When is the best day to cold call?

Photo by Gajus/dpc

• Insight Squared reports that their analysis shows that you should call between 10am and 4pm on Tuesday.
• Ken Krogue, on the Inside Sales Blog, says that Tuesday is actually the worst day to call. He recommends Wednesday and Thursday.
• Geoffrey James, writing for CBS MoneyWatch, pointed to data that indicates that Thursday is the best day to call, with 8am-9am and 4pm-5pm as the best times.
• Mike Kamo of Pointclear says “The best weekday to call is Thursday, followed by Tuesday then Wednesday. On Thursday, the week is nearly over and minds are beginning to focus on the weekend.”

All of these sources have data to back up their assertions, and I’m not about to argue with the data. I will argue, instead, with the premise.

It doesn’t matter what day, or what time, you choose to call sales prospects. The best time to call new prospects is whenever you start calling.

My sales team struggles with call reluctance.  It’s an every day battle.

This came from an East Coast Director of Sales who recently subscribed to this blog. Trying to determine the right time to call generates another excuse to do something else instead.

Ted Keyes, a sales trainer in the freight industry, puts it best:

You can say that first thing in the morning is the best time to call.  In the morning, your prospects have the least amount of fatigue.  They’re well rested from a good night’s sleep. They have more energy.  They have more willpower so they’ll be in a better mood.  Also, they haven’t dealt with their job challenges yet and on and on.

You can also say that first thing in the morning is the WORST time to call.  In the morning, your prospects are being challenged by the amount of work they have to get done.  Perhaps they missed breakfast and their blood sugar is low.  This low blood sugar means they have less time and patience for a stranger calling them and on and on!

In reality, we can make a list of pluses and minuses, like this, for every time of day to call on our prospects: mid-morning, before lunch, after lunch, 4 O’clock, end of the day, after hours.

As Keyes points out, there is no “best day”, or “best time”, to call. In my radio selling days, I had a lot of success calling prospects on Friday afternoons… because I was the only one in town making calls.

The hardest call to make is the first one of the day. Once that one’s out of the way, the next one comes naturally.

Don’t worry about what day or time is the right one to call. Just get started.

Call.

Question: What’s the best time YOU’VE found to make calls? You can leave a comment by clicking here.