Too Many Answering Machines When Cold Calling

by Monthy
23 replies
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
#answering #calling #cold #machines #skype
  • Profile picture of the author trip3980
    What times are you cold calling? Your target audience dictates what time you call. Hence the hole telemarketing at 6 pm when everyone is at home eating dinner lol.
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    • Profile picture of the author Monthy
      Originally Posted by trip3980 View Post

      What times are you cold calling? Your target audience dictates what time you call. Hence the hole telemarketing at 6 pm when everyone is at home eating dinner lol.
      Thanks for the response. The earliest time my VA starts the calls is at 9am the local time where the business is located. He has tried both in the morning and in the afternoon and the results were roughly the same.
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      • Profile picture of the author trip3980
        Originally Posted by Monthy View Post

        Thanks for the response. The earliest time my VA starts the calls is at 9am the local time where the business is located. He has tried both in the morning and in the afternoon and the results were roughly the same.

        What are the businesses or what is the kind of business this person is trying to attain? Also afternoon may be the worst time because people are off on brake. Not saying that this is the only issue but my guess is go to the place of business you are trying to solicit and get a feeling first hand maybe one on one interaction is better then calling. Most business people are pretty busy and you have to speak to them on their level.
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        • Profile picture of the author Monthy
          Originally Posted by trip3980 View Post

          What are the businesses or what is the kind of business this person is trying to attain? Also afternoon may be the worst time because people are off on brake. Not saying that this is the only issue but my guess is go to the place of business you are trying to solicit and get a feeling first hand maybe one on one interaction is better then calling. Most business people are pretty busy and you have to speak to them on their level.
          Thanks but you did not read my original post in its entirety. He is making the calls to the U.S. from outside of the U.S., therefore a personal visit to the business is out of question.

          The firms that he is calling are SEO companies. He has tried to call such firms that were located in Los Angeles, New York and many other U.S. biggest cities and the results were roughly all the same (the same high number of answering machines).
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          • Profile picture of the author trip3980
            Originally Posted by Monthy View Post

            Thanks but you did not read my original post in its entirety. He is making the calls to the U.S. from outside of the U.S., therefore a personal visit to the business is out of question.

            The firms that he is calling are SEO companies. He has tried to call such firms that were located in Los Angeles, New York and many other U.S. biggest cities and the results were roughly all the same (the same high number of answering machines).
            Sorry I see now. Interesting. Something I would like to point out is that the kind of SEO companies that he is trying to call may be the issue. The problem in the united states especially in California is the that the company may be operated by one individual and not to mention that people who do SEO may be independent business people. And most likely many SEO companies may not be doing very well because of the economy. The reality is most SEO operations are done in India because it cheaper. so you can tell your friend that he is not doing anything wrong its just the reality of the economic season. If hes getting any positive response then I say hes doing a good job. But just note that 80 percent of small businesses fail in the united states and 26 of 28 million businesses are considered small businesses 22 million of the 28 million businesses are non employer businesses.
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  • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
    Get a local number.

    Use a dialer that will drop voice messages automatically at the click of a button.

    Use a multi-line dialer that will speed your calling.

    10% contact on cold-calling isn't terrible. Even if it IS terrible - so what? You are establishing a baseline. Know how many contacts = 1 sale, how many dials = 1 contact, and plan accordingly.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
      Originally Posted by DaniMc View Post

      Get a local number.

      Use a dialer that will drop voice messages automatically at the click of a button.

      Use a multi-line dialer that will speed your calling.

      10% contact on cold-calling isn't terrible. Even if it IS terrible - so what? You are establishing a baseline. Know how many contacts = 1 sale, how many dials = 1 contact, and plan accordingly.
      Which reminds me

      http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...need-make.html

      Very important.
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    • Profile picture of the author Monthy
      Originally Posted by DaniMc View Post

      Use a dialer that will drop voice messages automatically at the click of a button.

      Use a multi-line dialer that will speed your calling.
      I was thinking of using a multi-line dialer. I have found one that allows me dial up to 4 numbers at once. However, I was thinking, if the phone starts ringing for 4 people at once and I start the conversation with only the one that pick it up the fastest, then the other 3 people might be upset because the phone might have been ringing for a few seconds, they might have got up to pick it up and suddenly it stops ringing before they even have a chance to do so.

