Everyone’s heard the expression “the luck of the Irish.” It’s especially prevalent this time of year, during the recent St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. But did you know this seemingly innocuous phrase initially had negative undertones?
It is believed the saying originated during the U.S. gold rush in the 19th century, when many of the most successful miners were Irish American. According to historians, the phrase was initially meant in a derogatory fashion, suggesting the miners were more lucky than skilled.
Truth is, though, there’s nothing wrong with stumbling upon a little good fortune—and VSA knows this well. Luck plays a role in any productive lead generation or appointment-setting campaign. Sure, it’s impossible to enjoy sustained success without preparation, hard work, and a thorough understanding of your market, but as any business development or sales rep can tell you, sometimes a conversion just comes down to the serendipity of reaching the exact right decision-maker at the exact right time.
But here’s another popular expression: “You create your own luck.” While luck—good or bad—factors into the results of any cold calling lead generation campaign, there are steps you can take to significantly increase your odds of success. Here are five of them:
1. Hone your target list
VSA has had plenty of clients through the years who acknowledged that their in-house prospect lists were incomplete, outdated, disorganized, or inaccurate. Without a strong list, your campaign is destined to struggle.
A great list means not only having correct contact information for your ideal targets, but having multiple names and phone numbers for each entity. If you’re focused on reaching one person at one number, you probably will need a little luck to get through, but if you add alternate names or numbers to the mix, your odds of a connection and a meaningful conversation are significantly higher.
At the same time, filtering out old or inaccurate contacts decreases the odds of wasted dials.
VSA leverages multiple external list-building resources and in-house solutions developed over two-plus decades of lead generation to develop quality lists for our clients. Whether we’re enhancing your existing list or building a list from scratch based on your ideal client profile, we don’t rely on luck to help you connect with the right audience.
2. Follow the data
Of course there’s luck involved with catching a busy executive at the right time who is willing to listen to your pitch, but it shouldn’t be a total crapshoot. Knowing the best days and times to dial, the right job titles to pursue, and the messaging that’s most likely to keep people on the phone goes a long way toward increasing your chances of productive conversations and scheduling sales appointments.
VSA is a data-driven organization—every lead generation program is closely monitored to see what’s working and what isn’t. There are programs where we stop calling on certain days or times because the dial-to-conversation rate is significantly lower than the rest of the week. Or maybe we discover that a certain line in the script is consistently resulting in our BDRs getting shut down and needs to be tweaked.
No VSA lead generation program is “set it and forget it.” While it’s easy to find general cold calling statistics that suggest the most productive times of the week to dial, the truth is that every program is different, and you can’t know for sure what’s most effective until you’ve amassed at least a couple of weeks of data. Following the data and responding accordingly removes a significant chunk of luck from the equation.
3. Preparation and collaboration
There is a popular quote attributed to Roman philosopher Seneca: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” When it comes to developing lead generation programs for our clients, that’s certainly VSA’s mindset.
A partnership with VSA includes a meticulous onboarding process, in which we take a deep dive into not just our clients’ offering, messaging, and prospect list, but also their past lead generation efforts. The close collaboration continues for the duration of the program, with regular weekly meetings, detailed reports, and full transparency.
If goals aren’t being met, we don’t sugarcoat the results, make excuses, or blame it on “bad luck.” Instead, we take full accountability and look for ways to improve production.
4. Keep calling!
Studies have shown it takes an average of eight cold call attempts to reach a prospect. But according to the Chicago-based sales consulting firm IRC, 44% of B2B sales reps give up after one follow-up call. A separate report from Zippia reveals that 53% of salespeople give up too early in their cold calling. No wonder they’re so “unlucky” in their attempts to reach prospects.
Many sales reps have a strong aversion to cold calling—63% call it the worst part of their job and 48% actually fear it, according to recent statistics. But at VSA, cold calling is what we do—all day, every day. It doesn’t take nearly as much luck to reach a qualified prospect and deliver your message when you’re committed to spending the day on the phones.
While we keep a close eye on total dials to a single prospect to know when it no longer makes sense to continue calling, there have been countless times through the years when we’ve scheduled appointments on the 10th, 15th, or even 20th (or more) attempt. That’s not luck; that’s persistence.
5. The right messengers
You can have a strong list and a compelling message, but ultimately, the success of a telephone lead generation campaign comes down to the people making the calls. When a BDR schedules an appointment or piques a prospect’s interest, it’s not because they got “lucky.” It’s because they took the time to hone their telephone skills, understand the client’s offering, and incorporate best practices.
VSA’s BDRs are among the longest tenured in the industry, far exceeding the average of 1.8 years. There is only a 3% turnover among our top-performing BDRs. This type of experience and longevity leads to more confidence, a better attitude in the face of rejection, and mitigates the impact luck can have on a campaign.
On top of that, VSA’s Program Managers and Quality & Training team provide hand-on coaching and support throughout each BDR’s time at the company, regardless of their skill level.
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While luck certainly plays a role in the outcome of a lead generation or appointment-setting campaign, VSA knows how to maximize the opportunities for success. From the right technology and infrastructure to the right people to 22 years of lead generation experience and expertise, we have the resources and knowledge to help you fill your pipeline and grow your business.
Want to learn more? Give us a call or drop us an email. Let’s try our luck and see what we can accomplish together.