Telephone Prospecting by the Numbers
by Andrew Shedden
Chances are very good that at some point in your business life you have considered using the telephone as a prospecting tool. Prospecting is one of the many uses for your business telephone, but it may not be your best bet. You may be the type of person who would rather have two root canals at once than get on the phone and call perfect strangers. Don't despair just yet, you may determine that by running the numbers that phone prospecting isn't really the best method for your company to gain new prospects. Take a look at the following numbers and perhaps you'll determine that the only person you'll be calling is your local direct mail company.
"Just the facts please, ma'am." Before you even consider utilizing the power of the phone to reach your prospects you need to carefully determine what it is you want to achieve. In order to do this you need to have a good handle on what type of results you can realistically expect.
The first number for you to assess is your overall campaign goal. You need to accurately assess the numbers to determine if it is worth while to even start. Before you begin phoning here are some facts you should consider. The first thing you need to know is that you will need to make massive numbers of calls to succeed. This means that you will need large lists of phone numbers. Make sure you factor in the cost of obtaining these numbers from sources other than the Yellow Pages. Don't underestimate the time and financial commitment necessary to make your telemarketing effective.
Obviously, the more businesses you call the more people you will end up contacting. This number is of somewhat secondary importance. The key issue isn't calls, you can make thousands of calls every day and get nowhere. The key is being able to reach people. With the proliferation of voice mail it is very easy for prospects to hide from you, and they will. In our opinion it's worthwhile leaving a brief sales oriented message on voicemail. Having said that, don't wait for them to call you. If you are very lucky 1 out of every two hundred people will call you back.
If you have read any books on telemarketing many of them will tell you that you should shoot for 40 to 60 calls per hour. Well, if you have a full-blown predictive dialing telemarketing system you might reach this level.
Our experience has been that when you factor in paper shuffling, callbacks, voice mail, and normal disruptions most people will likely be contacting 10 to 15 people per hour. At least 20% of these calls will result in not talking to a real person or in being able to leave voicemail.
After all is said and done you will probably end up with two to three interested prospects out of every hundred people you talk to. This isn't meant to be a discouraging statistic but to help you determine if prospecting by phone will really pay for you. Before you opt for telemarketing as your primary prospecting method consider all of the costs.
