One of the biggest obstacles facing outbound MSP sales teams nowadays are too few  conversations. 

Maybe you call it the "connect rate" or "conversation" rate -- the % of outbound dials where you speak to a decision maker or key influencers.

It seems no matter how expensive the leads data provider is, how perfect the script or how many dials we make.

NO. ONE. PICKS. UP. ENOUGH.

And the impact is brutal to say the least...

For one, it's hurting the return on outbound. And second, it's a major psychological gut punch for the troops. I mean, how would you feel if your job was to cold-call 90 times every day and despite your herculean efforts, you only speak with 5 decision makers each day (most were unpleasant, too)?

"Hello honey, how was your day today?"

"Great, thanks for asking. I had 5 conversations today.

I didn't break my phone again so that's good, I guess. And how about you, darling?"

So in this article, we'll share how we're fighting the low connect war, what impact this new strategy is having on our sales math and team, and finally, a few tactical suggestions so you can think about for your team.

What's Causing Abysmal Connect Rates?

We have been fully managing outbound prospecting for MSPs for almost 5 years now.

One KPI we've obsessed over is the connect rate, or "dials to conversation" ratio.

For every 100 dials placed, how many times do we speak with the intended person?

We connected around 9% and yet this average went downward towards 7.5% in 2023.

Clearly, something had to change or else the sales math would get ugly -- if we can't speak with the right people, we can't set enough appointments.

Root causes are a combination of reasons that we can't really control.

• Inaccurate phone data
• Gatekeepers are too strict
• Only the company phone number is available (missing mobile phones)
• People who just don't pick up cold-calls
• Dead-end phone trees

So we had to come up with a way to adapt or we'd die.

1. 'Propensity to Connect' Scoring System (P2C Scoring)

So we developed a scoring system for a lead's 'propensity to connect.'

For example, some leads are reachable via phone after a few dials, where others won't pick up no matter how many times you try.

Most prospects fall somewhere in between those extremes...

So our scoring system rates leads between 1 and 4, where a 1 score means the prospect usually picks up and a 4 was a wrong phone number.

Now we felt organized, prepared and like we're actually enabling our appointment setters!

2. Impact of the Scoring Process

And so we put the system to work. This meant we had to hire different people to score our leads accordingly. We tracked the results in our CRM and we delivered the results to our appointment setter BDRs.

This new process allowed us to increase our connect rates by double, and sometimes even triple!

In other words, instead of an 8% connect, imagine a 12-18% connect rates!

The P2C scoring system changed the outbound math back in our favor -- it was like having our lives back.

While it's true that scoring takes time and isn't free, the outputs were worth it.

Our reps aren't burnt out, we're connecting and setting appointments at a better rate than before.

Tips for DIY-ing a P2C Scoring System

A few recommendations here in case you want to score your leads in-house!

• Find a different person, internally or externally, who can be in charge of this
• Define what each score means in a document first. Involve your AEs here.
• Develop a call-only campaign process to streamline the scoring process
• Bring RevOps into the process early, or whomever is managing your CRM, so that the scoring process is streamlined and works with your current outbound processes
• Consider adding bonuses/commission for the troops who are scoring
• Have a unique plan for each lead category, for example, the best leads should be enrolled in a call-only sequence

Covnersely, if you want to have us implement our P2C scoring system for you, book a time with me to discuss.