Cold Calling Realities

[458]

Is this assuming the same contact/closing rates?

Inbound leads convert like a S.A.M. bunker firing on a flock of low flying geese compared to cold calling.

Again, if you have your system working, keep it. I'm not here to tell you otherwise, not even slightly.

Of course, I'm just explaining my side, I don't take it as if your trying to convince me of anything.

The issue with inbound and our services is in order to get volume calling in or clicking you have to bid on alot less targeted terms and the CPC actually goes up instead of down. This also creates issues with creating a tight knit targeted script.

I actually get organic call ins from a Spanish page I have and those leads are typically a crap shoot.

 

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[Yoda]

Of course, I'm just explaining my side, I don't take it as if your trying to convince me of anything.

The issue with inbound and our services is in order to get volume calling in or clicking you have to bid on alot less targeted terms and the CPC actually goes up instead of down. This also creates issues with creating a tight knit targeted script.

I actually get organic call ins from a Spanish page I have and those leads are typically a crap shoot.

You know your business better than anyone. I'm thrilled you came and dropped your data here (especially since I've been in the cold calling gig before, and I am a total data nerd at heart). This is a huge asset to everyone reading along, whether they realize it or not.

If there's one thing we can all takeaway, again, it's relentless action. 150,000 of anything is action, whether it's cold calls or eating rice. That's a ton.

And props to you for continuing to do exactly what you are to keep the plane in the air. So many people would have already stopped by now looking for the next shiny object.

 

[Andy Black]

Average AdWords CPC in my industry is $25-75.

Are those numbers from running a campaign?

Not wanting to derail, but the Google Keyword Planner is notoriously unreliable, and the only real way to get numbers is to test.

 

[458]

You know your business better than anyone. I'm thrilled you came and dropped your data here (especially since I've been in the cold calling gig before, and I am a total data nerd at heart). This is a huge asset to everyone reading along, whether they realize it or not.

If there's one thing we can all takeaway, again, it's relentless action. 150,000 of anything is action, whether it's cold calls or eating rice. That's a ton.

And props to you for continuing to do exactly what you are to keep the plane in the air. So many people would have already stopped by now looking for the next shiny object.

I used to be a shiny object guy, i then realized you should never work on more than 2 projects at one time. Thanks for the props, very much appreciated.

 

[458]

Are those numbers from running a campaign?

Not wanting to derail, but the Google Keyword Planner is notoriously unreliable, and the only real way to get numbers is to test.

I have ran a small campaign in the past, the issue with our industry is its very low volume even with the untargeted keywords. I would say if you have a old campaign that is pushing $100,000 a month in spend those CPC would drop to around $15 - $30, which is still very expensive and difficult to make profitable.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Awesome job, brother.

We're running a similar model. Have to in our industry.

I know you're not -- but don't sweat the negativity. You're taking action and making it work!

 

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[458]

Awesome job, brother.

We're running a similar model. Have to in our industry.

I know you're not -- but don't sweat the negativity. You're taking action and making it work!

Thank you sir!

 

[deepestblue]

LOVE, LOVE LOVE these real, raw numbers in the OP. One of the realest posts on this forum and that's saying something!

Goes to show that it's out there for any man or woman with the brains and balls to go for it and not give up.

 

[458]

LOVE, LOVE LOVE these real, raw numbers in the OP. One of the realest posts on this forum and that's saying something!

Goes to show that it's out there for any man or woman with the brains and balls to go for it and not give up.

Im glad you liked it!

 

[Thiago Machado]

Awesome thread.

I saw that you are looking to launch a direct-mail campaign to "warm up" your leads.

By any chance, have you ever tried sending out cold-emails to prospects as well?

 

[KLaw]

@Kung Fu Steve and @458
If I understand some of your posts...
You are saying that your service / product is best served by cold calling. Can you name examples of any product / market, other then yours, that is best served by cold calling? Thanks.

 

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[Kung Fu Steve]

@Kung Fu Steve and @458
If I understand some of your posts...
You are saying that your service / product is best served by cold calling. Can you name examples of any product / market, other then yours, that is best served by cold calling? Thanks.

In my psychology this is a silly question but I realize we don't have the same experiences.

Cold calling is not a strategy, it's a tactic. It's simply an avenue to market your products or services. It's the same exact thing as a website, or a billboard, or a advertisement in a magazine, newspaper, or yellow pages.

ANY product or service can (and should heavily) be marketed. With testing, you might notice some industries market better in print, some market better on television, some market better over the radio, and some market better on the phone.

My product is tickets to a live personal development seminar.

What I've found from my experience (and following in the footsteps of people before me) is that the best way for me to sell tickets is to get in front a group of people and do a mini seminar and provide tons of value doing that.

In order to do that, my team calls businesses in industries we know are agreeable to such training -- and they attempt to schedule a workshop.

So our cold-calling is to businesses who are looking to grow.

Does that make sense?

You could literally sell anything over the phone... just like you can sell anything on a website... or anything through a radio ad... it's just some industries it's easier or more timely/costly/efficient to market those products or services over the phone versus another medium.

