospecting emails. You can send some emails with XYZ Subject line to one group of people.

Another different group in your email list will receive the same email with ABC Subject line. After this, you can compare the emails to see which subject line had higher reply rates. You’ll then stick to the one with positive results.

  • Clean your email list
clean your spam box image by prospectly.com

No matter how convincing your cold email is, not everyone will be interested in your product or idea. As a result, it would be best to filter your email list to remove uninterested people.

Your email list could also have outdated or non-existent email addresses. Updating and segmenting your contacts helps you zero in on targeted cold emails. You also remain with valid email addresses. 

  • Close with a killer CTA

One of the primary reasons you’re sending an email to a promising buyer is you want them to take a specific action. Studies show that including a clear CTA can supercharge your response rate by 53% (Superoffice.com).  

The best CTA depends on the purpose of your cold email. You may say, “Would you be interested in a Zoom meeting Wed or Thursday afternoon to tell you more?” to schedule a meeting.

  • Always remember KISS (Keep It Short and Simple)

You already know that people are busy. And there are hundreds of things that compete for their attention.  In these situations, say what you want to say in a few concise words.

How long should be your cold email? Some studies show that writing between 50 and 125 words can improve your response rate by 50% via Blog.apruve.com.

Wrapping up

Cold emails aren’t dead. That’s because an effective email can make $42 for every $1 a company spends. It shows that cold emails can have a good ROI. SDRs can also use sales emails to initiate conversations with prospects to close more deals. If you follow proven cold email templates, you can improve your open and reply rates. 

Cold calling scripts: 13 steps and 4 script templates to close more deals

Posted on by Pranav Dalal

Some sales reps develop goosebumps when their managers suggest cold calling as a prospecting technique. Other reps close more deals using proven cold calling steps and scripts. If you’re in the first group, read this guide to learn how the pros use outbound calls. You can also polish your techniques even if you’re already flying high by reading what other experts do.

First, let’s uncover the meaning of cold calling. 

What is cold calling?

Cold calling is when sales representatives reach out to individuals who have not previously shown interest in the products or services the rep’s company sells. Salespeople can use cold calls through phoning or telemarketing or door-to-door selling. 

Many sales professionals agree that cold calling is one of the challenging outbound prospecting techniques. Even the stats seem to agree with them. 

The success rate for cold calling might depress you. It’s 2.5%. Way low. Does this mean you should stop reading this guide and give up cold calling? Not too fast.

Here’s something to cheer up your spirits as a cold caller. 

Via LinkedIn

  • 60% of customers accepted a call from sales representatives in the previous year.
  • 75 % of prospects from different sectors attended a sales meeting due to cold calls.

That’s encouraging. However, Kelly Robertson, the President of Robertson Training Group, notes that many salespeople fear cold calling like the Omicron Covid variant. As a result, they experience unsuccessful cold calls.

Here’s why.

Why do some salespeople swear they’ll never use cold calling?

Sales professionals have many excuses for not using cold calling for prospecting. According to Kelly, they say: 

Kelly on cold calling excuses

Here are two more factors that discourage reps from trying cold calling. 

Cold calling is like climbing Mt. Everest.

If you go by the cold calling success rate, it’s pretty clear that cold calling is difficult. It doesn’t give you instant results. You must put in a lot of effort, time, and patience.

“It takes multiple attempts and a bulldog sense of persistence to finally connect with decision-makers,” Kelly says.

The need for instant rewards

Let’s agree that making a sale after a successful phone call brings a sense of satisfaction and achievement. But cold calling may delay the celebration of success. That’s because you may suffer rejection after rejection.

If you’re looking for instant gratification, cold calling may humble you. Instead, you must have the “ability to postpone the pleasure of getting the reward and developing the discipline to work through the pain and challenge of making dozens of calls with little to show for it.”

That’s the spirit and resolve you need to excel in cold calling. Check out below the practical steps to remove fear and cold call like the pros to win more deals.

13 steps to cold calling from the pro

You can take your cold calling to the next level if you follow the advice below of thriving salespeople.  

13 steps of cold calling by prospectly
  • Prospects can’t hurt you

    One of the fears of sales reps is rejection. It’s a normal feeling, especially if you’ve never made cold calls. As a result, you hold back from taking risks or even making the first cold call.

    There are no risks of cold calling. Also, there’s nothing potential customers can do to hurt or report you. Gather your courage and make the first phone call. If you mess up or the call fails, make another one. 

