Despite a continuous shift toward exclusive online selling, cold calls are hardly a thing of the past. While most consumers prefer to do their business behind a screen, cold calling still provides sales experts a unique opportunity to build rapport.
However, natural charm and improvisation skills aren’t enough to convince buyers to purchase your products and services. Cold callers need to stay on track, provide customers with valuable information, and listen more than they speak.
Mapping calls is an excellent way to improve your sales outreach strategy. Here is everything you need to know about the process.
What is Call Mapping?
Call mapping pertains to the structure of a sales call. It provides callers with a “route” that allows them to achieve a specific goal and indicates “stops” in the form of talking points. Detailed call mapping enables salespeople to overcome potential obstacles by preparing statements and responses ahead of time.
A typical call mapping outline will contain:
- An introduction
- Questions to ask a prospect
- The primary sales pitch
- Common inquiries and answers
- The closing statement
However, this map may vary depending on the type of call. Some standard sales calls that might be on your agenda include the following.
- Discovery call: Discovery calls involve reaching out to prospects to gather information about their potential needs and determine whether they are qualified leads.
- Follow-up call: These calls occur when salespeople continue to pursue valuable leads. You’ll typically undergo multiple follow-up calls before you enter negotiations. Once you move along the sales funnel, you’ll likely start making calls to decision-makers.
- Closing call: The last step in the sales calling process is your closing call. During this stage, leads convert into paying customers, after which your focus shifts toward retaining long-term business relationships.
Why is Call Mapping Important?
Think of call mapping as visiting a destination for the first time—with one, you won’t get lost along the way and can anticipate any obstacles you might encounter in your journey. Below are a few other advantages of call mapping:
- Convey information accurately and concisely: Without an elevator pitch, it can be challenging to present information clearly and succinctly. Call mapping helps you develop an engaging way to tell your story without taking up too much time.
- Anticipate obstacles: More often than not, sales calls can go awry due to customer objections. Call mapping can help you prepare rebuttals to common questions in advance without coming across as hostile toward your potential customer.
- Save time: While improvisation is an essential skill in sales calls, it can take up unnecessary time. With a mapped sales call, you can speed up your sales cycle and get your point across faster.
- Build lasting relationships: While some consumers prefer to communicate over chat, email, or text, calls add a personal touch that you can’t replicate through those channels. Building trust is easier when you can respond instantly—you can put prospects’ minds at ease and keep them comfortable.
- Keep call structures consistent: While you may reach out to different clients, keeping your sales calls consistent can help you identify any issues within the process. It’ll also train you to respond more effectively without steepening your learning curve.
How to Incorporate Call Mapping Into the Sales Process
There is no single way to map your calls. Instead, you have to figure out what works for you over time. Here are a few steps you can follow:
1. Research the Prospect
The first and perhaps most crucial step to mapping your call is first getting to know your prospect. Researching industry blogs, social media profiles, white papers, and websites can provide context and allow you to craft a more tailor-made sales pitch.
Remember, within the first 30 seconds of your call, you need to keep your prospects hooked. Introducing your elevator pitch with specific details relevant to them will ensure that your message resonates.
2. Define Your Goal
Identifying an objective for your call can streamline your journey from point A to point B. Whether your goal is to gather more information about your client or provide details about a new product or service, making your purpose clear can keep your pitch focused and specific.
3. Give an Introduction
Naturally, if you’re reaching out to a prospect for the first time, you’ll want to find the best way to introduce yourself. Keep introductions short (around less than a minute).
Let them know who you are, what company you are with, and your reasons for calling. You can also take this opportunity to ensure you’re speaking with the right person.
4. Qualify the Prospect
Before you spend precious business hours pitching your product or service, you’ll want to ensure your prospect is interested in the first place. Ask questions based on your research to determine whether your products and services are something they need and can afford.
Underscore your product’s benefits and keep an ear out for genuine interest. Use this time to scope out whether you’re speaking to the company’s decision-maker. If not, it may be an excellent opportunity to ask for a referral.