 

[jilla82]

Absolutely. Our demographic is 45-70 year old independent contractors and small business owners. We're catching them in every scenario possible each day, in the car, at a job site, eating lunch, etc. We have to hook them in the first 5-10 seconds, if not there gone.

Ive started calling the exact same demo (for the most part).
Im selling business insurance though.

Whats the basis of your script?
The Cardone model of...Big hook...and then "to be sure im not wasting your time..."?

The follow up ends up being a big headache for me...
...ive yet to perfect building urgency in the prospects mind.

 

[JJ]

In no particular order, i can tell you why you had high turn over and i don't:

1. I know the TYPE of person to hire, you probably didn't wait for the right person you were just putting anyone on the phone that walked through the door. Males between 21 to 26 with light telephone sales experience.
2. Your leads were probably garbage, mine our self made and the best in the business. Not to mention, the sales guys get a fresh batch EVERY WEEK like clock work.
3. Your script was probably shit. If you have a sales guy reading a shitty script 8 hours a day hes gonna leave. Ours has been refined over the past 5 years.
4. Your numbers were probably shit. I have access to the freshest mobile and landline numbers known to man.

Any one of these things in isolation will cause high turnover in any sales room and i can almost guarantee it was the reason for yours.

Do you only hire people that have previously had success/stability in positions with that type of call volume?

 

[brockzilla]

I posted this in my progress thread but i felt it should have its own place. There are a lot of people on this forum claiming to do what we do and i can tell you that numbers don't lie. These are MY businesses numbers resulting from nothing but COLD CALLING ICE COLD LEADS.

Attached are my OUTBOUND COLD CALLING sales stats per each of my individual sales persons and per the room as a whole. Abbreviation definitions are at the bottom of the sheet. Doubled my sales in 2 months, not bad. I expect to double them again over the next two month.

If your so lazy that you won't open an excel, here is a summary of the room from May - Aug:

Total dialed calls - 115,047 (YES, that's one hundred fifteen thousand and forty seven dials)
Total connected calls - 36,166
Total Prospects - 1,010
Total sales - 114 (YES, that's one hundred and fourteen sales made from 115,047 dials, THAT IS REALTY)

Dials to sales is .08%
Connects to sales is .21%
Prospects to sales is 6.96%

Cold calling works, but anyone that tells you that it's easy or some type of miracle drug is selling you a load of shit. This is not for everyone, but its absolutely one of the fastest ways to build a company from scratch and scale it into the millions.

This is an awesome break down of your process. I've got to do the same hustle as you to start off this new project I'm starting. I'm also focusing in the home services sector. Since you deal with the same type of industry, is there anything that you suggest might work to break the ice when calling? Also, do you have a place you can suggest to get a list of all these businesses?

 

[Alex123]

Never seen stats in depth like this. Thank you SO MUCH! This will help a ton when i calculate how many calls I have to make.

 

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[NMdad]

The law of abundance.

Actually more like the law of large numbers. And I mean that from a statistics perspective, and respect to @458 since he's built a systematic machine that prints money.

 

[Champion]

Man, big thanks for this thread.

I am just starting my digital agency and committed to getting my first customer from cold calls. Its eye-opening to see that this is the reality for conversion rates!

Best,
Champion

 

[Tiago]

This is brilliant.

I'm transitioning into cold calling in my business (coaching). It is as @Yoda said, I was always skeptical of cold calling because I was afraid of how much work it took.

And also, I'm going to do it because it works, and then later transition more and more into inbound. But you gotta do what you gotta do first.

@458, any good resources on how to initiate the conversation so that I don't lose them in the first 10 seconds?


Edit: And a question just popped up...What about hiring a company that does the cold calls for you?

I see it's essentially the same as you're doing, you're hiring people to do the calls. But if I looked at my business from a fastlane perspective, my genius zone is in coaching people, not cold calling. What if I leveraged other people's genius at cold calling and have them sending people to me?

 

[GeoffP]

This is brilliant.

I'm transitioning into cold calling in my business (coaching). It is as @Yoda said, I was always skeptical of cold calling because I was afraid of how much work it took.

And also, I'm going to do it because it works, and then later transition more and more into inbound. But you gotta do what you gotta do first.

@458, any good resources on how to initiate the conversation so that I don't lose them in the first 10 seconds?


Edit: And a question just popped up...What about hiring a company that does the cold calls for you?

I see it's essentially the same as you're doing, you're hiring people to do the calls. But if I looked at my business from a fastlane perspective, my genius zone is in coaching people, not cold calling. What if I leveraged other people's genius at cold calling and have them sending people to me?

Your risk is control of the floor which is a pain either way. I would suggest doing this for appointment setting only.

 

[Tiago]

Your risk is control of the floor which is a pain either way. I would suggest doing this for appointment setting only.

Thank you for your reply @GeoffP, I'm thinking of doing it for appointment setting only too.

 

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[GeoffP]

Thank you for your reply @GeoffP, I'm thinking of doing it for appointment setting only too.

Again, it will come back to training and monitoring but it could be viable. I know of a company that does this with junk leads they buy and pay the call center about the same amount to run them on the autodialers.

 

[458]

This is brilliant.

