Is cold calling dead? Let’s be real.
The answer is “No”.
Cold calling was once one of the most effective prospecting strategies we used in the financial industry.
Cold calling for financial advisers
Over the past 40 years, there have been many more effective options. It’s probably naive to say that cold calling is never a viable, effective, useful or necessary strategy – because it is.
However, it is important to improve the rest of your prospecting strategies, so that it is not your primary tactic.
This post will explore warm, informed calling strategies. It will also discuss how to make calls that are more productive and less intrusive to prospects you don’t know by forming close relationships with your marketing team.
Are you feeling numb from prospecting calls?
We believe warm calls armed with useful data are the way to go.
Let go of the out-of–the-blue, icy interruption calls that have plagued financial services for many years, and embrace a better way. A warmer and more informed way to call prospective clients.
When it comes to lead generation for financial advisers, think of “warm calling” as cold calling 2.0. (Forbes)
Jake McQuillan, Sales Director of Opulent Media Group, says “During my 10 years in the financial marketing world, cold calling has worked a treat and in turn won me some of my best opportunities.
However, since we have adopted a warmer and more informed strategy to our calling sales tactics, it is delivering results like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
The informed call: A data driven, warmer approach
Cold calls used to be made with only the name of the person, company name and industry. Sales teams now have SO much more to utilise.
Jake shared that “intent can now be analysed in greater detail than ever before.” “Our sales team understands how leads interact with our clients’ website content, search, and social media.
We now have a deeper understanding of what our leads are looking for, so that our clients can help their prospective clients during their initial call.”
Tech-forward companies use platforms such as Hubspot, Salesforce and Google Analytics to create complete lead pictures before initiating conversations.
These CRM capabilities and integration with other platforms allow our clients to track leads’ interactions over time and know when they are ready for a call.
Although it may sound complicated, it isn’t. Information is always available, and leads are never left hanging.
Leads don’t get a call until they’re warmed up enough, and by this we mean until they have seen and interacted with enough of your content – they should already know your name.
Sales teams then have the ‘in’ they need to provide immediate value to prospects and explain how their financial firm can help, depending on what content they have interacted with.
Jake expands by saying, “Data and analytics are central to everything we do, as we need to understand where prospects are on their journey.” “At Opulent Media Group, we have a detailed Client Journey for all of our clients that reveals the needs of their audiences as they move from awareness to commitment.
Your marketing team should not be seen as a brochure factory
The informed, warm calling method can only work if there is alignment between marketing and financial advisers themselves.
Marketing teams must drive towards financial advisers’ goals, and financial advisers must communicate their needs to marketing. The same is to be said if you outsource your marketing.
Building close relationships with our clients is paramount to our joint success.
When everyone is working towards the same goals and all teams align their efforts, you will quickly produce more qualified leads. Without marketing insights and analytics backing your sales efforts, you will likely be outsold.
For some financial firms, the above strategy may mean a total shake up of the company structure.
Ridding old school perceptions of marketing and ensuring everyone is aware of their roles and responsibilities in the joint up marketing approach to gain a better return on investment (ROI) for everyone’s success.
Marketing is no longer the brochure factory of a financial organisation. Marketing is there to provide relevant and timely content that addresses a specific need or educates its audience.
Each piece of content must have an identifiable tracking system and analytics backing it, which can be shared with sales to better educate their movements.
Better results for your financial marketing goals
At Opulent Media Group, we’re a data-driven marketing agency, as we know that the best solutions and improvements can be seen within the data of a project.
By using industry-leading tools and techniques, we can accurately analyse the behaviour of visitors to your site to see where steps may be missing in your journey that may be losing you conversions.
But our team does more than just sifting through data – we get into the mindset of your audience and get to know them; their likes, habits, behaviours, all aspects which can be used to arm your team with all the knowledge they need for an initial call.
So give it a try. Make that sales call. But try it this time armed with insights gathered by your marketing team.
We’re sure a warm hello awaits!
Say hello to Opulent Media Group
