Whether cold calling is dead or alive is a source of endless debates among sellers.
But despite all the new ways of communication emerging in sales, cold calling remains an effective sales strategy. Recent B2B cold calling stats prove it works for acquiring new customers and booking meetings, especially among C-level and VP buyers.
So why does it get a bad rep?
It’s simple really—
Many salespeople abuse the liberty to reach out to prospects, pitch too soon and spam the system.
But do cold calls work?
Of course!
This article will explore why cold calling isn’t dead and how not to kill it.
Why cold calling isn’t dead
1. Our data says it’s not dead
Cold calling is far from a dead channel.
We researched 10,000 cold calls, and discovered the following:
This data reveals a simple takeaway.
Cold calling remains an effective outreach channel. And if anything, it’s not being used nearly enough as it should be.
Zac Thompson, one of the Founding Directors at We Have A Meeting, shared more in the clip below 👇
And if you’re interested in understanding more about why cold calling remains an important outbound channel in 2024, be sure to check out our State of Cold Calling Report below ⬇️
B2B cold calling also isn’t dead because recent developments in technology have improved its efficiency.
Gone are the days of reps going through a Rolodex of contacts, in the hope that someone might pick up.
Now, thanks to sales intelligence software like Cognism, salespeople can easily reach prospects who are likely to be interested in your product or service.
It all comes back to intent. It helps you take a proactive approach and identify ideal-fit accounts. You can then build targeted cold calling lists that warm up the calls even before you dial.
2. More SDRs are entering into sales space
In the past, sales prospecting was limited to startups and B2B software companies that needed sales development representatives (SDRs) to grow their revenue and promote their brands.
Aaron Ross, a sales development expert, believes cold calling isn’t going anywhere. Even ‘established’ industries such as manufacturing or advertising could benefit from incorporating the SDR (or some version of the SDR).
He also thinks that replacing the human aspect of sales with tech can be risky:
“You’re essentially relying on the buyer to do all of their own research and know they’re a fit for what you offer. That’s a big ask.”
“And, with your AEs busy closing deals, do you really want them spending time disqualifying prospects that have only qualified themselves?”
“And what about those perfect buyers that don’t find you on their own?”
The bottom line? The SDRs’ role is mainstreaming B2B sales.
3. Executives love it!
According to RAIN Report, cold calling is very much alive among C-level and VP buyers across industries. As many as 57% of them prefer cold calls as the first point of contact.
The rate goes down slightly in the case of directors (51%) and managers (47%) but still indicates that cold calling in business still works.
Furthermore, our own findings revealed that C-suite level executives are most likely to pick up the phones 👇
Even though today’s buyers don’t need sales reps to make purchasing decisions, a cold call can be one of the touchpoints that engage buyers throughout their customer journey.
Speaking directly to decision-makers high up the company structure is one the most efficient ways of getting your foot in the door of a new business.
And we totally get it - it can seem overwhelming, daunting even, to communicate with such important job titles. But remember - they’re human just like you.
It all comes down to sounding like you belong, as Jack Frimston, one of the Founding Directors from We Have A Meeting, explained:
It’s also important to break away from the assumption that CEOs and C-Suite level executives receive lots of cold calls.
In fact, our very own CEO James Isilay, only received 3 in 2023!
💡 Check out CEO prospecting scripts and learn how to sell to the C-suite roles with tips from Ryan Reisert, the co-author of “Outbound Sales, No Fluff”.
4. It provides value to prospects
You can bring cold calling to life with experienced salespeople who have the business acumen and market awareness that enables them to have meaningful conversations with target prospects.
SDRs who do research to identify prospects’ potential pain points before they pick up the phone can instantly bring value to the table. On the other hand, if they are purely sales-oriented and their approach is purely transactional, they’re not going to get too far past ‘hi’.
You know you’re providing value when the goal of your cold call is sales discovery. You need to find out if the prospect has a problem that you can solve.
💡 Check out some of the best examples of cold calling from sales pros Josh Braun and Ryan Reisert.
5. Rejection is part of the process
One of the common misconceptions is that cold calling is dead because reps get rejected 6 out of 10 times.
In fact, rejection is part of the process. Sometimes you get brushed off because the prospect is bored, tired, you reached a gatekeeper, or simply, call at the wrong time.
