portaMichel McGovern

Don't let anyone convince you that cold calling is a pain in the ass. Cold calling statistics prove that he is alive and well and is one of themost effective ways to acquire new customerswhenprospecting.
The more you know what you're dealing with - and what works - the more effective you can be with cold calling.
The doors are open and the buyers are waiting.
Buyers are interested,ready to answer your calland want to know more so they can make an informed decision that is right for them.
The researchers dug deeper when they analyzed the state of cold calling and prospecting by talking to salespeople.Embuyers.
There is good news for sellers:
- 57% of C-level buyers prefer salespeople to call thema comprehensive study of the Rain Group
- About half of all directors and managers also prefer conversation
- 69% of buyers accepted a callof new sellers within the past 12 months
- 82% of buyers agree to meetings when sellers contact them, Rain Group found
- When is a good time? The first part of the buying process: 71% say they want to listen to salespeople when looking for ideas to drive strong business results
- 75% of prospects in some industries attended an event or scheduled a meeting based on an unsolicited email or phone callDiscoverOrg surveyI found
- Ofideal number of calls to win the sale: six, according toSpeed up search. Less than that, and the sellers can't cover enough ground. More than that and the diminishing returns of time and effort
- Yet 50% of leads never get a secondcold callof suppliers,another Velocify studyI found
Fakta om cold calling
Attracting phone shoppers can seem like a challenge (after all,nodo they filter calls?) butpersonal contact is essentialfor cold calls.
Here's what you need to know:
- Betteruntil dawnto conduct prospecting interviews is according to Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdayextensive research by CallHippo
- Wednesday is definitely the best:Wednesdays see 46% more conversions than Mondays, CallHippo researchers found
- Betterphone call response time:Within an hour of customers submitting an application. Whether they're downloading something from your site or calling or emailing with a question, the most effective calls to them are made within 60 minutes
- Bettertempopotential customers: 4pm to 5pm, then 11am to midnight (on the best days we've noticed)
"A phone call gets someone's attention much faster than an email and you can personalize your sales pitch",to sayStuart Leung, SEO Manager at Salesforce.com. "With real interactions with real customers, you can identify the problem by asking specific questions and offer the prospect a solution."
- Phone calls stand out and can make a difference, as the average business owner receives 115 emails a day, according to research fromO Radicati gruppe
- 80% of calls go to voicemailleading research. Be prepared to leave a message of 18-30 seconds
- Why? Customers do not hear a cold calling message for much longer than 30 seconds,an Inside Sales surveyEvery additional second spent after your 30 reduces the chance of connecting with clients by 2%.
All about cold email
The email may be easy to send, butunsolicited email resultsit can be hard to see.
Here's what's important to know:
- 80% of buyers prefer sellers to contact them via email, researchers from The Rain Group have found. One caveat: it should be a personal message, not a mass marketing message
- 77% of buyers responded positively to a seller's email in the last 12 months
- The problem is that 59% of buyers believe that the sales emails they receive are irrelevant.Direct Marketing Association Surveyshows
- More than 50% of customers will find another - even if they are looking for a provider - if they do not receive personalized emails,a Salesforce surveyI found
- Bettertempoto send these personalized emails: late morning and mid-afternoon (just before the time shoppers are likely to open and click on emails), according toGet answers survey
Overall, you're probably better off ifsend your emailstwiceopening hours from 10:00 to 11:00 and from 14:00 to 16:00, "says Michal Leszczynski, Content Marketing Manager at GetResponse. "This is when most marketers see the most opens and clicks, and when nearly a third of all email marketing campaigns are sent."
- Betteruntil dawnto send your prospecting emails: Every day of the week, vizyes software search
“We crunched the numbers and found outthe opening and response rates were about the same regardless of the day of the weekAn email was sent, "siger Bernie Reeder, Director of Product Marketing hos Yesware. "Despite the bad reputation,Friday is no better or worse for email than any other dayof the working week".
The impact of social selling on cold calling
You can hardly sell these days without a social media networking element in your process. This applies especially to cold calling. Social media is a powerful tool for penetrating cold calling.
