Cold calling and door-to-door sales are the most commonly used practices for sales teams to date. Genuine human connection can be the deciding factor for consumers to purchase and sales teams are racing to make that connection happen. Yet, Harvard Business Review says cold calling doesn’t work 90.9% of the time.
Maybe cold calling has become a little one dimensional in its approach. There are many layers as to why cold calling is no longer a successful sales tactic. As leads come through the sales funnel, more and more are falling through the cracks due to the lack of bandwidth of sales teams. It’s a universal gap into which lost money and opportunity falls.
If you’re confused as to why calling your cold leads isn’t working, we’ll paint the picture:
It’s time consuming.
Sales teams are spending mass amounts of time compiling and executing call lists. Not to mention, reaching a decision-maker is difficult in and of itself. Gatekeepers at companies are known for being told to put cold-callers on hold indefinitely.
And with 15% of sales’ time being spent on leaving voicemails, only 2% of cold calls result in a meeting. For spending so much time on filling inboxes, that is a very low number for a strategy without a guaranteed purchase.
It’s expensive.
According to HubSpot, cold calling costs at least 60% more per lead than inbound marketing. Cold calling is a disruptive method and with its disruption brings less connection and possibly more damage to the brand.
Part of being able to capitalize on the lead conversion gap requires being cost effective. It doesn’t make sense to spend money on salaries and lists that result in 2% of meetings. Setting cold calling as it would allow inbound marketing strategies to be given more focus and create more qualified leads.
No one answers the phone anymore.
When voicemails and answering machines rose, the shift in cold calling began. Then came Caller ID, and calling cold leads became lost in the noise of robocalls and spam calls. Robocalls actually made up 5.42 billion of the calls made in February 2019 equating to 21 calls a person. People have become so tired of the mass calling, they got rid of landlines and switched to mobile devices. That’s pretty telling!
Even with mobile phones, consumers are often blocking numbers or picking up the phone, angry and frustrated the minute they realize it is a cold call. In fact, 90% of buyers say they never respond to cold calls or emails. Talk about beating a dead horse!
Consumers prefer to text.
The instant gratification of text has changed the world. Communication became more offensive for consumers as they adapted to speaking on their own terms. They can respond how they want when they want. Texting is just more convenient, all around.
89% of consumers are asking to text rather than talk on the phone. It has been slow moving as sales teams are finally adapting to a more omnichannel communication approach with text. But text cannot be something to consider anymore. It has to be the first thing sales offers their leads or they are going to continue to fall into the gap along with all the money invested to generate them.
Talk to a Verse Lead Conversion Specialist to see how we can help
Consumers use the Internet for research.
Buyers are skipping the pitch. Lately, they want to do the research themselves. From looking at reviews to checking out company’s websites, consumers want to know everything they can about a product or service before committing to a conversation.
This doesn’t mean companies should just wait for leads. It means there is an opportunity to capitalize on leads by letting the consumer remain comfortable and assured. Through marketing efforts, consumers can be motivated to fill out an inquiry or take a meeting with a salesperson. Cold calling will likely deter the consumer from ever interacting with the company again.