On other occasions, you may find your solution really isn’t suitable for every business you call. It’s okay to assume your product or service can help prospects on your list. But if during the sales discovery it turns out otherwise, stop persuading and get off the phone.
If you feel you lost your cold calling mojo, check your stats at the end of the month. If they don’t add up, go back to square one and review your cold calling list. Analyse your existing customer base, what industries they operate in, their size, location, job title, etc., and clean up your list.
You can do this manually via LinkedIn or Google research, or automate the search and export contacts to your CRM with the Cognism Chrome extension.
💡 If you or your SDRs lack confidence on the phone, check out four tips on how to get over the fear of cold calling.
6. Cold calling isn’t as saturated as other channels
Sellers have become over-reliant on email, to the point where it has become the new normal, not to pick up the phone.
Automated email cadences and sequences have just meant that many sellers have become lost in the noise, and aren’t likely to make an impact in prospects’ inboxes.
And this means that it has become increasingly harder to book a meeting via email.
Cold calling is super effective, as you’re cutting through all the other steps. You’re having a direct conversation with someone, and able to deduct whether they’re interested in your product, or not.
Cold calling still remains as a channel with untapped potential, and our data again proves this. Based on 10,000 cold calls, we discovered there is a 75% chance of prospects picking up the phone on the first attempt.
Bringing cold calling back to life: Cognism's playbook
So far, we’ve established why cold calling still has a place in today’s era of outbound sales.
But, the trick is understanding how you implement cold calling, from a strategic perspective.
Here is an overview of Cognism’s cold calling strategy 👇
Starting off with…
Incentivise your sellers to have quality conversations
It all starts with driving the right behaviours.
If you establish this from the very beginning, you’ll see the desired results from cold calling.
And remember - it’ll all come down to aligning with what the current needs of the business are. Here’s our journey to help contextualise this a bit more:
In 2018...
The goal of cold calling at this current stage was ensuring our sales team were having as many conversations with prospects as possible.
Therefore, our SDRs were targeted on the number of meetings booked. Here are the advantages and disadvantages that we noticed from this approach:
Now, the downside of this was that some of the leads were low quality, which resulted in a leaky funnel.
However, this approach enabled our sellers to grab as much intel as possible, regarding who our ideal customer profile (ICP) is, and what their pain points are.
This was the goal of the cold calling approach at this particular stage of the business.
And now...
Now, our SDRs have a compensation plan that follows a points-based system.
Jon Ilett, our VP of Global Sales, provided an overview of the new comp plan in his post below 👇
Since implementing this plan, we’ve seen 4x higher conversion rates from cold calling.
The list is your strategy
It’s simple.
Ensure that you’re targeting the right people, with the right message.
Your sales team can have the best cold calling script in the world. They can nail the personalisation, the opener, or even the objection.
BUT without a thorough grip on your ICP, your SDRs will end up spending time on bad-fit accounts that aren’t in-market and ready to buy.
This is why we run an account sourcing and prioritisation exercise in tandem with our revenue operations team. This means our SDRs can be laser-focused on calling the right prospects.
Use the ‘power line’ to inform your sellers’ cold calling approach
To kick off, it’s worth outlining what the power line means, within the context of cold calling and outbound in general.
It comes down to the level of decision-making authority that a particular prospect has.
Kyle Coleman, CMO at Copy.ai, is a huge advocate of this approach, and offered his two-cents below:
“Prospects that we reach out to are in two main camps. Above the power line, prospects hold budget or decision-making authority. And there are fewer of them at the accounts you’re contacting. Therefore, you can and should spend more time researching that person.”
“On the other hand, prospects will be your product’s users below the power line. And there are more of them. The research is going to be more persona-based.”
Once you’ve defined your ICP, understand where the power line fits and makes sense, within an account.
It’ll ultimately come down to the segment you’re selling into, as well as the size and complexity of the deal:
Here’s how it looks for our team, in practice:
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMB)
- In SMB, above the power line prospects include manager-level and above, all the way through to the CEO.
- Whereas below the power line are going to be the individual contributors - or the end-users of the product.
- A rep might penetrate this account by cold calling and speaking with ICs first, so they can build a strong business-case to the above the power line prospects.
