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At what point do you pick up the phone?
Hey Guys,
So, as I build the lead gen team at my company, I’m keen to get feedback on what others are doing, and at what stage people are picking up the phone during their cold outreach. It would be super useful if anyone has some STATS to book up either of the options open to me.
BACKGROUND
I work in SaaS sales, BUT, given the complexity of the systems I sell, it’s definitely not an impulse purchase and requires multi-stakeholder engagement throughout the process. I have three triggers/compelling reasons for change:
1. Startup (generally with funding) is scaling up and requires a solution as they have no systems in place
2. More mature companies that are outgrowing their basic systems
3. Much more mature companies that are replacing complicated legacy systemsI can potentially get a lot of data for companies that fall into categories 1 and 2, three is a little more difficult.
However, what I don’t want to do is burn through data and ruin my chances with people that are potentially good prospects.
CALLING
I have set two appointments in the past few weeks, with direct mobile numbers for companies that fall into category 1 above. BUT, sometimes felt like other people who were a good customer fit were trying to get me off the phone, just by nature of the fact it was a cold call. Likewise. some people bloody loved chatting on the phone and didn’t give a f*** that it was a cold call (maybe because I’m a super nice person).
EMAILING
I have sent 230 cold e-mails in the past week with 1 negative response and one positive response that was qualified out straight away.
SO WHAT DO I DO?
Option 1 – Invest in systems & direct dials
I have been trialling ZoomInfo & Cognism, both good sources of data, and also claim to be good with trigger events and ‘intent’ data, although I think this still requires a lot of development.
If we invest in these systems, we can then use direct dials to set up a traditional sequence. Like the sort of thing outlined in ‘Problem Prospecting’, which is… Cold Call > Creepy personlised e-mail, Cold Call > Did you see my e-mail, email etc etc
[Note – With people working from home/hybrid working, direct dials are essential if you want to speak with someone on the phone, cold]
Option 2 – Invest in e-mail sequencing and pick up the phone ONLY when prospects are warmer
This approach will involve sending personalised e-mails at scale, and then focusing on the opens and clicks, targeting potentially ‘warmer’ prospects, picking up the phone where prospects reach a certain ‘score’ or whenever we feel is the best time to approach.
SUMMARY
There are arguments for both approaches. And I guess the best way to summarise would be – I don’t want to be sending 100 e-mails a day and speaking with receptionists if my competitors are picking up the phone with direct dials and getting their foot in the door before me.
Any insight would be ace.
Adam
How many companies are in your market? If it’s 20,000 keep emailing. If you’ve just emailed the 230 customers in the entire market then you need to start phoning them up. Hell, if there is only 230 people in your market you need to start knocking on their doors.
How many companies are in your market? If it’s 20,000 keep emailing. If you’ve just emailed the 230 customers in the entire market then you need to start phoning them up. Hell, if there is only 230 people in your market you need to start knocking on their doors.
Haha, thanks John
What is your time frame/average sale cycle length Adam?
What is your time frame/average sale cycle length Adam?
Hey Michael, I don’t have enough data to be precise yet, but at the moment anywhere between 4 weeks and 4 months
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