The Perfect Time to Call Your Prospects

There seems to be one question that every sales rep wants an answer to:

When is the perfect time to call my prospects?

Some want to know the answer to maximize their response rates. Others grew tired of talking to answering machines.

Let’s face it. Cold calling is the two scariest words for any sales rep in the B2B industry. Even for the most skilled and experienced agents, the said act can still conjure a lot of failure, exhaustion, and rejection. Nonetheless, cold calling still remains an effective B2B lead generation tool.

Varied locations and flexible work schedules are just some of the reasons why prospects are resistant to cold calls. It may be difficult to believe in the age of accessible information and emotion-based sales, phone calls can still bring chills.?

Before anything else, let’s define cold calling.

Cold calling is the practice of contacting a potential client or customer who hasn’t shown prior interest in speaking with a brand’s customer service representative or in making a purchase. Cold calling often refers to telemarketing or telephone solicitation, but it may also relate to in-person interactions with door-to-door salespeople.

Cold calls can be done in the following ways:

1. Through Telemarketing: This takes place when agents call on home phone numbers or mobiles; or when they leave voicemail messages to their prospects.
2. Email marketing: with the use of autoresponders, businesses are able to deliver follow-up emails to new leads and share relevant information?
3. Social media marketing: Businesses can use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to find new contacts or customers.?

Now, let’s get back to the question, “When is the perfect time to call my prospects?”

Take note that there is no fixed rule that dictates the best time to cold call your prospects. There are several studies that have come up with different statistics with regard to this query. Here’s a look:

Sources Links: Indeed , CallHippo , RingDNA , Sales intelligence solution InsightSquared , 2020 study by Gong , Yesware’s analysis , and InsideSales’ Study

Knowing the best time to call prospects is crucial to closing transactions and generating warm leads over the phone. This goes beyond simply knowing how to give a professional and convincing sales speech. Sometimes, the most important factor is not how you do something but rather when you do it.

When calling potential customers, one of the most important things to remember is to call at a time when they are most likely to respond favorably and pay you their undivided attention. The optimal times to call and finish a contract are discussed below along with some advice.

Deliver your sales calls at the right time

1. Avoid these unpleasant times of the day. While it's good to call your prospects early in the morning or first thing after lunch, avoid picking up the phone from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, or during the dead hours. It’s this time of the day when people stay away from their desks and go out of the office for lunch or some short errands.?
2. Pick up the phone on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Mondays are the most hectic days of the week, and everyone is just getting the work mode again. Calling your prospect on this day will probably be a waste of time since you’ll find someone very busy, nonetheless grumpy at the end of the line. Cold calling on Fridays won’t do much good either. Most people are already in the weekend mode and your call might be forgotten over the next few days they’re out of the office.?Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best days to make calls . A study by Lead Response Management supports this claim. This might be because it’s mid-week and people these days are.?
3. Do it first thing in the morning or right after lunch. It’s all about timing. Dial that number when your prospects are about to start their day. In such a manner, they won’t be preoccupied and will most likely listen to you attentively. Ideally, the best time to call is between 8:00 to 9:30 in the morning. Your prospect, by this time, just had a warm cup of coffee or a hearty breakfast, so they’re most likely feeling refreshed and ready for the work day ahead. If you haven’t had the chance to call them in the morning, try dialing at around 2:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon, right when they had just lunch.?The key is to approach them while they are not yet in the thick of their daily activities so that they would be open to listening to you and receptive to your proposals.
4. Make calls using a top-notch phone service. A salesperson’s massive daily call volume makes it difficult to keep track of whom you contacted and what you’ve discussed. One of the best tools to help address this issue is a great phone service.?Some of these phone services provide capabilities like call transcription that can be downloaded through email and call recording that may be useful for crucial and significant sales conversations, among others. Some phone service companies also employ cloud-based solutions allowing agents to take and make calls directly from their laptops or PCs.
5. Get to know the recipient before making the call. One of the main reasons why people hesitate to take up phone calls is because the caller seems like they just picked you out from a pool of people they want to sell to. Aside from knowing the right time to call, personalizing the conversation is an effective way to capture interest and engage your prospect.?Make your calls more targeted by customizing them and conducting some background research on the person you're speaking to. This will give a human touch to an otherwise "cold" discussion. In addition, this will also make them appreciate the fact that you took the time to learn about them. Doing so will increase the likelihood that they will listen to what you have to say.
6. Don't forget to follow up with an email after you hang up. It is recommended that you make the call official by sending appropriate documentation summarizing what has been discussed so that both parties are in line with their expectations. This could be a product brochure or simply a thank you an email that outlines your next action steps, such as when you will be following up on their feedback.

How do you increase your connect rate?

Now that you know how to time your calls, let’s move on to the next subject: Increasing your connect rate. Here are some basic rules that sales reps can apply to their cold-calling process.?

Call according to your prospect’s time zone: Don't make calls just because it's convenient for you. Instead, call at a time that works best for your prospect. Remember, your prospect always comes first.?

Get in touch with your leads within 20 minutes of their inquiry or form submission: Businesses who follow up with leads within an hour of getting inquiries have a 7 times greater chance of engaging with a decision-maker.

Rely on data provider: A B2B data provider is a company that offers data for business-to-business transactions. They concentrate on gathering data on businesses, such as their contact information and more.

You're more likely to succeed if you employ current and accurate data in your B2B sales and marketing efforts.

The rationale is simple: if your sales force has access to current, accurate company data, they won't waste time speaking to the wrong people. Additionally, it makes it much simpler for marketers to create communications that address the problems of their prospects.

Conclusion

Relevant data is gold in today’s digital era. Losing valuable data is a huge risk that companies can’t afford to take, and the same goes for sales development representatives. Time and resources are of utmost value in the B2B industry, so it’s crucial to update your contacts from time to time and gather as much information as possible from your prospects.

Instead of researching the customer or writing a personalized letter, sales personnel should have an idea of when to call a prospect. The optimal time to cold call is determined by your research and ability to convert the cold call into a warm call.

Making an effective and impactful call consists of the right balance of how, what, and when to do it. As long as you stick to the best practices and be able to customize them according to your prospect’s needs, you’ll be sure to reap rewards.