Is cold calling effective? Can you trust phone calls to boost sales in the 21st century - a time when people use their phones all the time, but hate making calls?
Well, many marketers will tell you not to cold call, but we argue the contrary. Although it might seem that people nowadays hate phone calls, cold calling is actually more effective than email and social media when it comes to prospecting clients.
So, read on to learn why cold calling still works in 2021 and how it can improve sales for your company. You’ll also find 6 metrics you can use to assess if cold calling is actually working.
Does Cold Calling Really Work?
It’s a common mistake many marketers, sales reps, or even business owners make: that phone calls are now a thing of the past.
However, overlooking the opportunities cold calling provides means you’re getting fewer prospects via email or social media.
When done right, cold calling is the most effective outreach channel (according to 32% of SDR teams). And it doesn’t annoy potential clients like traditional telemarketing does, because the call is planned, scripted, and short.
So, if your brand is suffering in its outreach efforts, cold calling will be a healthy addition to the mix. And hiring a full-time, qualified cold caller is cheaper than you’d expect.
How to do cold calling correctly?
Cold calling that is effective goes beyond simply phoning people on a list and calling it a day. That’s the method most cold calling services use and it has terrible conversion rates.
Cold calling that works is directed at qualified clients with data backing up the calls. Scripts, the contact list, and more are backed up with research.
Here’s the 4-step process we use:
- Build lists and write scripts: a list is built with potential clients and their numbers are verified automatically via software. Scripts are A/B tested to see which one works best
- Launch campaigns: with the list and script ready, our SDRs start calling prospects
- Optimize script and objections: after gathering data from calls, we look back at the script and adjust it to address common objections by prospects
- Meeting, setting and scaling: with an optimized script, we focus on arranging meetings and scaling the reach of our cold calling strategy
Besides these 4 steps, all our sales reps are trained in cold calling and join in a daily feedback look to share data amongst themselves.
For instance, all SalesHive SDRs go through an Objection Training program. This program teaches them how to deal with the most common objections prospects will have on the phone, as well as think of strategies to deal with them.
This guidance applies to any niche our SDRs need to work in — from software to manufacturing — and makes them more effective than regular telemarketers.
And with a daily meeting among our SDRs, they can share intel to improve their scripts more efficiently. More experienced callers give tips to the newcomers, as well as insight on how to overcome obstacles they’ve already faced in their career.
Learn more about our cold calling strategy!
How to Measure the Success of Cold Calling?
Just like any other sales strategy, you need to measure the success of cold calling with metrics.
And we have plenty of metrics we use to evaluate if the cold calling is working and how to improve it.
Check out 6 cold calling metrics below:
#1 Cold calling ROI
ROI stands for return on investment and it’s how you measure if the money going into cold calling is actually paying off.
This is the formula:
(Won contract value per month - Cold Calling cost per month) ÷ Cold Calling Cost per month
Use this cold calling ROI calculator to check out your rate automatically.
#2 Monthly cold call conversion rate
This measures the rate of contracts you’re getting from your cold calls:
Contracts sold ÷ cold calls per month
#3 Average call-to-conversation rate
The number of conversations you get from all the numbers you dial, measured by:
Conversations per month ÷ calls per month
#4 Average conversation-to-meeting rate
The meetings you book from your conversations, which is calculated by:
Meetings per month ÷ conversations per month
#5 Closed won rate
This measures the number of deals closed by meetings:
Closed deals from cold calling ÷ number of meetings
#6 Won contract value per month
The money earned by contracts sealed with cold calling:
Closed won deals per month x average contract value
Check out more cold calling metrics
Want more ways to assess the success of your cold calling efforts?
Should I Start Cold Calling at My Company?
If you currently depend on cold emails and social media messaging to reach prospects, perhaps adding cold calls to the mix will increase your sales.
As we mentioned before, 32% of SDRs consider cold calling their most effective outreach method. And adding it to your mix can only boost sales.
In a digital age in which our inboxes are spammed to the limit and our social media feeds bombarded are with ads and offers, phone calls are a sure-fire way of grabbing your prospect’s attention.
Unlike digital methods, your prospect stops what they’re doing to answer the phone and at that moment, they have your attention.
All you need to do is make a persuasive pitch (that’s where an optimized script matters) and convince them to book a meeting.
And cold calling works when you call decision-makers at a company with a script that addresses their common objections.
Higher-ups at renowned companies listen to companies that offer services almost daily — that’s why you need to break the mold with a research-backed proposal.
At SalesHive, we arrange meetings with higher-ups at Ford, the Bank of America, and even Pfizer. And our clients have a dedicated cold caller that can make up to 400 calls daily for their brand.
Get in touch and we can start off an exclusive cold calling strategy for your business!
Learn About Cold Calling
