13 Tips for Making a Better Sales Calls in 2024

Making a sales call is like walking a tightrope. You might have a quota to meet, but if your prospects sense your desperation, they will push you away ruthlessly. 

In other words, one wrong move and down you go. But the good news is that this isn't inevitable, and with the right tips and techniques, you can ace most of your calls and ensure a smoother sales process.

In this blog, we share 13 sales call tips you can add under your belt to book more meetings and bring more revenue.

But first, let's get to the basics.

What Is a Sales Call?

A sales call is the process of reaching out to prospects hoping to make a sale. It includes cold calls and the follow-ups you make in the process of understanding the prospect's needs and getting them to buy.

How To Prepare for a Sales Call?

Sales calls are tricky. Whether it is your first call or your umpteenth call, there are some things you ought to do for effective sales calls. They are:

1. Research your prospect: Irrespective of whether it is your first call or a follow-up, you should know your prospect before you dial. If you are calling them for the first time, use LinkedIn and sales intelligence platforms to get information about them like their current revenue, tech stack, funding etc.
2. Prepare for rejections: Rejections are a part of the process, and the earlier you understand that, the better you can focus on your real goal, helping prospects solve their problems. 
3. Have a script if it helps: This is especially useful if you are a green sales rep. Arming yourself with a script ensures you won't go blank or meander too much during the call. 
4. Use a tool to auto-drop voicemails: Skip the herculean task of manually recording voicemails whenever a prospect doesn't pick up with a voicemail drop software.

13 Sales Call Tips for Making a Successful Sales Call

Now that you are all prepared to pick up your phone and dial, here are 13 tips you can add under your belt to have a smoother sales call process, get more meetings booked, and bring in more revenue.

1. Begin With a Strong Sales Call Opener

The way you begin determines the fate of your sales call, especially if you are calling them for the first time. Your opener should urge the prospect to put a halt to whatever they are doing and pay attention to you. And you can do that using two types of cold call openers:

1. Pattern-interrupting openers: These openers catch the prospect off guard and make them go, ”wait, what?” 

Example: "This is a cold call. Do you want to hang up?"

2. Permission-based openers: This kind of opener asks prospects for permission before getting to the reason for your sales call.

Example: "Hey, Asatta! Ray from Hybex. We haven't spoken before. Am I crashing into your meeting, or is this a good time to chat?”

2. Perfect Your Tone of Voice

It's not about what you say, it's about how you say it. Prospects hate it when you act like you know what's best for them better than themselves. Similarly, if you sound too unsure or underconfident, you are giving them another reason to say no to you. 

One way to avoid this is by talking with a downward inflection. Sales expert Josh Braun says talking this way helps you sound calm and confident. On the other hand, if you talk with an upward inflation, you’ll sound under confident and unsure of what you are talking about. And for your prospect, that’s a cue to hang up.

3.Use Sales Calling Scripts

There are 2 types of salespeople: ones who are okay with using scripts and ones who vehemently hate them. And here's the truth: having a script by your side helps you tame your sales calling fear to an extent. 

It helps you wade through the uncharted waters of sales calling by avoiding embarrassing situations like going blank in the middle of a call, awkward pauses, etc. 

But make sure you don't read it out like a robot. 

Perfect your tone, bring in the right emotions, and make the right pauses to sound as natural as possible. And once you are comfortable enough, try improvising it based on your outcomes.

4. Prepare an Agenda for the Call

Know what you want to achieve through a call before you dial, be it a cold call or a follow-up. Tonni Morris, the best-selling sales author, suggests defining your sales call outcome before you begin.

"What are you aiming towards? Is it to set up a demo, meeting, presentation, or to make a sale? Then, in order to achieve that outcome, have a list of key criteria you really need to ascertain to get to that goal", he says.

Here are some key criteria you should chalk out based on the end goal you want:

1. Ways to approach the prospect
2. Questions you should ask
3. Call duration you aim for

5. Don't Badmouth Your Competitors

Avoid taking a jibe at your competitors, even when your product is truly a better option than theirs. Focus on how good your product is, and do not bring up your competitors unless your prospect does. 

Here's how Mor Assouline replies whenever the prospect asks him why their product is better than other options:

"If your number one criteria is price, then COMPETITOR will win 10 out of 10 times. But based on our call, it sounded like your #1 priority was being able to improve your sales conversation. Has that changed since our last conversation?".

This works because:

• You acknowledge that your competitor is better in some aspects, like price.
•  But subtly points out they should go with your product if they want results.
• Tones your pitch further down by asking if achieving results is still their priority.

6. Have a Plan To Get Past the Gatekeepers

Gatekeepers are guardians of your prospect's time. You are bound to meet them at least once in your sales calling journey. And so it is important to have a plan to get past them. Here's how top-performing sales reps get past gatekeepers:

1. Explain Your Position to Gatekeepers: from Ashley Dees, Former SDR Manager at Metadata

"I don't want you to get in trouble. But, my boss is asking me to reach out to somebody from this account. What do you think I should do?"

