Sales calls are a critical part of your lead generation.
They do everything from set appointments, do triage and qualification, and at times, are even responsible for some conversions.
You can do a lot with them and that’s why it’s important that you do everything to make sure they’re working at their fullest potential.
This is why little things such as timing your sales calls are critical.
In today’s guide, we take a look at the best time for a sales call and even list down the days of the week where you should be making them.
Best Time for a Sales Call in the Morning
The best time for a sales call is 10 to 11 am in morning.
Anything before 10 am should be avoided because these are the times where your prospects are dealing with the more urgent concerns of their day. As a general rule, don’t make phone calls before 9 am.
Disturbing would make you come off as pushy and as a company that hard sells.
Past 11 am, you run the risk of interfering with their schedule to finish stuff off before lunch.
They are usually in a rush during this time, so it also makes no sense to disturb them with anything sales-y.
Here’s how to create the best sales script to convert.
Best Time for a Sales Call in the Afternoon
Alternatively, consider calling your prospects at the last hour of the workday which is 4 pm.
There’s a lot of good reasons to do it at this time.
First of all, they’re already winding down after doing a bunch of tasks during the day, the likelihood of them starting on something else is low so you’ll have their full attention span.
Then there’s the fact that they’ll have time to entertain your call. Showing them that you respect their time is critical to getting things moving and calling them when they’re free puts them at ease.
However, also pay attention to how long their workday is. There are some prospects that could be leaving the office at 6 – it’s not traditional but it happens. So, you have to make the necessary adjustments to accommodate them.
The Best Days for a Sales Call
Best Day: Wednesday
Wednesday is the middle of the week.
Most of the urgent things that your prospects have to deal with will have already been fixed on Monday at best or have been resolved by Tuesday.
Generally, things are calmer in the office and they’ll have time to spare.
If you follow our guidelines on the best time for a sales call and combine it with a Wednesday, you have a higher propensity of scoring more leads than convert.
Second Runner-up: Thursday
Your next good choice is Thursday.
You get all the benefits of Wednesday plus since it’s still part of the “middle” of the workweek you don’t have to worry about dwindling attention spans because of weekend plans.
We like Thursday as much as we like Tuesday.
In short, the three most optimal days you have are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They’re part of the middle of the week where people need to get things done.
Worst Day: Friday
At first, you’d think it was Monday, but Friday is the worst.
Here’s why.
On Fridays, your prospects are more focused on ending the workweek.
If you present them with a new product or proposal, there’s a chance that they won’t really be thinking about it during the weekend as they would be focused on their personal lives.
Compare that to say, Tuesday, where they could get subtle reminders of your solution during the time that they’re at work.
Also, you’ll have their undivided attention.
And, that’s important.
Second Worst Day: Monday
It should come as no surprise that Monday isn’t really the best time to hit up your prospect.
We’re written guides on the best days to post on LinkedIn and the best times to do webinars, and Monday never made the cut.
On Mondays, most people are focused on fixing the most pressing or urgent matters that affect the rest of the week, and Monday mornings are the best time to gear up.
Bothering with sales calls – no matter how relevant or helpful – would just be bad for your brand image.
So, what should you do instead?
Since it isn’t prime time for sales calls, your marketing team can use this time for other purposes such as planning, content creation, script tweaks, or other lead generation activities that do not involve direct calls.
Considerations
There are four major considerations when it comes to the best time for a sales call. These are mainly industry, timezone, target customer profile, and follow-ups.
Industry
Your first consideration is the industry.
If you’re in traditional industries such as tech or marketing, you’ll probably follow the general guidelines that we’ll discuss in a bit.
That’s the general rule.
However, this varies for industries that are running at different times or have weird shifts such as DMUs supervising irregular timeslots in BPOs and the like.
You need to be able to adjust to their time zones to make it easier for you to get in touch with your prospect.
Timezone
You should always be optimizing for the timezone of your prospect.
If they’re most available during your lunch break, then you need to start making small sacrifices to make sure that you reach them when it’s most comfortable for you.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a one or two-hour difference, you need to adapt.
Target Customer Profile
The most critical consideration is the customer profile.
There are some DMUs that might take longer lunches or have meetings around noon, or they could have all their internal meetings in the morning and have their external affairs sorted out in the afternoon. Whatever it is, you need to make adjustments.
If they’re a target demographic that have gatekeepers, make sure you adapt to their gatekeeper’s time when you’re first
The goal is to be customer-centric.
Why?
Because that’s the only way that you can create campaigns that resonate well with your prospects. These types of campaigns lead to better relationships, and better relationships lead to better conversion rates.
Follow Ups
How about follow-up voice mails, calls, etc.?
Yes, they might not technically be sales calls per se, but they still involve trying to get in touch with your prospects. Although you can drop a quick voicemail on a Monday, putting out a voicemail on a Tuesday is probably a better bet given the reasoning we mentioned earlier.
When in doubt, follow the general guidelines and you’ll be perfectly fine.
Takeaways
You might be the type of person who wants to make calls and emails every day, and props to you for your efforts.
That’s the way to go if you want to grow.
But as a growth hacker, it’s also your responsibility to be efficient with your efforts.
Why do most of your calls on Mondays, if it’s more customer-centric to do a bulk of them in the three-day window?
You need to take those factors into consideration and use the sub-optimal times for the rest of your growth hacking efforts.
This helps in increasing your conversion rates and making sure you don’t let any lead go to waste.
