How Many Cold Calls Should a Sales Rep Make Per Day

“How many cold calls to make per day?”

Almost every salesperson has faced this question. Yet no one seems to have a definite answer for it. 

Of course, dozens of ready-made answers are floating all over the internet, but the logic behind these numbers is as questionable as the people suggesting them.

In this article, we will discuss the factors that influence the performance of a cold caller, how many cold calls they can realistically make per day, and how you can help your team hit or even exceed the target consistently. 

The Numbers of Cold Calls Reps Can Actually Make per Day and Why

There isn’t a simple, straightforward answer to how many calls you can make per day. For one thing, no two sales teams are the same. 

Every team has different products or services to sell, goals to meet, challenges to overcome. So forcing a team to pursue a random target, say 150 or 200 calls per day, would only stress them out and lead to poor performance.

Therefore, to set a realistic target, we must first figure out how long it takes to make a single cold call.

List of Common Factors That Influence the Time Frame of a Cold Call:

1. Pre-call research
2. Ring time
3. Actual call/ Talk time 
4. Voicemails 
5. Post call CRM update

1. Pre-Call Research - Last-minute pre-call research is crucial to making the cold call more relevant to the prospect. And even if the reps had taken part in the listing building process, it takes around 2 minutes to do well-rounded research per call. 

2. Ring time - People usually don’t pick up in a single ring, especially when they are at the office.  So it’s safe to assume that each call would take around 30 sec (average length of a ringtone) to get through. 

3. Talk time - An average cold call lasts 1 minute 20 seconds, according to Chorus.

4. Voicemails - Most of your calls are probably going to end up as voicemails, and it takes an average of 30 seconds to record an effective one. But if you use pre-recorded voicemails to drop them whenever needed  (a cold calling tool lets you do that), you’d spend just the time it takes to click a button. 

5. Post-call CRM updation - With the right training, this shouldn’t take reps more than 30 seconds. If you use a cold calling tool that automatically records all the call data, and don’t have to worry about taking notes, you could save up to 30 seconds per cold call.

Let’s sum it all up: 2 minutes for research + 30 seconds for ringing + 1 minute 20 seconds talk time + 30 seconds for voicemail + 30 seconds for CRM update = 4 minutes 50 seconds per cold call. 

So if a rep spends 4 hours on the phone averaging 4 minutes 50 seconds, they can comfortably make 54 cold calls per day.

However, if we automate repetitive tasks like recording voicemail and data entry we can manage to make a dozen more calls. 

What’s Stopping Sales Reps From Dialling More Calls?

• Poor task execution: Given the dynamic nature of the job, sales teams often suffer from poor task execution. They plan to go on a calling streak but then after 2-3 calls something comes up on email and they turn their attention to it. When that is over, a message on Linkedin, then a “got-a-minute” meeting with the boss, and again back to calling. This endless cycle of switching from one task to another keeps SDRs highly disoriented and unproductive.
• Handling non core responsibilities: Performing time-intensive, non core responsibilities like updating data in the CRM and other systems take up a major chunk of their time. In worst case scenarios, reps might completely skip the research needed to be done in a desperate attempt to stuff in more sales calls, ultimately plunging themselves into placing more blind calls. 
• Inadequate data and not having a clear goal - Not having a clear goal as to what they must achieve or enough data on how they are performing will never get your sales reps anywhere. Because they wouldn’t know what works and what doesn't, they’d keep repeating mistakes, which in this case would ultimately affect the number of calls placed. 

How To Help Your Teams Make More Calls?

Here Are 4 Effective Ways Cold Calling Tools Can Help Your Team Dial More Calls:

1. Get into Flow using “Power Hour” -  In Fanatical Prospecting, Jeb Blount recommends that salespeople block off an hour or two to only make sales calls. During the “Power Hour,” he says, you should remove yourself from all distractions - including checking emails and mobile devices. This is an effective method to immerse yourself in the act of making cold calls. An easy way to stick to this powerful routine is by utilizing the dedicated phone calling interface found in Sales Engagement software.

2. Ditch dialling, a click will do the job - Sales reps don't need to become masters of fast dialling to crush their sales quota. With Sales Engagement software, you can skip this time-killing practice and call your prospect using just one click. Some sales engagement software boast advanced features like power dialling if you want to go on a hands-free calling spree.

3. Use pre-recorded voicemail to save 30 seconds - Consider this: 80% of our cold calls go to voicemails. That means if you make 10 cold calls, 8 of them will end up as voicemails. And if you spend an average of 30 seconds on each voicemail, you will waste 4 minutes parroting almost the same lines. Sales Engagement tools can help you pre-record and save personalized voicemails and leave them at one click. 

4. Track and nurture - How can you make a person better at what they’re doing without knowing their strengths and weaknesses? Cold calling software helps you track every call and generate reports which you can use to train your teams and set goals according to the team's strengths and weaknesses.

Related: Here are the 15 best cold calling software that can speed up your cold calling process!

Conclusion:

We might not have control over how many prospects we can convert in our cold calls, but we can control the number of calls made every day, no matter what. With the right tools, you can make sure your teams consistently make an increasing number of cold calls and crush their sales quotas.