The first record of cold calling was dated back to 1873 and credited to John Patterson, the founder of the NCR Corporation. John Patterson originally created a patterned and scripted face-to-face client prospecting method, which nowadays we define as prospecting calls, or cold calling.

That was even before Alexander Bell submitted a patent application for the first phone to the patent office in Washington in 1876. Terrific!

Fast forward to the modern days, with all sorts of new tools and technologies, salespeople have bountiful access to the many different ways of reaching potential clients, from inbound to outbound marketing, social media and traditional advertisement.

The buying process has changed for the past 100+ years. Is cold calling still considered an effective method in 2021? Let's take a deep dive into the statistics.

What is Cold Calling?

Since its debut in the 19th century, cold calling has been one of the oldest and most common forms of marketing for salespeople. It is defined as a marketing and sales technique in which individuals are contacted who have not previously expressed interest in the promoted products or services. In addition, cold calling often refers to solicitation by phone or telemarketing but also involves in-person visits.

Warm calling, on the other hand, is the solicitation of a customer who has previously expressed interest in the product or service. In the warm calls, the sales agents reach out to a lead based on more personalized research that has prior contact with the company such as marketing email, SMS campaign sign-up.

Cold calling vs. Warm calling: The differences

a graphic chart showing the differences between cold calling and warm calling

Image from Blueadz

In this article, we will primarily focus on cold calling and how it has changed in the past 100+ years.

Cold calling provides a rare opportunity for real-time and two-way communication with prospects. Successful cold-call salespeople should be persistent and ready to endure different scenarios, repeated rejections, and even worse, verbal assault.

The power of effective Cold Calling

Having a successful cold call is challenging. However, if done properly, cold calling is an easy and motivating way for companies to attract potential clients. You need to build connections with prospects through uncovering their needs and showcase that your product and service are their best fit.

Asking the right and good questions would get you further in the buying process. Check out our previous blog here for the top best sales questions to make the most out of sales calls.

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Image from Freepik

Some businesses are skeptical about cold calling since the outcomes haven't lived up to their expectation. It might be the case that they have been doing cold calling all wrong.

It's not all about selling your products, services or getting to the next step of the buying process. One of the main purposes of cold calling is to bring brand awareness and raise prospects' interest in your products or services. And to achieve that final goal, salespeople have to understand that they're on a cold call to connect and build a conversation, to know what potential customers are up to and what their interests are.

Pitching a product to a brand new person with no prior knowledge about your company is a tough game. It’s all about building relationships. Let's explore the cold calling statistics and understand how to improve your sales team's performance with it.

Cold Calling statistics

Cold-calling is a sales tradition — but is it still effective in today's fast-changing, post-COVID world?

With a success rate of around 2% among highly-skilled sales experts and an 18% chance to reach quality leads, cold calling is still a thriving century-long sales technique in 2021.

You're wondering why? Check out the following statistics:

41.2% of sales professionals believe that their phone is their most effective tool for the job.
69% of buyers accepted phone calls from a new provider in the last 12 months.
More than half of senior-level buyers prefer to be contacted by phone.
62% of buyers would like a seller to reach out when they're trying to solve a business problem.
71% of buyers want to hear from sales teams when researching how to improve their business.
Compare to email campaigns, cold calling is 5 to 10 times more effective.
An effective cold call doesn’t have to be a long discussion call. The average duration of a successful cold call is 5.50 minutes. You can have 5 to 10 minutes to convince prospects via cold calling.
With 82% of buyers accepting a meeting with salespeople who reached out to them, it’s clear that cold calling is still very much alive and well in B2B sales.
96% of buyers’ ultimate purchase decisions are influenced based on the value that the salespeople can deliver to them.
92% of consumers make decisions based on the valuable insights salespeople can provide about their industry.
42% of customers are more likely to make a purchase if the salespeople called them back on the time they both agreed upon.

Source: Cognism, Financesonline, RAIN Group, SalesIntel, Invesp

Industry experts suggest that combining cold calling with other sales best practices, such as prospecting and contacting leads in a timely manner, could improve the cold calling success rate.

In conclusion, cold calling is still considered a viable sales technique that can help increase your customer base, even in 2021.

Boost Cold Calling success with the call activities tracking software

Cold calling software could enable your sales team to make cold calls efficiently, manage leads, and measure sales activity relative to call performance. With the ongoing pandemic, cold calling has become a new norm. Businesses are seeking to find solutions to manage salespeople working remotely.

Before jumping to that, check out some closing phrase ideas to drive your sales performance forward.

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