What Is The Difference Between A Hot Call And A Cold Call?

The sales call is one of the most valuable tools in any business landscape. Used today to refer to any interaction with a potential lead, the sales call can include everything from cold calling to hot sales interactions, messaging, emails, and so much more. Today, we’re going to be looking at the concept of hot and cold calling, and what you should know about each method.

What is Cold Calling? Cold calling definition

The cold calling definition you get will often depend on which business you ask. Some people say cold calling is nothing more than nuisance calling. Others believe the cold call continues to be one of the most important tools for finding sales opportunities today.

A cold call is a sales method used to reach out to potential leads who might want to purchase a product or service from a brand. With a cold call, the sales person typically doesn’t know anything about the interests or needs of the sales target. Instead of focusing on targeted communication with carefully chosen accounts, cold calling involves making “unsolicited” calls to people in an attempt to sell a range of goods and services.

Cold calls don’t always lead to positive results for businesses. Indeed, there are many salespeople who spend most of their time redialling or saying the same pitch over and over to new people, as leads simply hang up on their call. However, when used correctly, cold calling can still have value in the modern sales environment.

What is Warm Calling? Hot calling definition

Warm calling is the result of a targeted lead generation strategy. With a hot call, you make a conscious effort to reach out to people who you know are more likely to be interested in your product or service. Hot calling or warm calling as it’s sometimes called, involves more time-intensive research and preparation as part of the sales strategy.

Hot calling might take more time and effort on the behalf of the company making the sales call, but it can also lead to a higher chance of a sale. These kinds of conversations result in much higher sales because the salespeople involved have more information on the leads and can tailor their pitch to suit their needs. Additionally, in most hot calling strategies, the correspondents have already agreed to be contacted, so they’re less likely to hang up on the caller.

Cold calling vs warm calling: key difference

So, what is the difference between a hot call and a cold call?

In the discussion of cold calling vs warm calling, cold calling is the cheaper, but less focused approach to collecting leads. With cold calling, you simply reach out to as many people as possible with the same sales pitch, hoping to eventually come across someone who already likes your product or service. Cold calling requires no, or very little research into your target customer.

In some cases, it’s possible for cold calling efforts to involve reaching out to a specific sub-section of audience members, when companies collect details for a cold calling campaign from a specific data source – but the salesperson has no real information about the person they’re talking to.

Alternatively, warm calls do require significant research and preparations. For a hot calling effort to be successful, companies need to gather as much information as they can about their target audience, so salespeople can create the perfect pitch.

Cold call vs hot call: pros and cons

Many people believe there’s no real competition with cold calling vs warm calling, because cold calling is still regarded to be an obtrusive and somewhat annoying way to collect leads. This is the outbound marketing strategy that most consumers end up getting frustrated by. However, it’s still in practice today because it can be effective. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of cold calling.

Pros:

• You can reach new customers: You can actively connect with people who might not have been looking for you product or service before
• You improve brand reach: you can get information about your brand into new environments
• Sales teams master their pitch: Cold calls are an excellent environment for sales teams to practice pitching your offer.
• You gain information: Companies can collect relevant data about potential markets from the customers who do talk to them.
• There’s plenty of people to connect with: The more people you call, the higher your chances are of finding someone who will eventually convert.

Cons:

• Cold calling is seen as annoying: A lot of customers hate receiving cold calls and this can damage your brand reputation.
• It’s not targeted: You’ll reach a lot of people who aren’t well suited to your brand or offer, which could be a waste of time.
• Cold calls aren’t efficient: To get a handful of conversions, you need a lot of calls.

The hot calling strategy also comes with it’s own pros and cons to consider, for instance.

Pros:

• You’ll reach out to customers who already have an interest in your brand, increasing your chances of getting a sale.
• You build deeper connections with customers relevant to your company, improving your customer personas and information.
• Brand reputation is preserved, because you’re not annoying people with unsolicited calls.
• Compliance is easier to achieve, because you’re not using people’s personal data without their permission
• You’ll be able to design more tailored sales pitches to specific customers, improving your chances of making a profit.

Cons:

• You’ll often end up with fewer numbers to call than with cold calling
• You need to invest a lot of time and money into researching and qualifying leads

Warm vs Cold Calling

In an environment where both warm and cold calling can be solutions for converting leads and finding sales, the best solution may be to use a combination of both options.