2. Request Gatekeepers To Inform Prospects About Your Email: from Joel Thomas, Former SDR at Almabase

"I'm going to send {prospect} an email with this subject line {XX} and it will help me a lot if you could drop a message saying that they're getting this email."  

7. Offer Limited Options

A word of truth: It is better to leave your prospect ignorant rather than confused. Choice overload is real, and if you overwhelm them with every feature of your product, they will give up sooner than you expect.

So, give them only what they want. Talk about the features that are relevant to their needs and goals. Cut to the part where you explain the difference your product will make as soon as possible to help them make decisions faster. If the talk concerns pricing, guide them to the plan that best suits their needs instead of pushing them for the expensive one.

8. Use Risk Reversal Language

"What if it doesn't work for me?" That's the number one question that stops prospects from loosening their purse strings. Even when they have a proper need and budget, your prospect will think twice (or even thrice) before they put pen to paper. 

So, address their fears and concerns in advance to make them comfortable enough to give their money to you. Use risk reversal language to reduce the perceived risk involved in buying your product. Here are some risk reversal options you can mention during your call:

• No credit card free trial
• Cancel anytime option

9. Don't Push Them for a Sale

You have a quota to hit and a manager to impress. But don't make it evident to your prospects by pinning them for a sale. Instead, be an expert willing to help them whether they buy or not. 

In other words, as Josh Braun puts it, you should adopt a scientist mindset rather than a salesperson mindset. "Scientists have a hypothesis, they don't know how it is gonna end. They come from a place of 'not knowing,' and when you approach a call with that kind of curiosity, conversations happen", he says on the Cold Calling Podcast.

Know their pain points, wants, and goals first. Bring in the sales pitch only if you think they have a need that your product can solve. If you feel your product isn't the best option for them, tell them that and guide them to the best option. Offer them your suggestions and resources if they aren't sales-ready, and so when they become ready to buy, they'll reciprocate your efforts.

10. Handle Objections Like a Pro

Objections are like hurdles in an obstacle race. You'll feel like it is slowing you down and robbing you of your chance to win. But with each objection you overcome, you understand the prospect's needs better and move closer to the prize, a sale.

But handling objections isn't a cakewalk, especially if you are new to the world of sales calling. As a first step, you should learn to distinguish between rejections and objections. Most new sales representatives often confuse one with the other and think they've reached a dead end. You can tackle this by creating a sales objection battle card.

Here are some of the most common sales objections and ways to handle them from quota-crushing reps:

1. I’m not interested

Reply: “I get that being sold to is super uncomfortable, but I wanted to reach out because…” (from Nikita Solberg, Former SDR at Deel)

2. We’re already using a tool from {competitor}

Reply: “How is the tool working out for you?” (from Joel Thomas, Former SDR at Almabase)

11. Take Advantage of Trigger Events

Trigger events give you a valid reason to call them and a chance to drive the conversation the way you want. Since these events are all about your prospects, they pay attention to what you've to say.

Here are some of the common trigger events and what each of them signifies:

1. A new round of funding: It indicates that they will be willing to invest in tools or software to streamline their existing processes, increase their productivity, and generate more revenue.
2. New hires: If they are hiring, they will be open to checking out software that would help them or their team achieve their goals faster.
3. Changes in regulations: Preparing for regulatory changes is no easy job. If you have a tool to help them with that, make the best of the opportunity.

12. Talk More, Listen Less

Nope, we didn't get it wrong. In fact, a recent study found that top-performing salespeople do slightly more talking than prospects. But this doesn’t mean that you can monologue your way through a sales call. Instead, it shows that they own the conversation and know how to steer it the way they want. 

This also suggests one thing, people listen when they feel you have something valuable to say. And as a salesperson, here's how you can ensure your prospects pay attention to what you say:

• Talk about the product value or the difference your product will make in their process/business.
• Ask open-ended questions to coax them to open up.
• Be willing to offer value whether you make a sale or not.

13. Follow Up Effectively

They didn't answer your phone calls? Leave a voicemail, send an email, request a LinkedIn connection, and try calling again. Studies suggest that it takes at least 5 follow-ups to close 80% of sales. So, adopt a multi-channel followup strategy to be on top of your prospects' minds and boost your success rates. You can also invest in a sales engagement platform to automate and track your follow ups.

Here's an example of a multi-channel cadence you can send using a sales engagement platform:

Also, time your follow-ups. Don't breathe down their necks by barging in too early or make them almost forget you by following up late. Find the right time and space out your follow ups accordingly.

Wrapping Up

Now that you are armed with the best sales call tips, how can you ensure you follow them every time? Invest in a conversation intelligence software. Use it to analyze your calls and ensure you are using all the right sales tips, the right way every single time.

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