Cold Calling is Still King

You’ve seen the posts and articles claiming that cold calling is dead. But is it really time to say goodbye to cold calling?

Nope, not even close.

Outside clickbait headlines, the reality is pretty much the opposite. Not only is cold-calling not dead, it’s still the preferred way to do outbound. 

Here’s why picking up the phone is still the most effective outreach method– and how you can up your cold-calling game. 

Salespeople still prefer calls over anything else

There are a lot of ways for salespeople to get in touch with prospects – email, social media, phone calls – and the most success comes from using some combination of touchpoints. 

But if they had to pick a favorite, most salespeople would choose the phone. According to research by Rain Group, phone calls made up three of the top five most effective outreach methods. Making calls to existing clients, past clients, and new contacts all were top choices for sellers. 

And it seems like Lusha’s audience agrees. We asked some of our followers on LinkedIn which prospecting method gave the best results, and 55% of them gave phone calls the top spot. 

That’s reflected in their priorities when it comes to choosing solutions like Lusha that help them find their prospects. When evaluating sales intelligence platforms, 68% of respondents say that direct phone numbers (like Lusha’s specialty, mobile numbers) are priority number one. 

Statistics that prove cold calling isn’t dead

So you know what your fellow salespeople say, but that still doesn’t prove whether cold calling works. What are the cold, hard facts? 

The data is in, and it says cold calling still brings the heat. 

• It’s the way to reach top prospects: 57% of C-level and VP-level execs prefer to be contacted by phone.
• It’s key to growth: companies that don’t practice cold-calling have 42% less growth than companies that do. 
• It still works: over two-thirds of buyers still accept cold calls.
• It’s still growing: a phone burner report found that live conversations increased 41% year over year from 2020 to 2021. 
• It brings in more results than cold email: in a study of over one million cold calls, InsideSales found that 6.3% resulted in meaningful conversations, compared to 0.5% of cold emails. 

Benefits of cold calling

Unlike every other potential touchpoint with your prospects, cold calling gives you the opportunity for real-time communication with your prospects. Nothing beats a real conversation when it comes to building connections fast. 

But that’s not the only benefit of cold calling compared to other outreach methods. Here are some other reasons why cold calling is still a vital sales tool: 

• It’s the most personalized form of communication (and we all know personalization is key to successful sales).
• It’s cost effective. You don’t need any special tools to do it, and you can start finding phone numbers with Lusha for free. 
• You’ll receive instant feedback from your prospect instead of waiting for an (unlikely) email reply. 
• You can learn more about a prospect through conversation than you would through a form or an email. 
• It’s a quick way to identify your target. All it takes is a quick question on the phone: “who at your company should I talk to about this?”
• You can make a human connection.

Have we convinced you yet?

The right way to cold call

Of course, sales success isn’t just about what medium you use to reach your prospects. It also comes down to how you use those tools. 

So when it comes to cold calling, is there a right way to do it?

The short answer: yes and no. 

The long answer: There are some tips that are universally applicable and others that you’ll have to test out for yourself. A lot of it will depend on your target market and how they operate. 

Let’s explore some best practices for B2B cold calling.

Test the best time of day to cold call

If you Google “best time to cold call” right now, you’ll get tons of articles that all suggest different “best” times. One will say to call Wednesday and Thursday but avoid Tuesdays. The next will say Tuesday morning is the golden hour.

That’s because there is no one single best time to cold call your prospects. That depends on who you’re calling and what their schedule looks like, which some random blog won’t be able to tell you. Your customer base is unique to you, so test it out and see when your prospects are most responsive. Then schedule your call blocks for those times.

Call ready-to-buy prospects

Bombora research says that only 15% of your potential customers are actually in market at any given time. Anyone who’s spent time cold-calling can probably confirm based on the number of times a prospect has said “I’m not interested right now” before hanging up. 

Using intent data, you can get a good idea of which prospects are currently looking for a solution like the one you offer, making the odds of a successful cold call higher. 

In the Lusha platform, a company with a high intent score for a topic related to your solution means that they’re showing a lot of active buying signals. That means that right now, they’re actively seeking something like what you’re selling. Prioritize cold calling companies with high or rising intent scores to warm up your outbound. 

Nail the right tone

We’ve got a pretty wild stat for you: 38% of communication rests on your tone of voice (compared to just 7% for the actual words you use). How you speak to prospects on a phone call is an even bigger deal than what you say. 

Practice sounding calm and confident. You don’t want to come across as timid or aggressive, but you don’t want to sound like a smarmy salesperson either. Some ways you can get it right? Sit up straight and smile – your body language will immediately affect your tone of voice. And of course, if you record your calls, take some time to listen back and review. That way, you can figure out your strengths and where you could improve. 

Consider warm calling

“Warm calling” is still an outbound sales call, but it’s a little less jarring to the prospect. It’s basically what you call a phone call that follows another form of cold contact (like an email or social media message). That way, the prospect already has an idea of who you are and might be more willing to talk.

Adding one step before the call won’t take too long, and the results can be pretty impressive. This method has a 20-30% conversion rate, which is insanely high for outbound sales.

Dial the right person the first time

Let’s be honest, cold calling is already a little awkward. It’s even more awkward if you call the wrong person. The consequences of incorrect targeting can be more serious than an awkward phone call. 52% of sellers say that wrongly targeted outreach directly leads to a loss of sales. 

So how do you find the right person and avoid dead-end HQ switchboards? The answer is pretty simple: use a B2B intelligence tool like Lusha that gives you accurate, direct phone numbers. That way you can spend less time hunting for the perfect contact and more time selling to them. 

The bottom line: don’t stop calling

At the end of the day, selling is about creating connections and relationships with your prospects. Picking up the phone is still one of the quickest and most effective ways to form that all-important connection.

Start Lusha for free and instantly find your prospects’ phone numbers so you can keep on cold calling.