5. Deliver Your Pitch
After qualifying a prospect, it’s time to deliver your elevator pitch. Remember to keep things relevant—play to what problems your prospect might have and how your business can help solve them.
A typical elevator pitch might happen like this:
- Provide a rundown of your company’s mission and vision
- Explain your products and services
- Outline a unique selling point that highlights how you stand out against competitors
- Cap off with a call to action
6. Address Any Objections
It isn’t uncommon for prospects to have concerns about your pitch—this is where call mapping becomes particularly handy. Use your predetermined list of potential questions to address objections.
7. Plan the Next Steps
As much as possible, you’ll want to end your pitch with a clear call to action. Let your prospect know what to expect next, whether that’s a follow-up call, face-to-face meeting, product demonstration, or service trial.
Focus on getting a firm commitment with a set date to avoid losing qualified leads.
8. Follow Up
Even when you finalize your follow-up meeting, not every prospect will honor their commitment. Be persistent without becoming overly disruptive to keep your brand top of mind. Depending on when you agree to touch base a second time, you can follow up every week, every two weeks, or every month.
If your client is difficult to reach, you can always leave a voicemail.
9. Revise Your Call Map Over Time
As trends come and go and consumer needs change, so will your call mapping process. Consider revisiting your call mapping process at least once a year, noting patterns that work and pinpointing areas for improvement.
If you’re unsure where to begin, consider using cold-calling scripts.
Key Takeaways
Overall, call mapping is an effective process for developing the best possible pitch to give your prospects. Here are a few key takeaways to improve your sales calls.
- Call mapping pertains to the process of structuring your sales pitches. While it doesn’t provide a word-for-word script, it “maps” out each point and prepares you for potential objections.
- There are different types of sales calls that may require various structures. These include discovery calls, follow-up calls, and closing calls.
- Call mapping lets you convey information clearly, anticipate objections, save time and effort, and make your pitches more consistent.
- When mapping your calls, you want to research your prospect, determine a primary goal, qualify your prospect, deliver your pitch, and provide actionable next steps.
Call Mapping FAQs
How do you structure a sales call?
How you structure your sales call will depend on the prospects you’re pitching to. Different industries will require different approaches.
The best way to craft an elevator pitch is to research your prospect—study their websites, blogs, white papers, social media profiles, and other online materials to gather helpful information.
Then, create an engaging hook. When you have your prospect’s attention, use your call map to anticipate any questions or objections.
Lastly, provide a solid call to action and agree on the next steps.
How do you do area mapping in sales?
Area mapping or sales territory mapping involves call mapping according to specific geographical areas. You might segregate your sales targets by zip code, state boundaries, internal and external territory factors, or the number of existing customers you have.
Through area mapping, you can determine locations that are being over or under-served. Well-balanced territories can even out sales quotas and enable you to garner leads faster.
How do you area map your sales calls? Here are a few easy steps you can follow:
- Evaluate your market data. Take a look at the industries you’re serving and in which territories they exist.
- Segment your customers according to demographics, business size, pain points, and other factors that can narrow your selection.
- Align your call structure with your business goals. Consider what tactics have worked in your favor before.
- Perform a SWOT analysis of your business and its competitors to determine any areas for improvement.
- Assign sales territories to teams.
What are the four types of sales calls?
There are four primary types of sales calls:
- Discovery call: Allows you to gather initial information about your prospect and how you fit into their business
- Follow-up call: Provides additional opportunities to sell a prospect on your business and its services
- Decision-making call: Get in touch with key decision-makers to determine whether the candidate is a fit
- Closing call: Buyer and seller make a deal
The Bottom Line
While cold calling is a tried-and-tested method of closing important deals, they’re not as simple as you think. Fortunately, call mapping can make the process more seamless and effective so you can drive growth. If you want to learn more about how to refine your call mapping process or incorporate revenue intelligence into your strategy, stay tuned for future guides or get a demo today.