    As you make more cold calls, you gain confidence. Take risks.
kelly twitter quote
  • Treat cold calling as a game

    See cold calling as a game of numbers because it’ll take you tens of calls to connect with the right person willing to talk. Many of the calls you’ll make will get you nowhere. 

    To get a scheduled meeting, you’ll pass through many roadblocks. You can cope with unsuccessful cold calls if you start enjoying the ride. Have fun even if the prospects give you a hard time. 

    The more challenging they become, the more you should up your game in outbound calls.
  • Be a risk-taker

    Earlier, we mentioned the importance of taking risks to boost your chances of success. Go for broke in your cold outreach, if possible. When a call goes south, you need to be bold enough to bring your conversation back on track. 

    Willingness to take risks prepares your mind to accept that mistakes are expected. Even if you make a call that sucks, you can lessen the pain of disappointment. You’ll see your blunders as stepping stones to success.

    Also, remember that you must get your numbers no matter what. If 100 calls are your target to win that scheduled session, stick to the KPI. You’ve nothing to lose even if all the calls yield zero results. 

    Here’s a cold calling tip: “some will, some won’t, so what, next.”
  • Warm-up your prospects

    You can improve your cold calling success rate by warming up the conversation. It means incorporating other prospecting campaigns over a month or so before your cold call. You can do some things like cold emailing, social media engagement, or even stopping by the prospect’s office.

    It would be best to have a cadence involving 20 touches or so before you call the potential buyer. They’re likely to be receptive when you connect with them by phone.

    Turn your cold calling into warm calling.
  • Script out the entire call

    Some salespeople think it’s a bad idea to script out a cold call. They say it makes them sound scripted. But they have watched their favorite movies or TV shows with scripted speeches.

    The actors sounded natural because they spent plenty of time practicing until their conversations didn’t look scripted. A cold calling script keeps you on track and focused. 
  • Know your first seven seconds of cold calls

    It may sound trite, but you must know how to introduce yourself. That’s because if you get your seven seconds right, you can move the prospect to the next step of your dialogue. 

    The first seven seconds buy you the next 25 seconds, and throughout the call, you keep on fighting for the next 25 seconds. Know the exact words you’ll say in the introduction.

    You can use specific lines to grab the prospect’s attention. One example is ‘Hey Sophia, James calling. How have you been?’

    It’s different from how’re you doing. ‘How have you been’ catches a prospect off guard and makes them wonder if they know you. 
  • The more you talk about yourself, the worse you do

    It’s easy to lose a potential client if you talk more about yourself, your company, and how great your product or service is. Your cold call will soon lose its purpose.

    Instead, explain the purpose of your call right away. Be clear and say, ‘the purpose of my call is…” Remember, no one cares about your company. Your likely buyer is concerned about solving their challenges and accomplishing their results.
  • Focus on the challenges you’re seeing

    One way of keeping your prospect glued during the cold call is mentioning challenges in their industry. It’ll show that you’re an expert and up to date with the latest developments. The prospect becomes the center of the conversation.

    Talking about industry challenges familiar to the prospect engages them. They can open up. Let the potential customer lead the dialogue and say what they care about. You’re likely to get a scheduled meeting. 

    Use this cold calling technique: “You know Sophia, right now I’m finding that a lot of companies in your marketplace are dealing with the following…..” Mention the challenges. 
  • Engage them to start talking

    Why is this essential? Sales reps tend to pitch their products to make a sale there and then. Instead of nudging the prospect to talk, representatives get carried away and emphasize their solution. That’s not the way to go.

    It’s too early to make your presentation in your first cold call. Instead, encourage the likely buyer to keep talking by saying, “Sophia, did any of these challenges ring true to you?” You’re inviting the prospect to converse with you by asking this question. If they say no, you can say, “Ok, fair enough. It seems like this conversation doesn’t make sense. Before I hang up, could I ask you just one more question? They’ll say yes.

    Then say, “If there could be one thing you could be doing better with (fill in the blank with what you’re offering), what would it be? You could be supplying accounting software, for example.
  • Dig into what’s really going on

    When your prospect says they’ve got challenges in their industry, encourage them to tell you more about the problems. Rather than making a pitch to get a sale, say to the prospective customer, ‘tell me more.’ Dig in by asking questions around those pain points to keep the conversation going. 