- According to 82% of buyers, a company is more trustworthy if it is active on social mediaa BrandFog study
- 77% of buyers say they are more likely to buy from a company if the CEO uses social mediaBrandFog investigationI found
- 90% of customers say that positive online reviews influence their purchase decision,a study by Zendesk and Dimensional ResearchI found
- 86% say negative online reviews influence their decisions
- As for those who post reviews, 45% do so on social media and 35% post on product review sites
- According to research from The Rain Group, 82% of buyers research providers on LinkedIn before responding to your outreach efforts.
- 61% stick with this LinkedIn look and research the provider on social media until they buy (if they do)
- And don't think your cold call is all cold: Nearly half of buyers research potential suppliers on LinkedIn within the last 12 months,an IDC studyI found
“Online social networks play a crucial role in the buying process at 84%of older B2B buyers,”disse Kathleen Schaub, vice-presidente do programa, CMO Advisory & Customer Experience fra IDC. "At the final stage of the purchase process, when the stakes are high, online professional networks ... are the best information preference for shoppers."
Why Referrals Make a Difference in Cold Calling
Nothing is officially easy in cold calling. But using referrals to jumpstart cold calling efforts can ease some of the burden.
- 84% of customers are primarily influenced by recommendations from friends and family,making referrals, the most powerful tool salespeople havefor cold calling,a Nielsen survey on trustI found
- Customers acquired through referrals are approximately 24% more profitable than other customers,a diploma from the Wharton School of BusinessI found
“The rate at which referred customers churn and leave… is on average about 18% lower than that of other customers,”says Phillip Schmitt, one of the authors of the Wharton School study. "Referred customers are more profitable and more loyal."
- According to IDC research, nearly 75% of managers prefer to work with sales representatives who have been referred to them.
The logic behind lead care
Nurturing prospects—making sure they're qualified candidates and learning as much as possible about them before making a cold call—can lead to success if done right.
- Salespeople don't follow up on half of the leads, according toDreamforce Research af Conversica
- Why? 41% of salespeople say they find it very difficult to reach prospects; 37% say marketing brings them low-quality leads
- In their defense, 30% of marketers in Conversica's Dreamforce survey say salespeople aren't successful with their prospects because they don't reach out fast enough or don't make enough effort to connect with prospects.
“Despite all the emphasis placed on aligning the sales and marketing areastoday, this alignment remains … elusive and frustrating,” said Alex Terry, CEO of Conversica. “Our research has shown, as we suspected, thatLead engagement is clearly at the heart of... problems."
- Connecting with the right prospects counts from the start: More than 60% of buyers received relevant information from the salesperson who ended up winning the sale in the early lead nurturing stages of the sales cycle,researchers at SiriusDecisions
The biggest obstacles to cold calling
Of course, cold calling is still one of them - if notof- parts harder to sell.
Here are some of the toughest obstacles investigators face when making sales calls:
- The lists are not solid. A study from the Baylor University Keller Research Centerfound that the chances of reaching someone in a real cold calling situation are minimal: 55% do not answer. 17% of contact information will be incorrect. Only 28% will answer the call
- Change is happening.Why nearly 20% of contact information is out of date.ZoomInfo diz30% of people change jobs, 66% of people change their title or position, 43% of people change their work phone number, and 37% of people change their email address. All in one year
“These complicationsimportant to know who your audience isand how to better align the sales process for relevance and value,"says Shelley Cernel, researcher and senior marketing manager at LearningTree.
- You can't learn everything.Only 37% of prospects ina HubSpot surveyfeel that salespeople who called them provided information that was relevant to their needs. Yet almost 75% of salespeople believed they were perfect with what they knew and presented.
- It is complicated.On average, seven people are involved in the purchase decision and at least five are needed to close a sale, which makes it difficult for even a cold salesperson to get in touch with the right person, according toSales force survey
- So little looking or referring.In a report by Heinz Marketing, researchers found that only 22% of salespeople had a formal referral system. Cold calling leads are lost even if customers are willing to give them.
- Time is not well spent.Ideally, sellers usually want to sell, butan in-depth study of Pace Productivityfound that they spend 35% of their time on administrative paperwork and 22% on sales. Ideally, salespeople should shuffle the paper 17% of the time and sell 33% of the time.

