What Is B2B Cold Calling?

There are a variety of different sales techniques that you can find around the world. Every industry also has developed their own specialized techniques. One very common technique you can find though is B2B cold calling. What is this practice?

The Difference Between B2B and B2C

You might already know what B2B stands for but not everyone does. It is okay if you don’t. B2B stands for business to business and refers to any company which serves other businesses. Their products are designed and sold to other businesses. This is as opposed to a company that sells products to consumers. In some cases such as pensions, cold calling to the general public is not allowed In the UK. It is important to note that sometimes a company will do both but they often have different people doing the B2B side of the business. In fact, many companies have both a business to business side and a business to consumer side (B2C)

So What Is B2B Cold Calling?

The practice of business to business (B2B) cold calling is making a call to another business to attempt to sell your product. But not all sales calls are “cold calls”. In order to be considered a cold call, you are reaching out directly to another business without them contacting you first. Cold calling can be difficult to do as the person on the other end of the line hasn’t requested a phone call. Their guard will go up when they discover that you are trying to sell something. Performing B2B cold callings take a lot of skill that can be learned and honed through experience. During a B2B cold call you are looking to do two things. Only one of them is to sell. Selling during any sales call is a no brainer, that is what your business is trying to do. What any expert in telesales training knows though, is that a cold call is about more than just a sale. Even if you don’t get a sale, you can still have a successful cold call.

Forming a Relationship

The second aspect of a cold call is creating a relationship with the business. During the phone call you have a chance to set yourself out above your competition. To let the person know they can reach back out to you if their situation changes. And to plant a seed in their mind that could lead to them wanting to buy. It is important that when you are cold calling another business that you get ahold of someone who can make purchasing decisions. You don’t want to spend the whole phone call talking to someone only to realize they aren’t the right person.

Cold calling is a difficult task to take on. One that requires you to be very human and optimistic. Without the right skill set, you are setting yourself up for failure. The number of fake phone calls and scam phone calls in the modern world puts someone on their guard when you call to sell to them. Even when calling another business. The long and short of it is that B2B cold calling is the process of making unprompted sales calls to another business. Almost since businesses started using phones people have been making B2B cold calls. It is one of the many ways that B2B businesses reach out to new customers.