Cold-Calling Questions to Ask to Boost Conversions in 2022

For B2B, cold calling is an effective way to gain a competitive edge and grow your business. However, most salespeople don’t succeed at it.

Why?

They don’t do proper research and create lacklustre pitches that aren’t engaging. As a result, 72% of their cold calls get rejected.

But with open-ended strategic questions, you can lead prospects into buying your product quicker.

Questions make them open up about their needs. This way, you get an edge to drive your product as a solution to their problems. In addition, questions help you gather more details that will aid you in future follow-up interactions.

At Myphoner, we’ll introduce you to 20 open-ended questions to add to your outbound call script.

We’ll cover the perfect way to use them on your calls, and explore some best practices for successful B2B cold calling.

Let’s go!

Must-Know B2B Cold Calling Tips

The key to being successful at cold calling is not making more calls. It’s about reaching out to the most qualified prospects.

Very often, salespeople spend time crafting the perfect pitch and presenting a call well only to be met with this common phrase:

“Thanks for your pitch, but I’ll have to present this to the guy who makes decisions here.”

And that’s one of the reasons that many salespeople get wrong. So if you want to have more success in your sales calls, here are more tips to help you save time and generate more leads:

Define your target business

Avoid the thought that making many calls will get you a higher chance of getting a client. You will be better placed to get a lead once you’ve researched possible clients and narrowed your list to suitable matches.

Research your targets

Once you have settled on suitable matches, do some more research. Find out who the decision-makers are. This may mean making fewer calls but getting a higher success rate.

Also, check out the prospect’s social media profiles like LinkedIn, Twitter and Google. You’ll learn about the technologies they use and the challenges they may be facing.

This background check is essential because 62% of buyers are more likely to buy a product that solves a current problem they’re facing. You can start by trying to understand your prospect’s company and business needs.

Finding out your prospect’s background, the company’s industry ranking, industry trends, executive decision makers, competitors and customer base can go a long way towards asking the right cold calling questions.

Understand your product deeply

Every successful salesperson has one thing in common - they’ve mastered every nitty-gritty detail about their product.

Doing so will help you prepare for impromptu questions a potential buyer asks when they want to escape your grip.

You don't want to find yourself mumbling answers or asking to get back to them. You can't expect a prospect to trust you when you don't even know what you are selling.

Avoid filler questions

When you kick off the conversation, try to avoid filler questions. Not only are they irritating to the prospect, but they don’t advance your call towards a purchase. Leave behind questions such as “Is now a good time?” and “I wanted to touch base about…”

In fact, asking “Is now a good time?” on a cold call can reduce your likelihood of booking a meeting by up to 40% - ouch!

Instead use powerful, clear sentences about why you’re calling and ask the right cold calling questions specific to your prospect’s business.

Get your prospect to engage

Your prospects are busy people with a lot going on every day. It’s vital that you engage them with something interesting that either builds your relationship or furthers the buyer journey.

For example, mentioning their Alma Mater, business, industry news, etc. could hook your prospect and lead to better cold call questions.

Ask relevant discovery questions

To hack this, ensure you plan your discovery questions depending on the information you found from your research.

Discovery questions are those that give you more information about your specific prospect’s company, role, goals, priorities, etc. Often they start with “tell me about…”

Discovery questions can feel a bit like interviewing your prospect, but they shouldn’t be overwhelming. Try to adapt your discovery questions according to the information you find out and always tie them back to the customer journey.

Use the right cold calling tech

Top cold calling software like Myphoner can make a difference in having efficient cold calling experiences that lead to sales.

Cold calling can be a gruelling and time-consuming process. That’s why using a cold calling software platform that helps you focus and work faster so is essential.

The best cold calling software is easy-to-use and allows sales teams to set up lead routing that actually works.To ensure a great B2B cold calling experience, we recommend a platform that works with - like Myphoner.

Kickstart your sales with minimal effort.

Learn What We Do