How effective is outbound cold calling?

You’d think this is a very open-ended question, but we’ve got the numbers and reasons why some cold calls work and others don’t.

With thousands of international telemarketing scams impacting people's time, finances and security, many are hesitant to respond to offshore callers. In fact, 90% of C-level Executives say they never reply to cold calls or cold emails.

The inbuilt mistrust has their defences go up as soon as they hear a 3-second pause before connecting or an international voice on the line. They are now resistant to the expected hard sell, impacting brand credibility, reputation and making it almost impossible to land the sale.

Typically, you’ll find offshore call centres may be able to do 1,000’s of calls but on connect with 2 – 2.5%. The conversions will be low and even when you get through to a call, the customer will end up being a wrong fit.

So, why are you cold calling at all! Because when it’s done right, the numbers look a lot better.

How to improve your cold calling success rates

Plenty of industries, especially in B2B, leverage cold calling to attract prospects and close deals. Before you give up on cold calling, try these tips to improve your cold calling success rate:

1. Be highly targeted: Not just who, but why are you looking to connect to these people?
   1. What industry experience do you have which could help you connect better?
   2. What is something they may be saying, thinking, feeling that would benefit from your call?
   3. How could you add value or provide insights which will have them leave saying “That was a good chat!”
2. Research before you call: Building rapport is key, get to know your prospect before the call.
3. Don’t follow a script: Know your stuff and be natural.

When you follow these steps, he’s what you’ll be more likely to see will look a lot more like. If you were going to make 90 calls per/day, you will find your 12.2% connected, 82% conversion rate as they’ll be pre-qualified and a right fit.

Based on the above numbers, if your average sale totals $30,000 and you close 10%, the closed sales could potentially generate $270,000 revenue over a one year period - subject to offer, profiling and industry.