cw95

Head of SDR

More calls = more sales? Or More research = more sales?

I constantly talk to people and colleagues how doing X amount of calls a day doesn't mean you receive Y amount of customers. Doing some previous research and understanding everything means you can ring 5 people and get two meetings etc. Thoughts?

🔎 Prospecting

👑 Sales Strategy

📞 Cold Calling

56 comments

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Savagedoge

Tycoon

Account Executive

It’s a mix. And it depends on your audience too. Just like everything else. As long as you’re not burning bridges and leads, decent volume of calls never hurt anyone

canary

Praised Answer

CRO

+1 for a mix. Research an account well, establish your position, and touch enough contacts within an account to maximize your chances

cw95

Politicker

Head of SDR

Also true, I know more volume equals more people hearing your voice and company. Guess it is simply a learn by trial!

iSell

Opinionated

ADR

I agree. Def a mix, call volume is good, but its def important to know what it is important to your prospect.

GDO

Politicker

BDM

Volume is crucial. But calling unqualified prospects is just a waste of time.

Selichimorpha

Celebrated Contributor

Growth Executive

Quality over quantity in my opinion.

SPT

Valued Contributor

Director, Channel Sales & Partner Alliances

Agreed! My manager wants me to make dials...but I know that when I research and find a quality Lead, and spend a long time writing the email, that that will get me more business than just making dials.

TheRealPezDog

Notable Contributor

Sr. Business Development Manager

do THAT then, and FUCK whatever your manager says. LONG LIVE THE LONG GAME!

kbites

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

Agreed! I try to call prospects with legitimate emails, not those with Hotmail or Gmail.
Though some of those Gmail/Hotmail end up to be the sizeable customers too (then it boils down to luck).

cw95

Politicker

-1

Head of SDR

I like your opinion.

TheLoneGun

Opinionated

Extremely Rad Product Offloading Specialist

If you research and call only 5 people, and I just cold call a 100. I'll set more meetings 99% of the time.

Instead of focusing on which is better, the focus should be on maximizing value from both. Industry dependent, but I've found minimal research and maybe half the normal amount( in your respective space) is just as effective.

Its an experiment. Track numbers and work to optimize between the two.

cw95

Politicker

Head of SDR

yeah, you are right. I guess the question of quality comes in to play. 5 calls was a ball park figure! out of interest, if you hypothetically called 100+ companies what success rate do you reckon you'd get? And by that I mean success in terms of becoming customers? I ask as the stats for us are very here and there as our sales cycle is incredibly long!

TheLoneGun

Opinionated

Extremely Rad Product Offloading Specialist

If I had the name of who to speak to I would probably talk to 20 of those, depending on time of day this can drastically decrease, of 20 set at least 5 meetings. Id close roughly half the meetings. So Id hope for 2 sales in the pipeline.

I try to shoot for 5% on meetings. Not always doable but that's about average for me. For longer sales cycles you have to establish the value and then set proper expectations.

My current product is a short cycle, but I still set expectations for the longest time I expect everything to be wrapped up by.

The other thing is I call very specific industries and already know that my product can be of use. It's still wise to make quite a few calls because honestly a ton of people arent even going to answer or be available.

Edit: additionally about 1/3rd of the pipeline won't make it to close for various reasons. So Of those 2 hopefully I get 1 brand new customer

cw95

Politicker

Head of SDR

That's very true, think i may bang the phones tomorrow and see the outcome!

TheLoneGun

Opinionated

Extremely Rad Product Offloading Specialist

Good luck, Homie. I hope you light em' up tomorrow. Just change up your research and your call time a lil each day, keep track and you'll find your path ;)

Soiboi

Politicker

Account Executive, EIAS/Compliance

I think having the intention of high activity leads to more than doing less activity. I had a chat with my team earlier about setting up long-term pipeline development via high activity prospecting.... The agenda is to get meetings but not everyone is ready but some day they will be so by us prospecting we're setting ourselves up now and in the future.

cw95

Politicker

Head of SDR

Of course it varies between companies and industries. Some companies you can call with a solution that everyone needs and some not. But, do you have a side strategy leading up to a cold call?
By that I mean, Linkedin, email - even if not opened or accepted (on linkedin) to then cold call and give a previous reason to how you've got the attention rather than straight up calling?

Soiboi

Politicker

Account Executive, EIAS/Compliance

So for me, I build out 30-45 day campaigns that have pre-defined email days and call days/times, all automated. The campaign tells the story of our prospects, now customers and why their pain, which the prospect is probably facing, should change and why we could be the right fit for them. Really is driving the gap between on-prem tool, the problems with it and why making a switch is best for their "future state"

Soiboi

Politicker

Account Executive, EIAS/Compliance

Thats how I do it anyway, let me know.

cw95

Politicker

Head of SDR

No yeah sound advice. Would be lovely if every industry/company reacted the same to sales people! What I sell isn't always what people know they need (niche and new) so volumes of cold calls doesn't work all the time. I guess it also depends on the length of the sales cycle. But sound, will think about that!

