Here’s How to Warm Up Cold Leads

You must warm up cold leads in order to close the deal. Read on to find out the best way to start the warm-up. 

As a salesperson, the challenge is successfully informing your leads of the improvements your product can make to their business so they feel confident with purchasing. It ‘warms’ them up to your product before you begin to sell. 

If a prospect’s interest in buying was represented by a temperature scale. Cold is the least interested in buying, and hot is the closest and most interested in buying your product. 

The Warm-Up Process

During the warm-up process, there are several steps to take. 

You need to: 

• build rapport
• introduce your product
• explain features
• ask discovery questions
• provide testimonials and use cases
• answer questions
• and pitch

Communication Method

But before you’re able to do any of that, you have to start by reaching out to your potential customer. With all that’s involved, we gathered data to determine the BEST communication method for warming up cold leads, so you don’t have to waste time on channels that don’t drive results. 

Let's start with a LinkedIn poll we took earlier this year. We asked our network how they opened their biggest deal ever. And email won by a landslide!

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Based on the results of the graph above, email is the way to go if you want to close a large deal. 

But does that really mean it's the best way to warm up a cold prospect? 

Well, emails are easier for your prospects to ignore. 

And it turns out the reason email won first place in our poll is because of the sheer volume of emails that go out compared to phone calls. It’s much less time-consuming to email 1,000 people than to call them. 

Some argue that calling will be off-putting for those who find it invasive or aren’t familiar with your brand (FYI: Here’s another article to help your calls sound less invasive and more informed).

However, speaking on the phone actually builds more rapport since it’s a richer form of communication compared to text-only messages sent through email. 

In addition, you can handle an objection on the phone far more quickly and immediately than if you were doing the constant back-and-forth, answer-and-reply dance on email. 

In the time it takes you to type out a response to an objection, there are plenty of other distractions that reduce your chances of holding the prospect’s attention and interest. 

Drumroll Please…

Who do we declare the winner of the warm-up process? 

Ultimately, the best way to warm up your cold leads is…  To call them. 

That’s right! 

There’s nothing like real-time communication to inform a potential buyer. 

If the lead sounds doubtful, you’ll be able to tell by the tone of their voice, and you can then handle any doubts or hesitancy right on the spot. 

Sure email is less personal and therefore less invasive. And we also can’t ignore that emails are the fastest way to reach the most amount of leads. 

But, talking on the phone wins every time. It’s a more personal channel, and it shows your prospect that you’re willing to put in the time to dial them up and have a conversation (which ultimately is what sales is all about). 

Calling takes grit and work, but it will win people over one by one. 

Want to learn what to say on the phone to turn a prospect from cold to red hot?

Click here to read about 5 Surefire Ways to Win Over Prospects on a Cold Sales Call (and common mistakes to avoid) on our blog. 

Recap

• Email works best for introducing your product to a vast amount of people quickly 
• Calling your prospects will seem invasive to some, especially if the lead is too cold
• Speaking on the phone allows the salesperson to handle objections in real-time
• Phone calls are a more personalized form of communication. It shows due diligence and dedication on the seller’s side