The Ultimate List of Cold Calling Statistics in 2024
Making a cold call is essentially interrupting someone’s day with a sales pitch. Sales professionals dread making them, and business owners hate getting them. So why do we keep going through the treacherous process?
Because cold calling can be effective when done correctly. True enough, as you’ll see from the cold-calling statistics provided below. Businesses that continued to apply this method grew more than those that didn't.
In 2023, studies predict a significant increase in effectiveness due to various factors, including the improved use of data and the increasing use of office phone systems, CRM software, and cheap VOIP services in the sales process. Continue reading to discover more facts about cold calling in 2023.
Key Cold Calling Statistics
- Your voice tone during the call accounts for 93% of the potential success of your cold call.
- An estimated 6.3% of cold calls result in sales.
- 80% of sales happen after the fifth contact.
- The perfect time to cold call is between 4 pm and 6 pm.
- The perfect day to cold call is Wednesday.
General Cold Calling Statistics
1. Only 2.3% of cold calls result in a meeting.
(The Marketing Success of Charlie Cook)
Cold calling is a numbers game. The more sales cold calls you make daily, the more likely you will reach a decision-maker and set an appointment. However, the process is time-consuming, and the success rate is low.
If you’re thinking about adding cold calling strategies to your outreach efforts and selling process, be prepared for a lot of work with little guarantee of success, especially if you don’t use customer relationship management software. According to sales professionals, the best prospecting tactic is calling current clients.
2. It takes 1.5 hours of cold calling to secure one appointment.
(Zippia)
It takes about four and a half hours to book one appointment each week. That refers to the actual dialing, calling, and speaking and excludes any time spent on breaks, other activities, or getting sidetracked by peers.
Keep this in mind as you establish daily minimum call requirements for your sales force. Ensure that it’s both reasonably doable and ambitious enough to yield results.
3. It takes 67% more dials to reach a prospect using switchboard numbers instead of direct lines.
(Nielson)
Calling prospects with direct phone numbers requires 12.73 dials to connect, whereas switchboard numbers require 18.83 dials. With direct dialing, you can bypass gatekeepers during the initial contact and get straight through to decision-makers, which can help increase conversion rates.
4. 94% of consumers believe that unknown phone calls could be fake.
(Velocify)
Given that it affects organizations' sales volume, velocity, and productivity, this research serves as a sobering reality check for sales teams. Therefore, while calling your prospects, explain the call's purpose first.
5. Only 21% of buyers prefer to be reached by voicemail, compared to 38% of sellers who engage with customers via voicemail.
(Rain Group)
According to this analysis, 17% of customers who don't like voicemails get voicemails from salespeople. In these circumstances, having a well-rehearsed sales voicemail script will assist you in setting up more meetings during your prospecting calls.
Sales representatives leave 70 voicemails daily and spend 25 hours per month checking voicemails. Accordingly, a sales team of 50 sales reps may devote 1,250 hours a month to simply leaving voicemails.
Automate this process by leaving individualized, pre-recorded voicemails with just one click utilizing the best call center software and business phone services. Make any necessary revisions to the voicemail script once or twice a month.
6. Cold emails are 5 to 10 times less effective than cold calling.
(Zippia)
According to this data, cold calling is generally more successful than email at generating responses and conversions. While email is excellent for simultaneously reaching a big audience, most recipients don't even bother to open the message.
Cold calling is the most effective sales tool for many sales representatives because it’s more direct, has quicker response time from leads, and increases your likelihood of setting up an appointment and ultimately closing the sale.
B2B Cold Calling Statistics
7. 51% of C-level executives prefer to respond to cold calls.
(The Rain Group)
Additionally, executive buyers prefer effective cold calls to cold emails. When contacting these key decision-makers, research their websites, LinkedIn posts, and press mentions to see whether cold calling would be an effective outreach strategy.
When it comes to B2B eCommerce, you must use every communication channel. So it only makes sense that your current sales process playbook should include cold calling. After all, many C-level buyers are okay with scheduling meetings with sellers on the first cold call, especially if you have an intriguing offer.
