Cold leads are an untapped reserve that can boost your sales pipeline, if you know how to approach them.
As a newer B2B sales professional, you probably spend most of your time on sales-ready or warm leads—ignoring cold leads altogether. But don't let a lack of experience dealing with cold leads stop you from tapping into this underrated resource.
By revisiting your outreach strategy, tailoring your sales activities to buyer pain points, and anticipating purchase barriers, you’ll be better able to build a cold lead’s potential until they’re ready to make a purchase. Our tips feature insights from Gartner, a leading global research firm, so you can feel confident applying them to your next sales strategy.
What is a cold lead vs. a warm lead vs. a hot lead?
A cold lead is a lead type that hasn't made it very far in the sales funnel because they haven't yet interacted with your sales team or they stopped engaging due to lack of interest, funding, or other factors. Leads are classified as cold, warm, or hot based on their likelihood of converting.
Warm leads and hot leads are easier to convert because they’re interested in your brand. They may follow you on social media or subscribe to your newsletter, or even have experience with your product through a sample or trial. While a warm lead has yet to commit to a purchase, a hot lead has been in contact with a sales rep and has the funding to buy in the near future.
Tip #1: Revisit your outreach strategy
An effective outreach strategy requires careful orchestration that considers not only the right moment to reach out to a cold lead but also the amount of time you should spend on attempts to progress them through the sales pipeline. Gartner[1] suggests that your outreach should align with business goals as well as milestone activities such as events, launches, and announcements.
With that in mind, we recommend the following best practices:
Determine your timeline. Collaborate with marketing to iron out your messaging a month or two before your event or product launch so you can determine the angle you’ll use to sell your product or service[1].
Be persistent. If your cold call doesn’t result in an immediate conversion—and it likely won’t—follow up with an email and then a phone call. Make sure you’re always one step ahead of the next conversation so you’re ready when your lead makes their next move.
Prepare for gatekeepers. You might have to speak with an administrative assistant before connecting with your prospect. This is one area where referrals can come in handy because you can name-drop a mutual connection. But even if you don’t have any mutual contacts, proceed with confidence, be polite, and try to build rapport.
Gartner[2] also recommends assessing, as part of your outreach strategy, the current level of engagement of cold leads. Whether you haven’t engaged with a cold lead in months or are waiting on a response, you can adjust your messaging accordingly. See the table below for examples.
Level of engagement | Outreach suggestion |
|---|---|
Lead is inactive or hasn’t engaged for an extended period. | Check CRM data to find the underlying issues, and try to retarget the lead by resolving those issues. For example, if they stopped engaging due to irrelevant content, start sending content that’s more relevant to their pain points (see Tip #2). |
Lead didn’t finish an activity they started (e.g., abandoned their cart, clicked on a link but didn’t fill out the form). | Send reminder messages that are worded in a way that sounds urgent: “You forgot something!” or, “We’d hate for your team to miss out.” |
Lead expressed interest but had to check with stakeholders first. | Give them time to consult with stakeholders, then follow up and see if the stakeholders have any questions you could answer or further incentives you could provide. |
Poorly timed or rushed outreach efforts can also cause sales leads to become disinterested. Even if you’re being mindful of your timing, it’s a good idea to offer clear and easy ways to opt out or unsubscribe from communications. This has the additional benefit of weeding out leads that aren’t interested—allowing you to focus on warmer leads that are more likely to convert.
/ Right fit, wrong time?
Some cold leads benefit from being handed back to your marketing team, where they can be re-engaged through targeted ads. This way, they can become familiar with your brand before you reach back out. Pay-per-click software is how your marketing team can strategically place ads based on a lead’s search history and other firmographic data; learn more about it here.
Tip #2: Tailor sales activities to buyer pain points
Only a small percentage of marketing-qualified leads convert to closed business despite being a good fit, according to Gartner[2]. The solution? Customized lead nurturing, or tailoring your sales activities based on a lead’s specific pain points.
The most straightforward way to identify pain points is by asking leads directly, either through a cold call or an email. You can also learn more about a lead’s likes and dislikes through your customer relationship management (CRM) platform, particularly if you or another sales rep has corresponded with them in the past.
You may already know that CRM software is a customer data powerhouse, but here are some ways it can help your sales professionals, particularly with lead nurturing:
Advanced customer insights: Understand what led a sales lead to your brand—whether it was a particular marketing campaign, paid ad, or lead magnet.
More efficient sales force: Automate repetitive tasks such as sending follow-up emails so you can concentrate on higher-value work including building rapport with sales leads.
Higher productivity: A CRM eliminates the back-and-forth communication between sales and marketing because everything you need is stored in the tool’s database.
Example of omnichannel communication in Zoho CRM platform (Source)
Once you know your lead’s pain points, you can choose which sales activity to perform next. The table below shows what this might look like, using a commercial landscaping company as an example.
Example pain point | Example sales activity |
|---|---|
Lead is tired of projects taking too much time. | Provide a portfolio showcasing the different projects you’ve completed and the time it took to complete them. |
Lead is wary of landscapers using harmful pesticides or disrupting wildlife. | Present a side-by-side comparison of the environmentally friendly products your team uses versus what your competitors use. |
Lead is concerned about going over budget. | Offer a personalized discount package or some free add-ons to increase value. |
What you don’t want to do is present solutions to your lead without knowing their pain points first. A generic presentation that lists all the benefits your product or service has to offer can overwhelm a potential client and make them feel like you aren’t invested in their specific needs.
Tip #3: Anticipate purchase barriers
A recent Gartner survey[3] found that B2B leads are 38% less likely to close a sale if they’re facing moderate-to-high uncertainty in the workplace. This is partially because there are multiple stakeholders in the B2B buying process, and each of these stakeholders is getting information from a different source. It’s also due to the instability that comes with change in the workplace: Buyers feel uncertain about how to move forward and where organizational influence is shifting.
How can you make the decision-making process easier for leads that are facing purchase barriers due to organizational change?
Give a demo that shows specifically how your product solves their pain point—like we discussed in our second tip.
Focus on what stakeholders have in common, such as the shared organizational context that has them considering your product or service in the first place.
Ask if there’s any additional information you can provide or concerns you can address. If you feel you’ve covered all your bases as far as the benefits of your product or service, it’s time to ask more directly what’s keeping them from reaching a decision.
Sometimes, you may need to give leads more time. Stakeholders who thoroughly assess their current capabilities and future needs report 8% less uncertainty in their purchase decision[3]. Leads feel more confident when they have time to evaluate a potential purchase, which results in not only conversion but also higher-quality deals.
Collaborate with marketing to improve buyer enablement
Gartner[3] recommends partnering with the marketing team to build a change-oriented customer journey map. A change-oriented customer journey map lists the steps your buyers should take to plan around the organizational change driving their purchase decision. Customer journey mapping tools can help you with this.
Keep moving forward to build your sales pipeline
Revisiting your outreach strategy, tailoring sales activities to buyers’ pain points, and anticipating purchase barriers are all effective ways to convert cold leads. They help build a lead’s potential and instill confidence in their buying process.
However, knowing when to give up on a lead is also important. If your messages aren’t being returned, or if a lead simply doesn’t have the funding no matter what additional incentives you offer, these are signs it’s time to move on and pursue warmer leads, or build your pipeline with new leads.
Check out these related articles on new lead generation: