In the swiftly evolving business landscape, choosing the most effective strategy for outreach can be a daunting task. As companies strive to break through the noise and reach their potential customers, it becomes vital to assess the merits and demerits of each approach. This quest for understanding brought us to conduct an intriguing experiment: pitting Social Selling, Cold Calling, and Cold Emailing against each other in the modern business arena.
Over three months, we undertook an extensive exploration of these strategies, diving deep into their mechanics, costs, efforts, and payoffs. This real-life showdown was aimed not only to discern the potential benefits of each but also to help businesses identify which method aligns best with their unique needs, audience, and goals.
The results? They might surprise you. From the intricacies of building relationships through content on social platforms to the art of crafting compelling cold emails, or the perseverance needed in cold calling campaigns – each strategy presented its own set of challenges and rewards.
So buckle up as we delve into the captivating face-off of Social Selling vs. Cold Email vs. Cold Calling, and decipher which strategy holds the crown in the realm of modern business outreach.
Table of Contents
SOCIAL SELLING 1: Leveraging Social Selling for Lovdis Corp (Content Sharing Only)
Lovdis recognized the potential of social selling to reach its target customers more effectively. This approach emphasized developing strong relationships with prospects through various social media platforms, fostering trust and credibility. Prior to implementing this strategy, the company’s sales process was largely traditional and relied heavily on cold calling, which had been effective but difficult to scale.
Method:
The company began its journey into social selling by equipping its sales team with training on leveraging social media platforms. Key tools included LinkedIn for professional networking, Twitter for brief and regular updates, and Facebook for more personalized interaction.
Steps:
Profile Optimization: The sales team updated their LinkedIn profiles to highlight their expertise, value, and credibility.
Content Sharing: They shared relevant and valuable industry-related content to engage with prospects and establish their authority in the field.
Listening and Engagement: Using social listening tools, the team identified prospective customers’ needs, pain points, and interests. They then initiated meaningful conversations.
Relationship Building: The team nurtured these conversations into relationships, gradually moving prospects through the sales funnel.
Measuring Results: They used social media analytics to track engagement, leads, and conversions.
Results:
Sales Pipeline: In the first 3 months, Lovdis Corp. observed a 130% increase in quality leads in the sales pipeline compared to the previous quarter. The social selling strategy enabled the sales team to target more effectively, engage with high-quality prospects, and generate more warm leads.
Conversion Rates: With warm leads in the pipeline, the conversion rates improved significantly. The company recorded a 35% increase in conversions within six months.
Sales Cycle: The sales cycle time reduced by 30% as the sales team was dealing with prospects who had a pre-established level of trust and interest.
Event Registration: A significant enhancement was observed in the event registrations. Utilizing LinkedIn for their outreach, the Lovdis team found that an impressive 32% of event registrations were generated through this platform. This revelation underscores the power of social selling and effective networking on professional platforms like LinkedIn for driving engagement and improving event attendance.
ROI: Total Return On Investment after 9 Months was 157%
| Parameters | Group A (Social Selling – Content Sharing) |
| Sales Pipeline Growth in 3 months | 130% increase |
| ROI | 157% |
| Event Registration (from LinkedIn groups) | 32% of total registrations |
Total Cost (Inc Time & Money)
Time & Cost For Content Sharing & Engagement (A Social Media Management Company Was Engaged For 3 Months @ $300 per Month
| Time Spent | Cost | |
| Content Sharing & Engagement | 180 hrs | $900 |
COLD EMAIL: Boosting Cold Emailing Profitability with GetOffTheDamnPhone
EFG Solutions, a digital marketing agency, sought to improve their lead generation and conversion rates through a targeted cold email campaign. Over three months, they decided to harness the capabilities of GetOffTheDamnPhone for both cold emailing and list building.
Method:
EFG Solutions incorporated GetOffTheDamnPhone into their process for cold emailing and building a targeted contact list. They also allocated time to craft compelling email series and respond to incoming messages.
Steps involved:
List Building: EFG Solutions used GetOffTheDamnPhone to create a robust and relevant contact list for the cold email campaign.
Email Series Creation: They devoted time to designing an engaging and personalized email series that would resonate with their target audience.
Cold Emailing: Using GetOffTheDamnPhone, EFG Solutions launched the email campaign, ensuring emails were sent at optimal times for better open and response rates.
Responding to Messages: Time was set aside each day to promptly respond to any incoming messages or inquiries.
The data breakdown for this campaign is as follows:
| Activity | Time Spent (Hours) | Total Cost ($) |
| List Building (12 weeks) | 24 | 297 |
| Email Series Creation | 2 | Nil |
| Email Sending & Engagement (60 days) | 20 | *Included With GetOffTheDamnPhone Subscription |
Total Cost (Inc Time & Money)
Total time invested over the three-month period was 46 hours, and the total cost was $297.
Results:
Open Rate: EFG Solutions’ email open rate improved from 18% to 38% in the three-month period.
Response Rate: The response rate increased from 4% to 18% due to the personalized and engaging email series.
Lead Generation: The cold email campaign resulted in a 50% increase in quality leads compared to the previous quarter.
Conversion Rates: A 35% improvement in conversion rates was observed, which can be attributed to the warm leads generated from the well-executed cold email campaign.
Return on Investment: Despite the investment in list building and GetOffTheDamnPhone, EFG Solutions recorded a return on investment (ROI) of 200% over the three months.
