Sales Glossary / Glossary Term
What is a Warm Call (vs a Cold Call)?
How to Prepare for a Warm Call
Preparation for a warm call starts with reviewing information on a prospect to assess where they are in their buying journey.
Ideally, the sales CRM has collected information about how the prospect has interacted with the brand, with touchpoints such as assets downloaded, blog posts read, and transactional pages visited.
For example, if a prospect entered the pipeline via email signup, look at which blog articles they’ve read and emails they’ve viewed and clicked. If they’ve sent emails, made purchases, or interacted with the sales team, review that communication and factor it into the plan of approach for the call.
After reviewing first-party data, search for information available from 3rd party sources.
Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator, a salesperson can view their LinkedIn profile and see their role, how long they’ve been at the company, past companies, schooling, interests and hobbies, etc.
The goal is twofold: Discover relevant work information to hone the sales pitch and discover personal information to create a point of connection during the call.
More information makes the call easier to tailor to the individual prospect.
The Universal Warm Call Script
1. A script creates consistency independent of mood, memory, or energy level.
2. A script is a clear plan and an anchor point if the conversation wanders.
3. A script helps to systematically improve call performance over time.
A new salesperson should memorize their script as quickly as possible. A great salesperson will often improvise based on the nuances of the sales call, but having a script still provides a useful anchor point to return to after taking the conversation in a different direction.
Here’s a sample script.
Introduction:
Hello [prospect's name], this is [name] from [company name]. I hope you're doing well today. Did I catch you at a good time?
Rapport building:
Great to hear! I wanted to follow up with you after our [meeting/interaction] to learn more about your [business/industry/challenges/goals]. I noticed that [mention of something specific from a previous interaction or research].
I noticed that you [personal interest the salesperson relates to]. I’m also [how it connects to the salesperson or their personal interests]. I was wondering [open ended question about the personal interest].
Engaging the prospect:
I'm calling today because I think our [product/service] could help you address [the specific pain point or need]. Have you ever considered [mention the value proposition of the product/service]?
The reason I'm calling is because I noticed that your company [insert something specific found during research].
Identifying their needs:
I'd love to learn more about your current [process/solution] and any challenges you're facing in this area. Can you tell me more about that?
What are your priorities for this quarter/year?
How are you currently addressing [this issue]?
Offering a solution:
Based on what you've told me, I think our [product/service] could be a great fit for your needs. Here's how it could help you [describe the benefits and value proposition of the product/service].
We've helped other companies in your industry achieve similar results [provide a brief case study or example].
Handling objections:
We’ve had some customers in the past who were very concerned about [common objection]. Here’s [why it didn’t end up being an issue OR how it worked out for them despite this concern].
Do you have any questions or concerns about what we’ve covered so far?
Closing the call:
Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. Would you be open to [scheduling a demo/meeting/next step] so that we can continue the conversation and see if our product/service is a good fit for your needs?
Based on our conversation today, do you see any potential for our product/service to help your business achieve its goals?
*This script is meant to be built on over time, but is sufficient to start making warm calls now.
4 Advanced Tips for Running a Warm Sales Call
Recording calls and using those to gather feedback from trainers, managers, or more experienced salespeople will help build efficiency and effectiveness of calls over time.
How to Follow Up After a Warm Call
In some cases, sales will close on the first call and customers can move into the onboarding process immediately.
More often, a customer journey will involve more than one call, and the majority of sales will be a result of persistent followup.
The basic framework for follow-up should include a personalized email thanking the prospect for their time, reiterating major points from the conversation, and outlining next steps in a way that is consistent with expectations established during the call.
This is also a good opportunity to address any questions that could not be answered during the call, particularly those that might have required input from other departments or experts within the organization.
Where the prospect is in the buyer’s journey will determine how follow-up should continue.
Pending a decisive answer, weekly follow-up should be meaningful and useful: blog resources related to their pain points, case studies, introductions, videos, etc.
Otherwise, follow up consistently and be persistent in seeking to initiate the next step in the process. The goal is to make saying “yes” as painless and accessible as possible.
Persist in following up until they give a clear and definite answer of yes or no.