It’s best to do your homework and research your prospects before you make cold calls if you don't want to waste your prospects' time. You can better comprehend their business requirements and create a more beneficial and uninterrupted sales pitch in your first call.
8. For 43% of salespeople, the hardest part of cold prospecting is obtaining higher-quality data.
(Blue Ridge Partners)
Cold call statistics show that 71% of sales representatives believe reaching important decision-makers is the hardest part of cold-calling B2B customers. The best business intelligence software can help boost your cold call success rates by 50%.
66% of fast-growing businesses use sales intelligence software, and 63% use call recording and conversation analytics. Companies that use sales funnel software see a 7% increase in conversion rates compared to those that don’t. Adopting new artificial intelligence-powered prospecting tools to get customer data is crucial for improving the level of interactions and your cold calling success rates.
9. B2B sales personnel converse with potential customers for about 55 minutes daily.
(Conversica)
According to B2B cold calling statistics, it takes the average sales representative polled in this study about 55 minutes to make 35 calls, which is fewer than the benchmark of 60 calls per day.
10. The prospect's interest dies out nine minutes into a cold call.
(Conversica)
According to cold calling tips by Converica, prospects' interest generally began to wane after nine minutes, and failed sales presentations typically lasted 11.4 minutes.
Therefore, the sales rep can be brake the call into chunks that each last nine minutes or less. You can change things up, such as using a different speaker or display, after each part to capture the prospect's interest again.
Statistics on Cold Calling Best Practices
11. Cold-calling prospects only give salespeople 5 to 10 minutes to persuade them.
(The Rain Group)
To increase cold-calling success by 2.1 times, state the reason for the call at the beginning as people generally hate being cold-called. Furthermore, your voice tone during the call accounts for 93% of the potential success of your cold call.
12. Asking prospective customers about their problems and goals can help close a deal.
(Gong)
The success percentage of asking “How have you been?” when making a cold call is 10.01%. That phrase has also shown to be a pattern interrupt that would keep the conversation with the prospects going. According to this data, salespeople that use this opening phrase while cold calling, find a 6.6 times increase in their success rate.
13. 92% of consumers base their decisions on the useful information you can give them about their industry.
(Selling Hacker)
The value you can provide to customers (96%), your capacity to work with them (93%), and the extent to which you have educated them with new concepts (92%) are the aspects that affect a buyer's final purchase decisions.
14. Top salespeople contact a prospect as soon as they classify them as a lead because the chances of converting them are 400%.
(Velocify)
Timing is crucial. Therefore, you should develop a plan to ensure that you call your prospects at the most suitable time. According to cold calling statistics, an hour is ideal for answering client questions. Beyond that, there’s an 8-fold decrease in the likelihood of engaging a lead.
15. The hours between 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm are perfect for successful cold calls.
(Lead Ring)
As most prospects are at work between 7:00 am and 11:00 am, this is the worst time to contact them. Furthermore, you’re 46% more likely to get their attention by calling a lead on a Wednesday. The perfect time to make a cold call is from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm on Wednesday and Thursday.
The least converting time to call is between 6:00 am and noon on Mondays. According to more than 75% of salespeople, sending cold call emails and contacting prospects at the appropriate time has a significant impact on conversion rates.
16. A follow-up phone call is not made by 48% of sales reps.
(Inventories)
A second follow-up call is not made by 44% of salespeople. Making a sale during a your first call or initial cold calling attempts is highly unlikely. After all, the prospect was probably unaware of your business before the interaction.
In light of this, making cold calls to prospects who respond to your marketing is important. Call the cold leads several times if you want to differentiate yourself from other cold callers and boost sales. Sadly, not all sales reps follow this advice. In fact, a lot of salespeople never even make another cold call.
Benchmark Statistics for Handling Objections
17. After hearing objections, 54.3% of successful sales professionals follow up with inquiries.
(Yesware)
A cold-calling salesperson can assist prospects with the appropriate answer by clarifying any objections they stated throughout the conversation by asking questions during the sales call.
