Recent research reveals average conversion rates from dial to meeting have decreased to 2.3%. The root cause of this decline is poor quality contact data and not ineffective salespeople.
To achieve revenue goals, outbound sales teams need to go beyond general best practices and rely on data collected from millions of call recordings to develop specific processes for booking meetings consistently.
Outbound Dialing Summary
Contact data and connection timing are much more important to an outbound sales team's ability to achieve success than the total number of calls made. Calling into generic company phone numbers decreases the likelihood of making contact with decision-makers, whereas the use of highly-targeted and quantifiably backed techniques improve the odds for generating a pipeline of leads.
Successful outbound sales teams operate on a specific connection window and maintain strict standards for measuring their call-to-meeting conversion ratios.
When working with verified mobile phone numbers, the average connect ratio increases from a few percent to 22%.
Engaging prospects through multiple channels before making a call increases the chances of a callback by as much as four times.
The top-performing outbound sales representatives convert active conversations to booked meetings at an impressive 16.7%, compared to the average of just 4.6%.
The best outbound sales teams average 12 to 18 dials for every booked meeting, whereas the average for the industry is 25 to 35 dials.
What Is the Truth About B2B Lead Generation via Cold Calling?
The old-school approach of relying on sheer volume for outbound sales does not guarantee success; current studies by Gong Labs show an average connect rate across 300 million calls of only 5.4%.
The top 25% of outbound sales teams connect at a much higher rate of 13.3%, which can be attributed to their refusal to treat data the same for all calls. Before making any calls, they heavily vet their contact lists to improve cold calling for B2B lead generation.
The Numbers Represent Quality Contact
Campaigns are only as successful as their data quality; that is why switchboard and other generic databases will yield connect rates of only 3% to 12% when utilized. However, when sales reps invest in verified mobile direct dial numbers through various platforms such as ZoomInfo, Apollo, Cognism, or Lusha, their connect rates elevate to 15% to 22% over their original connect rates.
With triple-verified data, these connect rates can be increased even more to nearly 30%. Higher quality numbers provide reps with less wasted dialing time and more time to actually converse with buyers.
Connect Rate Based on Job Seniority Level
When it comes to outbound calling, it's not just the data that matters; how the rep targets the persons on the other end also plays an important role in connect rate. Obviously, connect rates will vary greatly depending on the job seniority level of the person being called.
For example, C-suite executives will only connect with a rep 2% to 4% of the time; whereas vice presidents connect with a rep 4% to 7% of the time; and individual contributors connect with a rep 9% to 15% of the time. Therefore, calling a CEO with no prior relationship or rapport is usually a waste of time for the rep.
Likewise, smart teams will identify directors or managers within the organization to discuss possibilities, build a case, and move up the chain accordingly.
Building the Outbound Process
To enable a high volume of productivity, teams must develop a process that automatically progresses data from the source to the dialer by implementing special tools and ensuring smooth handoff procedures exist between software platforms.
Without a defined pipeline for cold calling for B2B lead generation, sales representatives will spend more time performing manual research and inputting data.
Using Multiple Data Sources
Using only one data source will leave gaps in your contact list. To address this issue, waterfall enrichment runs target lists simultaneously against a multiplicity of databases. Using BetterContact and FullEnrich, for example, salespeople can obtain the most accurate information about their direct-dial numbers by utilizing the automated checks of as many as twenty different sources.
Once this information has been validated, it will be placed on the core CRM platform (like HubSpot or Salesforce) using automated processes (like Clay). This allows salespeople to contact only those prospects who are likely to be reachable by calling.
48-Hour Pre-Warm Sequence
Cold calling works better when it is not truly cold. Multi-channel orchestration is required for optimizing conversion rates for prospects. If a prospect is given an email or LinkedIn message within 48 hours of receiving the call, they are 2.5 to 4 times more probable to answer the call.
This means that the pre-warm sequence can boost the connect rate from a standard of 5% to a connect rate near 20%. Having an established name or related company will change the tone of the call.
Local Caller ID and Timing Windows
People don't usually answer calls from an area code outside their own. Therefore, utilizing local presence caller IDs via companies such as Kixie, Outreach, and Salesloft increases the ability to connect by 30% to 55%. Timing opportunity is also a factor.
The most favorable time to call has been identified to be 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Calling 5 minutes before the hour or half-hour is advantageous due to prospects having just completed a previous meeting and therefore provide an opportunity to connect prior to another prospect.
In addition, the data supports the fact that connect rates on Wednesdays are 15% to 25% greater than on Mondays and Fridays.
Making the Call and Managing Set Rates
Calling a prospect is the first step. The difference in conversion rate between the average rep and the top rep is largely reflected in their ability to convert conversations into booked meetings (set rate).
For average agents, that rate is approximately 4.6%. For the top-performing agents, they're converting at about 16.7%. There is a huge gap between the two due in large part to the initial opening lines used and how the agent responds to the initial objection.
