Welcome to the world of social media marketing, where the potential for growth and financial success is endless.
As a small agency or individual marketer, charging between $2000-$20000 per client can make big money or profit. Having just ten paying clients means a monthly revenue of $20,000. And, by outsourcing some of the work and handling some of it yourself, you can keep even more of that money as take-home pay.
But the real question is, how do you land those ten safe clients?
Cold calling may be the solution you need, but it has challenges. The disconnects, competition, lack of trust, and negative perception make cold calling a problematic strategy.
But what if we showed you how to turn cold calling into a secret weapon? How to overcome the challenges and close more deals while increasing your annual net take-home to $300,000 or more!
In this article, we’ll cover the key strategies and tips to make cold calling a successful method for your agency. Let’s take your business to the next level and make cold calling work for you!
How to overcome these challenges and make cold calling your secret weapon?
Are you tired of struggling to land new clients for your social media marketing agency? Are you sick of the constant disconnects, lack of trust, and negative perception associated with cold calling? It’s time to turn the tables and make it cold calling your secret weapon.
Imagine confidently approaching potential clients, knowing you have the strategies and tactics to overcome the challenges and close more deals.
It’s not a dream. It’s a reality. We’re here to show you how to make cold calling work for you, increase your client base, and ultimately grow your business. It’s time to say goodbye to frustration and hello to success.
Find and filter the correct data
When finding success in cold calling, targeting the right audience is critical. For example, wouldn’t you offer a lawn care service to someone living in an apartment? Similarly, you can only call people and ask if they need social media marketing services. That’s why identifying the correct data is crucial to the success of your cold-calling efforts.
Think about it, who are the people who will truly benefit from social media marketing services? Business owners who have recently started and have yet to have a social media presence, or those who have a company but are not actively using it? These individuals are likely to be receptive to your pitch and open to working with an agency like yours.
But how do you find these people?
It starts with filtering through the data you have available. Researching online to find newly-formed businesses or analyzing social media activity to identify inactive profiles. This step should take up about 20% of your cold-calling efforts, but it will pay off in the long run. By being strategic and targeted with your efforts, you’ll reach potential clients more likely to convert into paying customers.
By taking the time to find and filter the correct data, you’re setting yourself up for success. You’ll save time and increase your chances of landing new clients, which means more revenue for your agency and a better return on your cold-calling efforts.
Enrich with information from their social media
Once you’ve filtered through your data and found a list of potential clients, it’s essential to take the next step and enrich that information with insights from their social media presence.
This will allow you to identify who among them is genuinely struggling with their social media efforts and would be more likely to convert into paying customers for your agency.
By visiting their social media pages, you’ll be able to see if they are posting regularly and if the quality of their posts is up to par. If they are, it’s likely that they already have an agency or in-house team working on their social media efforts, and targeting them would be a waste of time and money.
But, if you see obvious mistakes, such as an inactive or broken Facebook page, you know they are losing clients, and they could be an ideal candidate for your agency services.
By further filtering out prospects and identifying areas where they are struggling, you can tailor your pitch and proposal to address them and show them how your agency can help them improve their social media efforts and ultimately grow their business. This will make your proposal more effective and increase the chance of closing deals.
Enriching your data with insights from your prospect’s social media presence is a crucial step that will help you identify the best candidates for your agency’s services and ultimately boost your chances of success in cold calling.
Transform cold calls into sales: spotlight mistakes, demonstrate the cost of inaction
One of the most prominent mistakes marketers make when making cold calls is needing more information about their prospects. This leads to disconnected calls and wasted time.
To avoid this, you can standardize your process and hire someone from a platform such as Upwork to perform data enrichment. This will give you a list of ideal prospects and their pain points, which you can use to tailor your approach when calling them.
When you make the call, it’s essential to be upfront and acknowledge that most cold calls get disconnected quickly. By starting the conversation with a problem that your prospect is likely facing, you’ll grab their attention and demonstrate that you understand their needs. This will set you apart from other cold callers and increase their chances of staying on the line.