You can ask your customer to expand on their objection by using techniques like the mirroring tactic, in which you repeat the final few words of their phrase and frame it as a question to increase your rate of success.
18. After hearing objections, successful sales reps pause five times more than average ones.
(Yesware)
After hearing objections, rookie reps might become agitated and start interrupting callers. Always maintain composure when responding to objections if you want to have a good cold call experience.
19. While handling objections, successful salespeople maintain a pace of 176 words per minute.
(Invesp)
An average successful cold call comprises a talking speed of up to 188 words per minute. According to this data, the typical talking rate in sales conversations is 173 words per minute. So, when handling objections, good sales reps don’t become upset and suddenly speak too quickly.
Benchmarks for How to Talking During a Cold Call
20. Asking, “Did I catch you at the wrong time?” lowers your likelihood of scheduling a meeting by 40%.
(Nielson, Sales Insights Lab)
Although sales books frequently prescribe this opening phrase, an analysis reveals that it does the opposite of what’s intended – cold calls that started with this statement had a success rate of less than 1%.
Another question, “Is this a good time?” is how 30.9% of salespeople begin their calls. If the prospect says “no” and schedules another time and the salesperson phones them back like they had both agreed, 42% of customers would be more likely to start the buying process by setting up a date for a discovery call or making a purchase.
21. Positive demo calls go on for 30.5% longer than negative ones.
(Zety)
To maximize the likelihood of sealing the business, ensure the demo presentation is focused and leaves room for future conversations.
22. Five times more often than underperformers, successful sales representatives use phrases like “surely,” “certainly,” and “absolutely.”
(The Rain Group)
Words like “Show you how” (13%), “Discount” (17%), “Contract” (7%), and “Free trial” (5%), among others, might lower the rate of success of cold calling campaigns. Furthermore, increasing the number of times you mention your business during a call might reduce close rates by 14%.
The Rain Group also found that top salespeople are ten times more likely to substitute “we” and “our” for “you,” “I,” and “my.” Making that first impression requires coming off as a team player. Therefore, sprinkle words like “we,” “our,” “ourselves,” and “us” throughout your outbound calling script.
23. Silent intervals during calls with prospects that are successful often last 8 to 10% of the whole call time.
(SmallBiz Genius)
For sales representatives, it doesn't have to be all talk, speak, talk. Your success rates could be greatly improved by using just the appropriate amount of quiet during your cold call. However, avoid becoming overly silent because doing so could make your dialogue ineffective.
24. The average length of a top sales representative's monologue on a cold call is merely 12 seconds.
(CallHippo)
That indicates that top-performing sales representatives' monologues would only contain roughly 35 words over 12 seconds.
While it was said previously that sales representatives chatting a little bit more than prospects is positive, it's important to avoid rambling on for too long when making a cold call.
Statistics on Cold Calling From the Customers’ Perspective
25. Prior to accepting an offer, 60% of clients decline it four times.
(The Rain Group)
Furthermore, 75% of consumers want to get two to four phone calls from salespeople before they cease contacting them. Cold calling statistics from The Rain Group show that 12% of customers expect salespeople to get in touch with them frequently, and 58% think sales meetings are worthless.
26. 96% of consumers claim that cold calls that highlight the benefits of a company's goods or services have the greatest impact on them.
(The Brevet Group)
Buyers are influenced to book a follow-up appointment by cold calls that highlight solutions to existing business challenges, according to 66% of respondents.
Only 23% of sales representatives give customers specific information on product features and services during the initial phone conversation, even though 54% of customers want it.
Sales Statistics for Running Great Discovery Calls
27. Contact rates for salespeople who reply to leads within the first five minutes rise by 100.
(Sales Insights Lab)
This information demonstrates how important a prompt follow-up call is. Your chances of closing sales with the current leads will increase if you use the best answering services and optimize response times.