Soiboi

Politicker

Account Executive, EIAS/Compliance

Don't push product, push a solution and people respond pretty well. You'll still find some jerks though....

cw95

Politicker

Head of SDR

Yeah, two years doing it and i have met my fair share of lets say...unprofessional people! But that works out with the ones that arent!

MardukOfSales

Good Citizen

District Manager

Yeah, I think you need to do enough research to not embarrass yourself and then hit the phones. Let them hear your name and company name multiple times and eventually the timing will be right for them to engage with you.

cw95

Politicker

Head of SDR

This. This is exactly what I think prior to doing so.

Ras_Rebuttles

Contributor

Sales Consultant

If you're selling a one time transaction for product then it's prob dials.

If you sell a service or subscription it's probably more PREP, not just reseaarch.

So many dudes could map out company hierarchy from linkedin but few call into the prospect-company as a "chatty customer" and ask what they're using for X so you know what you're up against.

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

more researched calls = more opportunities for sales

Kanyebut4sales

WR Lieutenant

Account Executive

combo mambo on that one

wHaTyAgOtCoOkInG

Executive

Solution Consultant

calls. Effort and action lead to outcomes.

allsaasnobrakes

Member

Growth Account Executive

Death by activity tracking is a real thing. Even if someone is making 100 calls a day, it doesn't mean the outreach is well orchestrated or targeted. In my opinion lots of orgs focus too heavily on KPIs rather than allowing for metered, impactful interaction to occur which may mean lower touchpoint volumes

Sandbagger31

Member

VP Sales

Yes its quality that matters but sales is still a contact sport and you gotta dial the phone.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Agreed 💯

AlecBaldwinsHairline

Valued Contributor

Head of Sales Development

Calls.

Always calls.

Do.it.for.the.checks

Politicker

Account Executive

Depends on the sales role. If you are a velocity-based sale, pound the phone. If you are strategic, you don't get the opportunity to fuck it up so start researching. And everyone else blend volume and strategy

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

MDR

Quality over quantity in my opinion.

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

ISR

Quality over quantity in my opinion.

NeildeSaaSTyson

Contributor

Senior Account Executive (MM)

Maybe the most notorious question in value selling... where to draw the line.

Generally, I think it depends on inbound flow and the brand awareness of whatever company you work for (I think most people have a general idea of what SalesForce does, for example, so a quick email may still hit home).

I do think better researched and positioned intros help with larger deals, because prospects come into the conversation with (potentially) a more complete expectation of the problems they are looking to solve and with that, an understanding of potential value.

nreskin

Big Shot

Account Director

probably a mix of both - prospects that are a bit higher up on the totem poll require more research. Folks closer to the ground can get blasted with minimal downside

TheJohnDalyofSales

Valued Contributor

SDR Manger

The more research the better. It’ll help you personalize emails and cold calls to make the prospect feel more appreciated and less like you are just robotically saying and emailing the same thing to everyone

PeterSwan

Opinionated

Sales Specialist

I'll go with more research. Especially for large enterprise sales.

Salespreuner

Big Shot

Regional Sales Director

Research + call : the right mix of 60-40%

TheRealPezDog

Notable Contributor

Sr. Business Development Manager

Really depends what industry you are in and what you are selling. Sometimes the long game is the only game you can play. It's pretty easy to get tagged as SPAM.

TheRealPezDog

Notable Contributor

Sr. Business Development Manager

I have had days when I dialed 120 people, got 1 hang up and 0 connects.

GigabitChaser

Valued Contributor

Sr Account Executive

More calls equal more sales at the small % of meetings/opportunities that it generates yes that is true and a necessary evil.

More research doesn't mean more sales unless that's more researching into finding more opportunities and buying windows.

I believe you should find more referral partners/lead sources equal more sales.

TheHypnotist

Executive

Turn calls into referrals = multiply your effectiveness on every call.

Chep

WR Officer

Bitcoin Adoption Specialist

Depends on the industry, but I feel like most industries have that perfect balance where you start to find how much research and how many dials you need to make before you start seeing positive trends

stanrym

Valued Contributor

CEO

there is a fine line between research and procrastination.

Mikey

Politicker

Senior Regional Director

I'm a firm believer in the math. The more connects, the more sales. The research can come second.

keesplin

Good Citizen

Sales specialist

Research! Know who you are talking to

Biznasty

Opinionated

Lead Business Development Manager

I think this depends on how established you are within your market. When you are new in an industry/territory I think quantity. When you have become an expert in your domain then quality. They do go hand in hand. However, there's never enough quality to not have quantity. Also, sometimes it depends on the mood of the rep. Either way can burn a certain kind of person.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

More calls. Research doesn't have budget for my product.