Furthermore, by highlighting the cost of inaction, you can demonstrate the value of your product or service and make it more attractive to your prospect.
In marketing and sales, time is of the essence, but a little preparation can go a long way regarding cold calling.
Make it matter in terms that matter to them: Discoverability, Image, Reputation
One crucial area that many businesses need help with is their online presence and reputation. A solid social media presence is essential to a company’s reputation.
Take, for instance, a business named Bumblebee, a payment company struggling with its social media presence. They might have a Facebook page, but it’s been three months since the last post and only two comments. This might make potential customers question whether they can trust Bumblebee as a reputable company.
This is where your services can make a significant difference. By offering to take care of their social media presence and creating engaging content that will be posted regularly, you can help Bumblebee build trust with its potential customers.
When potential customers visit Bumblebee’s social media page and see that they’re active and engaging with their prospects, they’ll be more likely to trust them. As a result, customers may also end up doing business with Bumblebee.
When making a cold call to a potential client, it can be effective in breaking the mold of what they expect. For example, you can grab their attention by asking, “Would you like to know how many clients you lost last month?”
This question can help you assess the client’s pain points and present how you can help them. By making it matter in terms that matter to them, you can increase the chances of successful cold calls and ultimately drive more sales for your business.
Present multiple benefits once they are interested
The key to success is making your message matter to your audience. Once you’ve caught their attention, it’s time to showcase the many benefits of utilizing social media in your marketing strategy.
One of the most valuable benefits is building trust with your audience.
By creating a solid and active presence on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, you can establish your agency, company, product, or business as a trusted and reliable source in the eyes of your audience. This makes it easier for potential customers to choose your agency, product, or company and opens up the potential for long-term customer loyalty.
Another significant benefit of social media is that it offers a non-intrusive way to share updates with your audience without being too “salesy.” Additionally, It gives your audience an easy way to reach out to you. That is, if they ever have any concerns or questions, making it is easier to provide a personal touch.
Once you’ve hooked your audience’s interest, you can present them with the multiple benefits of social media. Even if some people are initially hesitant to invest in social media, providing them with informative and compelling information can change their minds.
Utilize the power of social media platforms
By using platforms like Facebook and Twitter, you can send notifications or messages directly to the feeds of past customers who already follow you. This allows them to easily stay informed about new products or offerings without needing a cold caller to reach out to them every time.
Let’s say; for example, as a social media agency, you’ve added Facebook leads to your offering. Instead of having a cold caller reach out to every existing customer to tell them about the new offering, they can see it on Twitter. If they’re interested, they can react, and you can reach out to them.
Not only is this a more efficient way to share updates, but it also helps build trust with your customers. When past customers are happy with your products or services, they can talk about their experience on social media, which can help attract prospects and build trust.
See which benefit matters to them and expand on that benefit
You can tailor your pitch to their specific needs by understanding what triggers your potential customer.
For example, let’s say you’re on a cold call with a bakery owner who wants to share regular updates about their latest varieties and get more walk-ins. Instead of just offering generic social media services, you can expand on how you can specifically help them achieve their goal.
You could suggest they need someone to take high-quality pictures of their baked goods and then use captions that align with current trends in the area to ensure more people see their updates.
You can highlight that by signing up with your agency as their social media agency, they’ll be able to achieve their goal of getting more walk-ins into their bakery. That is by effectively sharing regular updates and pictures that grab the attention of their target audience.
By understanding and addressing your customer’s specific needs and goals, you’ll be able to showcase the value of your services and stand out from other social media agencies.
Understand that it can take multiple calls
Remember, it often takes more than one call to seal the deal. So even if your prospect is super interested, close the sale on the first call. It’s important to understand that building trust takes time, and multiple calls may be necessary before closing a deal.
It’s also important to be prepared for the first call, have all the necessary information, and be able to address any objections or concerns they might have. Remember, closing a sale is a process and requires patience and persistence. So keep following up and building that relationship. Soon enough, you’ll be closing deals in no time.