    The more you ask questions, the more you’ll understand the best solution for the prospect. Also, they’ll feel engaged and that you know them.
  • Get that next step locked in

    Out of all the steps, it’s the most critical stage to closing out a call. That’s because you want to establish the next step. 

    Many salespeople believe that the purpose of a cold call or any prospecting call is to make a sale. Yes, the ultimate goal of your cold calls is indeed closing deals. But what’s more crucial before a sale is getting the next step.

    The next step in your cadence could be a scheduled meeting, a webinar, etc. You should lock it in before the end of the call by sending a calendar invite. Also, make sure the prospect accepts the invite with time and date while they’re still on the phone. 
  • Confirm the next step

    After sending the calendar invite, ensure that the prospect has received and accepted it. To confirm the next step, you could say, “Sophia, can I make a recommendation? How about we set up a meeting where I’ll come to your office, and we can dig more into this, and I can share with you some best practices on how many of our clients have solved these problems before. Would that make some sense?”

    The prospect says yes.

    Then say, “what would work for you?” There’ll be some small talk here. After this, ask, “Are you in front of your computer or phone or smartphone by any chance?  They’ll say yes. 

    Then say, “I’ll send you a calendar invite right now. Make sure you check it out to see if you received it to avoid losing it in your emails. Please, accept the invite.” The prospect will agree with this advice.  Be sure to receive the confirmation of the client’s invite acceptance. 
  • Don’t run away from the phone after each call

    Remember that cold calling is about numbers or making a lot of dials. The difference between effective and ineffective cold callers is that the former keeps calling until they reach their KPI. Ineffective sales prospecting reps drop the phone after securing one meeting.

    If you want to join the ranks of successful cold callers, don’t dare drop the phone even after making successful cold calls. High-flying salespeople who use cold calls know that they must complete over 50 dials every day. They use the momentum of success to do the next call and the next. 

    Earlier, we mentioned that you need to script out your cold calling. Let’s dive into script examples you can use to schedule meetings. 

4 cold calling scripts to schedule meetings

Note one vital point. Cold calling isn’t for making a sale but to get the next step in your sales prospecting. Avoid pitching your product or service while you’re cold calling. 

Cold calling scripts can help you drive your message home to avoid wasting your prospect’s time. Also, understand what problems your prospect is trying to solve by researching their industry.

Here are some cold-calling ideas that you can tweak and try out.

cold calling scripts
  • The seven-second opener from the experts

    The first cold calling script shows ways of introducing yourself.
ways to introduce yourslef
  • The 4-step cold script by Gabrielle Blackwell

    The cold script involves an introduction, relevance, value, and launch. 

    How to introduce yourself

    “Hey {first name}, my name is {rep’s name}.” or “Hey {first name}, this is {rep’s name} calling from {rep’s company} on a recorded line, did I catch you with a quick moment to chat?” 

    Give a reason for your call.

    The reason for my reaching out is I was doing some research on {prospect company}, and I saw that you’re involved in {job function}

    Strengthen your case by giving value

    “We have a solution at {rep’s company} that is making {job function} a lot {better – faster, easier, quicker, etc.}.” 

    Engage the prospect through launch. 

    I’m curious, how are you handling that today?

    After letting the prospect talk about how they’re handling their challenges, you can ask for a meeting.

    Schedule a meeting.

    Based on what you’re doing today, specifically {process 1, 2, and 3}, and comparing that to our customers who can do {job function} {better}, it seems like there might be an opportunity to optimize some things – and that’s what I really wanted to connect about. Would it be worth having a conversation?”
  • Use the straight-talk approach by Kevin Gilman (Executive Director for American Public Group)

    The cold calling technique is direct and follows the KISS principle (Keep It Short and Simple). It contains three parts: the opener, value proposition, and permission.

    How to open the conversation

    Hey {{first name}}, how are you?”

    Make your value proposition.

    {{first name}}, this is why I called. I head up sales for {{company}}, and we do a great job at {{solving x problem}}. As a {{title}}, I imagine that’s what you’re trying to do. ” 

    Ask for permission

    “Do you have 25 seconds so I can break down for you what other companies like yours have done with us in the past?”
  • Try the poker bear approach by Josh Braun (Sales Trainer & Thought Leader)

    It’s a method with 4 ingredients, including permission, poke the bear and promise.

