In a 2016 HubSpot sales perception survey, 37% of salespeople who participated said that getting through to clients via phone or email was one of the biggest hurdles they faced. The good news is that AI has done its homework on the best times to get in touch with prospects and would like to share its findings with the class (please don’t kill us AI).
RingDNA is an AI platform that helps guide companies on how to close more deals. They recently shared a report with Business Insider that analyzed over 130 million sales calls and emails and concluded which time windows have the best response rates.
Howard Brown, founder and CEO of RingDNA, told Insider: "The idea is — businesses sit on all of this information that their sales team do on a daily basis, but they never had a way of analyzing each and every single step. It's been there. You can have a manager listen in to a call, but you never had the ability to search through massive amounts of data using artificial intelligence to find interesting moments and patterns that achieved the best results."
Here are four tips for better response rates, based on the report’s findings:
Make sales calls between 10 and 11:30 a.m.
The report shows that this is when people are most likely to pick up your calls. Late morning to just before lunch is when people are settled at their desks and more likely to have the bandwidth to talk to you. The study found that afternoon calls often go straight to voicemail.
Keep calls short
RingDNA's report shows that successful sales calls are on average 14.3 minutes in length, after which the chances of securing a demo decrease. Not only do you want to keep your sales calls short, you want to listen more than you talk. In a Salesforce study, over 70% of sales managers said listening to your customer’s needs and paying close attention to details are some of the most important skills for salespeople. Case in point: the report stated that the best salespeople only speak in increments of about 12 seconds (!) per call and spend the rest of the time listening to their customers.
Send emails between 12 and 3 p.m.
According to the report, if people aren’t responding to your sales calls, it’s because they’re opening your emails. Convenient, eh? While the hours between 12 and 6 p.m. are a good window for open rates, the peak email connecting time is right at 3 p.m.
Conclusion? Make calls in the morning and send emails in the afternoon.
Keep the pitch nice and short. Be clear with your prospect about what you’re selling, what kind of results they can expect, and how long it will take to get those results.
Additionally, do your homework and show that you’re familiar with the prospect’s work — this will go a long way toward establishing an authentic connection.
