Most reports, quantified or anecdotal, accurate or guesswork, hearsay or first-hand, indicate that responses across all channels have declined since the beginning of the year, are still declining, and will continue to decline. Oh dear.

And nowhere have these dire conclusions focused on more than telemarketing. BDRs, SDRs, internal and external teams at every level are branded with poorer metrics in terms of contact success rates, conversations, appointments made, next steps agreed, and so on.

While few of these metrics go beyond activity to actual bottom of the funnel leads and share of revenue, “cold calling” has been given a bad rap.

Part of this, of course, is because calling is done – usually anyway – by humans. And it is easier and perversely more satisfying to blame a human than a m ore abstract medium like “email” or “programmatic.”

Regardless, successful calling by skilled agents remains a highly effective way of connecting with potential buyers. It qualifies opportunities, identifies buying habits and builds a more robust engagement than anything else.

But let’s ditch the term “cold calling”. Dialing completely out of the blue works sometimes. But much better to work with contacts that are “room temperature” and can be moved along to something even warmer.

Here are some guidelines:

• Work on a dataset that you have developed or with a partner that has relevant first party data (like Demand Studio)
• Ensure your script highlights and explains your brand and product. If your company is new, don’t assume it is already a household word!
• Training for all agents is essential however experienced
• Set the right goals and expectations – and make it clear to field sales and the channel what they will receive and how they must pick up the baton
• React in real time to calling outcomes – what is working and what isn’t