How Many Call Attempts Should You Do Before You Surrender a Lead?

Should you keep calling a prospect or is it time to let go and move on to the next lead?

Let’s face it, 85% of organizations don’t make enough call attempts. Sales reps have an average of 1.7-2.1 attempts before giving up. Too many call attempts may lead to DNC which means you’re not making the most of your sales rep’s time. While too few call attempts lead to money waste.

Don’t get into your prospects’ do not call list, know these telemarketing rules in Singapore.

Whether you like it or not, you will agree that cold calling is important in sales in order to find out if there’s an opportunity for them. The number of cold call attempt every sales rep should make varies depending on how they do cold calls.

Here’s how to determine if it’s worth pursuing or if it’s time to STOP calling unresponsive prospects.

1st Call Attempt

Prospecting – Finding out the right person who makes the decision within their organization.

Situation:

This can be considered as a negative call. What you can do to maximize your call?

Agent must gather the following information from the decision maker:

• Email address
• Complete Name
• Correct Job Title
• Direct Line/Ext. Number/ Mobile No.
• Verify if you called the correct company
• Verify the address of the company
• Availability of the decision-maker

TIP: You might consider sending an introductory email right after your call.

2nd Call Attempt

Calling the decision maker on his available time as mentioned by the gatekeeper

Situation:

The agent called and spoke with the gatekeeper. The decision maker is still not available to talk. This is another negative call. During this stage, most of the agents get discouraged.  What to do for your sales rep to feel like he didn’t waste his time calling for this company?

The agent can always ask for the availability of the decision maker.

“When is the best time to call back for (name of the decision maker)?”

TIP: Consider leaving a voice message

Get to know the Perfect Time to Call a Prospect in Singapore.

3rd Call Attempt

Follow up on the email the correspondent sent.

Situation:

What to do during this stage?

• Verify if he’s the best person who can decide for (purpose of your call)
• Ask the prospect for the best time to call back.

TIP: Remember to mark your calendar or set an alarm to do a follow-up call.

4th Call Attempt

Establish Interest

Situation:

During this call, the agent must establish if there’s an opportunity with this company. How?

Ask questions and find out about their current set. What questions to ask to spot a sales-ready lead?

How to determine if there’s an opportunity and that this company is worth pursuing?

• If they have problems/challenges even if they can’t decide to commit for now.
• If they have a provider but would still consider other providers
• If they have upcoming projects.
• If there’s anything that they would like to improve with their current setup.

5th Call Attempt

Close a sale

At this stage, the prospect expressed his interest and would like to discuss further how your company can help their business.

However, if it didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to be because the prospect mentioned that they are not interested or they don’t need any of your services as of the moment, offer to send information for future reference. This way, they have your files handy whenever they need something in the near future.

Situation:

Prospect: We’re not interested at this time.

Agent: I understand. How about if we send you more information for future reference? In case you might be doing something in the future, you have our files ready. Would that work for you?

Prospect: Sure.

Agent: I have here your email address, let me verify if this is correct. (verify the email address using phonetics to make sure you have the correct information)

Striking the right balance between persistence and practicality is crucial when it comes to following up with leads. While considering whether to call a prospect again or hang up and call someone else, it all comes down to the following considerations:

• Determine your prospect’s interest level: Prospects who have shown interest or have requested information might be worth pursuing. Those who have shown little interest even after several contact attempts, however, should be let go.
  Every single minute spent chasing these low-value prospects is precious time you could spend closing a high-value one. Walking away from the wrong prospects directs your focus to the right ones.
• Identify the stage of the sales process: Prospects at the early stage of the sales process, or those at the awareness or consideration stage, may still be worth calling and nurturing. Those who are at the decision or later stage, however, need not be pursued if they haven’t responded after multiple attempts.
  Learn techniques to build connections and make your sales calls more effective.
• Evaluate the resources at hand: Focusing on leads that are more likely to convert may be more practical if you are working with constrained resources, such as a limited amount of time or personnel, than making repeated phone calls to prospects who have little interest.

Gain a competitive edge with SMART Calling

Most of a salesperson’s time is spent dealing with prospects and attempting to convert them into customers. At times, being able to convert even just a small percentage of these prospects is enough to meet your quota. In other instances, the struggle stems from conversion rates. In either case, imagine how much more productive you could be if you weeded out the tire-kickers and focused only on genuinely interested prospects instead. 

Check our case study and see how Callbox Singapore’s SMART Calling system solves Software Company’s Marketing Conundrum

Your time, as a salesperson, is valuable. The sooner you can spot a bad prospect, the faster you can move on to better ones and close more sales. It helps to be mindful of the indications mentioned above and to direct your attention where it’s most likely to pay off. Most importantly, it matters to reach the right person at the right time.

Introducing SMART Calling (Sales and Marketing at the Right Time) by Callbox. This is our team’s proprietary technology that is designed to put our clients in front of their target prospects when engagement and conversion rates are at their highest, increasing the success rate of their calls.

By personalizing the sales pitch and targeting the right audience with the right message at the right time, Callbox’s SMART Calling strategy intends to enhance sales and marketing conversion rates. Our services of SMART calling solutions can be availed with flexible and tailored pricing according to your business needs.

The complexity of the B2B industry, coupled with competition and limited resources can make it hard to decide whether it’s time to pursue or let a lead go. Our team of experts here in Callbox can help businesses like yours to make more informed decisions on which leads are worth chasing or not. With SMART Calling, you can strike the iron that is hot. Contact us now.