What Is the Difference Between a Hot Call and a Cold Call? Tips to Nail Them

What is the difference between a hot call and a cold call? Simply put, a hot call occurs when a salesperson contacts a prospective customer who has already shown interest in the product or service. In contrast, a cold call involves reaching out to a prospect who has no existing relationship with the product or service.

Some people will further differentiate between hot calling and warm calling. In both, the contacts have already displayed interest in the product. Hot calling is contacting highly interested customers, while warm calling is when customers show interest, but it’s not close to sealing the deal.

Hot calling and cold calling are equally important in sales. So after understanding the difference between a hot call and a cold call, a more important question is how to nail all of them and increase sales. In this article, we will explore the tips that can help boost the success rate.

What is cold calling

Cold calling is when a salesperson reaches out to potential customers who have not interacted with the company or product offered. Cold calling can be difficult as the customers might haven’t heard of the product or the company. However, cold calling is one of the ways to generate new sales opportunities. Let’s learn some tips to succeed in cold calling.

Tips to succeed in cold calling

1. Identify your ICPs

Even if someone hasn’t heard of your company or the product you offer, it doesn’t mean they don’t have the needs. To maximize the success rate in cold calling, the first step is to identify the Ideal customer profile (ICP). Does your product or service target smaller-sized companies? Is your product suitable for recruiters or engineers? Understanding this can assist you in reaching out to those who have a higher likelihood of being interested in your product or service, and save you time from making ineffective cold calls over and over again.

2. Prospect and get contact information accurately

After understanding what your ICPs look like, it’s time to prospect. At this stage, you can use a data enrichment tool to help you cherry-pick the company or the person that matches your ICPs, and get the contact information you need to reach out to.

Sapiengraph can help you streamline the process. Yes, it’s us! Let us walk you through how we can assist you in prospecting and getting the right contact information. First of all, Sapiengraph is a Google Sheets add-on that can enrich B2B data with custom Google Sheets formulas. As long as you know how to use Google Sheets, you will master it.

To get started, sign up for an account and you will get 100 free trial credits. Then you need to install the Google Sheets add-on and the browser extension. You are all set, and you can start prospecting.

Let’s say your product targets tech companies. You want to get a list of the CEOs in California. You can use this Google Sheets formula:

=SG_PERSON_SEARCH("US",10,,,,,,,"CEO",,,,,,,,,,,,,"California",,,,"Technology")

Viola, you get the list of their LinkedIn profiles.

Now we need to get their contact information to reach out to them. Since we have their LinkedIn profile URLs, we can use the formula:

=SG_PERSONAL_NUMBERS(“https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/”)

Yes, it’s this easy. Now you can start your cold calling.

3. Write a script and do research

With Sapiengraph’s help, you have a list of people with higher chances of being interested in your product and their contact information. Now let’s get into the real game: making a cold call.

Since the person has no idea about who you are and what your product is, keep everything short and precise. Drafting a pitch script can prepare you to get to the point.

Also, instead of just introducing your company and product, do some research on someone you’re making a cold call to. Try to find out their pain points, write them in the pitch, and connect them with the features of your product that can solve their problems. This will help your prospect engage more in the conversation, instead of just making excuses for hanging up.

What is warm calling

Warm calling is when a salesperson contacts potential customers who have already expressed interest in the product or service offered. These potential customers may have shown interest by signing up for a newsletter or attending a webinar.

Since the prospects have some familiarity with your business, you have more time to focus on the value your product or service can bring to them when making warm calls.

Before we jump into the tips to succeed in warm calling, we need to ensure we have the prospects’ phone numbers. Yes, you heard it right. Usually, the newsletter and webinar don't ask for a phone number to boost the signup rate. It’s common to have the prospects’ emails but nothing else. With the right data enrichment tool like Sapiengraph, you can get their phone numbers.

Let’s say Kevin Scott, signed up for your newsletter and opened every email. He’s the prospect we want to do a warm call. With his email, we can use this Google Sheets formula to get his LinkedIn:

=SG_REVERSE_EMAIL_LOOKUP("[email protected]")

In this article, We have covered how to use Sapiengraph to find one’s phone numbers linked to a LinkedIn profile. In case you forgot, this is the formula:
=SG_PERSONAL_NUMBERS(“https://linkedin.com/in/jkevinscott”)

Now let’s start warm calling. Here are the tips that will help you nail it.

Tips to succeed in warm calling

1. Do your research

Even if these potential customers display their interest, it doesn’t mean they know what can be improved or what will be achieved by using your product. Before making the warm calls, research to understand the problems they may encounter. You can offer a solution to solve it with your product accordingly.

2. Listen to them

Top sales point out that being willing to help can bring more sales in. It’s important to understand the needs of your prospects, rather than just pitching how good your product is. By listening to the prospects’ sharing, you can have a clearer picture of their business, their pain points, and how your product can help.

3. Send a follow-up email

After ending the call, don’t just move on to the next prospect. Remember to send a follow-up email so your prospect can refer to it in the future, or share the information with their teams. This will help them remember your name and product better, and it will be easier to reach them next time.

What is hot calling

Hot calling is when a salesperson contacts potential customers who have expressed high interest in the product or service. These potential customers may have already engaged with the salespeople, requested a demo, or started a free trial. The difference between a hot call and a warm call is the level of interest.

Since hot calling is closer to making a purchase decision, as a salesperson, you wouldn’t want to let the chance slip away.

Tips to succeed in hot calling

1. Be well-prepared

As people get closer to making a purchase, they tend to try to understand the products as much as possible to avoid making wrong decisions. That's why it's crucial to be ready for any questions that might come up during a hot call. And of course, research thoroughly to fully understand your prospect’s company, industry, and pain points.

2. Build trust

We all want to close the deal. But back to basics, will you want to buy something from a seller who only cares about the sale, or from a seller who solves your problems more? Especially if what you can offer is similar to your competitors, making your prospects feel your sincerity can build trust between the two parties and succeed.

Manage and track your leads properly

During the calls, you may identify which prospects have a higher chance of being closed, while others might take a longer period to convert. It’s important to keep track of your leads so you know when to follow up, or what to do in the next step.

You can use Sapiengraph’s free lead tracker Google Sheets template to help you manage the work. What’s more, this template automates the data enrichment process. You can add your prospect, and then enrich the data you need with just one click.

First, open and copy this spreadsheet. In the tab “Add New Lead”, you can add information such as the names of the prospects and their LinkedIn URLs. Then click the button “Add to Lead Tracker”. The information will show up in the tab “Lead Tracker”.

In the tab “Lead Tracker”, here comes the fun part. Tick the box in column B and click the button “Enrich”, the data, such as email and phone, will automatically show up.

Other than enriching data, you can fill out remarks, status, and other notes after making the calls to help you manage the leads better.

Whether it’s a hot call or a cold call, make them all hot as summer

Whether it’s cold calling, warm calling, or hot calling, it’s your approach that matters to the success rate. Understanding the difference between a hot call and a cold call, and adopting different strategies respectively with the right tools, you can nail all of them. So, here's to happy calling and seizing every opportunity that comes your way!