Why Your Cold Calls Aren’t Landing (And How to Fix It)

Why your cold calls aren’t landing

‘Cold calling doesn’t work’

This is a statement that you will see and hear everywhere, not only in recruitment, but in any sales industry.

Often, people say this for 1 of 3 reasons:

-            They don’t like cold calling people

-            They aren’t very good at cold calling

-            They don’t like receiving cold calls

But contrary to their beliefs, cold calling has helped build and scale countless businesses.

There is enough proof out there to show that cold calling does work. Is it the only way to build and scale?

No.

I have worked with recruiters who have built their very successful desks through an email first approach. However, these are few and far between. They were also all in the same sector. Every other sector that I have worked or coached in, I have seen a huge difference between phone first and email first.

The phone always wins.

Let’s first take a look at the 3 reasons that people don’t like cold calls.

1.        They don’t like cold calling people

Cold calling is a scary prospect for most people, me included. When I first started, I didn’t like the idea of it. I felt like I was being pushy and interrupting peoples days. I didn’t want to be the annoying salesman.

The other thing that put me off was not knowing what to do on the call. I am the sort of person that likes to know all of the facts before I do something. Going into a cold call is the complete opposite of that. You can have a plan, but within the first 5 seconds, the plan has gone out the window.

This made me nervous, anxious and stressed.

2.        They aren’t good at cold calls

Most people aren’t good at cold calls, not at first anyway.

No-one picks up the phone and is automatically great at it. Yes they may be better than others, but they still have lots to work on. People who are great at cold calling have put a lot of effort into it. They have practiced, researched, scripted and tried for years to get where they are now.

When you start you will get a lot of rejection, and rightfully so. At first, you are making lots of mistakes. Some big, some small, but they are everywhere. From how you start the call, how you present yourself and how you navigate it.

It is easier to blame the rejection on the fact that cold calling doesn’t work, rather then pinning the blame on yourself.

3.        They don’t like receiving cold calls.

Personally, I have always answered my phone to unknown numbers.

But I know that I am an odd ball for it. Most people, don’t like it because they assume that it’s going to be an annoying sales call. They are probably right too. Most sales calls are annoying, and that’s because they are bad.

I have had some great cold calls. One of which was from Alex Barron, who was an amazing SDR, Executive for SourceWhale. I will talk more about why it was amazing later on. I have also had many bad cold calls. These are the ones that people don’t like and don’t work.

If it’s a good cold call, then people don’t mind taking the call.

So, now we know why people don’t like cold calls (Because they only know of bad cold calls) we can start to look at what makes a good one.

There are many elements to a great cold call, I am going to focus on the main ones.

Tone

Structure

Problem solving

Closing

These 4 elements are so important, yet very frequently underestimated.

Tone

Your voice is your most powerful tool. Not your CRM, not LinkedIn and not even your AI assistant.

Your voice is the tool that is going to win over your clients and candidates. More specifically, your tone. Recruiters dedicate time thinking about what they are going to say, and have very little consideration for how they are saying it.

You could have the most amazing opening line, pitch and objection handlers, but if you don’t say it in a way that captures the attention of the person on the other end of the phone, it is wasted. Everyone has spoken to someone in their life that is boring, and every time they come near you create a reason to leave. That is unfortunately how recruiters come across on the phone. They have scripted lines that they deliver as if they are reading them off of the page. It is dull, inauthentic and makes the prospect switch off and end the call.

When Alex called me, he didn’t sound scripted. He sounded natural, passionate and genuinely interested in helping me and my business out. He engaged me with his tone, and then that allowed his words to land and resonate.

So before you pick up the phone and start making calls, record yourself saying your opener and pitch. Listen back and think about how it makes you feel. Are you bored, or engaged?

Structure

You wouldn’t set out on a car journey without knowing how you are going to get to your destination, as it would be chaotic, stressful, and ultimately you wouldn’t end up where you wanted to.

Yet this is exactly how recruiters approach their calls. They know where they want to go (What the outcome of the call is), but they have no idea how they are going to get there.

They have the opener, and then maybe their first question, but after that they are going gung-ho. It becomes a bit if a muddle, they don’t know what they are going to say next, and neither does the prospect. It is tough for you, and can become stressful and confusing. Imagie what it’s like for the prospect, they have know clue what the desired outcome is so they have more confusion than you. That is not the place you want them to be. You want them to be relaxed and understanding of where the call is going so that they can give you the information that you want and need.

Let’s use Alex’s call again. It was clear where the call was going, he had set this up at the beginning of the call. I knew what we were going to talk about and when we were going to talk about it. He had essentially given me the contents page of the phone call.

I was then able to give him quality information and details that he could then use to help him direct the call where he wanted it to go.

I always work on call structure with my students. I have a simple 6 step call structure that allows you to navigate a call without missing key parts or information.

Problem solving

Recruiters forget that the key part of their service is solving problems and overcoming challenges for their clients.

Recruiters fall into the trap of thinking that their job is to fill vacancies. Which yes, it is, but that is an over simplified version of the truth. You add so much more value than that.

As a recruiter, you are the expert in the hiring of talent. You know what skills are out there, you know what they are looking for and you know what they are currently earning and if their motivations are being met. This is all information that your prospects and clients would love to know. With this information you can help them create a more attractive package. You can stream line their processes to make sure that it is in line with the industry, and you can help them hire the right talent that will drive their business forward.

We focus too much on what the prospects or clients want rather than focusing on discovering what they need. When Alex called me, I didn’t want to invest in any more tech, however he knew that his product, SourceWhale, could add real value and drive my business forward.

He asked me questions that challenged my ideas and helped me to change my mindset around what I wanted, and made me look at what I needed.

When in a call with your clients and prospects, look past their wants, and uncover what they actually need. You will often find that the 2 are not aligned and that is what is creating their challenges.

Closing

Closing is the most important part of the conversation.

You could have had the best call ever in the history of calls, but then blow it by not being able to close. There are many ways to close a call, and they all have their pros and cons. I won’t get into them in this blog as you could, and people have, write a book on it.

Learning to close can take time, as there is a skill to it, but I see too many recruiters not close. When I say this, you are probably thinking about the big closes, like signing terms, making or accepting an offer, but I am talking about far more than this. Every call has a close. It could just be as simple as booking the next call.

It seems simple, but it is something that many recruiters over look, and then don’t understand why they can’t then get hold of the person the next time they want to contact them.

They don’t do these closes, big and small, because they feel awkward about it, and have the fear of rejection. But if you have done everything else right and you get to the close, then it should be fairly easy. And if they say no, then you can just restart the discussion, ‘What makes you say no?’ is a nice easy following question. It helps you gain clarity.

When Alex was closing the call, he talked about booking the meeting like it was a foregone conclusion that the meeting would happen as he had nailed the conversation and discussed every objection, and given an overview of how the product would drive my business forward.

So if you in the camp that don’t think that cold calling works, I strongly urge you to look inward.

Is it that cold calling doesn’t work, is it that you weren’t executing it to your best ability?

If you want to improve you calls and make them work for you, then sign up to the Recruitment Coach membership, where we will have monthly 1-1 coaching where we can work on all aspects of recruitment, whether you are a rookie or a high performer.