The biggest problem reps have with Cold Calling is getting enough prospects to pick up.

Sure, we need the right numbers in the first place but companies like Cognism, etc have great solutions already.

And of course when someone does pickup we need to be able to handle that conversation. But if no-one ever picks up its tough to get good {unless you’re practicing with an AI cold call simulator}.

In the last year cold call pickup rates have got as low as 3%. This is creating huge challenges for teams to be able to start enough conversations to 1. hit quota 2. build cold calling skills.

In this newsletter I’ll share with you a secret that is proven to get 25% more pickups.

Let’s dive in.

The Secret:

Every seller wants the silver bullet when it comes to cold calls. Unfortunately, it doesn’t exist. You need to combine hard work with a strategy in order to win.

A lot of sellers let themselves down on the hard work front, others have preconceived ideas about what works and what doesn’t which holds them back from trying new things.

One common myth in sales is that voicemails don’t work.

Its a ‘‘marmite’’ topic. Some people do it and others don’t.

Being honest, I used to be pretty skeptical. Luckily I’ve made enough mistakes from listening to my gut to know I should look into reliable data sources before I write something off. After all, this is sales, things change everyday.

The Story:

Around 5 years ago my team had been complaining about pickups. Rather than just saying ‘do more dials’, I looked at market research around how to increase the conversion rates.

The classic data points came up;

• Double dial

• Use a mobile number

• Use a local number etc

But interestingly the research also argued strongly for reps to leave a voicemail.

Not because the prospect would immediately call back but the data showed that if you leave a voicemail you are MORE likely to get a pickup when you call that prospect again in your sequence.

I decided to test it with the team (before then we hadn’t left any voicemails).

The first week went by and there was no uptick in pickup rates (we were hovering around 7% down from our typical 9% average).

Fast forward two weeks and the results started to uptick. Prospects we had left 1+ voicemails on average were picking up 22% more often than they had previously.

This tiny tweak had a huge impact on our results:

22% more pickups = 22% more conversations.

At the time we were converting just under 10% of all our conversations.

For every 1000 dials the team made, they got on average 90 pickups rather than 70.

At a 10% conversion that was 2 more meetings booked per 1000 dials.

In a team that did 2000 dials per rep every month that was an additional FOUR meetings per rep.

Since then I have religiously left voicemails.

2x Voicemail Scripts:

To break this down for you my script has 4 parts:

• State my full name - full names drive credibility

• State my company name - same as above

• Push them to other content I have sent them {other touch points}

• Make it easy for them to find it - E.g. subject line = XYZ

Conclusion:

Sometimes changing your results isn’t about huge strategic upheavals, it’s just researching your problem and using the data round you to build hypotheses to test.

PS. Data from Orum has found leaving a voicemail increases future pickups by 25%.

PPS. I’m running a free Cold Call Masterclass March 27th, you can join here {if you can’t make it you’ll get the recording}.