​​How to write a good B2B cold calling script

Despite the prevalence of email prospecting, salespeople have still not abandoned phone prospecting, otherwise known as cold calling. With this in mind, the article will go through all the tips to write an effective B2B cold calling script. 

The phone sales script will be integrated into your global approach to commercial prospecting. 

The aim of noCRM is to help you achieve high success rates in your sales, which starts with improving your prospecting methods.

What is phone prospecting (cold calling)?

The aim of phone prospecting is to find prospects within your target market, called Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs). An ICP is your ideal prospect, whose custom will bring you the most value and who is most interested in your product or service.

Before prospecting, you need to properly define your ICP, to then focus on the prospects with the highest potential. Defining and then identifying your ICP will also help you understand the motivation behind buying your product. You will be better able to answer their potential objections regarding your product.

Phone prospecting is a quick and easy way to evaluate prospects. This evaluation requires gathering information on the needs of your prospect, as well as the added value of your product.

Why go through with phone prospecting?

Phone prospecting is most effective when used to sell products with a high added value and loan-to-value ratio.

Now comes your buyer persona, an imagined portion of your prospects. All the members of your sales team should be well aware of your buyer persona. Making sure that a prospect fits into one of your buyer personas helps you get rid of less relevant leads. You waste less time speaking to prospects who won’t buy your product.

Being aware of the buyer persona is an essential step in finding potential clients. You will be able to write sales scripts suited to each buyer persona, which will increase your response rates.

Phone prospecting is also a more personable way of reaching potential clients, as their questions will be more easily answered over the phone. A phone call will thus help create a sense of trust between you and the prospect.

What is a B2B cold calling script?

Knowing the importance of phone prospecting, a sales script becomes an essential tool for the salesperson. It will help put forth your arguments in a clear and efficient way, without losing sight of the aim of the conversation.

A prospect may be surprised to be contacted over the phone, so a sales script will help reassure and convince them. A sales script is especially effective in convincing the prospect within the first 30 seconds of the call.

In essence, a sales script is a guide for salespeople. It includes the questions the salesperson should ask, as well as the best tips to keep prospects interested in your pitch. This may be the tone you should use, answers to common questions, etc.

Never forget that your sales script should be tailored to each buyer persona, as it will enable you to answer the prospect’s needs in a precise and personal manner.

How do you define buyer personas?

The aim of a buyer persona is to understand how your potential clients think, so you can craft your best arguments beforehand to win them over.

It is best to follow these steps to create your buyer personas:

• Go into detail when thinking about each persona
• Accept that you won’t be able to answer all your prospect’s questions
• Go over your personas to improve them and define them more precisely
• Use persona profiles to craft your marketing strategy

Personas can be created following three steps:

• Research: in-person market research, interviews with clients, CRM, NPS (Net Promoter Score), and databases, among others.
• Data analysis: you will have qualitative and quantitative data which will enable you to assemble information and create precise profile types.
• Modeling personas: you will need a name, an image and a description to visualise a persona. You can use Xtensio (for user persona templates) or UXpressia to help you do so.

Once you have created your personas, you can start writing scripts around each persona. When speaking to a prospect, determine which persona they are aligned with and follow the script.

The 10 commandments of B2B cold calling scripts

When writing a sales script, you should follow these fundamental rules:

• Prepare your pitch 
• Put forth your biggest strengths 
• Have an engaging opening
• Evaluate your prospect
• Speak clearly
• Make sure to arouse their curiosity 
• Bring up the idea of a meeting
• End the call by setting up a meeting
• Anticipate the next meeting by asking the prospect to prepare the right documents

The essentials to get from a phone call

Your script should have the following elements:

• An introduction in which you explain why you are calling and the advantages of your product
• Fundamental questions to evaluate your prospect:
  • Budget: How much is your prospect willing to spend?
  • Authority: Does your prospect have the power to make a final decision?
  • Need: Does your prospect, and their entire team, really need your product?
  • Time: How much time will the prospect need to make a decision?
  • Tips for the rest of your sales team

To help write your script you can use our free sales script generator.  

An example of a B2B cold calling script

• Hello, my name is [your name] and I am [your role and your company]
• At [your company], we specialise in [description of your company]
• Ask a provocative question
• Do you have a few minutes to talk about [the need you have identified within their company]?

[If no]: That’s okay, are you free on the [date] for another chat?

[If yes]: Continue with the script

For more information on what to include in your sales script, read our dedicated article on how to create a phone sales script.

What are the advantages of a B2B phone sales script?

Boosting confidence

Despite common stereotypes, phone prospecting actually helps boost salespeople’s confidence as long as the prospecting process is clearly defined.

The script is a guide that helps salespeople during their phone calls. Salespeople are sometimes uncomfortable during phone prospecting. The script gets rid of their uncertainty, serving as a common thread throughout their calls.

Evaluate prospects to save time (and money)

Preparing by defining personas helps you find all prospects with potential and waste less time with prospects that aren’t ICPs. You will know your prospect better before you’ve even called them.

The sales script helps salespeople remember all fundamental questions for evaluating prospects. The evaluation will let them know if the prospect can become a qualified lead, who could end up buying your product.

Avoid being shaken up

The sales script helps your team bounce back from certain questions of your prospects. A salesperson, thanks to the script, will spend less time coming up with what to say next. This will help deal with common issues, which is impossible with email prospecting.

A script sets up a dialogue, helping your salespeople have a real conversation with prospects. The script will help your team defend the product, without forgetting the need to set up the next meeting.

Although writing sales scripts can seem tedious, noCRM, with our free sales script generator, is here to make the task more manageable. 

Phone prospecting remains a crucial tool in converting prospects into qualified leads.

Don’t hesitate to visit our website and discover all the other tools we offer for prospecting.

Frequently asked questions