    Seek permission to talk with the prospect

    Hi {first name}, {rep’s name} here from {company}. I was hoping to speak with you briefly about {subject}. Do you have a minute?”

    Explain the reason for your call by highlighting the pain point

    “Thanks. I speak with {title} all the time who are {experiencing pain point}.”

    Now it’s time to poke the bear by asking open-ended questions to nudge the potential customer to open up. 

    How do you make sure you don’t {experience x pain point} when {dealing with y problem?” or “What do you do to ensure you don’t {experience x pain point} when {dealing with y problem?”

    Promise: keep your word of being brief.

    “Sounds like this might make sense to you since you’re dealing with {pain point}. I know I promised to be brief. Would it make sense to grab a few minutes on the calendar for a demo, so you can review what your options are should the need arise in the future?”

Wrapping Up

If you think cold calling is dead, you could be listening to the naysayers. Top-performing SDRs are closing massive deals with proper cold calling steps, scripts, and the right attitude. Indeed, cold calling isn’t for those who look for instant gratification and can’t take risks. 

But you can learn and practice to master all the courage and sales scripts to cold call to book meetings. You should also cold call prospects you have researched to understand the challenges they want to solve. As a result, you’ll improve your closing rate.

Sources:  Predictable Revenue; Marc Wayshak & Sales Gravy

Sales meetings: Best practice to run effective sales meetings in 10 minutes

Posted on by Pranav Dalal

How can you keep your sales team motivated and on track? It’s through regular communication or forums like weekly sales meetings. While these sessions are vital, they can be a source of misery and boredom. However, if you know how to hold effective sales gatherings, your sales reps can benefit more.

The guide will show you how to conduct memorable regular sessions with your sales team. Read on to learn more. 

Why are weekly sales meetings important?

As a sales manager, you may think holding weekly sales meetings is time-consuming. Or that these meetings need lots of time, effort, and resources. But wait for a second and consider these brilliant stats. 

Continuous training gives 50% higher net sales per employee, Blog.thebrevetgroup.com. 

In the long term, well-planned sales meetings can bear fruit. Here are more compelling reasons your sales reps need regular meetings. 

weekly sales meetings
  • Promotes a sales culture

    Your sales meetings are about sales. Yes, you can indeed talk about other matters. But all of them must evolve around a thriving sales culture.  

    You can use these meetings to motivate and equip your salespeople to hit more targets.  

    “A Columbia University study demonstrated that organizations with healthy sales culture experience a mere 13.9% employee job turnover, while job turnover in companies with poor sales culture averages 48.4%,” via LinkedIn.
  • Evaluate your performance

    How can you know if your sales reps are doing the right thing? It’s through assessing how each sales team member uses your sales techniques. You can also measure the quality of their sales activities, including meetings, calls, and networking.
  • Fosters a team spirit

    Your company can achieve more if sales reps and other departments work as a team. Sales meetings are perfect for encouraging communication amongst all the stakeholders. 
  • Encourages accountability

    You can examine sales numbers to assess your company’s results. The more you discuss the stats with your team, the more salespeople see the connection between revenue and performance. 

    Numbers make everyone accountable for their outcome.
  • Source of motivation

    Now and then, your salespeople need some doses of motivation. Selling isn’t easy. As a result, sales managers can use sales meetings to create healthy pressure and competition. 

    “Companies that motivate their employees regularly see a 27% rise in profits. This is coupled with a 50% increase in sales, 38% above-average productivity, and a 50% increase in customer loyalty levels.”

    Peers can push each other to excel and close more deals.
  • Skills training

    Training equips your team with relevant skills and new trends in selling. It makes reps better at lead generation, sales prospecting, closing deals, and increasing sales.

    But it’s crucial to align your training with what your reps need. Where do they lack in the sales pipeline stages? 

    “26% of sales representatives claim that their sales training has a minor to no effect,” via Taskdrive.com. Check your sales numbers to figure out what you must improve.

    You can start your weekly meetings with confidence with all these great benefits. But what are the objectives of an effective meeting?

    John Treace, Founder of JR Treace & Associates, stresses five crucial things sales managers need to bear in mind. He says that if sales leadership considers these topics, it can have productive sales meetings. 

