How to Find and Hire Cold Calling Lead Generation Companies

Struggling to convert more leads into buyers?

Despite the bad reputation it gets from some critics, cold calling is still a highly effective strategy to get you there. But in order for it to work, you need to have a solid team of well-trained sales reps to handle the whole process.

Hiring and training an inside sales team is far from ideal because it costs you time, energy, and a lot of money. So that’s when outsourcing cold calling services to a lead gen agency becomes the perfect solution.

This article will answer all the questions you have about cold calling lead generation companies.

You’ll find out what cold calling lead gen agencies do, why they’re important, and how much they cost. More importantly, you’ll learn a simple process for hiring reputable cold calling partners to get you started.

So let’s get into it!

What Is Cold Calling Lead Generation?

Cold calling lead generation is a strategy that companies use to attract new prospects through cold calls. It involves building a list of potential prospects and reaching out to them via the phone, with the end goal of enhancing their interest in a brand’s product or services. 

As one of the most required sales skills, cold calling takes a lot of experience, confidence, and communication skills. That’s why a lot of companies struggle to find success with this strategy — which leads them to miss out on a lot of growth opportunities.

What Is a Cold Calling Lead Generation Agency?

A cold calling lead generation agency is a firm that offers cold calling services to help companies improve their sales performance. It’s the perfect solution for organizations that want to leverage the power of cold outreach without having to hire and train in-house sales reps.  

The most important duties of a cold calling lead gen agency are:

• Researching potential customers
• Creating personalized call scripts
• Initiating sales conversations with cold leads
• Following up with targeted buyers
• Setting up appointments with high-value prospects
• Closing deals with sales-ready leads

Reputable cold calling lead generation agencies are also well-aware of the different laws and regulations in every country. Not only are they experts at avoiding abusive cold calling tactics, but they also know how to stay in compliance with the law to keep your business safe.

Advantages of Hiring a Cold Calling Lead Generation Agency

What makes outsourced cold calling services so attractive for business owners?

Here are four huge benefits:

1. Better Prospecting Performance

By hiring a reliable lead generation partner specializing in cold calls, you’ll get instant access to a team of trained sales reps. Those are highly experienced SDRs who have been doing outbound outreach for many years. 

Your sales performance will improve significantly as a result of that. For instance, your average number of outgoing calls will increase and so will improve your lead-to-customer conversions. You’ll also be able to get a lot more prospects to enter your sales funnel, and then convert most of them into loyal buyers.

2. Higher Lead Quality

Experience plays a major role when it comes to identifying target leads and focusing on them. If you hire a new in-house team to handle lead generation cold calls, you’ll have a hard time determining who you should be after and how to reach them.

A cold calling lead gen firm will guarantee the highest lead quality possible. Not only will they help you better understand your target customers, but they’ll also do an excellent job focusing on them. That’s because outsourced sales reps know how to engage prospects effectively through lead nurturing, lead qualification, and lead reports.

Instead of chasing uninterested leads that will waste your time, your salespeople will only receive top-quality prospects that have a high chance of converting.

3. Quick Access Lead Databases

One of the key advantages you’ll gain by outsourcing cold calling to a partner is improved business intelligence. Because lead generation agencies that specialize in cold calling often bring along large databases of potential customers. 

Getting instant access to a database of high-quality leads within your target market is everything your salespeople could ask for. As you become able to fill the knowledge gaps in your lead gen strategy, you’ll improve your understanding of the target leads you’re focused on. More importantly, you’ll be able to enrich your existing lead lists with verified contact information and data.

4. Shorter Sales Cycles

Lengthy sales cycles are a major challenge that lots of businesses are dealing with every day. And the problem with that often lies in the inexperience of the sales and marketing teams, the low quality of the targeted leads, as well as the unclear business objectives.   

That’s why a trustworthy cold calling lead generation firm can be the greatest time saver! The right team of external salespeople can help you solve all the issues above and save months of work in the long run. 

Outsourcing cold calling services is a great way to boost productivity as it frees up your sales reps’ time and allows them to focus on closing deals. Moreover, your sales reps will only receive sales-ready leads that are ready to convert at the slightest nudge.

How Much Does a Cold Calling Outsourcing Company Cost?

First things first, lead generation cold calling services are a cost-effective solution to boosting your sales performance. Instead of hiring a full in-house team to take advantage of cold outreach, you could just outsource the work to the pros and save yourself a fortune over the years.

Here’s the deal:

There are a lot of factors that can affect the cost when hiring a cold calling lead generation agency. A cold outreach service may cost more or less depending on the expected results, expertise, pricing model, team size, offered services, etc.

