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Cold Calling Statistics and Cold Calling Success Rates

cold calling statistics

Cold Calling Statistics can help define a company's Cold Calling Success Rates.

Before you invest time and energy in any marketing strategy, it’s important you evaluate whether it has the potential to effectively generate leads for your business. While some marketers may suggest that B2B cold calling isn’t worth your time, cold calling statistics say otherwise – here’s why it’s a lead generation strategy worth investing in. 

What Is B2B Cold Calling?

Cold calling is when you make an unsolicited outbound call to another business. Chances are, the contact you’re calling doesn’t know much, if anything, about your business.

It’s not the same as a warm call, which is when you call a business that you’ve already connected with and that’s already expressed some interest in your company.   

Is B2B Cold Calling Legal?

Yes. According to the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), which is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), B2B cold calling is legal. 

However, since there’s a chance that less ethical companies may use the B2B loophole to send spam messages or other nuisance correspondence, there are various rules in place to regulate how cold calls can be made, such as:

  • Abiding by state-wide “Do Not Call” lists
  • Avoiding the use of auto diallers when calling wireless phones
  • Following local and state laws regarding B2B cold calling rules 

At SalesHive, our professional cold calling service means you won’t need to worry about understanding the complexities of these rules, though. Our experienced team fully understands the legal requirements and complies with them at all times.

B2B cold calling might be legal, but is cold calling still worthwhile? Absolutely – here’s why. 

What Do We Know About B2B Cold Calling Success Rates?

There’s a common belief that B2B cold calling is somehow outdated, irrelevant, or simply not useful. However, according to a comprehensive study, at least 27% of sellers are finding cold calling success, so it’s certainly a lead generation strategy worth exploring. Here’s a breakdown of what we can say about cold calling success rates and how they might affect your business.   

Who to Contact By Phone

Callers typically find more success if they reach out to C-level execs rather than directors, with over 50% of C-level buyers happy to talk over the phone. So, do your research and pick the right contact before phoning the business.  

To maximize your chances of cold calling success, make sure you’re prepared first – 82% of B2B prospects report that callers don’t sound prepared or ready to make the call. And, if you need to leave a voicemail, keep it short and professional. Include the reason for your call to incentivize someone to reach out to you, but be prepared to call again within a day or so.  

Length of a Successful Cold Call 

Remember, a cold calling success is the opportunity for an informal business meeting. As such, it’s crucial you set aside enough time to give the call your full focus. 

The average cold calling success can run around 55 minutes – if this isn’t something you feel comfortable committing to, our team can help.  

Call Volume

It takes, on average, eight attempts to reach a prospect by phone, which isn’t the best use of your team’s time. Spending so long on failed attempts can distort your B2B cold calling success rates, so when you’re tracking progress, focus more on the number of leads you generate once you successfully make contact.

Our team can make up to 400 calls per day for you, which can maximize your chance of reaching a prospect and making a successful connection.  

Openness to Meetings

Studies show that at least 69% of B2B buyers will accept your call, if you target the right contacts. What’s more, 82% of B2B buyers are open to accepting meetings proposed by phone call, which suggests that the outreach is worth the effort. 

Some marketers will suggest that B2B cold calling is outdated, irrelevant, and a waste of your time. However, when we consider what the statistics are showing us, this assumption is far from true. 

At the very least, B2B cold calling should be considered as part of a larger, omnichannel marketing strategy – contact the team at SalesHive to find out more. 

What B2B Cold Calling Best Practices Should My Business Follow? 

While it’s a good idea to use cold calling as a B2B lead generation strategy, there are some best practices you should follow in order to boost your success rates. 

  • Time your calls wisely. Avoid Mondays and Fridays, when companies may be dealing with their most pressing issues or trying to wrap up key business goals for the week.
  • Target the right contact within the organization. You can do this by performing some research on the company in advance.  
  • Write a pitch and a script. Show that you understand the prospective client’s business, and focus on how you can help them achieve their goals or solve a problem. 
  • Give the prospect a chance to ask questions. Make sure you have time to answer queries effectively – don’t give potential clients the impression that you’re rushing them.  

The SalesHive team already understands these best practices and more, so reach out to us if you’re struggling with your own cold calling strategy.  

B2B Cold Calling Services from SalesHive

Although it may seem like cold calling is an outdated lead generation tool, this simply isn’t true. In fact, a professional cold call could be the strategy you need to find your next client. 

What’s important, though, is that you only contact qualified leads, and you follow cold calling best practices such as using a professional tone and respecting a customer’s decision if they’re not interested in talking this way. 

If you’d rather not worry about making cold calls yourself, or if you don’t have the resources to train your team in cold calling techniques, contact SalesHive and ask about our cold calling success rates. 

Don’t settle for poor cold calling numbers – SalesHive clients know they can rely on us to provide them with a dedicated advisor who can make up to 400 calls per day on their behalf. 

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Explore The SalesHive Cold Calling Guide

Each part of our cold calling guide is equally important and needs to be mastered.

Part 1: Sales ROI Calculator for B2B Cold Calling

Before you can improve your cold calling efforts, it’s important to benchmark the ROI of your existing cold calling efforts. We’ve created a handy calculator that you can use to figure out where you currently stand and then you’ll learn about industry-tested methods to boost your KPIs.

A single SDR working full time can make 8,400 cold calls per month which will result in about 432 conversions per month. More conversations lead to more meetings per month, and more meetings will increase the number of closed deals per month.

View Part 1

Part 2: How To Write A B2B Cold Call Script That Works

Cold calling is far from dead– many businesses use cold calling in some capacity, though the intention is certainly different from what it was back in the day.

Originally, cold calling was solely a sales technique that had a whopping 2% success rate and annoyed an entire generation of consumers. Now, many would think that cold calling is dead, but that’s not the case. It has simply evolved in both technique and purpose. Rather than aggressively trying to close a sale in a ten-minute phone conversation, today’s brands can use cold calling to get to know consumers who are not aware of their brand.
View Part 2

Part 3: How To Communicate With Prospects On The Phone

A core attribution to a business’s success is to be financially strategic, in other words, if they already have a system going there may be some friction with talking them into trying something new. You are providing something these people need, resistance is typically caused by natural tendencies to stick with what you know.

It’s going to be very common that you are going to be experiencing a fair share of objections. Objections are not NO’s.
If you get an objection- they haven’t hung up on you yet, so they’re still listening and hoping for you to overcome!
View Part 3
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