5 ways to get revenue via outbound calling

August 6, 2024

Despite calls to the contrary, outbound sales is far from dead. Inbound sales might be “easier,” but it won’t always bring you the right kind of customer or enough customers to increase your overall revenue.

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Engaging in outbound sales means you can target the exact type of customer you want, rather than waiting for them to discover your brand, engage with your content, and request a consultation. B2B companies are already doing what works.

Outbound sales may feel slimy to the uninitiated whose mindset is mostly informed by stereotypical portrayals of “cold-calling.” But we have to remember that the average deal can take on more than 18 phone calls, and that’s if you can find an interested party. Outbound sales are a commitment. If we expect to play the long game, we can remove high-pressure, creep-out sales tactics and focus on building relationships. That mindset and these tactics will ease the way for sales teams and increase revenue in the long run.

Here are five strategies to get you started

Set Specific Targeting Criteria

Define what your ideal customer looks like. This doesn’t mean all of your customers have to fit this profile, but it does mean everyone you spend time targeting with outbound sales should match. Why repeat something you know isn’t going to work? Don’t waste your time targeting prospects that are less likely to close.

Make your customer profile as detailed as possible, and base it on actual users and advocates of your product. Which employee/title/company size/industry is your product best suited for, and how do these factors determine the way people use your product? What did the path to purchase look like for these customers, and can you attempt to replicate that?

Recognize KPIs and regular agent performance

Make utilization of the key performance indicators to set up the standards for the representative’s performance and track how your sales agents can be gauged. The common KPIs for the outbound calling campaigns enclosed the representative schedule standard, conversion rate, and average handle time.

The schedule adherence is the complete time of the representative available divided by the amount of time which is mainly scheduled to work on. This KPI can assist in managing the cost of staffing for an outbound calling campaign.

Conversion Rate is how many conversion or sales your representatives make divided by a complete number of calls done with Customer Experience Management . This KPI enables us to check which agents can effectively and quickly bring some new customers.

The average handle time is the amount of time which representative spends on the call including hold and transfer time too. Thus, to make most of the outbound calling campaigns, you are required to ensure that agents are managing requests effectively.

Invest in automated dialer software

Ensure that your outbound sales representatives work at peak efficiency with the automated dialer software. The predictive dialer or automatic dialer sees when the representatives become available and automatically dials the prospects on the list. Your representatives are not required to call on every number individually. Thus, there is not any downtime among the calls.

Work Accounts, Not Just Leads

Account-based marketing is more than just a buzzword; it’s a full strategy that requires research, attention, and personalization. ABM also requires collaboration between sales and marketing teams. While the full set of tactics is much more nuanced, here are some tips to get started:

Make a list of target account companies that resemble your customer profile.
Research the key players and decision-makers in these companies.
Tailor your sales tactics to the needs of the decision-makers who constitute the buying group.
Account-based marketing targets groups of decision-makers, rather than a single lead, to build brand awareness and continuity.

If the right decision-makers know about your product and share info with higher-ups in the company, you’re more likely to close.

Account-based marketing is harder and often a lot different than what your sales and marketing teams are used to, but it lends itself to deeper personalization and yields more revenue from fewer clients.

Gather Lead Data

Consider using a third-party provider to gain more targeted leads without spending exorbitant amounts of time on prospecting. There are dozens of companies out there that collect, verify, and sell prospect information to help sales teams build pipeline for their Outbound Campaigns. While it won’t replace your own internal research and account-targeting tactics, purchasing lead data from other sources can ease some of that end-of-month and end-of-quarter pain.

Lists of opt-in leads are more expensive, but they’ll also take less time to close, especially if you have a good nurture process in place. Speak with your data source to see if they offer any playbooks or consulting to help you get the most out of your leads.