      Also, after I have had the conversation with the person who did pick it up, what then? Should I try the other 3 again to see if they pick it up? They still might I think...
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      • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
        Originally Posted by Monthy View Post

        I was thinking of using a multi-line dialer. I have found one that allows me dial up to 4 numbers at once. However, I was thinking, if the phone starts ringing for 4 people at once and I start the conversation with only the one that pick it up the fastest, then the other 3 people might be upset because the phone might have been ringing for a few seconds, they might have got up to pick it up and suddenly it stops ringing before they even have a chance to do so.

        Also, after I have had the conversation with the person who did pick it up, what then? Should I try the other 3 again to see if they pick it up? They still might I think...
        I know you have these questions. Everyone does when considering using a dialer.

        Instead of going into them I will just say - do it and all your questions will be answered.

        You obviously know you need to do it, but are thinking of reasons you might fail to see a return.

        Just do it. It will be good for you and you will make so much more progress. Everyone who really makes money cold-calling uses a dialer. You just need that volume of calls.

        Plus, your caller will be so much more happy. Don't worry if you miss some numbers - there are millions more to dial.
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  • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
    Originally Posted by Monthy View Post

    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
    You can buy a number from skype and tell them where you want it to show from.
    I believe its 8 or maybe 15 a month.

    Then you don't show as a "unknown"

    How are you getting around the 50 calls a day limit?
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    If he's calling businesses, and that's not an excuse, but the real case..., then you have a bad list or something. If you think about it; businesses are open, and they answer their phones. Residential? Sounds maybe plausible, but it shouldn't be the case with B2b.
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  • Profile picture of the author umc
    If you show up as unknown many people won't answer it.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by umc View Post

      If you show up as unknown many people won't answer it.
      I agree, but it shouldnt be the majority,in b2b. Businesses thrive on answering their phone.
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      • Profile picture of the author sconer
        Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

        I agree, but it shouldnt be the majority,in b2b. Businesses thrive on answering their phone.
        As a small business owner, the only way I can thrive is by not eating so much time per day talking to telemarketers. So when I see an "unknown" or out of area phone number come up, I let it go to voicemail since its most likely a telemarketer or robocall.
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        • Profile picture of the author umc
          Originally Posted by sconer View Post

          As a small business owner, the only way I can thrive is by not eating so much time per day talking to telemarketers. So when I see an "unknown" or out of area phone number come up, I let it go to voicemail since its most likely a telemarketer or robocall.
          Same for me. I've got things to do.

          I guess some of this depends on the target market. If you're calling small contractors they may not answer. That could be due to the unknown number or just because they're busy at the moment. Large corporations might though, as they're more likely to have someone dedicated to answering the phones.
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          • Profile picture of the author sconer
            Originally Posted by umc View Post

            Same for me. I've got things to do.

            I guess some of this depends on the target market. If you're calling small contractors they may not answer. That could be due to the unknown number or just because they're busy at the moment. Large corporations might though, as they're more likely to have someone dedicated to answering the phones.
            I now see that the OP said he was calling SEO companies.

            I think the problem is that 95% of "SEO companies" are the people you see coming here asking basic SEO questions because they started doing SEO 3 days earlier
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            • Profile picture of the author Monthy
              Originally Posted by kenmichaels View Post

              You can buy a number from skype and tell them where you want it to show from.
              I believe its 8 or maybe 15 a month.

              Then you don't show as a "unknown"

              How are you getting around the 50 calls a day limit?
              I was not aware there was a limit of 50 calls per day. Is this limit imposed by Skype itself?

              Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan View Post

              I've used a skype # for years...you can set it up so your # appears on Caller ID but you have to do this from within your skype profile, on the website not in the app.
              Yes, I have set up a USA Skype number now, it is a New York #. Let's see what results we get with it.

              Originally Posted by umc View Post

              If you show up as unknown many people won't answer it.
              Many people here have told me they send such callers straight to voicemail. Now that I have a USA number, let's see if it will make any difference.

              Originally Posted by sconer View Post

              I now see that the OP said he was calling SEO companies.

