How Many Cold Calls Does it Take to Make a Sale?

We can see that the dials per rep spiked in May, June, and July - on average, 26% more dials than in Q1. And even still they remain above January levels. This is during peak-shutdown months, and companies were experiencing higher instances of RIF. It's likely that less reps were available to do the same amount of work - and they had to work harder to connect with prospects who were no longer in the office. That, and sales teams were pivoting to fill pipeline that had dried up. As we move into 2021, it's important for Revenue orgs to take any surprising learnings over this time period and add any winning strategies to their 2021 plans.

Cold Call Connect Rates have declined over the past year and have continued to decrease through Q3 and into Q4. People are still picking up the phone, but it's more difficult to reach prospects on their mobile device. So, it's more important than ever to make sure you're prepared, have your processes air tight, and your targeting well defined so you can make the most of every connect. It's important to pay attention to how many cold calls connect with a person, a voicemail, a phone tree, or other barriers.

While voicemail rates are lower now than they were in Q2, your SDRs are still getting the mailbox gate keeper at the end of their dials more than they did in January. Revenue leaders should take stock of their teams' abilities to leave strong voicemails with a hook. Work with your Sales Enablement team to get them trained up on best practices, set a standard peer review system so that they can improve together, and pay close attention to how often your dials are met with an inbox that's not set up or is full.