Cold Calling Best Practices

Are your sales reps doing all they can to be effective over the phone and close deals? If not, it is a manager’s responsibility to train and coach reps on cold calling best practices and make sure reps have the knowledge and skills they need to be successful.

As a manager, if you are doubting the importance of cold calling or how it can benefit your sales team, we have some statistics that may change your outlook. Here’s why:

Cold Calling Best Practices

The smallest change in habits can make a world of difference for your reps. For example, it takes 7-13 touches to generate a B2B qualified sales lead, but the average sales rep only makes two attempts to reach a prospect. Not to mention that 65% of companies already think that reps spend too much time on non-selling activities, so naturally, the first step towards success and increased effectiveness is picking up the phone and making more calls.

“It takes 7-13 touches to generate a B2B qualified sales lead, but the average sales rep only makes two attempts.”

Pick Up the Phone!

Once your reps are picking up the phone and setting appointments, it is important that they follow through; while 80% of sales require 5 follow-up calls, 44% of reps give up after one follow-up call. From there, make sure reps know the best days and times to call, and so on, to optimize productivity. A sales enablement tool is a manager’s best asset to ensure that reps are making these calls and to see who is successful and why – so that they can replicate these behaviors of success across their entire team.

“While 80% of sales require 5 follow-up calls, 44% of reps give up after one follow-up call.”

Click here to read all of our cold calling/prospecting best practices and learn how you can optimize rep performance and prioritize effectiveness at your sales organization.