Gauge their interest. If they seem unlikely, close on audit
One effective solution is offering a “trial close” or an “audit.”
An audit is a great way to demonstrate expertise and show prospects how your services can benefit their business.
By analyzing their current social media strategies and identifying areas of improvement, you can provide them with valuable insights and advice on increasing their visibility and reaching their local audience.
For instance, you could evaluate their ads, budget, and how they can maximize their results by spending less money. This analysis will come at a cost – generally between $300-$500.
Not only does this demonstrate your expertise, but it also allows you to upsell further.
In addition, once they see your services’ potential improvements and results, they may be more willing to invest in a comprehensive social media management plan.
As we mentioned earlier, always remember building trust and closing a sale can take multiple calls. And always try to capture the prospect’s contact details, and send a free ebook or a resource that may keep them engaged.
Augment your cold calls with email funnels
Want to seal the deal on that sale? Augmenting your calls with an email strategy is a powerful tool to help you achieve that goal.
Emails are a great way to share detailed information that may be harder to convey over the phone. In addition, you can include the benefits of social media marketing and the cost of not being present on social media.
You can also mention case studies of people who have been successful with your agency or as a marketer. Plus, by providing numbers and statistics, you can showcase the potential return on investment of social media marketing.
When crafting your email, be sure to break it down into easily digestible chunks. Use short paragraphs and subheadings to make it easy to read and understand. To make it more engaging and memorable, add images, diagrams, or infographics to demonstrate your points and show your prospect how they can convert better.
Track engagement on email and close the hot prospects with calls
Once you set up email funnels, consider who’s engaging with your emails. Out of 10 people, 9 of them may be ready to buy. And when they start engaging with your emails, you’ll know it’s time to take action.
Once you notice someone engaged with one or two of your emails, it’s a clear sign that they’re getting interested. And that’s when you strike by reaching out to them specifically. These people are showing genuine interest and are likely ready to buy.
Instead of calling a random list of leads, you now have a targeted list of people who are already starting to trust you and take value from the emails you’ve sent. And by using the insights from email analytics, you can zero in on the hottest prospects and close the sale.
Use the right tools to manage the entire process
- Auto-dialer for fast and accurate calling: Manual calling is slow and prone to mistakes autodialer Increases speed, efficiency, and accuracy. And if it’s a CRM with dialer then there’s nothing better.
- Telecalling CRM to manage your leads and history: Making 200 calls per day is useless if you don’t track the history of calls, filter out the warm lead and create a follow-up plan. Otherwise, it’s impossible to get clients for social media marketing or social media management. Businesses don’t hire a social media marketing agency based on one cold call no matter how good you get at sales.
- Social media marketing tool: Since you sell social media marketing, so you already know how potent it can be to combine cold calling with social media. You can create retargetting ads, get them to engage with your page and then post content to push them towards closure through your content. The best part is with the right tool you can automate and schedule your social media posting.
- Email outreach tool: You can use tools like Aweber to create an automated sequence of high-quality emails to engage with interested prospects that you filter from cold calling. Then you can use built-in analytics to find interested leads and engage them with follow-ups over the phone.
- Influencer marketing software: Imagine if you are making a cold call to restaurant owners and you can say “Even Allen Adamson from Metaforce vouches our service”
- Of course getting Allen Adamson to vouch for you can be incredibly difficult, unless you use the right influencer marketing strategy and tool for influencer marketing, for example: Upfluence.
Unlocking the Potential
Cold calling may have a reputation for being a daunting task, but for social media marketing agencies, it can be a powerful tool for driving growth and increasing revenue. By utilizing data and insights from social media, you can effectively filter and target potential clients who are more likely to convert into paying customers.
However, it’s important to remember that success with cold calling doesn’t just come down to making the call. Having a strategic approach in place is crucial, including tactics such as thoroughly researching potential clients and personalizing your pitch.
Don’t let the fear of cold calling hold you back from potentially valuable opportunities. With the correct data, insights, and strategies, cold calling can become your secret weapon for driving growth and financial success for your business. So take control and make it work for you.