Calling/cold calling question

It all depends upon the hours and dedication you put into it.
Also, if you have an automatic dialer or not, and if you have lists.
It's just a numbers game.
You might make 200 calls, you might make 50.

I really think it's depend on you and how you pitch.. the statistic numbers will all depend on your market research and how well you do your homework.. I'd say try to do 20 an hour

If you perform average, you should be able to manually dial 200 numbers in 2 1/2 hours, and set two appointments, and also create 2 or 3 decent "call backs".

Honestly, for b2b , manually dialing is better for several reasons if you are doing it yourself, unless you have to supervise telemarketers online, then you want a dialer because it generates real time reports regarding your telemarketers activity...

The first one is the hardest. Set a time limit to reduce the mental stress of it. And then increase it. Also, I find it very helpful if I call with the approach of seeking information not selling. It helps me to have a conversation than read from a script. And I might call a couple I don't care about or expect to get anywhere with to practice.

Hey,

I would say it depends also on many different aspects.

1. How hard you work!

2. How long each call takes.

I prefer to think of only the next call than how many I am going to do in 1 hour. Sometimes, you may be on the phone for half an hour setting an appointment, while other times, you could be on for less than 2 minutes setting an appointment.

I also think, that if you get the right script and opening, depending what you are offering, you can achieve 3-4 appointments an hour. Again, depending on how the calls go.

Rather than putting a time limit on it. Research leads, and get a list of say 100 numbers, then work through them, not stopping until you have called each and every one or setup a certain amount of appointments.

Also, don't rule out phone appointments.

One thing I am finding easy, is getting a business owner to commit to a PHONE appointment. I call up cold with the aim to turn the call warm. I do this by setting up an appointment to call back.

If done properly, the success rate of appointments is much higher than meeting in person, because its easier for biz owners. Of course, that depends on what you want to do!

Just a thought! ; )

GoGetta

Definitely, like GoGetta and John has mentioned, it really depends on the length of your calls (which could depend on your script), and what is your goal in terms of appointments as well.
It might seem like a stupid question since I'm not exactly experienced at cold calling, but like people in this thread have mentioned, wouldn't it be better for you to get a huge list of say 100 contacts and just experiment with cold calling them to see the amount of time, the types of reactions, and how many appointments you can make within a time period, etc; basically testing it out yourself and getting some numbers so you yourself can just calculate the rate of calls, the amount of time needed (so that you can either adjust your script longer or shorter), and how many appointments you can make?
Like I said, I'm not exactly experienced at this, and any input from forum members would be great as well, but that is what I think you should try to do.

A tip on phone appointments:

As go getter pointed out, in the course of setting face to face appointments, be on the look out for phone appointments.

A great way to end up closing one, is to send the owner a fax in the meantime outlining your offer on paper in a promotional manner, then when you call him back, ask him if he has it, and talk him through the fax flyer via phone, right into a close.

There's something powerful about a biz owner holding your offer in his hand while he is talking to you.

I used to work in an office selling advertisement space. I busted out over 60 calls in a 6 hour day, so about 10 calls per hour. Other hours there were more calls, but it all depends on how the lead plan for the day goes. I would mostly get the potential clients voice mail, where I would leave my name and contact information in hopes for a call back. When I would get them on the phone, I would make it a point to get the questions that I needed answered, ANSWERED. Then as long as I can develop some kind of interest, I can move forward into setting up an appointment, or emailing out the information and setting up a call back time.

I can make about 5 good quality calls in an hour.

Yikes, cold calls. I did one and realized it wasn't for me.
From my own experience, I'd recommend not doing them.

In my previous career, I did cold calling. I hated it. It sucks, there's no two ways about it. Calling business owners is the hardest because the gatekeepers are trained to get rid of you. You will not get ahold of them during regular business hours. Don't even bother.

What I did was call an hour or so before they opened or an hour or so after they closed for the day. That way the business owner is typically the only one there.

Also, I would never pitch anything on the phone. Sorry guys but when dealing with the offline world, you have to meet to do business. My call was to set an short meeting only.

"I'm going to be in your area next Thursday at around 5:30 pm, do you mind if i stop by for 5 minutes to meet you?"

The purpose of the call is getting the ok to drop by and meet them. In your meeting you need to ask questions and listen. Don't go into any meeting and just blather on and on about you. Ask about them. Business owners LOVE talking about their business. They don't really care about yours, *yet.