Is telesales dead

[TelesMedia]

We still do telesales calls

post covid it was successful but now it feels a lot less so

does anyone still do 100-200 telesales calls a day??

does anyone answer them?

 

[Mark T Jones]

Funnily enough, I get 200 calls a day trying to improve my EE contract - I do wonder at the economics, but presumably somebody is making money from it

Then there are the more targeted and considered calls which may work if done well

Where are you in the market?

 

[fisicx]

does anyone still do 100-200 telesales calls a day??

Not me. I only need one new client per week so cold calling wouldn't be much use.

But I do get a lot of calls asking about getting an energy survey. Not even a real person these days - it's all AI junk.

 

[TelesMedia]

i think ai is going to flood it even more to the point people just wont pick up - although thats already happening. i rarely pick up if i dont know the number.

 

[ctrlbrk]

i rarely pick up if i dont know the number.

What a refreshingly candid admission.

 

[WaveJumper]

Unless you are in my contacts you won't get through

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

does anyone still do 100-200 telesales calls a day??

Anybody who is needs some sales training

 

[Paul Norman]

Funnily enough, I get 200 calls a day trying to improve my EE contract - I do wonder at the economics, but presumably somebody is making money from it

Then there are the more targeted and considered calls which may work if done well

Where are you in the market?

Just 200? I would feel hurt and ignored at those volumes

 

[Paul Norman]

Like all things, done well, it probably still does work. We do some outbound cold calling, and we do get leads from it.

Not 100 a day, though.

Of course, the many badly made sales calls are doing a decent job of devaluing the whole idea, and I get why, after being sold 3 funeral plans and told you were in a road accident, people might just be hanging up on callers who are not their actual mum.

 

[Marantzdigital]

I have always wondered what types of people actually entertain these calls, new iphone you say? sure! it must be a hard job to pursue, hats off to you if successful as I am sure most people will be rude

 

[Mover1]

We still do telesales calls

post covid it was successful but now it feels a lot less so

does anyone still do 100-200 telesales calls a day??

does anyone answer them?

Hi, Do you mean cold calling? Are you calling B2B or domestic?

 

[MikeJ]

Telephone Preference Service.
Corporate Telephone Preference Service.

Report anything that breaks the rules.

 

[uliana_ww]

We still do telesales calls

post covid it was successful but now it feels a lot less so

does anyone still do 100-200 telesales calls a day??

does anyone answer them?

cold calling does not make sense in the modern age

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Why not?

Surely it depends on what you are selling?

We sell products for events and cold call accordingly...

 

[Joey80]

It still works if your target customer is someone who has to has to pick up the phone to unknown numbers micro businesses like owner/drivers, plumbers, cleaners etc. otherwise, it's pretty much dead.

 

[Mark T Jones]

It still works if your target customer is someone who has to has to pick up the phone to unknown numbers micro businesses like owner/drivers, plumbers, cleaners etc. otherwise, it's pretty much dead.

To paraphrase

Any type of prospecting can work in certain environments but not in others...

 

[Mover1]

Depends on the product or service. Business to Business calls can be successful if you can get to speak to the right person, however, often these days no telephone number is available.
I would also add in my experience more personalised approach and NOT scrips are the best.

 

[ForthrightHQ]

Not dead, but doing it badly enough to seem like it is.
The 100-200 calls a day model is essentially trading quality for volume. Works after a fashion — as long as you're fine with a 98% hang-up rate and burning through lists at speed.
What still does work is calls as part of a sequence rather than the opening move. If someone has already seen your name in an email a couple of times, the call becomes a different conversation entirely. You're not a cold stranger anymore, you're following up. Pick-up rates and connect quality shift noticeably.
Joey80 and Mark T Jones are both right that it's sector-dependent. Targeting a sole trader who lives on their mobile is a completely different game from trying to reach a procurement manager at a 50-person company who screens everything. The channel isn't dead — the shotgun approach is.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

The channel isn't dead — the shotgun approach is.

Again, it depends on the industry and the demand!

Solar panels, which Octopus say have seen a 50% rise in sales and mis-sold car finance are ripe for telesales.

 

[ForthrightHQ]

Lucan's right that sector drives everything. Hot demand + outbound = good economics; cold market + outbound = mostly pain.

What I'd add is that even within a hot sector, the calls that convert usually involve a bit of pre-call context — not a deep research project, just knowing whether the person you're calling actually owns the property, or whether their finance arrangement falls in the relevant window. That basic pre-qualification shrinks the list but makes every call worth having.

Volume isn't dead weight by itself, but volume without any filter is how a channel gets a reputation for being dead. The sector doesn't rescue you if you're calling the wrong people in it.