“How many cold calls per hour should I make.” Of course there is no simple answer however, “It depends”.

Before you can find your answer, you really have to ask yourself a few additional questions.

• What is the objective of my call
• What is the quality of my list
• Will I be using a CRM (hope so)
• Are the calls cold (never been contacted) or warm (is this attempt number 2+)
• Will there be any additional sales related activities required (quotes, order processing, appointment scheduling)

To demonstrate how to calculate the number of cold calls per hour, let’s begin by making some assumptions.

Objective: To book a meeting
List Quality: Average (You have a Company name, Point of Contact, and phone number)
CRM: Yes

Cold Calls: This is the first attempt for this list
Sales Administration: Meetings will need to be scheduled
Request a one-on-one phone consultation.

When you are making first attempt cold calls, it may be worth spending no more than a couple of minutes researching the company by looking at their website or doing a quick Google search on the company name. The objective is simple, are they still trading, is my offer going to be relevant?. Make a quick note in your WiredContact CRM system about what you have learned and make to call or move on. This will save you from having to look the company up again on your second attempt.
Average Cold Call Prep Time = 2 minutes

When your objective is to book a meeting and you are making your first attempt at a contact your average call time will be very short. You will spend a lot of time in “voicemail land” or being directed to other points of contact by a gatekeeper. These calls will usually average about 1 minute over the course of a day. So, if you assume there will be only a few live contacts/conversations your average talk time per call will be about 1.5 minutes.

Average Talk Time per Call = 1.5 minutes

After each call you will learn something about your prospect that will “warm up” your next call to them from your company. You should allow at least another 1 minute to “wrap up” and make notes in your WiredContact CRM application to capture any additional information such as; the title from the prospect’s voicemail, assistant/gatekeeper’s name, best options such as Option 3 then 6 on the automatic response system, update the person’s name, mobile phone number, and daily schedule such as they finish at 3pm etc.

Average Cold Call Wrap up Time = 1 minute

Finally, let’s assume that you book 2 meetings per day as a result of your efforts and that it takes about 8 minutes to have the conversation with the prospect and to send out the meeting invitations. If you work an 8 hour day and your entire day is dedicated to cold calling, this activity will average 2 minutes per hour.

Scheduling Meetings = 2 minutes

In summary, when we include pre-call research, the actual call, and post-call CRM updates you should allow on average 6.5 minutes for each cold call. Sixty minutes divided by 6.5 minutes equals 8 calls per hour.

60 minutes/7.5 minutes per call = 9 to ten cold calls per hour

In our experience, a diligent inside sales person making their first pass through a new list will be able to easily achieve 10 to 12 effective calls per hour.

The cold calls per hour will increase as the list becomes warmer and more refined over the next few calls allowing a good inside sales person to average 12 to 14 calls per hour while effectively maintaining and updating information in your WiredContact CRM application.

In Summary, when asked how many cold calls per hour should an inside sales person be able to make, a fair and reasonable response is generally 11 calls per hour at the very least.

Every telesales setup should have an agreed process to ensure maximum client or prospect enagement, the example below will differ for each company.