How to Get Prospects to Pick Up the Phone When You Call

Like it or not, most prospecting strategies for financial advisors involve at least some cold calling. 

Unfortunately, most potential clients want to answer calls from strangers about as much as you want to make them. So, the question of how to get someone to answer the phone when you call can be tricky to answer. 

There is some good news. Getting folks to pick up your calls isn't purely down to chance. You can boost your pick up rate by employing specific strategies and developing your call skills.

So, don’t just pick up the phone and start dialing prospective clients willy-nilly. That’s one of the worst financial advisor prospecting ideas we’ve ever heard.  

We put together a guide full of practical strategies to transform those silent phone lines into productive conversations.

Overcome Sales Call Reluctance

We know: calling strangers isn’t fun, and you don’t want to do it. 

Email marketing will only get you so far, however. If you want to reach your target market of ideal clients, you’re going to have to make some cold calls.

Lucky for you, we wrote a whole blog on overcoming call reluctance. 

Want more good news? Planswell advisors get to make warm calls, not cold ones. Every household we assign has filled out a 40-question survey and SMS validated their phone numbers. 

This means you know there’s a real person on the other end of the line. It also means they’re at least a little bit interested in the product or service you have to offer.  Sounds pretty cool, huh? If you’re not working with Planswell, consider giving us a shot. 

Here’s the TLDR for our blog, though, in case you’re short on time: 

Assess the situation. Determining what’s stopping you from picking up the phone is an important first step to being able to move forward. 

Have a clear objective in mind. Are you calling to get someone on an email list? Do you want them to book a seminar or schedule a consultation? 

Either way, know why you’re calling and keep that front of mind. Conversations that don’t end when they should tend to result in lost opportunities. 

Research your prospect beforehand. Before you pick up the phone, take the time to get to know your prospect. 

What are their goals? When do they want to retire? Do they have a family? Are they in the market to purchase a home? 

Use this information to plan a call that’s unique to them.

Role play to prepare. If saying words out loud on the phone sends you into epileptic fits of terror, practice! The more you run through your script, the more comfortable you’ll be. 

Are you a Planswell advisor? If so, you can request 1:1 coaching to practice your scripts and improve your authenticity while delivering them. If you’re not, perhaps reconsider your life choices. 

Use a Call Cadence

The frequency and timing of your calls impacts your call pick up rate.

Your goal is to be persistent without pestering anyone. We’ve done a lot of research and testing to perfect cadence calling. We’ve learned that making 2–3 calls per week over the course of 3–4 weeks is best practice. 

Always leave at least a day between calls, and stop after making your 10th call. 

Obviously (we hope) don’t call on weekends or holidays — nobody wants financial advice on Saturday. 

It’s also a great idea to check what caller IDs display when you call. The only information you want showing up is your name and phone number. 

Enhance Your Efficiency with Call Blocking

In financial services and marketing strategies alike, efficiency is king. The more efficient you are, the more calls you make; the more calls you make, the more clients you get. 

Trying to make calls sporadically throughout the day is not efficient. It’s the sales professional equivalent of restarting your computer every 10 minutes while, say, writing a blog for financial professionals. 

Don’t sprinkle your calls throughout the day randomly. Instead, block off an hour or two every morning or afternoon and make all your calls during that time. 

Stay on Top of Your Game

Reading this blog is all well and good, but there’s a lot more to be said about succeeding as a financial advisor than we could fit here. 

Planswell has resources you can use to increase your booked calls and close rate — we guarantee it. 

If you’re looking to be the best advisor possible, you should really think about giving Planswell a shot.