Annabelle Geerdink
Increasingly, B2B companies are favoring social media to approach prospects instead of using phone acquisition. For example, LinkedIn automation is one of the channels increasingly used to fill the sales pipeline and calling is becoming less and less popular with the younger generation, among others. So do prospects still enjoy being called? And is this method still effective for B2B companies to maintain relationships? In this blog, we examine the added value and future-proofing of (cold) telephone acquisition.
Effectiveness of telephone acquisition
Rain Group's study examined which sales channels are most effective in achieving your sales goals. It showed that telephone acquisition is more effective than other channels, such as: emailing, webinars and social media (including LinkedIn). The reason is that people prefer face-to-face meetings. For example, in a phone call you get immediate answers to your questions, whereas in much email contact fixed templates are more likely to be used. The information in an e-mail is often less personal and tailored than in a phone call, which means you can't respond as well to the prospect's needs.
So is cold acquisition effective for the B2B market?
The short answer is: yes! According to research by Rain Group, cold acquisition is more effective for B2B lead generation than for B2C lead generation. However, there are some conditions attached to this. For example, it is important to prefer a personal approach to a standard script. Tailor the angle of your conversation to each prospect so that you can go into more depth and really establish a dialogue. By getting to the bottom of the prospect's needs, you can ensure that your offer matches them nicely. It also appears that telephone acquisition is often preferred over other sales strategies, and that the most appointments result from this (Salesforce, 2024).
Personal contact
As more and more communication digitizes, cold calling is seen as a direct and impactful way to build new relationships, especially through the bit of personal contact. It also appears that the reach of cold calling remains high. For example, 69% of respondents said they answered a sales call last year, and 82% scheduled a meeting after multiple sales interactions. In contrast, cold calling is only future-proof if the following key factors are addressed:
Responding to digital channels
Although calling will still be seen as an important and effective sales method in 2025, it is important to move with the times. Because there are now many more digital channels to get in touch with potential prospects, these can also be used to make even more tailored acquisitions. For example, in preparation you can search on LinkedIn who you want to talk to in order to make more targeted calls, and AI or an advanced CRM system can be used to gather market insight. By analyzing output in these systems, a prediction can be made, for example, about which prospects (think: sector, location, number of employees, etc.) and at what time is best to call back. In this way, a sales team can make much more targeted calls, making them more efficient with less effort and time.
The right person
It sounds very logical, but it is crucial that you speak to the right person within the organization. Your conversation only has a chance of an appointment if the person you are talking to is actually about the subject you are calling about and is also a decision maker. This way, your service can also respond to the needs of the caller and your conversation automatically becomes more relevant to the prospect.
Follow up
Another factor to pay attention to is follow-up after your first call. 44% of sales callers are found not to return calls to a prospect after the initial contact is completed (Marketing Wisdom, 2024). This is partly because acquisition often comes at the bottom of the priority list. For example, 63% of sales reps find cold calling the least enjoyable activity in their jobs (ZoomInfo, 2024). Another reason that following up on the first contact often does not happen is because the chances of getting to speak to the decision maker are slim. So it does require persistence to get in touch by phone. For example, in the B2B sector, about 5% of prospects pick up at once and you have to make an average of three to four calls to actually get the prospect on the line. In contrast, acquisition does represent the most successful method of market approach and it appears that after an average of five sales calls with the prospect, an appointment is scheduled (Cloudtalk, 2024).
Timing
One of the most important factors is timing. It is very important to properly identify when you need to call back. First of all, this has to do with what time and day you call. For example, telephone calls in the afternoon prove more effective than in the morning, and similarly, there appears to be a greater chance of success if you call on a Wednesday or Thursday (Cloudtalk, 2024). Mondays and Fridays actually appear to be the least promising days to approach prospects, as many people have their day off or are just starting/nearly finishing the work week then (Salesforce, 2024). In addition, this also has to do with follow-up. After a conversation, decide when it is convenient for you to call back. Don't do this at random, but think carefully about when is the most favorable time to reconnect with the prospect. That way, your next call will be more tailored and you'll ensure quality over quantity.
When to engage sales support?
Do you recognize within your own company that structural telephone market approach is not picked up on a weekly basis? Or is phone canvassing currently not being used to achieve your sales goals? If so, it would certainly be of value to investigate whether and how telephone marketing can be used to further optimize your sales process. As discussed in this blog, telephone can be the most effective and qualitative method to fill your sales pipeline, provided the calls are persistent and with personal attention.
Advantage sales support
The advantage to sales support is that contact is made with (new) relations with more manpower and that there is weekly capacity to maintain this contact. Even now that more and more contact is digitalized, cold acquisition is an important support to make targeted contact (from accumulated output) on the one hand, but on the other hand it also ensures personal contact. Would you like to briefly evaluate the opportunities for your company? Then we can schedule an exploratory meeting to look at this together.