              I think the problem is that 95% of "SEO companies" are the people you see coming here asking basic SEO questions because they started doing SEO 3 days earlier
              I do call SEO companies (or rather my VA does it for me) but I'm not really sure they are the newbies you are referring to. For example, he called the top SEO companies in New York whose websites rank at the top in Google. I don't think a newbie who is asking basic SEO-related questions on this forum would have a website that would rank in the top 10 on Google within New York City.
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          • Profile picture of the author John Durham
            Originally Posted by umc View Post

            Same for me. I've got things to do.

            I guess some of this depends on the target market. If you're calling small contractors they may not answer.
            True. I stand corrected. Niches like small contractors are out on the job, and you may get only ten percent there. I have experienced that. You are right.

            We learned a new rule today:"Focus On Niches That Answer Their Phone"
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            • Profile picture of the author sconer
              Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

              True. I stand corrected. Niches like small contractors are out on the job, and you may get only ten percent there. I have experienced that. You are right.

              We learned a new rule today:"Focus On Niches That Answer Their Phone"
              As a small contractor, I find it VERY important to answer my phone. I know that when I don't answer my phone the customer is very likely to go down the list to the next contractor and call them instead of leaving a message with me.

              In my experience with other contractors both in real life and online, I find that many of them feel the same way. A lot of the old timers that had an answering machine in their office that they would check at the end of the day are now using cell phones and picking up every call.

              I also found that most contractors don't pickup unknown or out of area calls. That's why so many telemarketers and robocallers started using local numbers, and it works. I hate when Sharon, my local Google Specialist, calls from my own town!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Barry Unruh
    I use a combination of Skype and Google Hangouts/Voice for most of my calling, but I have phone numbers for each of the states I call into. (Currently only calling into 6 states.)

    I still get a fair number of calls going to voicemail, but the percentages are not nearly as high as yours. All six numbers ring back to my PC if someone returns a call to them.

    Since that encompasses 6 different Skype accounts that I flip between, I can make a lot more calls and still stay within their "fair use" criteria. At $2.99/month per account, it is a bargain. (Note: all of my numbers associated to Skype are Google Voice numbers.)
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    • Profile picture of the author Monthy
      Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

      True. I stand corrected. Niches like small contractors are out on the job, and you may get only ten percent there. I have experienced that. You are right.

      We learned a new rule today:"Focus On Niches That Answer Their Phone"
      Indeed, but one has to first find out what these niches are in order to focus on them through trial and error.

      The service I provide to SEO companies is content writing. I am not sure if other types of businesses would be as interested in fresh content on a regular basis as SEO companies tend to be. This is because the SEO companies do not always need it only for themselves, they also re-sell it to their clients and so they are more likely to respond to such an offer, in my opinion.

      If you can think of any other type of business that is likely to need new content on a regular basis, please do let me know.

      Originally Posted by Barry Unruh View Post

      I use a combination of Skype and Google Hangouts/Voice for most of my calling, but I have phone numbers for each of the states I call into. (Currently only calling into 6 states.)

      I still get a fair number of calls going to voicemail, but the percentages are not nearly as high as yours. All six numbers ring back to my PC if someone returns a call to them.

      Since that encompasses 6 different Skype accounts that I flip between, I can make a lot more calls and still stay within their "fair use" criteria. At $2.99/month per account, it is a bargain. (Note: all of my numbers associated to Skype are Google Voice numbers.)
      Thanks, Barry. Do you think it is a necessity to have a separate number for every state? Do people even care to look at the state code of the number?

      I know there is a difference between an unknown caller and an American caller, but that difference might not be so significant between local area caller and caller from elsewhere in the USA.
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      • Profile picture of the author Barry Unruh
        Originally Posted by Monthy View Post

        Thanks, Barry. Do you think it is a necessity to have a separate number for every state? Do people even care to look at the state code of the number?

        I know there is a difference between an unknown caller and an American caller, but that difference might not be so significant between local area caller and caller from elsewhere in the USA.
        I have never measured the differences, but I know from my own habits, if I see a phone number from out of state calling, I assume it is a telemarketing call. If it is an in-state call, I don't know if it is a marketing call, a client, or even a friend with a new mobile number.

        I let some of those out-of-state calls go to voicemail, but almost always answer the in-state calls.

        NOTE: That is my local business number and home phone that I don't answer, if they are calling a number I use in marketing, I always answer...
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