This week we’re kicking off a new weekly blog series called Trendsday. The goal: take a closer look at current sales trends that are taking the online sales world by storm!

First, we’re talking about a new spin on an old concept. That’s right, the rusty–but not so trusty– cold call.

The days of breaking out the rolodex and sifting through dozens of vague half-leads are thankfully becoming a thing of the past.

Still, some of the same half-baked cold call approaches have found their way to social media. If you are active on LinkedIn, you have probably seen borderline spam like this pop up in your inbox:

“Hey, X. You’re in the marketing industry. Our products will help you sell more. Click this link!”

It’s time to put this dated method to rest and start having better business conversations online. Why? Because having more intelligent, attractive conversations leads to more conversions.

So, what is this new and improved cold call?

It’s a two pronged approach we like to call qualifying prospects and sharing qualified content.

If these concepts sound a bit more involved than copy and pasting a sales pitch or reciting a script into the phone, it’s because it is.

And prospects will notice the difference and appreciate the effort. Let’s break this approach down.

Qualifying Prospects

This might seem like common sense, but when searching for leads, you always have to make sure they fall within your target market.

This means researching that person’s company, their role at that company, and how well your product or service would meet their company’s needs. Too often, eager sales reps will go after a lead that seems so perfect–only to realize that their prized lead is in a completely different industry.

So save wasted time (and embarrassment) by vetting your leads to match your company’s vision. LinkedIn has several social selling tools to help you find leads in your target market. Check out LinkedIn Sales Navigator to really capitalize on qualified lead generation.

Sharing Qualified Content

An equally important step in improving lead generation is producing qualified content.

Let’s say you’ve found your dream client. After qualifying their company and perceiving their needs, you are certain that your product is a perfect fit for them.

What do you do now? “Pitch,” whispers the Ghost of Cold Calls’ Past.

It’s best to ignore him; he’s kinda creepy, anyway.

Pitching your product is the worst way to start a business conversation. It’s seen as unfriendly, blunt, and is essentially an immediate turn-off for a lead. Remember, their inbox is already brimming with generic pitches from spam-crazy sales reps.

Instead, approach your lead with content that relates to them. That’s right– talk about the customer’s interests, not your own. This concept is known as attraction marketing, and its been proven to help leads turn into customers.

Going the attraction marketing route means you’re meeting the lead where they’re comfortable instead of forcing them to make a purchase decision right off the bat. This makes you seem more likable and friendly– hence attraction marketing.

Producing qualified content isn’t always easy, though. It can be time consuming to find your leads interest, search for content that relates to that interest, and then have to write something to make it personal.

That’s a lot for one lead. To tackle qualified conversations, you need conversation intelligence.

Soundboard streamlines the process of generating qualified conversations by giving you curated content to share and suggested messaging to along with it. It’s what to share and what to say all wrapped up in one.

Even better, Soundboard’s new Chrome Web Store extension makes sharing content even more personalized through AI that scans a lead’s LinkedIn or Facebook profile for their interests, then suggests articles for you to share based on their own social media.

Soundboard or no, you have to make qualified conversations a priority before you even think of mentioning your own product.

Customers like to know that they are dealing with another human. Creating a space where you can have genuine conversations fueled by relevant content is crucial for lead conversions.

It is essential to have conversation intelligence to help guide you through the maze of online business. Making sales has always been about the conversation.

When we are able to shake off the old ways of cold calling and showering inboxes with product pitches, then we will see true growth in the quality and quantity of our business relationships.

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P.S. – Soundboard has a new feature called Conversation Trends. Driven by AI, Conversation Trends combines conversation intelligence and Soundboard’s trusted atomic content. Click the link to learn more!

Interested in trying Soundboard out? Click here to sign up for a 10-day free trial!