Some cold calling firms may prefer to charge you by the hour, while others may offer a monthly package with a targeted number of leads generated. 

For companies charging an hourly rate — cold calls can cost from 20$ to 80$ an hour, depending on how experienced the salesperson is. Other agencies may charge based on the number of calls made or appointments set. 

Now the interesting thing is…

If you hire the right cold calling agency and come up with an effective plan to close more deals, you don’t have to think about pricing at all. The service they offer you will be just a small cost of doing business. Thus, it should be incomparable to the leads you generate and the deals your sales team will close.

How to Choose The Right Cold Calling Outsourcing Service [7 Simple Steps]

Step 1: Determine Your Business Needs

The first and most important step when outsourcing cold calling services is to identify your business objectives. 

• What are you trying to achieve with cold outreach?
• What makes cold calling the perfect way to get there?
• What challenges are keeping your company from accomplishing that?
• How can a cold calling lead generation partner help you?

Setting sales goals at the beginning is always crucial — no matter the strategy, the partner, or the big idea. But in this case, answering these questions from the start is especially important for keeping you on the right path when researching companies and reaching out to them.

For example, you’ll be able to tell which firms are best fit to work with you based on their case studies and past success stories. You’ll also do a better job at explaining the problems you’re facing to the cold calling lead gen agency to make their job easier.

Step 2: Research Cold Calling Lead Generation Agencies

Now that your sales and business goals are clear, it’s time to start researching lead generation agencies that offer cold calling services. A quick Google search will show you hundreds of firms in your industry alone — which you’ll use to build an initial list of potential partners.

At this point, you shouldn’t worry too much about which lead generation firms you’re choosing or the quality of service they’re offering. Instead, you’ll mainly only focus on relevance by making sure that they do offer cold calling services and that they have good overall branding.

An important thing to keep in mind is that agencies usually offer cold calling along with lots of other lead generation services. That’s why it’s rarely the case that you’ll come across a partner that only specializes in cold outreach via the phone.

To give you an example, Martal Group is a lead gen company that provides a wide range of inbound and outbound services. That includes ideal prospect research, target list building, cold personalized outreach, customer onboarding, and even account management after a lead has been converted. On top of that, we offer prospecting and outreach where we use cold calling to help your customers close more deals. 

Step 3: Shortlist Potential Partners Based on Their Rates and Services

The next most important thing to consider is relevant services and how much they cost. Since you’re going to focus on cold calling, you want to find lead gen firms that offer appointment setting through outbound phone calls.

You already know what you need based on the business goals you set earlier. And if you’ve already tried cold calling, you may also be aware of the challenges that are keeping you from closing more deals.

A good cold calling lead generation agency should have a detailed services page answering all the questions that might come to your mind. For instance, they should explain their cold prospecting process to help you set realistic expectations. Featuring relevant case studies of similar projects and explaining how the results were attained is also a huge plus.

Step 4: Check Case Studies, Ratings, and Customer Reviews

The tricky part about outsourcing cold calling duties is that it’s hard to tell whether the agency is qualified for the task. Even the most inexperienced teams can set up a strong services page with empty promises and sell you on the idea of hiring them. 

That’s why social proof is always a necessity…

Reviews are never wrong when it comes to choosing a reliable cold calling partner that can help you grow. So the best lead gen agencies will always have dozens of successful case studies and reviews from different customers.

It’s also crucial to check for positive testimonials on rating platforms and business directories such as Clutch.io. These third-party websites will give you a more objective view of the agency’s work, what its past clients have to say, and its reputation in the industry.

Step 5: Book an Initial Consultation to Learn More 

By now, you must have eliminated all the bad fits and the inexperienced partners that you’ve come across. And that’s based on their overall branding, their process and the services they offer, as well as the social proof you were able to find online.

However:

You’ll still be left with a few final cold calling lead generation agencies to pick from. So in this step, you’re going to have a meeting with each one of them to assess whether the two of you can build a thriving partnership.

There are three essential qualities to look for in the initial consultation:

• Relevant experience — is a no-brainer and should be the #1 factor when hiring a partner.
• Communication and transparency — this will get a quick glance into what to expect once you start working with the agency.
• Costs and pricing structure — are necessary for lowering your expenses and avoiding hidden/unexpected costs in the future.

To inquire about all of that and have all the answers you need, here are some of the questions you should ask to get started:

• Does the agency have any relevant case studies in your industry?
• What are the benefits of working with this particular partner?
• What is their cold outreach process like?
• How do they report progress updates to clients?
• How will the outsourced team be structured?
• What cold calling tools/platforms do they use?
• Do they comply with data protection laws in your country?
• What is the pricing structure like?
• Are there any additional costs that you should be aware of?
• When should you expect to start seeing results?

