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Want your team to close more deals this month? Stop being a sales manager and become your team’s cold calling coach.

Managers who run a team of outbound salespeople have a unique responsibility. Much of their team’s success depends on cold calling and prospecting over the phone. It’s a niche skill set that needs constant development, support, and feedback. Without that proper guidance, especially for new reps, it’s easy to feel lost at sea.

So how do managers position themselves at advisors to their teams? They take off the manager’s hat and put on the hat of a cold calling coach.

Teach your sales team to see cold calling as a versatile strategy with many end-goals

Sales reps often have a problem with cold calls because they assume premeditated results:

  • They won’t pick up my call.
  • They’ll be annoyed with me.
  • They don’t want to hear from me.
  • I won’t make a sale over the phone.

The list goes on. But this universal attitude is truly a failure on the manager’s part. He hasn’t provided the right approach for his team, so the results are often scattered, and salespeople eventually become cynical. The team needs a cold calling coach, not a manager who just gives out a script and says, “go sell!”

Cold calls don’t always lead to a sale, as we know. But sometimes the actual purpose of the call isn’t closing a deal either. In fact, outbound phone calls can have many goals.

What matters is that sales managers recognize how important it is to think of cold calling as a versatile sales strategy. The approach your salespeople take will determine their results. And each call can have a different strategy and end-goal.


If you’re serious about phone sales and want to triple the number of sales calls you make in an hour, give Call Logic a try. Sign up for our free trial now!


Involving your team in molding a particular strategy for a target audience can change their perceptions and possibly alter their performance. Approach every sales call with a particular goal in mind.

  • Gain an email address to send out an informational package.
  • Find out if the prospect might have a future need for one of your products or services.
  • Get the prospect to sign-up for a free, no-obligation consultation or demo of your product.
  • Gain a subscription to one of your free content resources, like a newsletter, blog or webinar series.

cold calling coach

Establish a process for cold calling: before, during and after

Once you’ve introduced the inherent flexibility of cold calling strategies, it’s time to build a team-wide process. A smart manager, who acts like a real cold calling coach, creates a step-by-step guideline for his team. And the guideline continually improves with feedback from his salespeople.

Each outbound sales call has three parts: before, during and after. Each is equally important for consistent wins. Managers must break these parts into micro steps so that salespeople walk into the conversation prepared and ready for anything.

Before: nailing down the right approach for a cold call

  • Know your desired outcome for the call. Every salesperson should equip themselves with a compass to steer the conversation. What’s the desired outcome? How do you get there?
  • Know your prospect’s story and pain points. Give your salespeople a breakdown of the prospect. Why would she be interested? What specific features or benefits from your using your product would catch her interest?

During: navigating the conversation and looking for opportunity

  • Speak from a position of power and authority. Not to say impolite, but mentally navigating the exchange as if the prospect needs what you’re offering. Weak impressions lead to awkward conversations.
  • Immediately position yourself a solution to his or her unique problem. A real cold calling coach would call this “differentiation.” You want to explain why you’re worth talking to as soon as possible. That way you buy yourself more time.
  • Ask questions that lead toward the desired outcome. Get the information you need from the prospect as you move toward a set goal. Ask for the outcome and be respectful of his or her time.

After: following-up, sending information, recording notes

  • Enter the prospect in your CRM system so you can easily manage the relationship and take next steps.
  • Follow-up with an email to the prospect and send any information requested.
  • Record your notes with that prospect and how the conversation went. What did you learn about your process? What did you learn about that particular prospect?

When your team has a cold calling coach, their confidence will increase, and so will their sales.


If you’re serious about phone sales and want to triple the number of sales calls you make in an hour, give Call Logic a try. Sign up for our free trial now!


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