Your Sales Team Shouldn't Be Making Cold Calls

I calculated what it actually costs when your senior salesperson spends an hour making cold calls.

The number shocked me.

A salesperson earning £45,000 annually costs you roughly £28 per hour when you factor in National Insurance, pension contributions, and overhead. That's before you consider the CRM systems, training, and office space.

Now watch what happens during that £28 hour.

They make perhaps 15-20 calls. Most go to voicemail. A few reach gatekeepers who politely decline. If they're fortunate, they have two or three actual conversations. Maybe one shows mild interest.

That's £28 for potentially one qualified lead.

But here's what really matters.

What Your Salespeople Should Actually Do

Your sales team excels at specific things. They build relationships. They understand complex business problems. They present solutions that resonate. They negotiate. They close deals.

Cold calling isn't on that list.

Research from Salesforce reveals that sales representatives spend only 28% of their time actually selling. The remaining 72% disappears into administrative tasks, data entry, and internal meetings.

When you add cold calling to that mix, you're asking expensive closers to do low-value prospecting work.

The Maths Doesn't Work

Let me show you the economics clearly.

Your senior associate spending 10 hours weekly on cold calling represents £1,120 monthly in direct costs. They might book 2-3 appointments if they're consistent and skilled at it.

A specialist outbound team making 1,000+ monthly calls could deliver 6-8 qualified appointments for around £1,750. That's based on industry average conversion rates of 2.35%.

But here's the part most businesses miss.

Whilst the specialist team handles prospecting, your senior associate focuses entirely on closing business. They take those 10 hours and convert warm leads into revenue. They build deeper relationships with existing clients. They develop strategic partnerships.

The opportunity cost is massive.

Quality Concerns Are Legitimate

I understand the hesitation. You're thinking that outsourced callers won't understand your business like your team does.

Sometimes that's true.

But specialist teams often deliver superior results precisely because they focus exclusively on high-volume calling. They've mastered gatekeeping navigation. They've refined their qualification process through thousands of conversations. They improve continuously because calling is their sole competency.

Your salesperson makes 35 calls weekly between everything else they're juggling.

The specialist makes 200.

When In-House Makes Sense

I'm not suggesting every business should outsource cold calling.

If you operate in a highly specialised niche where technical knowledge is essential from the first conversation, in-house might be better. If your service is so complex that only your team can explain it properly, keep it internal.

If you're targeting a small list of dream clients where each conversation requires deep customisation, your senior people should make those calls.

But for most trades and construction businesses? The ones targeting multiple prospects across a city with a repeatable service offering?

The economics favour specialists.

Calculate Your Real Cost

Here's what I recommend.

Take your salesperson's annual salary. Current UK data shows sales representatives earn between £30,000-£47,000 depending on experience and location. Add 25-30% for true employment costs.

Now calculate how many hours they spend on cold calling monthly.

Multiply those numbers. That's your current investment.

Compare it against what a specialist team could deliver for a fixed monthly fee. Factor in the additional revenue your salesperson could generate if they spent those hours closing instead of prospecting.

The decision becomes straightforward.

Your sales team is too valuable to waste on cold calling. Let them do what they do best whilst specialists handle the volume game of outbound prospecting.

That's how you accelerate growth without inflating your team.

If you’d like to know more about outsourcing your cold calling to The Sales Squad, book a meeting with us, or visit https://thesalessquad.co.uk/momentum for details of our standard packages.