This content was created by Kevin "KD" Dorsey. This content was uploaded by Kevin "KD" Dorsey. This is a YouTube interview titled "The Science of Cold Calling and Prospecting with Colin Specter" (created 2023-04-17). The excerpt is a conversational discussion between Colin Specter and Kevin "KD" Dorsey about cold-calling and prospecting: key metrics to track (dials, connects, connect-to-conversation, meetings booked), the conversion math (how many dials/connects/conversations lead to meetings), and practical tactics to improve results (openers, tonality, pattern interrupts, pre-call research, and how to coach teams on conversion rates).
Chapters
You want to look at your dial to connect ratio, you want to look at your connect to conversation ratio. How many conversations are you getting out of each at bat and then how many of those conversations are leading to a meeting? It really comes down to, in my opinion, there's different openers, there's different ways people love to approach the cold call. It really comes down to tonality and enthusiasm in many cases. But there's all kinds of openers. You could try what works for you. The one that we use here at Aurum most commonly is, hey kd calling with Aurum here. Are they keeping you busy? And everybody responds to that question. They'll respond in a different way depending on their emotion.
Nah, this is, I love this stuff. Because when it comes to scaling, when it comes to prospecting, there's the art, right? The messaging, the delivery, the tonality, the scripting. But then there's also the science, like the data, the connects, the conversions, the objections, what's happening there? So I'm pumped to dive into this here. So let's start with like truthfully, what should a world class prospecting team be tracking when it comes to their calls? Let's just start right there. Like, what should I be tracking? I got people making calls. What should I be tracking?
Yeah, no, Kevin, kd, it's a, it's a great, great question. So there are some key metrics and some key conversion metrics that are key to successful math of sales as it relates to making calls and cold calls, warm calls, inbound calls, just activity. And as folks are converting those calls with positive action and outcomes. So the key metrics that we track over here at Orem are dials. So actual calls that are being completed. Connects, connects are actual connections with the intended prospective customer. So not a connect with a voicemail, not a connect with a gatekeeper, a true connect with the intended person. And then when you divide your connects by the number of dials, you get what we call your connect rate. And so that's a very popular term in the world of inside sales and sales development and prospecting. So it's a key metric that we focus on. Further down on that path. We track connect to conversations, the number of conversations that you have. Now, what are conversations? We define conversations as a minute or longer with that intended prospect on the phone that that target prospect, not with a gatekeeper, not a minute leaving a voicemail, an actual true conversation. And then from there the coveted metric that, that sales development organizations all strive for and inside sales organizations, meetings, booked meetings. So out of all the conversations, how many meetings you get? So you want to look at your dial to connect ratio. You want to look at your connect to conversation ratio. How many conversations are you getting out of. Out of each at bat. And then how many of those conversations are leading to a meeting? A meeting where you've, you've qualified and you've got it booked on the calendar.
Mm. So now let's work backwards. Why are those numbers important? How do I use those numbers in a way to help guide my team? So I have a few things I want to unpack there, but not we listed them. Now let's work back again and say, okay, if I know I need 10 meetings, how do I use the info you just gave me to figure out my dial number?
Yeah, it's, it's a great, a great question. Right? You, if you know you need 10 meetings, then you do some back of the napkin math, right? Look historically at first of all the company that you work for, or if you've been calling historically at your company, look at how many calls it takes you to actually get to that person, how many people you have to speak with to get to a conversation, how many conversations lead to a meeting? Right? So the, the industry benchmarks for 10 for 10. First of all, it takes typically 10 conversations, what we see across customers, 10 conversations who lead to a meeting. Okay, so if I need 10 meetings, 10 times 10 is 100. So I likely need 100 conversations to get to get those, those 10 meetings as kind of an industry benchmark in B2B sales, where, where we focus our, our data. So if I know I need a hundred conversations, then I need to think about how, what my connect rate looks like to get me into those conversations. And so looking at that is going to depend on your data. It's going to depend on how efficient you are at placing those calls and getting those people on the phone. And then once you get people on the phone, it's understanding your pitch and your talk tracks to keep them on the phone and, and making sure you're asking the right questions, adding the right value to then lead to an interested meeting. So, so let me, let me pause there. Any, any follow up to impact there for sure.
It's just you is continuing this path, y'.
All.
Right, so he started to break down the numbers, right? 10 meetings. All right, if my conversion rate is 10%, I need 100 conversations. Well then now we get to look at what's my conversation rate. Well, if my conversation rate is, call it 50%, that means I need 200 total, like connects. Well, if I need 200 total connects and my connect rate is 5%, we can run that math. And it basically says, all right, you need to make 4,000 dials.
Exactly.
That's it. That's the math of it, right? There's no emotion to that. This is not you discounting. That's 4,000 dials. And let's break that down across 21 working days, that's 190 calls a day. Now, there are some ways you can make 190 calls a day. There are some ways you can also change the metrics to improve.
Right?
Because what this also allows you to do as a leader, this is where it goes next, is, okay, you spot a metric, let's say conversion rates only 10%. What are things I can do to improve my conversion rate? So I'll start there. Let's talk about conversion rate first. What are things that you're seeing across the industry and your own team? Because you all get to make a ton of dials, so you get to have more conversations. What are some of the things you've seen lead to a higher conversion rate to someone saying yes to a meeting? So I get those 10 people on. How do I get three instead of one to say yes?
Absolutely. So it's a matter of a relevant message, right? So your tonality getting through that introduction. So we break apart the cold call. First of all, you get that connect, you say hello, you've got them on the phone. You've confirmed it is the right intended person that you're reaching to. Not their spouse, not a gatekeeper or an executive assistant. It's that intended person. Now you have precious time to convert that connect into that conversation, right? And so we train folks on different pattern interrupts here at Orem to, to buy them those precious seconds of interest. It really comes down to, in my opinion, there's different openers. There's different ways people love to approach the cold call. It really comes down to tonality and enthusiasm in, in many cases. But there's all kinds of openers you could try what works for you. The one that we use here at Aurum most commonly is, hey, KD calling with Orem here. Are they keeping you busy today? And everybody responds to that question. They'll respond in a different way depending on their emotion. They'll say, ah, I'm busy. Yeah. Oh, I've been back to back. Oh, I just got off a board meeting. Yeah, I'm busy. I'm on a zoom. Or I was about to go into another meeting. Oh, I thought you were my doctor. And however they respond to that question, you get an idea of their current state, their current emotional state and from there you move into some sort of hook, right? And we train on doing a lot of pre call research, learning about the account, learning about the specific pains and value drivers that we can, we can focus our message around. And so however they respond to that question, well, we'll go into that hook from there. And so from then, so that, that's focusing on connected conversation, right? It's, it's, you got them on the phone, you want to gain their interest, you want to humanize yourself as quickly as possible. People these days are so used to robocalls and these automated machines and car warranty and basically non humans calling that the sooner you get someone on the phone and you can humanize yourself and reduce people's uncertainty, the better. And that's going to help your connect to conversation. Now how do we go from conversation to meetings? So understanding first of all, what is your goal in making a cold call? If we're just focusing on cold calls for a moment, is the goal to qualify the account? Is the goal to educate the buyer? Is the goal to actually sell the meeting? Well, in the specific sales motion that we focus on here at Orem and what majority of our customers focus on at Orem, it's to sell the meeting. And so your purpose is to hook their interest and offer value in that, convert in that limited conversation in, in a short amount of time to where they are interested enough to want to take a next step, to want to take a meeting with you. And so getting them excited about the potential of, of what's to come next is, is a big part of, of the way we, we focus on that. But, but yeah, let me pause there and happy to unpack any, any one of those metric.
