Once you have crafted your message and created your annotation process, you are ready to begin applying sales cadence best practices.
These smart cycles, or Sales Call Cadence, are the systematic application of touchesover a certain period of time. In the same way that your marketing team is hitting prospects through email drips, your SDR team is hitting prospects via email and phone touches.
With a multi-touch and methodical approach, the SDR can stay top of mind by adding valuable content and sales pitches along the way.
Don’t have time to read the full guide right now? Download the Ultimate Guide to B2B Appointment Setting to read at your convenience.
Appointment setting is human-centered. We have found that automated sales call cadence tools such as autodialers lack the personal touch that is a crucial element in appointment setting.
By having a dedicated SDR team focused on calling for your company, your SDR team can have more informative and valuable interactions with their prospects. An SDR that has left multiple voicemails is much more effective than an autodialer waiting for someone to pick up the phone with a canned/pre-recorded sales pitch.
The next factor to consider is the importance of volume in your appointment setting outreach.
The goal for appointment setting is to go a “mile wide” instead of a “mile deep”.
This systematic sales cadence prevents SDRs from getting too deep with a certain prospect record. You want to implement depth further downstream at the sales level, where nurturing becomes a key component to closing a deal.
If you call on your database too often or send them an email every few days, you risk the chance of an unsubscribe. By solely focusing on a small portion of your database, you may miss out on other opportunities that are being neglected.
In contrast, if you burn through your database by using an autodialer, you may miss potential opportunities to nurture leads with a personal touch. We call this “scorched earth” because it renders the database unusable after a few cycles and typically causes mass unsubscribes.
Finding this balance in your sales cadence can be the difference in maintaining a healthy and engaged database.
Your sales call cadence will vary based on the temperature of the lead. For warmer leads, you should have a tighter cadence with more touches. One might compare this to striking while the iron is hot.
In contrast, with a colder lead or in the example of a purchased list, you want your appointment setting team to apply a tighter cadence on a longer time-frame. By differentiating the two, your SDR team can prioritize warmer leads in the short-term and spread out colder leads in the long-term.
Here is a template that our SDR teams use to establish cadence for a prospect. Notice how the cadence becomes tighter for prospects with a lower EBrating and is more spread out for higher numbers.
We often get these questions: Is there a magic formula for sales call cadence? How many touches do I need before they convert to an SQL?
The short answer: there is none.
Each case is different based on the size of the database and nature of the outreach, which is why it’s extremely important to do research to understand your buyer personas.
Take a look at the following report from one of our security SaaS clients. You’ll notice that purchased lists took close to 15 touches (either email or phone) to convert to sales-ready.
On the other hand, website visitors took half as many touches and referrals were even smaller still.
The amount of touches may vary based on need, industry type, company size, and a variety of other factors. As you implement smart cycles into your appointment setting outreach, make sure to adapt to the market and reflect on what went well and what didn’t.
One thing we have noticed over the years is that very few companies reach out sufficient times and often give up too early.
If that prospect still works at that company and has that role, they are most likely the right person. It’s important to remember to not give up and keep the sales cadence going until you can make the appointment.
If not, after a certain amount of touches, relegate the contact and move on to your next lead.
No answer is still an answer.
Data Tip: Never delete your records. It is important to keep your database filled with relevant information and appropriate documentation. If you buy a new list, you may end up sending out an email to a previously unsubscribed prospect from a deleted record. This type of data mismanagement can damage your brand and influence future sales.
In our final phase, we will discuss setting up an effective feedback loop and determining what metrics to report on.
Don’t have time to read the full guide right now? Download the Ultimate Guide to B2B Appointment Setting to read at your convenience.
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