How many cold calls does it take to get an appointment?

Ask a hundred reps, and you’ll get a hundred answers.

After 30 years in the trenches, here’s what I’ve learned:

It depends—but not in the way you might think.

• Quality of the prospect list.  The old adage of “quality in, quality out” holds true when cold calling.  Prospect fit, accuracy of the contact information, and how well the information is organized have an oversized impact on your success rate.  

• A well refined message.  It takes time to dial in a message.  Keep score of what resonates and what doesn’t with your prospects.  Refine and update your message as you go to improve your conversion rate.

• Practice, Practice, Practice.  Take note of the most common objections that you are hearing.  You can practice and work through responses to the most common objections and increase your ability to get past them and continue the conversation.

• Set realistic expectations based on what you’re selling.  Adjust your expectations based on what you’re selling.  Usually, the simpler the product and buying process the higher the success rate is.  It is important to determine a baseline for your conversion rate so you can set targets and measure your progress.  Think of the revenue increase you could realize if you’re able to improve a conversion rate from 1-50 to 1-35.  Reversely, if you see your conversion rate start to decrease, you’ll want to review your message or the quality of your lead list to avoid losing opportunities and wasting effort.
  

Cold calling is hard, leads to burnout, and can make you question your life choices.  

Struggling to keep your reps motivated, or just want more meetings on the board?

Let the team at XSELL Sales and Business Consulting help build your outbound engine.

DM me to learn more.