Featured in Times of India: How AI + Human Expertise is Revolutionizing Telecalling
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June 25, 2024
4 min
As technology advances and customer preferences evolve, organizations are moving away from intrusive, impersonal cold calls towards a more personalized and consultative approach.
Based on an independent study at Cognism, the average cold-calling success rate is 4.8%—much lower than that of other sales techniques.
Unsolicited calls catch customers off-guard, especially when they are impersonal and focus solely on pitching products or services. These calls often happen without regard for the customer's preferences.
This one-size-fits-all approach alienates potential clients and hinders the establishment of trust.
Historically, cold calling has been a staple in the BFSI sector, with sales representatives reaching out to potential customers en masse to generate leads and close deals. .
However, this approach has its limitations, including low conversion rates and negative customer perceptions.
Let's take the example of credit card sales. Salespeople often make many calls without understanding what each person needs or how their card compares to others. Even if someone says no, they don't find out why, so they keep making similar calls. This cycle of calling doesn't lead to productive outcomes.
With an increase in personalization and heightened customer expectations, consumers are now less receptive to unsolicited calls.
In response to these challenges, a paradigm shift towards consultative selling has emerged. Unlike traditional cold calling, which focuses solely on pitching products or services, consultative selling prioritizes understanding the unique needs and pain points of individual customers.
In consultative selling, reps are encouraged to engage in dialogue with customers, asking probing questions to uncover their specific needs and preferences.
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Organizations can build trust and rapport with clients by adopting a customer-centric approach, leading to increased sales conversion and enhanced customer loyalty.
Research by McKinsey & Company indicates that consultative selling can boost customer satisfaction by as much as 20%.
To better understand the primary distinction between these sales approaches, we've outlined how each call type differs across the given aspects.
Digital transformation has accelerated the need for consultative selling in the BFSI Sector. As technology continues to reshape the way customers interact with financial institutions, the traditional sales approach is no longer sufficient to meet the evolving needs and expectations of consumers.
As India embraces the digital age, not everyone has the same access. Consultative selling bridges this widening digital gap across the country including Tier 2, 3 cities and rural areas.
Personalized guidance is absolutely essential to ensure everyone can benefit from digital transformation.
India is a diverse country which means everyone will have different financial needs and preferences. Consultative selling understands this and offers solutions that fit each customer perfectly. Whether it's speaking their language or addressing specific challenges, it ensures everyone gets the right support. Offering tailored solutions and empowering individuals helps more people join the formal financial system.
Feeling heard and respected is the most important step to build trust and lifetime loyalty with customers. With concerns about security and privacy, people need reassurance. Consultative selling steps up by guiding customers through online banking, addressing worries, and ensuring they feel heard.
The complete overhaul of one of the oldest modes of outreach has impacted both sales and customer experiences.
Unlike cold calls, consultative selling prioritizes genuine connections and personalized solutions tailored to each individual's needs. Sales representatives are no longer perceived as mere telecallers pushing products. They are viewed as trusted advisors guiding customers through their buying journey. This transformation from telecallers to advisors reflects a fundamental change in mindset within sales teams.
While it’s a brand new experience for the customers that is appreciated a lot more than cold calls – it is a challenge for sales teams to master this approach.
Moving from cold calls to consultative selling means a big shift in how sales teams think. Cold calling is all about following scripts and making quick transactions. But consultative selling involves putting customers first, understanding their needs, and offering personalized solutions. This new way of thinking requires better training and coaching.
Consultative selling requires a whole new set of skills compared to traditional cold calling. Sales reps must be great communicators, listeners, and empathizers to connect with customers and determine what they want. They also need to know their products and understand the industry to be seen as trusted advisors. Hiring and training these reps is one of the most challenging feats for most sales teams.
In consultative selling, using data and technology is key to understanding customers better. But it can be tough for sales teams to integrate customer relationship management (CRM) systems, predictive analytics, and other tech tools into their sales processes. Most teams don’t have access to the right data and analytics to make an informed decision about their customer preferences.
With consultative selling, the sales process doesn’t simply end at transactions — it is a continuous process that focuses on providing consultation and guidance to build long-term relationships, trust, and loyalty. Sales teams need to be more in tune with this perspective to drive better and more impactful conversations.
As we look ahead, it's clear that the future of sales in the BFSI sector lies in consultative selling. To thrive in this new era, organizations must invest in the development of their sales teams. Training programs that focus on honing soft skills such as communication and empathy, alongside deepening product knowledge, are essential followed by adoption of technology and predictive analytics. Integration of AI will be a key factor in accelerating and boosting this shift from cold calls to consultative selling.
Shifting to consultative selling isn't a one-time thing—it's an ongoing journey of learning and improvement.
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