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Sales is a fluid occupation.
Although there are tried and true methods to follow, there’s lots of room for individualization and interpretation.
And so when it comes to the never-ending debate on whether to make cold-calls or not, it’s a no-brainer.
Develop a solid cold-calling strategy and make them as often as possible.
In today’s Sales universe, there are many ways to connect with prospects.
For those interested in maximizing sales opportunity, making cold-calls is a must.
But the question is how much?
There’s no magic number.
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a lollipop?
It’s different for everyone but whatever that number is, you know it when you get there.
Sales bosses, books and videos suggest cold-calling through the roof.
“You need to be making upwards of 200 calls a day” they’ll say. “It’s a numbers game!”
Sure, quantity matters but the quality of your outreach matters more.
Selling an Enterprise-level B2B solution requires you to approach prospects from a high level.
We all know buyers are smarter than ever so making ill-prepared cold-calls wastes everyone’s time.
Who Do You Work For?
Cookie-cutter management that doesn’t account for the complexities of modern sales sets you up for failure.
Your commission depends on your organization’s rudimentary understanding of simple data points:
- Type of phone system used [desk, VOIP, cell, CRM]: When dialing 40 to 80 times a day, every second matters.
- Cold-call connectivity rate: How often are you connecting with prospects?
- Org chart position of targeted prospect: The higher on the org chart, the tougher they are to reach
- Complexity of solution: Complex solutions require research before dialing
If you’re calling the old-fashioned way, you won’t make as many cold-calls as someone dialing through a CRM.
The physical act of dialing seven digits dozens of time a day is wasteful when you can one-click numbers with your mouse.
One way to mitigate the amount of time researching between dials is time-blocking.
If you’ve adopted sales intelligence tools that populate company highlights for you, you’ll shave seconds that’ll turn into minutes.
But to ensure you’re game ready when the other line picks up, familiarize yourself with the content first.
Most companies have call metrics they’ll share with newbies or even during the interview process.
40, 80,150, 200 cold-calls a day.
How effective those calls are depends on you, the product, audience and calling mechanism.
But if you’re required to make over 100 calls a day, don’t expect any meaningful conversations.
As a rule, always be prepared when making cold-calls.
At the very least, be speed-reading between the time your mouse clicks the number and your target picks up.
If faced with unrealistic calling expectations, here are 4 things you can do right now:
- Download software allowing you to call directly through the CRM: There’s really no need to pick up a phone anymore.
- Come in early | Leave late: You can’t fake effort.
- Calling nationwide? Schedule cold-calls by time zone
- Manage your day/ time block: Evaluate yourself before blaming the ‘system’
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As salespeople, the message has always been – more’s better.
Mo’ money = yes | Mo’ problems ≠ no thanks.
Today, it’s about knowledge-share, guidance and proof.
Presenting yourself as trusted adviser is impossible if you’re power dialing like a telemarketer.
When a salesperson’s only focus becomes an insane number of dials to make, you get diminishing returns.
Inadequate training and outdated techniques insult our audience and are a recipe for failure.
So it should come to no surprise, companies who still manage their sales teams this way have the highest turnover.
It hasn’t dawned on them yet.
They’re spending more in acquiring and training than they’re reaping revenue from Sales.
No One Slips on Bananas Anymore
Recently, there’s been more hype about software designed to increase call volumes, connectivity and engagement.
Local Presence Dialing, for instance, is a system which allows sales reps to automatically dial prospects using local area codes regardless of where they’re calling from.
Companies that offer local presence tout high percentage of pick up rates and have rave reviews on their websites.
What they don’t show in those stats is what happens after the connection.
Once a prospect has figured out (which they do easily) you’re calling from a company that’s not local and you’ve intentionally spoofed your caller ID to fool them into picking up, they won’t want to pursue the relationship any further.
Deceptive practices while cold-calling are the epitome of self-sabotage.
Although, local presence might be useful in call centers, it’s oh no you didn’t in Enterprise sales.
You’ll make more connections initially but lose them once they find out your dirty little secret.
Then there’s the Voicemail Drop.
To increase call numbers, you pre-record a series of voicemails into the software for different situations.
You now have a library of pristine messages that drop into a target’s voicemail after a couple of rings.
As the situation-appropriate message drops, the software’s already dialing the next number and so on.
Interesting enough in theory but horrible in execution as there’s zero personalization.
Like anything that requires mastery, you’ve got to put in the work.
Making cold-calls is the same.
There are plenty of short cuts but in the long run, they’re a detriment.
Not only do they dilute your brand, they cost you time and money.
Which incidentally, is the exact opposite of what they’re meant to do.
Do Good Work
As sales enablement tools become more robust, they reduce some of the administrative tasks and free us to make more cold-calls.
But we can’t become complacent.
We need to work smarter than we used to.
This means making anywhere between 40 to 80 calls a day or the equivalent of four hours of talk time a day.
And in doing so, keeping up best practices through due-diligence before and while dialing.
It shouldn’t take more than five minutes to research a cold-call and a minimum of fifteen for a scheduled call.
What’s Your Number?
First, you’ll need a sample size of at least 90 days in your CRM to simulate a B2B sales cycle.
- How many deals did you win in 90 days?
- What was your daily call average during those 90 days?
- How many calls a day did it take to get a meeting?
- How many of those meetings turned into deals?
Compare your won deals to your sales goal and make the necessary adjustments below.
If you’re under goal, increase daily dials and tighten up messaging.
For instance:
Say your goal last quarter/ 90 days was 12 Deals and you closed 9.
You averaged 40 calls a day x 5 days a week = 200
This yielded 3 meetings a week = 12 a month
Out of those 12 meetings, you won 3 deals a month = 9 for the quarter
How do you reach or exceed 12 deals next quarter thru cold-calls?
Adjustment:
~53 calls a day x 5 = 266 a week
~4 meetings a week = 16 a month
Win 4 deals a month = 12 for the quarter/ 90 days
53 is your Cold-Call Number
For all the Mathletes out there, this is an approximation determining optimal cold-call output.
Invariably, they’ll be days when you’ll make more calls than others and deals will spill into the next quarter, etc..
Regardless, keep track of it all in your CRM.
Everyone’s got a different number depending on aptitude.
But by knowing yours, you can tell your VP with confidence any day of the week…
Exactly – how many licks it takes to get to the center.
What’s your number?