Improving Sales Metrics: Need Help to Optimize Dial Results
Cold Call Sales Process 1000 dials - ~270 pickups - 40 appointments booked - 1 closed. If you help me fix this I will pay you
The challenge is the 270-> 1 not the data quality it seems unless your icp is off
+1 to ICP refinement. Think about layers…Characteristics (industry, size, etc.) behaviors, and operations. Then, I would be really curious what is happening from 40>1. That seems to be a conversion problem. Is the team doing harm and actually disqualifying good opps? Are they leading too much with product and leaving the “dot connecting” on whether to buy too much on the prospect? Lots to unpack there to determine the true root cause issues but at 1/40 that put the win rate at 2.5%. For a refine ICP, agreeing to a meeting, win rate should be higher than 33%. How are you tackling the conversion side of things? Have you listened to the calls? Any major themes?
What industry are you targeting? What’s your competitive market look like? I’m assuming this is based on NewBiz? Renewal, upsells, buyouts - what strategies are you using to close? What tools do reps have to entice customers to sign? Trial converting to paid? Free months? Are you looking to secure a 12, 24, or 36 month contract? Multi year deals you can offer ramped pricing with a negotiable auto-renew clause after a year to give the customer flexibility = more trust to sign. What’s the reps discount floor? Are they bringing in an internal champion to assist with closing? An opt out clause also gives customers more incentive to sign.
Very precise problem statement Justin C.. 1000 dials to 1 closed is not bad. However, what is concerning me is 40 appointments to 1 closed. I'd start looking there. Of course, have no idea of the product, demo, the sales team setup, buyer, industry etc. But, would def start looking into what happened in those 40 appointments - how many were no-shows. Of the ones that showed up, can u review the calls and make changes? Only after that step, would I say you look deeper into 270 pickups to 40 appointments booked
I am thinking there is not only an ICP issue, but a value proposition issue as well. We’re not articulating the value proposition very well
a few thoughts and questions to help diagnose what's happening: Out of the 39 meetings that didn’t convert, are those deals currently marked as closed-lost, ghosted, or still in progress? Understanding where they sit in the pipeline helps clarify whether the issue is qualification, follow-up, or just timing. Also, of the 40 meetings booked, were they all self-sourced, or were some accepted opportunities from other teams (such as inbound, SDR, or partnerships)? If there's a handoff involved, what's the criteria for something to be considered a valid opportunity? If the bar is too low, that can seriously impact close rates downstream. Lastly, what's typically happening in those 39 meetings? Are sellers primarily qualifying, running full demos, or doing a mix of both? If reps are jumping into demos too early without solid discovery, that can lead to poor conversion. On the flip side, if the entire meeting is just qualifying with no value shown, prospects may lose interest. Ideally, there should be a balance,some light value shown during discovery, then a tailored demo once true interest and fit are confirmed. Let me know if you want to dig deeper or build out a checklist to help standardize qualification and opportunity criteria
To articulate the value proposition effectively, sellers first need to ask the right questions. Without a strong discovery, it's impossible to tailor the value in a way that resonates. The quality of the value pitch is directly tied to how well the rep understands the prospect's specific pain points, goals, and priorities
Out of the 40 appointments booked, how many appointments actually took place? Average cold call to meeting booked is 2%, so your 4% is above average, but if meetings aren't being held, the first place to look would be targeting + messaging. If all 40 booked meetings took place and your close rate is 2.5% then the first place to start would be qualifying and discovery on that first call, because as Tony said, you should be closer to 13 closed with 40 meetings.
I am curious of the product shown during the appointment? What is the length of the sales cycle? For inbound, what is the win-rate? At my org, we have completely automated this whole process... We have built massive Clay tables that complete email outreach, get the lead to opt in, simultaneously robo-dial leads with an AI SDR... and book demos with AEs and we maintain a 50% close rate from booked demos, but we have very limited ICP that is well defined
27% pickup rate is unheard of right now, but a 15% conversion to meeting is where I see the bottleneck. Is it an ICP problem, product problem, or process problem that is preventing you from converting more of the pickups into meetings. That's where I'd focus. Then you tackle the CW conversion rate issue once you have more of an 'n' to work with.
I appreciate all of the help! Apologies for lack of context I hope this answers your questions: We are a Airbnb Co-hosting company. Full service property management for vacation rentals. (we handle guest turnovers, cleaners, etc.) The people we are calling are verified Airbnb owners currently under management from Partial service M companies (they just list it on Airbnb and vrbo). They charge 10% Right now we are charging 12% and we literally do everything to make the Airbnb owner completely hands off our competitors just list their property on different platforms. Because of the difference in service our clients typically see 25% - 40% increase in revenue. When we cold call them. We frame it as such: SETTER: “We’re a white glove co-host company that manages a curated portfolio of high-performing Airbnbs — We basically specialize in taking properties to the top of their market and yours on [Street] immediately caught our eye. It looks like a strong fit for our collection.” “If that sounds interesting, I’d love to ask a couple quick questions to see if we’re a match?” The CTA of that call is: SETTER: “So just to be clear—this call was an interview. And after everything we’ve talked about, I’m confident we’re a strong fit. The numbers are there, the setup makes sense, and I’d be excited to bring your property into our portfolio.” SETTER: “So here’s next step: I’m sending your details to underwriting right now. They’ll run a deeper analysis and quote the precise lift—might be 12 %, might be 40 %. If your place qualifies, you’ll have their custom offer in about a day or 2. Lets book a time (2-3 days) to review it with our CEO.” underwriting email (sent 1 day after cold call): Then the underwriter emails them touching on their pain points and binding them to our solutions and saying the % increase we are confident we can get them. THEN - We say we are so confident that we will guarantee we get you a 20% increase in the next 12 months or we will refund the $500/per prop onboarding fee. We attach the agreements for their review then say "Jon will walk you through the contracts tomorrow (Booked time). Follow up call with the CEO (Second phone conversation) Close. 1000 dials - ~270 pickups - 40 appointments booked - ~30 showed - 1 closed. We do 12 month contracts. 98% retention rate. Currently have 55 properties under management.
Internal hand off is horrendous. Dropping the ball on leads because lack of organization. We are building this from scratch so early days are a mess and its definitely reflecting in our close rates. However, thats not the main reason we are at 1 closed.
Unsure what the reason is.