Holidays or not, you still have your sales quotas! Find out the best time to cold call and other tips for prospecting during the holiday season.

For the majority of sales representatives, the end of November through the beginning of January represents one of the most difficult times of the year. The offices are left as bare shells. As individuals save for Christmas vacations and presents, their wallets get more full. Because of the earlier sunset, many of us are forced to wind down our activities at an earlier hour. As if it were easy to know the best time to cold call in the first place, let alone during this celebratory time when people are distracted by family, friends, and large, sleepy meals—not to mention that we are in the midst of a pandemic and recession. As if it were easy to know the best time to cold call in the first place.

However, there are still strategies to increase your prospecting over the holidays, just like there are year-round. We have a few suggestions for you, such as the optimal time to make cold calls, that can assist you in turning your Christmas sales woes into green bills and, ideally, peace on earth and goodwill among everyone.

What is the best time to make sales calls?

A small number of studies have been conducted in recent years with the purpose of determining when, outside of the holidays, the ideal time is to make cold calls. Even if there is some disagreement among these statistics, the general view is that the best time to make cold calls is on Wednesday between the hours of 4 and 5 o’clock. It is believed that this is due to the fact that the majority of people are winding down their days at this time, at which point they are less distracted and more receptive to a pitch for a product or service since they are not thinking about their to-do list.

During the holidays, a cold call made during these hours may not be the most effective use of your time. The majority of people are either off from work or traveling to locations in different time zones. The sun sets sooner, which may result in yawns and unscheduled naps on the sofa, both of which no one likes to be disturbed when they are in the midst of. In addition, those individuals who are still at work often make every effort to leave as soon as they possibly can.

The best time to cold call during the holiday season

Even if there is no concrete information indicating when the optimal time is to conduct cold calls throughout the months of November and December, we are nevertheless able to make some insightful observations about this topic. To begin with, it makes perfect sense to start making phone calls earlier in the day if the days are finishing sooner. The optimal time is no longer between 4 and 5 in the afternoon.

Instead, you should get the cold calls out of the way early in the day. According to the same data that was cited before, another advantageous time to contact and get a response is between the hours of 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. It is possible that you may need to rearrange your lunch break in order to accommodate this, but the sacrifice could be worthwhile if it results in some conversions.

A word of warning, though: the data also reveals that early morning is one of the worst times to cold call, so if you decide to move your calls to an earlier hour, make sure it’s not too early in the morning.

However, if you start thinking about the days, it becomes much more difficult to determine the optimal moment. The ideal day to make cold calls is somewhat adaptable to the busyness of the Christmas season, but what about the optimum time? Is Wednesday still the go-to? It depends. We will need to conduct a bit more informed guessing based on what we do know since the holidays themselves occur on various days and there are a few holidays spread throughout the month of December to contend with.

The fact that Wednesday occurs in the middle of the week, when most people aren’t either scrambling to get back into the swing of things (as they do on Monday) or attempting to wind up their work so they can relax over the weekend, makes it probable that Wednesday will be a lucrative day (Friday). Therefore, when it comes to the holidays, the optimum time to make a cold call is, if at all feasible, a few days before a holiday or a few days after a holiday.

It is still a good rule of thumb to avoid the weekends, but this might throw a wrench into your schedule, particularly if a holiday is celebrated on a Friday or Monday. On the other hand, given that you are aware of this fact coming into December, you are able to adjust your calendar so that you place a greater emphasis on calling individuals on days when they are more likely to be accessible.

No matter when you think cold calling is most effective, there are some times of the day and certain days of the week that you should probably steer clear of completely. As was previously said, the weekends and early mornings are often slow. Even though Mondays and Fridays aren’t the best days to call, you should try to call as early as possible on Mondays and as late as possible on Fridays if you have to.

Regarding the last week of December, when the majority of people in the United States will be off for at least some of the time, it could be a good idea to plan to make half the average number of calls and to keep them to the best periods we’ve specified above for making calls. You may have to make up for the numbers by making more calls earlier in the month, which is something that VA FLIX can help you do; however, the earlier calls are far more likely to result in a conversion, so you could discover that it was time well spent. (Not to mention that you’ll get a break during the last week of the year!)

Bonus holiday cold-calling tips

During the holidays, there are a number of additional things that you can do to increase the success of your cold calls.

The first option is to immediately write a follow-up email following a phone contact, but you should also recommend scheduling a meeting for January. The fact that you have made an initial outreach to them while yet respecting their want to spend time with their family and friends will be very well received by those customers.

During your Christmas cold calls, try subtly upselling to see if you can raise the percentage of deals you complete. This is another strategy that may assist. You don’t want to overload a client or offer them anything they don’t need, but paying special attention to upsell chances at this period might enhance your numbers even if you don’t increase the amount of calls you’re making. This one is a balancing act.

Last but not least, don’t forget to tie in any discounts or promotions that conclude the year. During the Christmas season, individuals are more eager to spend money, but they are also less willing. Use the former as a resource. If you make them an offer that is worth their time, there is a better chance that they will part with whatever cash they have been saving up for the season. It is correct that the discounts would reduce the overall income. Nevertheless, sales experts feel that phoning current clients leads to more sales, which suggests that consumers who get discounts over the holidays are likely to create more income in the future.

Yes, it may be challenging to determine when the optimum time is to make cold calls during the Christmas season. However, you should give it a chance since you could be amazed at the outcomes. And as a last piece of advice, you can begin positioning yourself for the months of January and February by sending Christmas and New Year’s greeting cards to the clients you already have.