Nobody wants to do cold calling. Which is why nobody does.
Finding and keeping people for cold calling gets harder every year. Anyone good at it does not stay in a job that starts from zero. So companies leave the database alone.
Bea
An illustration, not an export from a customer account. What the agent asks, how it argues and when it says no are all things you set, and you sign them off before the first live message goes out.
- is the conversion to expect on a cold database
- single digitsis the conversion to expect on a cold database
- of contacts get the whole sequence
- 100%of contacts get the whole sequence
- messages per contact: an opener and three follow-ups
- 4messages per contact: an opener and three follow-ups
Single-digit percentages are an honest expectation on a cold database, not a target. We would rather give you the lower number than have you build a budget on optimism.
The problem is not that it does not work.
The problem is that nobody sustains it
Recruiting and churn on a cold-calling desk cost more than the result usually is. Nobody wants to invest in it again.
So the database sits there
Contacts you bought or gathered are waiting. Nothing happens to them, because "we do not have the people" is a truthful answer.
And a cold database gives you nothing to hold on to
The gap between "info@ and a company name" and "a specific person and we know what they are dealing with" is a multiple in conversion. That is the real work, not the calling.
Eight cold contacts, worked twice.
On the left what happens to them today. On the right what Bea does with them.
- Bought-list contactTodayNobody calledWith BeaNot qualified
- Bought-list contactTodayNobody calledWith BeaIn conversation
- Company matching a signalTodayNobody calledWith BeaMeeting
- Conference contactTodayNo answer, doneWith BeaNot qualified
- Bought-list contactTodayNobody calledWith BeaSafe to delete
- Company matching a signalTodayNobody calledWith BeaIn conversation
- Conference contactTodayNobody calledWith BeaMeeting
- Bought-list contactTodayNobody calledWith BeaSafe to delete
The rows are an illustration rather than a measured campaign. The share turned down is deliberately high on a cold database: that is the work nobody wants to do by hand.
How Bea runs it.
- Adding the context
- Reaching out in batches
- Getting a reply
- Following up, usually three times
- Checking the criteria
- Assessing and cleaning
- 01
Adding the context
When there is nothing to hold on to in your database, we start by putting it there. It is not a feature in the app; we do it as a bespoke service.
- 02
Reaching out in batches
The whole database does not go at once. We set how many contacts are approached daily and monthly, so the calendar fills at a pace you can carry.
- 03
Getting a reply
The first step aims at an answer. The agent holds a conversation rather than sending a broadcast, and responds to what the person writes.
- 04
Following up, usually three times
One opener and three follow-ups. 100 per cent of contacts get the sequence, which with a human rep you never have for certain.
- 05
Checking the criteria
Two or three questions that tell a meeting worth having from one that is not. The agent would book more, but a meeting with somebody who cannot buy only costs your rep an hour.
- 06
Assessing and cleaning
Relevant goes to a meeting. The rest is split into those worth talking to later and those you can delete.
We do exactly this for ourselves: we scan job boards for companies currently hiring a sales rep. We use our own agent as our own sales team, so you have probably already spoken to it. The side benefit people underrate is a cleaned database: at thousands of contacts, nobody does that by hand.
Bea runs this oneDo you have a database and nobody to work it?
Live in 14 days, three to four hours of your time. No lock-in, switch it off any time.