AboutMichel McGovern
Michele is an accomplished writer and editor who has focused on what makes business successful for over 20 years. She has written many white papers for senior executives and corporate news on topics such as employee morale, customer service, loyalty and sales.
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FAQs
What are the statistics for cold calling sales? ›
The average cold calling success rate is 2%.
Depending on the cold calling script you use, you can increase your B2B cold calling success rates up to 10.01%. According to Gong, all you need to do is ask a prospect how they've been. This isn't an isolated sales call statistic.
Cold calling has a 2% success rate, on average. 82% of buyers say they've accepted sales meetings after a connection that began with a cold call. 57% of B2B C-level executives prefer to be contacted by phone, according to B2B cold calling surveys.
What are the statistics for cold calling real estate? ›- 57% of realtors say cold calling is the most successful way to get potential clients. (Close) ...
- The survey says more than 200 realtors earned over $250,000 yearly because of cold calling. (Gitnux) ...
- 75% of potential leads wait up to 2 to 4 cold call attempts before they finally give in.
As we saw earlier, it takes around 8 cold call attempts to reach a prospect. By making 60 calls every day or 300 calls in a week, you have a chance to reach around 38 prospects in a week.
What is a successful cold call? ›The most important thing to do in cold calls is to build rapport with your prospect. It's critical to be approachable and engaging and connect with the other person on a human level. One of the best ways you can do that is to lead the conversation with a question about the prospect.
What is the average cold calls per hour? ›This will allow a good inside salesperson to average 10-12 calls per hour while effectively maintaining and updating information in the CRM. Therefore, when asked how many cold calls per hour should an inside salesperson be able to make, a fair and reasonable response is 10 calls per hour.
How long should 100 cold calls take? ›Making 100 cold calls could take you between 1-5 hours, but this greatly depends on the dialing system you're using.
What is a good call answer rate? ›The 80/20 rule in call centers typically refers to another call center metric known as the Service Level. It means that about 80% of incoming calls should be answered by agents within 20 seconds or less, which can serve as an indicator of a good Service Level in a call center.
Can you make 100 cold calls a day? ›If you Google “how many cold calls a day can be made,” you will most probably land on some article giving you a number around 35-100 calls a day. While trying for the upper end of this range sounds sweet, most sales agents struggle to make 100 cold calls a day.
How many cold calls does it take to get good? ›It takes about six calls to turn a prospect into a customer. That is about 48 calls to make a single sale. Other studies said that it takes about 18 calls to connect with a lead. The average company closes on about 20% of their leads, and a good company can close on about 30%.
How many times should you cold call a prospect? ›
On average, sales representatives need to make 6 to 8 phone calls per prospect to have a successful cold call conversion rate. Also, it takes an average of 18 attempts to connect and convert a lead into a qualified opportunity.
Does cold calling increase sales? ›Cold calling has been used in business for decades. Despite its difficulty, it is one of the most effective techniques for gaining leads — and making eventual sales. As many as 82% of buyers say they are willing to meet with a salesperson who contacts them with a cold call.
How effective is cold calling in 2023? ›Continue reading to discover impressive statistics about cold calling in 2023. The success of a cold call is 93% your voice tone. Almost 6.3% of cold calls generate sales.
Does cold calling work 2023? ›While many marketers question the value of cold calls, 82% of buyers are receptive to cold calls from sales reps and the majority of them prefer to talk through a mix of channels, including over the phone.
What is the best time to cold call in 2023? ›Late mornings at around 11 am (right before lunch) and late afternoons between 4 to 5 pm (before the end of the workday) are the best cold calling times. The middle of the week (Wednesdays and Thursdays) are the best days to reach prospects.
Is cold calling still effective in 2023? ›While many marketers question the value of cold calls, 82% of buyers are receptive to cold calls from sales reps and the majority of them prefer to talk through a mix of channels, including over the phone.
How much can a cold caller make? ›As of Jul 20, 2023, the average hourly pay for a Cold Calling in the United States is $17.91 an hour.
Is cold calling a sales strategy? ›Cold calling is a sales technique that involves contacting potential customers who have not expressed any interest in your product or service. It can be challenging, frustrating, and time-consuming, but it can also be rewarding, effective, and profitable if done right.