Enterprise (ENT)
- In an enterprise account, above the power-line prospects are going to be VP and C-Suite level executives.
- And below the power line, the prospects could include managers, directors, and end-users of the product.
- Again, to penetrate this account, speaking with below the powerline prospects first, will be important.
The power line matrix
Once you’ve understood who has decision-making power in an account, your message over a cold call will be much stronger.
You can create a matrix of tailored messaging, to ensure that your reps are hitting the prospect with the big-picture pitch in the most effective way possible.
The bottom line? Depending on what the core priorities of the stakeholder are, the script and the messaging will differ.
And given one of our target personas is sales, here’s how our matrix looks:
Prioritise prospects who you know will pick up
Here’s the reality.
More dials don’t mean more meetings.
If anything, this knee-jerk reaction from many sales leaders has meant that sales pipeline generation has become harder.
So, what does it really come down to?
Once you’ve understood your ICP and your decision-makers, equip your sales team with high-quality data. So the dials can actually convert into real, meaningful conversations.
Again, our data proves this. Out of 55,701, 9247 were connected, meaning…
Ultimately, the more you invest into a data provider, the more conversations your reps will have.
And remember, mobile numbers are especially important here.
Prospects are barely reachable through office switchboards - calling someone on their mobile is instant and the most effective way to get an outcome.
Ditch outdated qualification methods to focus on value
83 seconds.
That’s the average duration of a cold call.
And if your reps are approaching with a qualification method like budget, authority, need, timing (also known as BANT), they’re not going to get very far.
Instead, David Bentham, VP of Global Sales Development, encourages reps to focus on the cold calling sweet spot.
This is the point where a seller has kept a prospect on the phone long enough to provide value.
Furthermore, it’s the stage of the conversation where the rep can demonstrate that they’ve understood the prospect’s business case, to the point where the prospect is able to evaluate for themselves whether the solution is ultimately a good fit or not.
Multi-thread with cold calls
For deal sizes over $100,000, we’ve noticed that the win rate increases by 32% when more than 10 stakeholders are engaged in a deal.
And the phone has been the secret weapon - we encourage our reps to cold call across the entire deal whilst it’s active.
Because it’s the quickest way to get buy-in from all of the core decision-makers that’ll influence a deal.
Frida Ottosson, our VP of US Sales, also thinks about the power of internal multi-threading in a deal - she explained more in her post below 👇
Track performance and iterate
The most important reason as to why we’ve seen huge success with cold calling, is because of the way we track and measure performance.
This approach means we’re continually optimising pipeline generation from cold calling.
Here’s an overview of how we track and measure performance:
Call dispositions
Bucket outcomes of the call to identify where the call ended and why.
Connect rate
A good indicator of the reps activities before they’ve even picked up the phone. Are they focused purely on mobiles? Are they focusing on quality regions?
Meeting booked by department AND contact role
To track whether reps are booking meetings with the right seniority or identify if they’re struggling to book meetings with a specific department.
Key takeaways
Let’s recap the core points:
- Cold calling is far from a dead outbound channel. If anything, it’s become a bit of a lost art - as sales teams have been focusing on automated email cadences with little to no value or personalisation.
- There is ample scope for reps to get ahead and see success on the phones, supported by our own findings where the average cold call success rate is 4.8% (up from 2% in 2023).
- Cold calling is also a great way to get in touch with C-suite level executives. They receive thousands of emails, yet hardly any cold calls, so sales teams should begin to capitalise on the opportunity.
- The way you can bring cold calling back to life, is through a playbook that aligns closely to your business’ journey. And for us, here are the pillars that have defined our strategy:
- Incentivise sellers to have quality conversations through a tailored compensation plan.
- Your list is the strategy - make sure sellers are calling the right people.
- Use the ‘power line’ to define the cold calling approach - especially when it comes to more complex accounts where your reps will need to reach out to more than one decision-maker.
- Arm your sellers with high quality contact data - specifically focused on mobile numbers.
- Ditch qualification methods that are outdated, such as BANT.
Need some help with reviving your cold calling?
- Cognism is a sales intelligence platform that supplies businesses with verified mobiles and B2B emails of people you want to do business with.
- If you feel like your prospecting list is incomplete or out of date, visit our homepage to learn more or book your demo here to see how we can help 👇