Permission-Based Openers
Most generic openers will lead to an immediate rejection from their prospect. Top-performing agents utilize permission-based openers, which serve as pattern interrupts.
By using phrases like "Is it worth 60 seconds of your day to explain the reason I called you?" or "I would love 2 minutes of your time to determine if this is relevant," the prospect will feel like they have some control over the conversation. Another example is focusing on a specific hiring trend of the company to establish immediate credibility before asking a question.
Engaging in Defensive Responses
Eighty percent of the early objections on calls are reflexive defenses and not legitimate rejections. When a prospect states "email me" or "we have someone already," these are used to get off the phone.
The top agents follow the method of LAER (listen, acknowledge, explore, respond). Instead of arguing, they ask a question. The data has shown that the top agents respond to objections with a question 54.3% of the time compared to 31% of the time for the average agent.
Additionally, they allow for a five-time-longer pause following an objection, allowing for the silence to generate further response from the buyer. For instance, if a prospect mentions their competitor, by asking "What would you like to change about your current process?" they change the conversation from a defensive posture to a mutual, collaborative discussion.
The Cost of Cold Calling for B2B Lead Generation
When you create your sales budget, you must plan your estimates based on realistic capacity math. You can’t just take your revenue targets and divide them by the standard 2% closure rate and think that your reps will somehow cover the rest by calling more leads.
It’s important to plan for the costs associated with data, dialers, base salaries, and the potential loss of prospective clients who do not show up to a scheduled meeting. At the time this article was written, the average cost per lead generated by an outbound telephone call was $300; a scheduled meeting cost between $150 and $400.
Dials Required for Each Scheduled Meeting
Knowing the exact number of dials you need to make to schedule a meeting will determine whether your system is, in fact, profitable. For highly-optimized programs, the average number of dials required to schedule a meeting is between 25 and 35 dials. On the other end of the spectrum are top-tier performers, who can get it done with only 12 to 18 dials.
But when you evaluate the median number of dials for non-optimized leads (those that have not been optimized with high-quality data, local presence, and pre-warming sequences), you find that the average number of dials needed to have 1 conversation is 21, with an average 22% conversion rate from that conversation. Therefore, the average number of total dials required to book a meeting is approximately 95 dials.
The Summer Paradox
In combination with the traditional seasonality associated with business planning, the availability of or lack of an outbound call's ROI is greatly influenced by the month of July. An analysis of a dataset that had a large number of outbound calls identified an interesting paradox that occurred during this month: July typically has the highest connect rate of any month (12.5%), but the lowest meeting booked rate (2.7%).
The summer months are a time during which the majority of people answer their phone; however, most of these individuals do so while they have left the office, covering for their peers, or they may simply not be ready to take on a new project. Because of this, sales managers should change their expectations of meeting metrics for the summer months and not incorrectly penalize their staff due to a seasonal effect.
Final Conclusion on Outbound Sales
A successful outbound sales campaign has a defined order of data quality, proper timing, and structured conversation format as its base. Simply buying a list and calling repeatedly will no longer result in a sustainable ROI.
Companies with successful sales campaigns invest in a multichannel pre-warming process, verify their mobile number, and require that all representatives are trained to handle reflexive objections with questions.
By approaching the outbound sales process as an integrated data and communication methodology, companies can generate significant amounts of predictable revenue from cold calling for B2B lead generation.
Outbound Sales Questions and Answers
Why do higher connect rates lead to lower meeting volumes?
This can be due to both the seasonal fluctuations of the business and improper persona targeting. An example is that while prospects are more likely to connect with you over the summer because they have lighter schedules, that does not equate to the willingness to book a meeting for another quarter.
Moreover, when you call an individual contributor, you will see a higher connect rate; however, the likelihood of that employee having the influence to schedule a software demonstration is very low, which results in significantly fewer meetings booked.
When should data sourcing be used to reduce unnecessary sales time?
Generic data sources typically route a representative through a switchboard or gatekeeper before they can speak with a person who is involved in a purchasing decision, lowering their amount of time spent selling. If a representative uses a methodology of water-falling to obtain triple-verified mobile numbers from multiple providers, the representative will eliminate dead receivers.
As a result of the tiering of this data, a representative has a high probability of reaching the correct purchasing decision-maker, which will decrease the dials-per-meeting ratio by 50%.
What are the causes for the gap in conversation rates of those who have an average result compared to those who are considered the best?
The gap between a 4.6% and 16.7% set rate can be attributed to how both types manage objections and how opening your psychology is applied. Elite representatives never pitch cold calls; instead, they utilize what are called permission-based opening statements.
When faced with a normal defense such as "I'm too busy," elite representatives respond to that objection with much greater patience than average representatives. Elite representatives will take longer before responding and ask open-ended questions, changing a rejection into a diagnostic conversation.