How do you transition from social selling to closing the deal with cold prospects?

1 Align your messages

Before you pick up the phone, make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to say and how it relates to your previous social interactions. Don't repeat the same information or pitch that you already shared on LinkedIn or Twitter. Instead, use your social selling insights to tailor your message to their specific needs, challenges, and goals. For example, you can mention a recent post they liked, a comment they made, or a question they asked, and use that as a hook to start the conversation.

2 Provide value

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when cold calling is to focus on yourself and your product, rather than on your prospect and their problem. To avoid sounding salesy or pushy, you need to provide value in every call. Value can be anything that helps your prospect solve their pain points, learn something new, or achieve their desired outcome. For example, you can offer a free consultation, a case study, a webinar, a white paper, or a referral. The key is to make your offer relevant, timely, and beneficial for your prospect.

3 Ask open-ended questions

Another way to provide value and build rapport is to ask open-ended questions that encourage your prospect to share more about their situation, needs, and expectations. Open-ended questions are those that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no, and that require some explanation or elaboration. For example, you can ask: How do you currently handle this challenge? What are your main goals for this quarter? What are the criteria you use to evaluate a potential solution? By asking open-ended questions, you can uncover your prospect's pain points, motivations, and objections, and position yourself as a trusted advisor.

4 Listen actively

Asking open-ended questions is only half of the equation. You also need to listen actively to what your prospect says and how they say it. Active listening means paying attention to the verbal and non-verbal cues, such as tone, emotion, hesitation, and interest, that your prospect gives you during the call. It also means paraphrasing, summarizing, and confirming what you heard, and showing empathy and understanding. By listening actively, you can demonstrate that you care about your prospect's situation, build trust and rapport, and identify opportunities to move the conversation forward.

5 Handle objections

No matter how well you prepare and execute your cold call, you will inevitably face some objections from your prospect. Objections are not necessarily a sign of rejection or disinterest. They are often a way for your prospect to express their doubts, concerns, or questions about your solution. Therefore, you should not avoid or ignore them, but rather embrace and address them. The best way to handle objections is to use the LAER model: Listen, Acknowledge, Explore, and Respond. Listen to the objection without interrupting, acknowledge it without agreeing or disagreeing, explore the underlying reason or cause behind it, and respond with a clear and confident answer that addresses the objection and provides evidence or proof.

6 Close with a call to action

The final step of your cold call is to close with a clear and specific call to action. A call to action is a request or an invitation that you make to your prospect to take the next step in the sales process. It can be anything from booking a demo, scheduling a follow-up call, sending a proposal, or signing a contract. The key is to make your call to action relevant, realistic, and urgent for your prospect. You can use the following formula to craft your call to action: State the benefit, state the action, state the timeframe. For example: To see how our solution can help you achieve your goals faster and easier, let's schedule a demo for next week. How does Tuesday at 10 am sound?

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?