There is much ‘advice’ touting the demise of outbound calling (or cold calling more broadly). We are told “buyers complete 60% of the purchase before they talk to sales,” “executives never respond to phone calls,” “a tweet is worth 100 dials,” and on, and on.

Those statements, while provocative and interesting to those making waves on webinar and conference stages, are downright poison to those of us who earn our livings on the phone. 

Here’s what the data tell us.

Based on our research, we’ve found that Marketing delivers, on average, 38% of sales pipeline. For SaaS (software-as-a-service) companies, the average rises to 57%.

To hit quota, individual sales reps need to generate between one third and two thirds of pipeline without relying on marketing.

Let me say that another way: you can either wait and hope that your marketing team is the rare 1 out of 76 that delivers 100% of pipeline or you can get proactive, pick up the phone, and make your number! 

Beyond being necessary, I believe that the sales profession is having a bit of a renaissance around outbound calling.

I want to share 4 reasons you should be more confident in outbound than ever before.

1. Data Renaissance

In the olden days (3 years ago), reps would dial main numbers and ask for “the person responsible for abc.” That was ineffective, slow and painful. Now data providers are judged by their ability to provide accurate direct dial numbers.

In every conceivable measure, more direct dials = more conversations. This includes #-dials-to-live-connect, %-direct-dial-to-quota-attainment, etc. Additionally, I am a big proponent of an emerging role: the Sales Researcher. This is a person who does nothing but populate the database with the right name, title, email and (of course!) direct dials.

2. Technology Renaissance

In terms of automated calling tools, there are two flavors at play. With one, you load a prospect list and sit on an open bridge waiting for a beep to announce you have a prospect on the line. Imagine having 8-10 live conversations per hour! That is a nearly the same results as a full day of pounding the phones. With the other, you can click-to-call  rather than manually dialing. This may sound like a minor time savings, but over days and weeks it is huge. Add in a local presence (where your number shows up with a local area code) and watch connect rates skyrocket.

3. Cadence Renaissance

Much research demonstrates that getting a buyer to respond requires 8 to 11 touches. This ‘deep’ approach is integral to success and those sellers lobbing the occasional call with an email or two are doing themselves a big disservice.

Figuring out the right cadence as well as media (phone, email, content, social) are essential for outbound campaigns. If you take away nothing else from this article, please take this away: Voicemail is your friend. How awesome is it that there is a tool that will let you leave an interesting and completely relevant 45 second commercial on how you can help someone build a better business?

4. Storytelling Renaissance

Smart sellers are using their calling to tell a compelling story to their buyers. They understand their buyer’s business and challenges and they treat each touch as a chapter in the larger story they are attempting to share.

Messaging with, “We are the leading provider of X and I want to get on your calendar to…” will not get the job done. Over the phone, seller-centric, complicated, or fact-heavy messaging makes buyers think: “That sounds like work. I have enough work. Not interested.”

Now, I am not here to tell you that outbound is easy.

But I am here to tell you that the Outbound Renaissance is here, is real, and is producing results.

If you or you team can’t make the number based on inbound or other methods, then I hope you can leverage the four factors above to serve your buyers, make your numbers, and advance your careers.

Outbound lives!

 

Trish was recently named one of the Top 25 Most Influential in Inside Sales by the AA-ISP for the fourth year running. Her research & ideas have been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, Inc.com & Success Magazine. Since founding The Bridge Group in 1998, Trish has promoted Inside Sales as a community, profession and engine for revenue growth. In the process, she & her team have worked with over 220 B2B companies to build, expand and optimize their inside sales efforts. 

 

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