28. During the discovery call, concentrate exclusively on three to four client problems.
(Sales Engagement)
Only three or four problems must be the subject of the call because asking about more than four problems could divert your prospect's attention. Additionally, cold calling statistics from Sales Engagement tell us that you should pose 11 to 14 specific questions to prospects.
According to this data, when you make a cold call, don’t ask more than 14 questions, as that results in a declining rate of return, and asking fewer than 11 questions may prevent you from covering all the necessary touchpoints and gathering all the necessary information during the discovery call.
29. In discovery calls, sales reps speak for just 46% of the call's duration as opposed to prospects' (54%) during cold calls.
(Sales Force)
This data demonstrates that the talk-to-listen ratio is reversed during discovery conversations – a top-performing sales representative makes an effort to listen more often than they speak when they make a cold call.
30. A 30-minute meeting has a 12% higher chance of converting a prospect than a 60-minute one.
(DiscoverOrg)
This data demonstrates that you must keep your product demonstrations short and without unnecessary filler to keep the prospect's interest.
Cold Calling FAQ
The typical success rate for cold calling ranges from 1 to 3%. Comparing this success rate to other sales strategies, it is relatively low. It should be incorporated into the entire marketing strategy because it still works.
It typically takes eight cold calls to reach a prospect. Calling potential customers at the appropriate moment is also crucial.
Successful cold calls happen between 4 and 5 pm in your prospect's time zone because these are peak connection times. The second-best time to cold call is between 11 and 12 pm.
35 to 60 calls per day on average as a standard. As we previously mentioned, connecting with a prospect typically takes eight cold call efforts. You have an opportunity to speak with about 38 prospects in a week by making 60 calls per day or 300 calls in a week.
Use the best auto dialer software and customer database software to effectively manage your 60 cold calls every day. The application will assist you in planning out your daily calls, tracking call metrics, and ranking calls according to the level of prospect interaction.
Depending on your initial open rate and chat time for each call, you could make 100 cold calls if you wanted to, however, given that each cold call takes 4 minutes and 50 seconds, it might consume all of your working hours.
Therefore, calling a small group of highly qualified prospects is preferable. In this situation, set up an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening to call them twice. That is not only an effective alternative to making 100 cold calls, but it also increases the likelihood of setting up meetings.
To achieve a great cold call conversion rate, sales personnel must make an average of five to six phone calls. Additionally, it takes agents an average of 18 tries to get a lead open to speaking with them.
According to 41% of salespeople, the phone is the most successful sales tool. That is not surprising, considering that phone conversations are one of the best strategies to cultivate leads and strengthen relationships with them.
However, email marketing still reigns supreme regarding cold outreach, even though it has a lower conversion rate. What’s great about email marketing is that it is easily scalable, as most of the work is done using an email marketing service.
Use an integrated marketing strategy with various methods, including live chat, social media, and phone calls, for the best outcomes. 51% of firms use at least eight distinct channels to connect with their customers and succeed. In this manner, a cold lead might be warmed up before the initial phone call.
Grow Your Business With Cold Calling
Whether you find cold calls useless or not, there’s no denying that the sales technique still has a place in the sales industry, as the above list of cold calling statistics demonstrates.
Try to learn about your prospects, determine the best moment to get in touch with them, and comprehend how to communicate with them effectively. To do that, you’ll need the most effective tool salespeople use – sales CRM software.
- Freshsales is an AI-powered sales CRM software that helps automate your sales processes, freeing up time for your sales team to concentrate on calling warm prospects. The tool is also one of the best at monitoring web log-ins ensuring your sales team is on the same page.
- Keap is an all-in-one sales CRM with marketing automation capabilities. This tool is perfect for small businesses looking to generate more sales with fewer calls and one that can integrate with various 3rd party apps seamlessly.
- Pipedrive is one of the most powerful sales CRMs in the market, amassing over 95,000 companies in its client database. The solution offers a chrome extension and serves as a Gmail CRM, a real estate CRM software, or a project management tool. Pipedrive has a 14-day free trial you can use to test the app.
Sources
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Martin Luenendonk
Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.
This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.