A cold calling sales script is an absolute necessity for sales teams. It provides a basic structure for salespeople to improve their calls by including necessary questions and statements depending on the conversation flow.
Over time, based on the number of sales calls made, you don’t have to rely on a script anymore. Till then, it serves as a guide to navigating your conversations with prospects.
In this article, I’ll share four basic cold calling sales call script examples you can use to guide your sales team, help new salespeople and build your own script.
The Standard Cold Calling Sales Script
A standard cold calling sales script helps businesses to introduce their solution to their prospects and schedule a demo. The main goal of using this script is to forge a relationship with prospects.
Opening lines matter as they set the tone for the entire conversation. As a ground rule, always start with a one. First, establish context. Start by introducing yourself: Hi, my name is Jenny, calling from CallHub. Forget your sales pitch for a minute. You need to let the prospect process who you are otherwise they will not pay attention to anything you say.
Next, set the tone for your conversation by talking about your prospect. Ask: How are you doing today? This way you won’t sound too salesy and would know if the prospect is in the right frame of mind to talk to you.
Once you’ve established a friendly tone, dive right into the “why” part or purpose of your call.
For example, I’m calling a few startups in the area to find out if they are a good fit for our outreach tools. If you use a sentence like this, you’ll be able to let your prospect know: Who you help, Where you’re located, What you’re looking for, and What you’re offering, in a single sentence. Depending on your target audience you can change your script. But these core ideas remain the same.
Next comes the elevator pitch. The key to a great elevator pitch is clarity and brevity. No fluff. No beating around the bush. In a sentence, explain what you do. For example, Our voice and messaging services help businesses bridge their communication gaps and improve sales.
Remember, prospects don’t have patience during cold calls. Ask them for permission to continue.
The reason to do this is if your pitch wasn’t interesting enough and they didn’t get time to object, they’d be thinking “How do I get off this call?” And not pay attention to a single thing you say.
Now that we’ve covered the basics let’s look at the overall cold call sales script structure:
- Raise curiosity (Who is this? Why should the prospect care?)
- Give context (elevator pitch)
- Ask them for permission to continue
- Ask questions to learn about their specific needs.
- Close the conversation by getting them to agree for a demo
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Cold Call Sales Script
Introduction
Hi Alice, this is Jenny from CallHub. How are you doing today?
Elevator pitch
Great! I’m calling a few startups in the area to find out if they’re a good fit for our product. What we do is help businesses bridge their communication gaps and improve sales.
Disqualify statement
I actually don’t know if you need what we provide, so I just had a question or two.
(pause and ask for agreement or availability)
This will only take a few minutes.
Pre-qualifying question
If I could ask you quickly:
How important is it to improve your ability to communicate better with your customers and leads? (insert your questions here)
Examples of common problems
Oh, alright. Well, as we’ve spoken with other businesses, we have noticed they often say:
(Insert your industry-specific pain points here)
Do you face similar problems?
Company and product information
Based on what you’ve just said, it might be productive for us to talk in detail.
(Insert some brief details about product, service, and/or company)
Closing
I know you’ve probably got a busy schedule, but I’d love to book a slot this week to have one of our consultants walk you through the product. Are you available on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week?
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Follow-up Sales Script Example
A lot of times salespeople get ghosted by prospects. Probably because they’re busy and felt like your email did not add any value to them. This gives you a reason to reach out to them and give them exactly what they’re looking for.
Make the little time they spend on the call memorable by addressing their pain points. If not they’ll feel like another tally number on the board of call you made.
Don’t end the call if the prospect says that they’ve read your mail and isn’t interested. Instead, ask them a few questions. Keep in mind not to sound pushy; gather more information about the challenges they face to give them a meaningful response. Also, don’t just say “Ok” and launch into another question.
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Sample Follow-Up Sales Script
Introduction
Hi Alice. this is Jenny from CallHub. Just wanted to quickly reach out and follow-up on the email I sent last week. Did you get a chance to look at it?
(personalize what you say next according to their answer)
Connecting statement
Alice, I noticed from your LinkedIn summary you oversee {job responsibility} at {their company}, and it looks like you’re scaling your team. Is that correct?
(tailor the conversation to their response)
Company and product information
Based on what you’ve just said, it might be productive for us to talk in detail.
(Insert some brief details about product, service, and/or company)
Closing
Could I block 15 minutes this week to walk you through the product? Are you available on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week?
If Yes: Sounds perfect, Alice. I will book the slot and send over an email.
If No: Thank you for your time.
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Voicemail sales script example
A voicemail script should be used when your prospect doesn’t pick your call. Don’t worry about receiving a reply, rather focus on nurturing your prospect’s trust in you and building a relationship.
Keep it short, for about 20-30 seconds, and highlight the pain points (challenges or problems faced by prospects).
While crafting a voicemail script you must remember to add social proof (companies who’ve used your product or service), metrics (that makes your product seem relevant), and a relevant closing statement (to get them to take a specific action).
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Sample Voicemail Sales Script
Introduction
Hi Alice, this is Jenny from CallHub. Businesses using our products tell us we help solve:
(Insert your industry-specific pain points here)
We help to improve all those areas, which is why I am reaching out to you.
Social proof
We’re backed by awesome customers like {name 2-3 big customers}.
Metrics
And these companies have typically seen a 15%+ business growth within a month of using our product.
Closing statement
Alice, I would love to connect with you about your specific needs. I will try you again next week. If you would like to reach me in the meantime, call me at {phone number} or reply to the email I’ve sent you.
Thank you. I look forward to talking to you soon.
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Sales Script when talking to a Secretary or Gatekeeper
Getting past gatekeepers can be the hardest part of your cold calling process. And using a well-crafted sales script can help you get the job done. While writing your script remember to use the word “Please” with gatekeepers. “Hi, this is Jenny from Callhub. Can I please speak to Alice?”, and say this with a warm tone.
You have to sound sincere with the secretary/gatekeeper. This is why you should role-play to make sure your tone and delivery is spot on.
If you don’t know the name of the contact, use the “I need a little help, please,” technique.
For example, Hi, this is Jenny from Callhub, I need a little bit of help, please. I need to speak with the person who handles (department), can you tell me who would that be?
Most of the time, if you’ve asked this nicely enough, the gatekeeper will route you to the right department.
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Sample Script To Avoid Gatekeeper
Introduction
Hi, this is Jenny from CallHub. May I please speak to {prospect},?
Purpose of the call
Our product helps companies bridge their communication gaps and improve sales. I would like to schedule a call with {prospect name} to talk more about the products/services we offer.
If Yes: Thank you so much. I’ll be sure to contact {prospect}. Goodbye!
If No (not interested): I understand that you’re not interested but can I have {prospect} email ID/contact number so that I can contact them directly? Thank you.
If Unavailable: Oh, that’s not a problem. Can you tell me when {prospect} would be free so I can talk to them at a later time? Thank you for your assistance.
If the gatekeeper offers to transfer you to voicemail: That’s alright, is there an alternative way to contact {prospect} or is there someone else who handles {department}?
(try getting the prospects email ID or the contact information of another person in the same department)
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Always remember that a cold calling script must clearly and effectively describe who you are, your company, the product or service you offer, and how it will benefit the prospect and their business. Make use these sales script examples to build a perfect cold calling sales script.
Feature image source: Green Chameleon/Unsplash
