Too Many Answering Machines When Cold Calling

by 17 replies
22
Hi there!

My VA has been doing a lot of cold calling for me lately, however the result have been pretty terrible. He has only been able to reach about 10% of the numbers. The others were answering machines.

The sources of the numbers have been Yellow Page (scraped using a scraper), Superpages, Google (scraped using PlacesScout) and Yelp (as I have another scraper for that). In every, case more than 80% of the calls resulted in reaching only an answering machine or the number was invalid.

I have made some sales but I think I could have made much more. My VA uses Skype for the calling and when he reaches somebody, it shows up as an Unknown Number for the recipient. He is calling businesses located in the USA from outside of the USA. I was thinking that might be the reason why he is not able to reach so many of the numbers.

Have you experienced something like this? Do you know of a way to overcome this issue? I would greatly appreciate if someone experienced could give some piece of advice on it. Perhaps using a U.S. number for the calling could be of help but I am not aware of a service that would allow this.

Best regards,
Monthy
#main internet marketing discussion forum #answering #calling #cold #machines #usa
  • Haven't experienced it, but it sounds like you're calling businesses and not individuals?

    It might sound like a dumb question but... If he is located outside of the U.S., is he calling during U.S. business hours?
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  • Offline subforum will have help in this area.

    You can use an autodialer...they can call several #s at once and connect your caller with the first person who picks up. Much more efficient.

    Your caller can leave a brief message that they've got a quick question for the recipient, if you want them to make use of those dials.
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    • Not a dumb question. I have made sure he is calling during U.S. business hours, though. Tried in the morning and in the afternoon and the results were roughly the same.

      Thank you for the suggestion, Jason. Do you think using an American phone number could be the solution?
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  • On my mobile (which doubles as a business line occasionally) I let any unknown number go to voicemail as so many of them are junk calls here in the UK.

    That could affect some of the calls.

    Scraping the data isn't perfect - it takes time for closed businesses to drop out of the search results.
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    • Thank you, Trevor, for your valuable input, appreciated.

      I know scraping the data is not the perfect way to do this but I currently cannot afford to spend hundreds of dollars on a list of a few thousand numbers. Also, to the fact that about 90% of the phone numbers my VA calls are answering machines, I would add that about 3% of the remaining 10% do pick up the phone and say they are no longer in business, or the number is invalid.

      Therefore, I think the issue that some of the businesses scraped from a business directory are no longer in business is not really that much of an issue, as they account for only about 3% of all the phone numbers (at least these are the results that I have got personally).
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  • I use to have my phone set to automatically send unknown numbers to voicemail. But after a year of doing that and not receiving a single call I wanted, I now have it set to just disconnect the call. They don't even get to voicemail anymore.

    Re's
    Rob Whisonant
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  • As far as Skype goes, I always use a Skype USA number for USA calls, and I don't hide the number. Plus I set up my call forwarding and messaging correctly. You need to get more professional about how you are doing all of this, imo.
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    • Hi David, I do realize that there are time difference within the US and that it matter whether I am calling someone in California or New York. Every time the calls were made my VA was calling when the businesses were open. In the list with the phone numbers, there was also a column that included the opening hours of the businesses and he looked at that, too, to make sure the businesses were open at that time.

      I have listened to a bunch of recordings my VA has done for me. I think, given English is not his first language, he speaks it pretty well and sounds professional and enthusiastic on the line. I told him to use Pamela for Skype to record the calls and he's told me sometimes Pamela does record the calls and sometimes it does not and that whether it does or doesn't is random. Perhaps this is happening because he is using only the free trial of the program.

      There were some "Invalid numbers" in the list that my VA couldn't reach at all (not even an answering machine). Some of the businesses might be closed now but some of them might be intentionally disconnecting the calls from Unknown Callers the way you do.

      Yes, I have got myself a Skype USA number too now. It is a New York number and my VA will be making his first calls with it today. Let's see what he can do with it! Will keep you posted.
  • I've got lots of experience doing this and your results are about right

    Persistence and perseverance is the name of the game for cold calling

    The real issue is really what are you doing with the ones you reach

    If you come into the front door as most people do you will fail

    I put together a report From Zero To 3 Out Of 10 - The Truth On Landing Offline Clients Without Selling Them

    If your interested it will show in Google

    The biggest problem to cold calling is thinking out of the box and How To Stand Out From The Crowd because most you reach will have already been badgered by someone else or emailed to death about their services

    Plus you need to call and call some more if you want to succeed too much work for the masses but if done properly you will succeed
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  • Getting 10% is AMAZING! You should be happy. I have a friend who is a billionaire HE WILL NEVER EVER PICK UP A PHONE. I have not picked up the phone to a stranger for 10 years and I'm not a billionaire I'm a normal person!

    Let me put it this way! Why would you pick up the phone so a VA could read a script to you and then pitch you something or appointment? That is wasted time you can't get back. I would never do it !

    In any case if you get 1% pick up you should be happy!
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    • Thanks a bunch for this, I will definitely take a look.

      Thanks for your response, but I dissent. I think 1% of the people who you call picking up the phone is a horrible result. If that was the case for me I wouldn't bother with cold calling at all.

      Also, if the caller uses a Skype phone number to make the call and does not show up as an Unknown Caller, then the recipient of the call never knows if he is a telemarketer or not. It could be an emergency, for example, or something else.
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