I'm transitioning into cold calling in my business (coaching). It is as @Yoda said, I was always skeptical of cold calling because I was afraid of how much work it took.

And also, I'm going to do it because it works, and then later transition more and more into inbound. But you gotta do what you gotta do first.

@458, any good resources on how to initiate the conversation so that I don't lose them in the first 10 seconds?


Edit: And a question just popped up...What about hiring a company that does the cold calls for you?

I see it's essentially the same as you're doing, you're hiring people to do the calls. But if I looked at my business from a fastlane perspective, my genius zone is in coaching people, not cold calling. What if I leveraged other people's genius at cold calling and have them sending people to me?

I am a closer first and foremost before anything else.

You consider yourself a coach first and foremost, this is where you are making a huge mistake.

In this life you are either buying or selling. If you want to grow quickly and become a dominate force in your space then you will need to learn to be closer first and a coach second. No one cares that your the best, no one cares about you, your product, or your service.

The only thing people care about is whether you can show them that you have something they need enough to give you money, AND show them within a reasonable amount of time, typically 10-20 seconds. No outsourced call center is going to build that for you, you have to build it yourself. And by build it yourself, i mean through blood sweat and tears over 2-5 years of trial and error.

Best of luck.

 

[458]

Here are 2019 stats so far:

Room Stats	Total Dials	Total Leads	Sales	Total Connects	Prospects	% D/S	% C/S	% P/S	% L/S	% L/P
January	90,479.00	26,167.00	124.00	27,728.00	1,341.00	0.14%	0.45%	9.25%	0.47%	5.12%
February	80,438.00	13,841.00	81.00	23,433.00	963.00	0.10%	0.35%	8.41%	0.59%	6.96%
March	55,832.00	26,619.00	115.00	19,491.00	1,181.00	0.21%	0.59%	9.74%	0.43%	4.44%
April	56,678.00	22,641.00	92.00	20,517.00	988.00	0.16%	0.45%	9.31%	0.41%	4.36%
May	51,745.00	28,841.00	129.00	16,041.00	1,065.00	0.25%	0.80%	12.11%	0.45%	3.69%
June	95,544.00	32,188.00	147.00	24,587.00	1,638.00	0.15%	0.60%	8.97%	0.46%	5.09%
July
August
September
October
November
December
Total	430,716.00	150,297.00	688.00	131,797.00	7,176.00	0.16%	0.52%	9.59%	0.46%	4.77%

 

[SEBASTlAN]

I would assume those numbers are also dependent on the skills of each salesperson too, right?

 

[458]

I would assume those numbers are also dependent on the skills of each salesperson too, right?

The room stats are made up of each salespersons stats. I didn't post that information because it's too much info and not necessary.

 

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[GeoffP]

I am a closer first and foremost before anything else.

You consider yourself a coach first and foremost, this is where you are making a huge mistake.

In this life you are either buying or selling. If you want to grow quickly and become a dominate force in your space then you will need to learn to be closer first and a coach second. No one cares that your the best, no one cares about you, your product, or your service.

The only thing people care about is whether you can show them that you have something they need enough to give you money, AND show them within a reasonable amount of time, typically 10-20 seconds. No outsourced call center is going to build that for you, you have to build it yourself. And by build it yourself, i mean through blood sweat and tears over 2-5 years of trial and error.

Best of luck.

That's pretty profound. I once heard someone say that if you run an accounting business you are in the business of accounting not accounting itself which I've always tried to implement when I work for myself. It seems to hold true across other businesses. You can be the world's best <insert title here>, but if you aren't closing people on why, you aren't making money period.

 

[KimSemiglia]

Thanks for posting! Super insightful.

 

[Tiago]

I am a closer first and foremost before anything else.

You consider yourself a coach first and foremost, this is where you are making a huge mistake.

In this life you are either buying or selling. If you want to grow quickly and become a dominate force in your space then you will need to learn to be closer first and a coach second. No one cares that your the best, no one cares about you, your product, or your service.

The only thing people care about is whether you can show them that you have something they need enough to give you money, AND show them within a reasonable amount of time, typically 10-20 seconds. No outsourced call center is going to build that for you, you have to build it yourself. And by build it yourself, i mean through blood sweat and tears over 2-5 years of trial and error.

Best of luck.

Thank you very much, this is what I needed.

 

[Tiago]

I am a closer first and foremost before anything else.

You consider yourself a coach first and foremost, this is where you are making a huge mistake.

In this life you are either buying or selling. If you want to grow quickly and become a dominate force in your space then you will need to learn to be closer first and a coach second. No one cares that your the best, no one cares about you, your product, or your service.

The only thing people care about is whether you can show them that you have something they need enough to give you money, AND show them within a reasonable amount of time, typically 10-20 seconds. No outsourced call center is going to build that for you, you have to build it yourself. And by build it yourself, i mean through blood sweat and tears over 2-5 years of trial and error.

Best of luck.

Just want to report back and say that this post really helped me shift my relationship to sales and money.

I've since then started doing cold calls, I am LOVING doing them (of course there is still resistance here and there), and is one of the most effective ways I am generating new clients. My yearly income is turning into my monthly income.

Thank you @458!