Sales meeting topics

  • Plenty of money
plenty of money quote
  • Tell it like it is
tell it like it is quote
  • Time is precious
time is precious quote
  • Sales reps are social beings
sales reps examples
  • Recognition
recognition statement

The sales meeting agenda

You’re thinking of conducting a meeting, and you wonder what items to include in your plan. Darn Martell, CEO, Serial Entrepreneur, Investor & Creator of SaaS Academy, suggests the following for your weekly sales meeting. 

He says that your meeting must have cadence and structure. Check out the example below.

sales meeting flowchart
  •  Wins

    At the top of the agenda of this structure is celebrating wins. The idea is to start with success stories to motivate your sales team. You can allocate three minutes for this activity. 

    The pro side of this is that it challenges and inspires low performers. Reps with wins can share how they closed a big deal. Even high performers can feel empowered to do more.
  • Pipeline

    The next crucial agenda item is dealing with your pipeline. You could be using some software, like Salesforce or HubSpot, to manage your pipeline. Or a spreadsheet. 

    Whatever the case, you need to review the pipeline stages and the activities that go with them. (Pipeline stages-anchor text) You should find out who’s lagging in follow-ups for each stage and closing deals.

    Knowing who is underperforming will help you address the challenges there and then. You can nip them in the bud and help your reps get back on track to smash their sales targets.

    It’ll also ensure that they follow a proven sales approach that bears results. They become consistent, too.
  • Roadblocks

    For this item, you want reps to tell you the challenges they experience in their field. What forces are acting against their success or efforts? The process is critical as it allows you to offer suggestions to deal with the roadblocks.

    You can recommend some books or plan a separate sales training session to deal with the obstacles.
  • Buyer Feedback

    The purpose of this exercise is to understand what your customers say about your products or services. Which reps are having conversations with people? What feedback can you incorporate into your sales process? 

    Customers’ responses will help your business match your solutions with your buyers’ needs.
  • Sales Metrics

    To gauge your performance, you can discuss some metrics with your sales reps. You can also assess each sales team member’s daily, weekly, or monthly quota. Determine whether your team is on track and has enough resources to meet its goals.

    Follow-ups are another example of a metric you can measure. You can also consider:

    Closed deals and lost ones: Ask each rep to provide more info on the won deals for the past week. The details should include the value of each deal and all sales put together.

    Deal activities: Request each rep update the team on sales activities pushing leads to the next deal stage. One example might be several emails leading to a demo.

    Conversion rates: They show how your reps have been able to move prospects down the sales funnel. Have emails been influential in leading potential customers to buyers, for example? Greg Winteregg, CEO of Matterhorn Business Development, suggests that every team member should have stats representing their production. They must use a line graph to represent their numbers and bring them along to the meeting.
weekly revenue sales reports
Source

The graph shows stats for several reps and combines a bar and a line graph. The diagrams for each representative in your team meetings don’t have to be as detailed as the example. The charts should be simple.

To ensure everyone cooperates, provide your reps with graph paper, rulers, and pencils. Make graphs mandatory in every sales meeting. The sales manager should go over the chart with each representative.

Each team member needs to explain in the meeting how they’ll improve a falling graph or keep a rising one in that range. Every individual will know what they’ve to do in the coming week to hit their goals.

According to Greg, graphs challenge each team member to improve after every meeting. That’s because nobody would want to show a dropping graph.

You also encourage everyone to take responsibility for their statistics.

  • Announcements

    It’s critical to keep your reps updated with the latest developments in your company. That’s because salespeople are always busy chasing after prospects and sales targets. They may not be aware of what’s happening in your organization.

    You can also talk about the sales team and the product roadmap. Consider bringing in a customer success manager to announce relevant things to the sales team. The person responsible for the marketing lead can also be part of the meeting. 

    Let these two individuals hear about your sales teams’ concerns and how they’re using the systems, techniques, and processes.
  • Competitors

    Discussing what your competitors are doing is also crucial. You’ll know whether they’ve launched new products or new versions of the same product. 

    Use the feedback to equip your team to overcome objections in their demo presentations or discovery calls. Reps will know how to respond to questions about what your rivals offer.
  • Training

    Your sales meeting needs to include training. There are various topics you can talk about. Depending on your needs, you could highlight:

    – How to overcome objections
    – How to do discovery calls
    – How to understand the prospect’s needs
    – How to look for a critical event
    – How to look for the emotional impact
    – How to deal with competitors

    All these issues can be part of your training curriculum at the end of your sales meeting. As we stated in previous paragraphs, 10 minutes are enough to tackle one or two topics.