Step 6: Sign a Contract Agreement

By this point, you should have already worked out a cold calling strategy that enables you to reach your business goals. You must’ve also discussed reporting metrics and how communication should be done to maintain progress and keep your sales team busy. 

So now… It’s time to get everything on a written contract that will serve as a guarantee for both parties. Keep in mind that such agreements are meant to protect you and your partner in the future as it helps keep everyone on the same page. So make sure to only agree on terms that will keep you on the safe side.

Also:

Try not to get into any long-term contracts with a lead gen agency that you’re not fully satisfied with. It’s always better to start with a trial period where you’re allowed to test the cold calling service before you decide to spend more money and time on it.

Step 7: Track, Learn, and Improve

Hiring a cold calling lead gen partner is just the beginning! Now, you have to closely monitor the outsourced team’s work and make sure that they’re actually helping you reach your goals. 

It’s a long discovery process to get from your initial basic cold calling strategy to a perfect plan that gets you excellent results. There are always changes to be made to your approach before it is fully optimized for maximum sales success.

That’s why performance tracking is a must! 

The good news is: you’ve already determined your goals and crucial KPIs earlier in this process. So all you have to do now is track those metrics and discuss progress with your lead gen partner.

Best 5 Cold Calling Lead Generation Companies

Ready to hire your first lead generation company to help you take your cold calling performance to the next level?

Here are the best cold calling lead generation companies to get you started:

1. Martal Group

Martal Group is a lead generation agency that helps B2B software and tech companies with sales growth. The company has been active for well over 14 years — during which it has served hundreds of happy customers allowing them to reach their target customers and boost sales significantly.

Target locations: US and Canada

Industries:

• Information technology
• SaaS companies
• Telecom, Connectivity, and IoT

Ratings:

• Clutch: 4.8/5 (63 reviews)
• G2: 4.8/5 (74 reviews)
• Upcity: 5/5 (10 reviews)

Key strengths:

• 4 databases (+100M contacts)
• Personalized outbound outreach
• Lead qualification
• Appointment setting
• CASL compliance, CAN-SPAM act compliance

Languages:

• English
• French
• German
• Spanish

Costs: Inquire about pricing

2. Operatix

Operatix is a lead gen company that provides sales outsourcing to all-size B2B software vendors. With a multilingual team of over 250 sales development representatives, this company is helping lots of businesses across the globe reach more ideal customers and close more sales. 

Target locations: International

Industry:

• Information technology
• Business Processes
• Big data and analytics
• Infrastructure

Ratings:

• Clutch: 4.6/5 (15 reviews)
• G2: 4.6/5 (77 reviews)

Key strengths:

• Outbound sales development
• Pipeline generation
• Appointment setting

Languages:

• English
• German
• Spanish
• French
• Arabic

Costs: Inquire about pricing

3. Callbox

Callbox is a B2B lead generation services company that also offers cold calling services to worldwide customers. The agency has been around for almost 20 years and has generated and delivered over 1 million leads to its clients throughout that period.

Target locations: International

Industries:

• Information technology, software
• Medical and healthcare
• Digital marketing

Ratings:

• Clutch: 4.5/5 (97 reviews)
• G2: 4.4/5 (73 reviews)

Key strengths:

• Appointment setting
• Customer service
• Cross-border marketing
• GDPR compliance

Languages:

• English
• Portuguese
• Indonesian
• Malay
• Spanish
• Tagalog
• Thai
• Vietnamese

Costs: Inquire about pricing

4. CIENCE

Cience was founded in 2015, and it has since been helping businesses succeed through lead gen and multi-channel prospecting. With its large and highly accurate lead database, this partner can help you set qualified appointments with potential buyers and convert them into customers.

Target locations: International

Industries:

• Software development
• Healthcare
• Education and training

Ratings:

• Clutch: 4.4/5 (128 reviews)
• G2: 4/5 (159 reviews)
• Upcity: 4.7 (103 reviews)

Key strengths:

• Sales data solutions
• Cold outreach
• Multi-channel prospecting

Languages:

• English
• Spanish

Costs: Inquire about pricing

5. Socialbloom

Socialbloom is a lead generation service provider that serves B2B companies in various industries. On top of cold calling services, the team behind this agency also provides customer research, data enrichment, and outreach campaign management services.  

Target locations: Global

Industries:

• Information technology 
• Advertising and marketing
• Business services

Ratings:

• Clutch: 4.9/5 (17 reviews)

Key strengths:

• Cold outreach
• Data sourcing
• Appointment setting

Languages:

• English

Costs: Inquire about pricing