So is cold calling better or warm calling?
Published: 2020-07-06 11:49:59

“Cold calling is a complete waste of time. Warm calling is more effective.”

“I believe that as a start-up, warm calling is not the best approach. But then less than 1% of cold calls result in sales.” (Source)

“Warm calling takes a lot of time, and not all of us have that luxury.”




Okay! So let’s pause here and settle all of these thoughts in the following read. 

Things we’ll elaborate:

The difference between both
When to use them
The potential complexity of both

Cold Calling

Cold calling refers to the unsolicited call to a prospect who had no prior interaction with any sales personnel from your company. The technique might be gruelling and less rewarding but it is still prevalent in today’s B2B sales environment and it will always be a part of the sales outreach strategy for any business.

One complexity with cold calling is the low-quality data and the wastage of good leads. So any sales rep must be very precise when filtering and clearing out the acquired data and should always prioritize research. These improvements can ensure the efficiency of your cold call.

So how to conduct an in-depth analysis? Start with knowing:

Who is this lead? What does this lead do and what role he plays in the organization. Identifying decision-makers leads to a quicker buying decision.
What does his company do? Uncover the landscape of the industry they operate in, what they do, who they target, what challenges they are facing, and what challenges is their industry facing. Acquiring this detailed information results in better lead qualification, and eventually a better selling.
Why would my product or service be of interest to him? Knowing what qualifies this lead to be a good one or understanding why your product or service might benefit them, is very important for the lead classification and the sales approach. If a prospect is fully aware of the challenges his business is facing, and you can explain how your product can be helpful, then the communication process will tend to be more fluid. 

How can you acquire all of this information? Google, social media, and the company website.

Here’s an example of a cold call:

“Hey John, I am Smith from NeoDove. We are a company that empowers sales automation to effectively manage communication and leads management.

I hope you are doing great! How is business?

I am calling to see if our platform can help your company.

What is your biggest challenge in ensuring that your telesales team can manage leads effectively?

I empathise with the source of your frustration. As I understand, it sounds like that the lack of automation and high dependency on telecallers has led to delayed responses, broken sales processes or even perhaps missing out on potential leads. Especially when you don’t have the right tool to manage them.

Our platform was built to alleviate all of these issues and we have been working with a handful of companies like yours. Most of them found our platform extremely effective and easy-to-use. Do you have a similar platform in-use?”

Here’s another one

“Am I right that you are responsible for the telesales team at (Company name)?

I have had my eye on your company for quite some time now and I am amazed by the progress you are achieving in the field. And I noticed from your LinkedIn post that you are hiring a data management specialist. It sounds like you guys are suffering from a lack of automation in your communication and leads management process. It can get frustrating.

Our platform was built to alleviate all of these issues and we have been working with a handful of companies like yours. Most of them found our platform extremely effective and easy-to-use.

You seem busy now but I would love to set a time anytime this week to have a conversation and walk you through what we’ve done for our customers to overcome the challenges you are facing.

Are you available on Tuesday of this week?”

Warm Calling

Warm calling is the act of contacting a prospect that has had prior contact with you and has expressed an interest in the product or service your company offers. This prior contact might have been in the form of networking during an event, a form he filled out on your website, a direct mail, social selling, or a referral. So you reach out to them after the prior contact and explain how your solution/service can solve the problem they were having difficulty with.

The one complexity with warm calling is that it requires more investment. Both in terms of money and time. So if you are a small company with fewer leads, a smaller network, and less digital or social media exposure then you don’t have the luxury to use this time-consuming method.

The method itself might be more complex than cold calling but if done correctly, it pays back hugely in the long run. Warm calling relies on using several communication methods to approach the prospect. For example:

Step 1: You send a cold email (After meeting at a networking event) with elaboration how your product/service/solution can help the client improve X

Step 2: You send another email to schedule a call and attach a case study to the email

Step 3: You call the lead and ask if they went through the case study and whether they find it helpful or not....You are basically initiating a conversation here

Another Example:

Step 1: Send a cold email with a compelling infographic and a clear call-to-action

Step 2: Another email with a clear offer if they on-board within a certain period

Step 3: Leave a voicemail

Keep in mind that you have to spread this process over 3 – 5 business days.

When to use cold calls and when to use warm calls?    

A practical and reasonable answer will be to create a balance between using both cold calling and warm calling. Relying on your prospecting strategy and the level of interest shown in your service or product. You can also test both methods, track the result and look at the data to see which method is more effective in bringing the most clients.

The drastic change in the digital world is to our advantage, it is easy to access a wealth of information at any time, so sales professionals can use it in their favour by looking for the right data and preparing themselves for effective communication and leads management.