SOCIAL SELLING 2: Leveraging Social Selling for BlueWave (Content Creation Plus Sharing)
Rather than just do social selling based off content sharing, BlueWave decided to take it a step further. The company decided to create and share original content to further engage its audience and build stronger relationships. Over a period of three months, the company created 100 pieces of original content.
Method:
Each piece of cornerstone content was carefully crafted, taking an average of 3 hours to create and costing an average of $200 per piece. The sales team also invested an additional 2 hours per day on sharing content, social media engagement, and relationship building.
The process involved:
Content Creation: Creating engaging, industry-relevant, original content that would resonate with the target audience.
Content Sharing: The content was shared across various social media platforms to reach a wider audience.
Social Media Engagement: The team would interact with followers who engaged with the content, answering queries and fostering discussions.
Relationship Building: By sharing valuable content and engaging with followers, the sales team was able to nurture relationships with prospects.
Total Cost (Inc Time & Money)
The data breakdown for this campaign is as follows:
| Activity | Time Spent (Hours) | Total Cost ($) |
|---|---|---|
| Content Creation (100 pieces) | 300 | 20,000 |
| Content Sharing & Engagement (90 days) | 180 | N/A (in-house) |
Total time invested over the three-month period was 480 hours, and the total cost attributed to content creation was $20,000.
Results:
Social Media Engagement: The engagement rate on social media posts increased by 60%. Original content was better received and shared more widely by the followers.
Lead Generation: The number of quality leads generated increased by 50% compared to the previous quarter. This was attributed to the higher engagement and wider reach of the original content.
Conversion Rate: There was a 40% increase in the conversion rate. The leads generated through original content were better informed about the company’s offerings, resulting in a higher likelihood of conversion.
Return on Investment: Despite the investment in content creation, the company recorded a return on investment (ROI) of 150% in the first three months, driven by the increased number of conversions.
COLD CALLING : Getting FAST Sales Cold Calling For CloudHarbour
CloudHarbor Solutions, a B2B software solution provider, recognized the need for an aggressive, yet targeted, outbound sales campaign. The company decided to undertake a cold calling campaign over a period of 3 months. The strategy involved making 100 calls each weekday, investing in a power dialer for efficiency, and outsourcing list building to GetOffTheDamnPhone, a reputable list-building service.
Method:
CloudHarbor Solutions allocated its resources to ensure the effective execution of the cold calling campaign. This included outsourcing the task of list building, using a power dialer, and committing to 100 cold calls daily.
List Building: Using GetOffTheDamnPhone, they were able to build and refine a targeted contact list for cold calling.
Power Dialer: They made use of the GetOffTheDamnPhone call center power dialer to maximize efficiency and minimize time spent between calls.
Cold Calling: 1 external telemarketer supplied by GetOffTheDamnPhone, spent 5 hours per weekday making 100 calls to potential customers at a cost of $100 per day plus $297 for 3 months use of the powerdialer.
Total Cost (Inc Time & Money)
The cost breakdown for this campaign is as follows:
| Activity | Time Spent (Hours) | Total Cost ($) |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Calling Labour Cost (60 days) | 300 | 6,000 |
| List Building (12 weeks) | 24 | 297 |
| Power Dialer | N/A | 297 |
Total time invested over the three-month period was 324 hours, the company only spent 24 hrs with the 300 hours being spent by outsourced telemarketers. The total cost was $6,594.
Results:
Reach: Over the three months, CloudHarbor Solutions made contact with approximately 6,000 potential clients. This extensive reach was a significant increase from their previous efforts.
Lead Generation: The campaign resulted in a 40% increase in lead generation compared to the previous quarter.
Conversion Rate: A notable increase in the conversion rate of 30% was achieved during the campaign period. The qualified leads generated from the campaign had a higher likelihood of converting.
Return on Investment: Despite the investment in the power dialer and list building, CloudHarbor Solutions recorded a return on investment (ROI) of 120% during the three months.
ROI Comparison
| Strategy | Total Time Spent (Hours) | Total Cost ($) | ROI (%) |
| Social Selling (Content Creation) | 480 | 20,000 | 150% |
| Cold Calling | 324 | 6,594 | 120% |
| Cold Emailing | 46 | 594 | 200% |
| Social Selling (Content Sharing) | 180 | $900 | 157% |
CAUTION – When Interpreting The Results
The calculating of the ROI was very difficult to be accurate with due to significant overlap between other forms of ongoing marketing.
We did our possible efforts to make an accurate recording of ROI.
That being said don’t take these figures as gospel but rather, the best possible efforts in trying circumstances.
Names may have been changed to respect client privacy.
So Which Is Best?
All I can do is give my opinion here.
This maybe controversial (given the name of my website) but I really like the instant impact of hitting the phones. As long as you have an easy way of getting phone numbers (*ahem like GetOffTheDamnPhone) why not just outsource the calling or (shock horror!) do it yourself.
For The Normal People Who Hate Cold Calling
Assuming you don’t want to go through the time and expense of content creation and you don’t want to hire telemarketers then Cold Email is hard to beat.
Cold Email Is The Cheapest By A Long Way.
Now For The Bad News
Creating your own content will crush absolutely everything in the long run. Yes it’s hard and/or expensive, but you absolutely will experience a massive ROI eventually, through content.
But While You Wait
I recommend you at least start building a list of leads and doing some cold email. When you are ready, we will be here.
