Imagine you’re trying to give your nan a call on a Sunday morning to see how she’s doing.
You go to your contacts and dial “mum”.
But you’re trying to get through to your nan! It doesn’t make any sense, does it?
This is much like calling a switchboard at the office when B2B cold calling.
You’re trying to reach the decision-maker, but you’re calling the gatekeeper.
And, 9 times out of 10, the gatekeeper is trained to not put you through to the person you’re trying to reach.
Not only does this waste the time of the lovely person answering the phone, but it’s cutting into your prospecting time!
You’ve got to get to the right person, right away, if you’re going to start upping your amount of meetings booked.
Get ready - we’re going to tell you how to do this.
Flick through the menu 👇 to get all the info you need to stop wasting time and start dialling the right numbers!
What is a direct dial? | The benefits of mobile and direct dials | Connect rate vs dials | How to exceed your targets | Next level prospecting
What is a direct dial?
Getting bogged down by gatekeepers is incredibly demotivating for you as a salesperson.
Direct dial numbers are phone numbers that put you straight through to the person you actually want to talk to.
In B2B sales, this will always be the decision-maker.
Direct dials allow you to bypass receptionists and PAs and go straight to the person you want and need to speak to.
Let’s think about this.
If the number you have isn’t a direct line to the decision-maker, do you really even have their phone number at all? 🤔
Direct dials mean that you’ll save yourself a ton of time by not needing to convince a gatekeeper that your cold call needs to go through to their boss.
The benefits of mobile and direct dials
It’s easy to get demotivated by reaching the gatekeeper when prospecting.
This can lead to you feeling reluctant to pick up the phone.
You feel like you’re begging to reach the decision-maker. You start having fewer conversations and closing fewer deals.
This is where direct dials are especially helpful.
You’ll:
- Avoid the gatekeeper.
- Get right to the decision-maker.
- Have a higher chance of success by being able to reach your prospect directly.
- Avoid pitching to the wrong people.
- And, most importantly, you’ll feel incredibly empowered!
Plus, with COVID-19 changing the way people work, having access to mobile numbers, as part of your direct dials list, you won’t have to face the headache of dialling the switchboards of empty offices!
Best of all, your conversion rates at each stage of your sales strategy will be a lot higher.
Leading to higher revenue figures…and happier bosses!
But can direct dials really get you a higher connect rate?
Keep reading to find out 👇
Connect rate vs dials
It’s no use dialling a number over and over again and not actually speaking to anyone.
Much like dialling your nan and no one answering, hitting your dial target for the day isn’t going to get you a conversation.
The key metric you want to focus on when picking up the phone is connecting to the prospect.
Enter the connect rate.
This is the number of dials it takes before you reach your decision-maker.
The average connect rate is 18 calls to one connection.
Imagine sitting there calling a number over and over before you get through.
Yup, it’s wasting your valuable prospecting time.
With direct dials, you’ll cut this number down significantly.
Why?
Well, to echo our earlier sentiments, your direct dial list will get you right through to the decision-maker - the person you actually need to speak to.
According to industry research, dialling the switchboard is going to take up 22 minutes of your time before you get through.
Direct dials will only take 5.
Improving your connect rate, and, in turn, improving your conversions!
It’s a no brainer, right?
So, now that you know what direct dials are, where can you actually get them so that you can start exceeding your targets?
From us, of course! 👇
How to exceed your targets
Cognism’s direct dials
The first concern you should have when picking up the phone to cold call a B2B prospect is whether you’re allowed to call them.
Are you being compliant if you just dial numbers left, right, and centre?
Probably not.
So, how do you get around this?
You don’t.
You can’t get around being compliant when calling prospects - but you can get compliant B2B data.
Our direct dials are fully compliant in Europe, the UK, North America, Asia Pacific, and all other territories where we hold data.
Our data is regularly updated and scrubbed against TPS (or do not call) lists.
Meaning you can pick up the phone with confidence and not be told off for it!
And you’ll have a much higher chance of converting prospects, since you’ll be talking to the people with buying power.
What more could you want as a B2B salesperson?
Now that you’ve convinced your powers-that-be that they’ve got to invest in direct dials, you’ll want to take this one step further and 👇
Combine cold calling and emails
It’s one thing to have a direct dials list and be able to call the right people.
It’s another to be able to reach people in their inboxes.
And, let’s face it, while you may be spending hours trawling LinkedIn, it’s very rare that the prospect’s email address will actually be on their profile.
So, how do you find the email addresses you need?
Well, we’ve got them.
Our verified emails will give you the correct email addresses of the people you need to speak to.
This means you’ll have higher deliverability and lower bounce rates. Plus, you’ll heighten your chances of converting.
And if you want to take your outbound sales to new heights...
You’ve got to ask yourself:
“What should I do if I want to enable myself with the best possible opportunity of reaching my prospects?”
The answer?
Combining your calls and emails!
But remember, your direct dials list and your email list must align! You’ve got to ensure you’re reaching out to the same person (i.e.: that the two contacts match).
How do you do that?
Simple. You use our Chrome Extension!
Hit the ▶️ button to see how it works 👇
Now that you’ve got all the tips and tricks for getting past the gatekeeper on calls and emails, have a look at how you can take your prospecting to the next level.
Next level prospecting
If you want more…
- Phone-verified leads
- Verified emails
- Meetings with decision-makers
- Record-breaking months
...then you need to talk to Cognism!
Our platform offers premium compliant data alongside integrations with the tools you use every day, including leading CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot.
Click 👇 to start making sales easier!
.jpg)