    You can show a process, a script, or an approach to address objections. Reps can even role-play the situation to make it practical. 

    Training is an excellent way of ending your meeting on a high note. It gives your sales team a new tool in their toolbox. 

    Your team members can leave the meeting with a sense of excitement. They also become more confident.

How to run a sales meeting?

The other next most crucial matter is running the meeting itself. Let’s dive into some sales meeting ideas you can incorporate to make your gathering or forum successful.

sales meetings ideas
  • Clarify the objectives

    Everyone needs to know what the meeting will cover to avoid wasting time. Recall the eight things that should form your agenda your session needs to discuss. You can add more items you think are relevant.
  • Share your agenda

    Use available agenda templates to prepare your meetings. And let every attendee get the schedule in advance by inviting them through a calendar. It gives people who will attend time to prepare and bring ideas to the meeting.

    There are many tools you can use to set up your agenda. See an example below.

agenda example
Source
  • Kick off your meeting and end it on time

    You can see that the above template shows that the meeting lasts for an hour. But the same session can take half an hour. What’s critical here is to start on time and stick to the allocated mins per item for effective sales meetings.
  • Encourage participation

    A one-sided meeting can bore the attendees to death. But you can kill the boredom through Q&A or brainstorming activities. Ask open-ended questions to keep the communication going.

    Can ‘A’ please tell the team how they initiated the first call with a prospect? It’s an open-ended question that’ll trigger an explanation.

    Brainstorm topics may include:
    – How to improve sales, cold calling, etc.
    – How your company can work with other organizations in your industry
    – Future goals
  • Avoid policy and procedure topics

    Remember that the most crucial goal of your sales meeting is for your reps to make more money. That’s what they want to improve after every session. As a result, avoid discussing policy and procedure issues. 

    If you feel that these matters are essential, organize a separate forum or email your staff to inform everyone about the policy issues.
  • Nothing or no one should hijack the meetings

    Earlier on, we suggested inviting other relevant departments to your meeting. However, they mustn’t take a huge chunk of your time with your reps. Otherwise, the panel can lose its focus.

    Guard your gathering with your sales team jealously. They need your full attention.
  • Focus more on skills development

    One of your agenda items is sales training. During your team meetings, concentrate on one skill at a time. If it means covering one skill in multiple sessions, let it be so.

    You can look at each element in the sale process as a topic. Your training areas could be closing or negotiation, qualifying, sales prospecting, and addressing objections. 

    Take your time as you want your team to be experts. The more you reinforce the skills, the more you change behaviors.
  • Whet the appetite of your salespeople

    Your meeting should end on a high note. You can do this by providing salespeople with practical and real-life experiences that apply to their jobs. Tell them that the sales meetings are there to hone their skills to help them make plenty of money. 

    When they attend the forums, do what you promised. Show them how to do it. You’ll leave them wanting more and looking forward to successful sales meetings.

Sales meetings idea

To stress a previous point, you need to engage your team because it’s the key to the success of your meetings. Everyone needs to participate and air their views and thoughts. Here’s one brilliant idea you can use.

Role Play

You can clarify sales techniques in real-life situations through role-playing.

Show them how to: 

  • present a sales pitch
  • start a conversation with a prospect
  • deal with an argumentative client
  • handle a hesitant customer, but who’s interested in your product/service
  • respond to a client who wants more detailed and specific info about what you offer
  • sell to a tech-savvy client
  • encourage a buyer who’s afraid to commit

For these sales role-plays to be effective, inform your reps about the scenario well before time. Also, let them use a script, especially when training new hires.

Allow reps to play both the part of a prospect and a salesperson. As a sales manager, you might be tempted to make comments during the role play. It’s not a good idea as it disturbs the flow of communication. 

After the presentation, invite comments and ideas on what they can improve. Remind your reps that they’ll face rejection, but they shouldn’t take it personally. Also, emphasize that patience is crucial in selling.

Another crucial aspect is listening to customers to understand their feelings and concerns. As you role-play, test this skill by introducing incorrect info about your product/service. Find out if they noticed the false product details after the activity. 

Role-playing can lead to productive sales meetings.

Final Thoughts

A weekly sales meeting is a must-have for all your reps. It helps sales leaders connect with their representatives to instill a sales culture. A clear sales meeting plan with clear objectives is vital.  That’s because it ensures that the gathering zeros in on critical matters and sticks to the allocated time.