Is Cold Calling Dead? 74% of You Say No!

So even after doing SaaS all this years, and being perhaps the biggest fan of SaaS sales and sales processes out there … I still struggle with the idea of cold calling. Personally, I never answer a cold call, and want at least my initial discovery to be done over email.

But I’m not the average tech buyer, and you probably aren’t either.

So I put out the latest survey to see how many folks were successful doing cold phone outbound (not email) in 2023?

The answer: a lot. Most:

Now granted, a survey isn’t that nuanced. A lot of phone-based cold calling isn’t 100% cold. It’s to folks that already have taken at least a “pre-action” in many cases (been to the website, been to an event, etc.). That’s not true raw cold calling.

I really liked this summary from CRO Jesse Gomez:

Cold calling represents one piece of a comprehensive go to market. >60% of decision makers visit the website and other sources to consume data on the solution, competitors, and understanding the problems the solution solves. If it’s a priority for prospect they are more than 80% inclined to respond to “cold calling” to schedule an appointment. IME, none of the pieces in a well designed GTM are a silver bullet, independently. Also, I have personally observed the evolution of the “buying behavior” evolve over the last 10 years, to what it is today. Point being, if I implemented a plan today that is an exact replica of what I used 10 years ago to grow revenue at that time, it would be wildly ineffective today. My $0.02

Maybe this survey isn’t a surprise to many of you, but it is to me. I never check my voicemail and avoid phone calls as much as possible.

But yes, when I want to buy, and a great rep calls … that can be a great experience.

It looks like most of you are trying to run that playbook, and importantly, are seeing it work. 40% of you say cold calling really works, and another 34% say it still works a little and is worth it (my general experience). The reality is, anything that works even a bit is usually worth doing — if you have the resources than know how to run that playbook.

How are you running “cold” phone outbound?