Use Scientific Measurement to Increase Conversion Rates

A leading scientist is using scientific sampling and analysis to discover how to best sell to potential customers. Dr. James Oldroyd from the Kellogg School of Management recently examined the electronic logs of more than a million cold calls, made by thousands of sales professionals inside approximately 50 companies. "Using a variety of analysis techniques, we extracted patterns of success and failure which reveal that some of the conventional wisdom concerning cold calling is just plain wrong," he explains.

For example, most cold calling experts recommend putting aside a certain amount of time every weekday to make calls. However, Oldroyd’s research indicates that Thursday is by far the best day to contact a lead in order to qualify him or her as a prospect. By contrast, Friday is the worst day, by almost 20 percent, when compared to Thursday.

Similarly, some experts recommend making cold calls around 1 pm, in the hopes of reaching the prospect during the natural work lull that follows the midday meal. Other experts recommend calling in mid-morning, when your own energy is at its peak. Turns out, though, those are the wrong times entirely. The best times to call to qualify a lead are from 8 am to 9 am, and from 4 pm to 5 pm. In fact, 8-9 am is 164 percent better than calling right after lunch.

Conventional wisdom also says that you’ve got a few days to a week to follow up on a lead that’s shown some interest in your offerings (by accessing your Website, for instance). Not so. Oldroyd’s study reveals that, in B2B selling environments, the best odds of qualifying a lead happen within 20 minutes after interest is shown. Best case, you should call within five minutes, which is 21 times more likely to result in a qualified prospect than if you wait an entire half hour.

Another maxim of cold calling is that the routine is pretty much the same, regardless of the target industry. But that’s not the case. Some industries, like communications and information technology, require cold calling, to be effective, to take place almost immediately after a lead has shown interest. Other industries, like financial services and health care, can tolerate longer response times, even as long as 24 hours.

Dr. Oldroyd cautions that his research, while definitive, is not yet complete. "We still need to study how the time factor influences selling at different price points," he says. Oldroyd also notes that individual companies may find that their success rates are influenced by other factors. "It’s absolutely vital to measure and analyze your own sales data to see what’s working and what’s not," he advises.

As a general rule, Dr. Oldroyd believes that his research strongly suggests that companies should realign and reprioritize their sales team deployments. "It’s probably better to have inside sales reps sitting around and making cold calls whenever a lead shows an interest than paying them to make cold calls to follow up on old leads," he explains.

Oldroyd also believes that companies should staff up their inside sales, rather than invest more on field sales. Fortunately, that’s a trend that’s already taking place, according to Oldroyd. "Companies are adding new inside sales departments at a rate of 7.5 percent annual growth," he says. "By 2012 nearly 800,000 companies worldwide will have added inside sales departments where none existed before."