Evolve the cold call: 8 data-driven techniques to surpass quota
August 16, 2021
Senior Director of Revenue Marketing at Wiz
Sales Management
Senior Director of Revenue Marketing at Wiz
Jonathan Costet is the Senior Director of Revenue Marketing at Wiz. Before this, he was Senior Manager, Growth Marketing at Gong, where he played a crucial role in driving demand generation through data-driven strategies. At Gong, Jonathan harnessed the power of revenue intelligence to craft effective messaging, improve customer retention, and optimize sales forecasting. He was instrumental in using Gong’s platform to unlock insights that helped target the right buyers and maximize marketing efficiency.
If you have more leads than you can manage, this isn’t for you.
However:
If pipeline coverage is low, this is exactly what you need.
Our data team analyzed thousands of cold calls to get these cold call stats.
Next stop: Meetings booked.
Let’s go.
Stat #1: Successful cold calls last 2x longer
The second your buyer answers the phone, the clock starts.
You have 5 seconds to earn 5 minutes.
You need to grab their attention out the gates, and hold on to it.
The data proves that successful cold calls are nearly twice as long as unsuccessful cold calls:
Some ways to earn that 5 min, 50-sec call?
Every sentence that comes out of your mouth should be a step towards getting your buyer to listen to your following sentence.
Here’s what it looks like:
And the same goes for cold emails: Longer = Better. The stats back it up.
Need help filling in the blanks?
Try these cold calling scripts.
They have everything you need to grab your buyer’s attention from “hello” to “speak to you next week.”
Stat #2: This cold call opener is 40% LESS likely to get you a meeting
It’s the #1 most shared cold calling tip…
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” sounds good, on paper.
It’s an easier ask because it gets buyers to say no.
It gives them control of the conversation.
It builds trust because you acknowledge the interruption.
EXCEPT…
The stats tell a different story.
Opening your cold call with “Did I catch you at a bad time” makes you 40% less likely to book a meeting.
Stat #3: This line beats every cold call opener in the book
Instead, try this:
Open your cold call with “how’ve you been?”
Not “How are you?”
Like this:
“Hi Jane, this is Jonathan Costet calling from Gong. How’ve you been?”
But…
I don’t know them.
They aren’t expecting a call.
Isn’t it just kinda cringe?
Yes. Yes. And maybe.
But we ran the stats:
It is the most successful cold call opening line, performing 6.6x higher than cold calls that don’t include it.
We call this a “pattern interrupt” – a question that forces your buyer to alter their natural thought pattern. It’s unexpected and ends up “scrambling” your prospect’s brain (in a good way).
Instead of defaulting to “Not interested!” they’ll hesitate for half a second longer and keep you on the line.
Try it in your next cold call and see how it works for you.
Want to see it in action? Look no further: get these 6 cold calling examples.
Stat #4: Stating the reason for your call can boost your cold call success rate by 2.1x
This (simple) cold calling technique gets ahead of one of the main objections you get in any cold call, in the right order.
Here’s the script:
“Hi Jane, this is Jonathan Costet calling from Gong. How’ve you been? The reason for my call is …”
Here are the objections it overcomes before they even come up:
- Who is this?
- What company are you calling from?
- Why are you calling me?
And the stats back it up:
Gong data shows a 2.1x higher success rate for salespeople who state their reason for calling.
Stat #5: Higher talk-to-listen ratio = higher cold call success rate
Listen twice as much as you speak is always good advice.
Except when it comes to cold calling.
Why?
Because every question is asking for buyer effort.
And they don’t know (yet) if that effort is worth it for them.
The stats are clear:
Reps take the burden of the conversation in successful cold calls, talking 55% of the time.
Stat #6: Monologues are 50% longer in successful cold calls
In case the other stats haven’t convinced you yet:
Cold calls are a different beast.
Standard advice that works on most sales calls just don’t translate for cold calls.
Case in point:
Successful cold calls have a longer average monologue duration. 53 seconds vs 25 seconds for unsuccessful cold calls.
More time pitching is good news.
That means an extra 25 seconds to say something that’ll get their ears to perk up and say “Okay, tell me more.”
Stat #7: Successful cold calls include 65% more “We”
“We” signals you are speaking on behalf of an organization.
It automatically gives you more credibility points.
Here is what the stats say:
Stat #8: The best day to cold call
Wednesday and Thursday.
Those are the two best days to make your cold calls.
They have been – and continue to be – the two days that stand out versus other business days (see InsideSales.com for the stats):
Quick! Get Your Cold Calling Script
Coffee? Check.
Contact list? Check.
A data-backed cold calling script? Not yet?
These cold calling stats (and more) are all in the 3 Highly-Effective Cold Calling Scripts.
This 3-in-1 script includes cold call, voicemail, and follow-up email scripts to get the meeting.
Now go book ’em.
