Cold Calling By the Numbers

I am very curious to know what type of results everyone is experiencing with their cold calling. What are the norms?

Call 100, reach 50 decision makers, set 5 appt., sell 1 product...

OR

Call 200, reach 40 decision makers, set 6 appt., sell 1
(Something like this but with your results.)

Every industry is going to be drastically different. It is more difficult to sell a $10,000 product over the phone than a $100 product. The purpose of this thread is not to find out who is the best, it is to find out what results are typical. It's interesting to know what the norm is for each industry or product.

Also, if anyone knows of a good article on this I would love to read it. -cjp231

There are too many factors involved for me to try and quantify the "norms". I am not sure it would help to know what everyone else, the "norms", are doing. I would much rather hitch my saddle to a rising star if you know what I mean. -Vito

That statement is not really accurate. People who use the phone to sell a 10k plus ticket usually work a very select market of qualified buyers. If they are experienced in the field, their percentages are rather high--higher than those selling a small ticket.

There are no universal norms. -Ace Coldiron

The laws of average would assume that if you call more people you will get more contacts... and more sales as a result.

However, you can't always throw mud at the wall and hope it sticks. I find that a well thought out plan of attack will yield far better results than simply calling 100 people for the sake of trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Here is a scenario that you can take a look at...
Let’s say that you make 50 calls a day. From those 50 calls you actually speak to 10 people. From those 10 people you end up getting a purchase of $5000 over a 12 month period.

That would result in $1,825,000 in revenue each year. It doesn't seem like much... but in the SMB I.T. market that is a good revenue for a salesperson.

However, if you sought out some well targeted prospects you will probably have a better end result.

Of course there are many other factors that come into play here… -salesfist

I am also interested in this, I believe that sales are getting better all around the enviroment. -Charles W. Lawson

When I am cold calling my goal is to arrange an appointment. For some reason, my ratio is always lower during this time of the year. They are always thinking about the holidays. -Polysquared

sn; They are? ;bg -rattus58

In the words of the Great Mr Warren Greshes......

"It doesn't matter what your average is, it only matters that you know what it is."

Everyone is different and has different success rates according to their style and their customer's style. Calculate the 3 killer ratios with my team every month on a rolling three month average and the one thing I can guarantee is the only one that does not change greatly is the "Quote to Order". If you need more orders, do more quotes, if you need to generate more quotes then speak to more Decision Makers....Rocket Science it is not! -Mike Cooper

I think numbers are important but I think Mr. Cooper has a point. It's really a matter of getting more quotes out and trying to close as many of those as possible. -cstjuste

I was engaged in door-to-door cold call selling for 30 years with a consistent "sale to prospect rate" of 14 out of 20. That is, walking into a business cold, meeting the decision maker, creating the desire, finding the money and making the sale 14 out of 20 times.

Keep in mind however, that the selling ratios for the Tupperware and Amway industries are very different for real estate sales or selling private Lear Jets. Your specific industry will dictate cold call sales averages. Just do some exploration.

Nevertheless, the key is always found in the dynamics of pre-qualifying your prospect. Not everyone is your potential customer unless you want to play the numbers game. If calling on everyone generated the most success, there would be no need for marketing firms.

There is a great deal that can be learned about your prospect before your initial contact and that begins by describing what you are selling. Yes, as you describe what you are selling, you are describing your next buyer.

But there is a new paradigm to consider: focus only on your product or service and bypass traditional sales principals next; let the description of what you are in fact selling begin, direct and close your sales approach and; sell to those human traits and characteristics that hide behind the attractive features and benefits.

That is ask yourself, are you selling a sliver of happiness, escapism, efficiency, reputation enhancement, physical or emotional pleasure, effectiveness, status, intellectual acknowledgment, pragmatics, empowerment, sex, peace of mind, demonstration of responsibility or many other base human motivators?

Now, define your prospect in light of these discoveries and you have the beginnings of listing qualifying factors.

While there is much more to this, focusing on the human condition is the essential beginning. We often miss this aspect, throwing inauthentic scripts at them as if they are automatons. How often do we give the prospect everything they asked for and still they walk away saying "I'll be back" and you never see them again?

After all, do you justify your latest purchase to your spouse through demonstrating the features and benefits or is there something else going on?

"That's nice dear," says nothing yet it says everything needed for the moment. -John Voris

First things first!

Can I make a suggestion? In order to make the most of your selling day can I encourage you to look at calling on people (phone, door to door, or whatever method) from another perspective so you therefore give cold calling a different meaning?

It doesn't make a difference what you are selling.

Usually in most cases television advertisements, newspaper adverts, local papers, flyer distribution, your competitors and every other sales channels are out there are in the process of educating, training or enticing the marketplace with your product or service, just not your company.

So what is a cold call? Someone selling ice blocks! In my experience there is no such thing as a cold call ... In fact some of my most successful sales were so called cold calls. To me a cold call is a call that I am making to a person for the first time and armed with the knowledge that most people already have some knowledge about what it is I'm selling I do not have to compete with the concept of cold calling.

That is why it is so important to make your calls with the right mindset. What is that mindset? For me cold calling is for everyone else ... I'm hot and burning and whoever I call on next will be so glad I have hot embers to warm him or her up.

That in my experience reduces the need to worry about numbers. I only use one number ... my next call. I can only do one call at a time and I need all the energy I have for that call.

Simple if you think about it. Turn up cold ... need to do more numbers. No focus ... bad approach, person not having a good day etc etc

Turn up on fire! You tend to do less numbers.

Well it seems less anyway. Numbers don't count when you are selling lots.

How true is this? I don't know ... But what I do know is this ... If you don't go to work and take action ... you have just COLD CALLED and your number is ZERO.

Chris -teknacool

This is an interesting topic. However, I've noticed this month that less and less decision makers are willing to take telephone calls from salespeople. This drastically affects the ratios of calls to appointments. For one client, (who is selling an outsourcing service) we are making around 300 calls to set one appointment, which is bad for all concerned. -Julian