Is B2B Telemarketing Making a Resurgence? Here’s What the Experts Say
Like many professionals, I face a deluge of sales messages every day. It’s easy to tune out emails, display ads, and LinkedIn messages. But a phone call? Love it or hate it, it captures my attention. I set out to discover if B2B telemarketing is dead in 2025, or if it’s due for a comeback. I talked to sales experts and dug into data to find out whether cold calling still has a place in the modern sales strategy. Follow along as I share what I found and the expert tips I uncovered on how to turn conversations into conversions with a phone call. Table of Contents What is B2B telemarketing? Is telemarketing dead? Benefits of B2B Telemarketing B2B Telemarketing Types Tips for B2B Telemarketing [+ Experts and Data] What is B2B telemarketing? B2B telemarketing is an outbound sales tactic in which one company attempts to build a relationship and sell its products or services over the phone to another. It’s better known as cold calling, “cold” because the seller is initiating contact with the buyer instead of the other way around. Is telemarketing dead? To answer my question, I turned to HubSpot’s State of Sales report to see what sales reps say about telemarketing as a lead gen and sales tactic. First, I saw data that confirmed what I already knew: 71% of consumers want to start with self-service tools to do their own research rather than speak to a human. However, this finding doesn’t mean that a lead won’t start their buying journey with research before talking to the sales team later on. Just 19% of sales pros say that telemarketing is their best source of high-quality leads. That lags behind referrals, social media, and email marketing but shows that phone calls still work well for some companies and industries as a first point of contact. I also found this surprising statistic. When HubSpot asked over 1,400 sales professionals about their most effective sales tactic, they reported 1) in-person meetings and 2) phone calls. This tells me that high-dollar deals aren’t done over email or chat alone. Personal conversations — in-person, phone, or video — are key channels for conversion. Leslie Venetz, founder of the Sales-Led GTM Agency, is bullish on phone-based outreach. “Inbound gets fewer results than it ever has before. The same is true with PLG — it’s a very, very crowded market, and our buyers are frazzled, distracted, and overwhelmed. This is why I think we are seeing a resurgence in cold calling. Because so many folks are overly reliant on email right now, I believe cold calling will be a primary channel for revenue generation in 2025,” Venetz says. Based on everything I’ve learned, I believe B2B telemarketing still deserves a place in most company’s sales strategies. It still needs an effective inbound marketing, social media, and email strategy to be effective, so your prospect has some brand awareness. When you pick up the phone, a well-timed cold call can bridge the gap from awareness to interest. (Psst: Subscribe to Masters in Marketing newsletter for weekly insights from top brands. Plus, for one week only, 100 readers can win our limited Kit!) Benefits of B2B Telemarketing What can this 150-year-old channel, the phone call, give us that email and social can’t? Personalized Channel for High-Value Buyers Buying enterprise software or multi-million dollar equipment isn’t like buying a pair of socks off Amazon. The average B2B software purchase takes three to six months and involves four to six decision-makers. For that reason, 57% of C-level executives and VPs still prefer to speak to a sales rep on the phone to ask questions and fully understand the product or service they would be buying. “While Gen Z does not like the phone, it‘s important for them to remember that most of the decision-makers they’re calling on are still in that older millennial+ age bracket,” says Venetz. “Especially if we look at senior level executives, the data repeatedly shows us that they prefer to be reached with a phone call.” The most important factor B2B buyers look for, more than support and integration potential, is the trustworthiness of the organization and sales team, according to Gartner. To showcase your value and build trust, you need to build rapport and a relationship — you need conversations. High Conversion Rate According to Cognism’s State of Cold Calling, the average cold call connect rate is 16.6%, and the average success rate is 4.82%. Compare that to the average conversion rate of 0.80% for B2B display ads, and that number starts to look pretty good. It’s also more than double the cold calling success rate from 2022 — a good indicator that cold calling is gaining traction again. Let’s say that an outbound lead specialist makes 100 calls a day and actually speaks with 55 of them. That translates to 275 prospect convesations a week, not to mention voicemails to many more and about 13 qualified leads or appointments for your sales team each week. B2B Telemarketing Types The goals of B2B telemarketing can vary depending on your company’s size, industry, and sales organization. A sales rep for a small company might manage telemarketing from first contact through lead nurturing and closing. At a larger company, dedicated sales development representatives often focus exclusively on outbound calls with the goal of handing qualified leads off. 1. Lead Generation A lead generation call is when a sales development representative calls a prospect to qualify them as a lead. In a lead gen call, the caller should gather more information about a prospect, like job title, needs, and budget, and confirm their interest in learning more. 2. Appointment-Setting Call An appointment-setting call has a very specific goal: booking a next step, like a demo, tour, or sales call. 3. Lead Nurturing Call A lead nurturing call, also called a sales call, is when a sales team contacts a lead after they have expressed interest in the company’s offerings. Often, a lead fills out