Overcoming Challenges with Cold Calls & Emails

Conquering Sales Challenges: A Conversation with Srba by Ashutosh

We all know that cold emails and cold calling are like our trusted allies. But here’s the twist – they also come with their fair share of challenges. 

I recently had a fascinating conversation with Srba, a seasoned sales leader from Deckrobot, who’s been in the business long enough to know the ins and outs. His team faced some serious challenges, and you can bet they had to work their socks off to overcome them.

Cold Calling Challenge:

Statistics suggests that cold calling is effective in generating leads for about 50% to 60% of B2B businesses and about 78% of decision-makers have taken an appointment or attended an event as a result of a cold call.

Yes, cold calling may seem like a straightforward approach, but it comes with specific challenges. It’s a numbers game, for every hundred calls you make, you might be lucky if seven or eight people answer. And of those, perhaps just 1% might convert to a successful meeting. So, yes, you’ll need to make a lot of calls to achieve those calling goals. 

The average response rate for cold calls is around 1% to 3%. This means that for every 100 cold calls made, you can expect 1 to 3 positive responses.

Srba’s been in the game long enough to understand that hitting his calling numbers and blocks is not just a part of the job – it’s the key to success.

The SDRs on Srba’s team were not always comfortable with cold calling, as English wasn’t their native language. This discomfort combined with the need for a solid script and mock calls added more complexity to the process. His team had to muster the energy for dedicated calling time blocks and adapt to the prospects’ time zones, not their own.

The Solution

For a team facing cold calling challenges similar to what we’ve discussed, a calling feature that offers advanced call analytics and insights would be immensely helpful. This feature could provide detailed call reports, call recording and transcription, realtime CRM sync, and real-time call monitoring. 

The odds of qualifying a lead are 21 times greater when contacted within five minutes of the event occurring compared to 30 minutes

Modern calling tools like SmartReach’s Calling Channel offer several features that allow sales leaders to set up daily calling limits for each sales rep, ensuring they maintain a consistent and productive calling routine. Moreover, they facilitate the establishment of calling blocks based on the prospects’ time zones, increasing the chances of connecting with them at the most convenient moments.

Furthermore, these tools enable sales leaders to upload scripts that provide valuable guidance to sales reps during calls, ensuring they stay on message and maintain a professional approach. 

For sales reps who are native speakers, there’s even a beneficial feature that allows sales leaders to listen to calls in real time, providing immediate feedback and guidance to improve the quality of the conversations. These capabilities collectively contribute to more efficient and effective cold outreach efforts.

Besides the cold calling problems, Srba next speaks about a few challenges with cold emailing.

Cold Email Challenges

One of the significant hurdles Srba and his team faced was the issue of email deliverability. We have already spoken about this in “How to improve email deliverability? In conversation with Srba.

On average, cold email campaigns yield a response rate of approximately 5-10%, making it a cost-effective way to initiate conversations with potential clients.

Another obstacle they tackled was the low reply rates. Srba revealed that their reply rates were hovering around a mere 2%, which could be disheartening. They put extensive effort into sending out personalized emails, carefully selecting leads that perfectly match their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), verifying email addresses, and conducting bounce tests. Despite all these efforts, the reply rate remained notably low, making the process time-consuming.

Efficiency was crucial, and Srba mentioned that their email sequences had about seven to eight steps, starting with a cold email and including multiple follow-ups. Despite the dedication, their reply rate remained a challenge.

The Solution

What would you do if you were in this situation?

Emails aren’t any less of a puzzle. We all know that the ‘inbox vs. spam’ game has become hotly competitive. Crafting the perfect sales message doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t land in your prospect’s inbox. With deliverability rates on the line, it’s essential to get it right.

To improve this, you will need special tools in your  cold email software. Tools that can let your team experiment with different email subject lines, content, and the best times to send emails, so they can find what works best. Better still, a tool that can generate AI-powered email communication for you. You’ll need a tool like or similar to SmartReach.

As per a HubSpot study, 43% of marketers are using AI to generate email content. This number is expected to grow in the coming years

Such software also helps make each email more personal, which makes people more likely to reply. Plus, it suggests when to send emails based on where the recipients live. Following up with people who didn’t respond is also easier with this software. It’s like reminding them gently. Simply set it up and let automation work for you.

Additionally, it can gradually send more emails over time to build a good email reputation and prevent emails from going to spam folders. It also keeps everything organized, verifies the workability of email addresses, gives important data insights, and ensures emails don’t get marked as spam. 

All these features combined help teams like Srba’s get more people to respond to their cold emails.

Positive Outlook

Sales leaders like Srba thrive on challenges. They are keenly aware of the hurdles they must overcome to achieve success. The secret lies in understanding these challenges and adopting strategies to conquer them.

As a sales leader, you must take on the challenges of cold outreach – the unanswered calls, unopened emails, and initial rejections. But it’s precisely this tenacity and resilience that will set the stage for triumph. Instead of seeing these challenges as setbacks, view them as opportunities to fine-tune your approach.

Adaptability is key. You need to be agile, open to experimenting with different channels, and unafraid of innovation. Sales is always changing, and by keeping up with what’s new and the latest tech, you can stay ahead of the game.

Moreover, as a sales leader, you should understand that your team members are essential assets. A supportive and collaborative environment can boost their morale and performance. It’s a collective effort, and a positive team spirit can help overcome challenges more effectively.

Insights and Expertise

In our conversation, Srba emphasized embracing an omnichannel or multichannel sales approach, highlighting the importance of persistence and consistency for success, a sentiment shared by renowned sales enthusiasts.

You can learn from Srba’s experience and apply his wisdom. When facing cold calling and emailing challenges, SmartReach offers solutions to streamline these processes, facilitating smoother and more productive sales outreach

In conclusion, and as Srba explained, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution in the realm of sales. That’s precisely why you should adopt an omnichannel strategy. The truth is, not everyone responds to cold calls, and not every email lands in the right inbox. By diversifying your cold outreach channels, you can improve your odds of connecting with prospects effectively. 

Srba firmly believes in the power of consistency, and he knows that persistence can lead to results across various channels. His insights provide valuable lessons for those in the world of sales and marketing. 

It’s not about finding the perfect channel; it’s about finding the perfect strategy and the perfect sales engagement software to take you across the finish line.  

With SmartReach as your partner, the journey becomes more manageable and affordable.

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