Transforming Cold Calling with AI-Driven Call Prep 2.0

Cold calling has always been a key part of sales, but it comes with its share of challenges—low connect rates, time-consuming research, and generic scripts. With AI tools like Evabot, though, that's changing.

In this case study, we’ll show how Evabot’s Call Prep 2.0 is making cold calling smarter. By using account research, power dialers, and personalized call-prep notes, we’ve seen improved connection rates, better conversations, and double the meeting setups.

This study is based on our sales team's experiments over the past 12 months, from Q3 2023 to the present, using power dialers, account research and signal-led prospecting.

But first, let’s take a quick look at how cold calling has evolved, especially with power dialers in the mix.

Evolution of Cold Calling

Cold calling has undergone a significant transformation over the past decade, moving from manual processes to AI-driven efficiency.

Pre-2017 Cold Calling

Process:

• Manual list gathering and research.
• Sequential calling and handwritten notes.
• Low efficiency and conversion rates.
• Manual tracking of follow-ups and outcomes.
  
  

Challenges: Time-consuming, low efficiency, and SDRs struggled to meet quotas due to low conversion rates.

2017-2022 Cold Calling:

Process:

• Refined list gathering with some AI help for note-taking.
• Hybrid tracking but still high effort with only moderate improvements.

Challenges:

• Still labor-intensive with limited scalability.portions of the workflow.
  
  

Cold Calling 2.0 (Today) : tools powered by AI and automation have transformed cold calling into a more strategic process with power dialers, automated call prep notes, and insights-driven outreach. This shift has boosted efficiency, meeting setup rates, and more meaningful conversations.

Cold Calling Before AI:

• Effort Level: High
• Conversion Rate: Low (2% call pickup to meeting setup)
• Challenges: Time-consuming research, manual dialing, and generic call scripts.

Cold Calling with AI Tools:

• Effort Level: Reduced significantly
• Conversion Rate: High (20% improvement in meaningful conversations)
• Benefits: Personalized call prep, AI-powered research, and real-time account insights.

Innovations in Cold Calling: Evabot’s Call Prep 2.0

Evabot’s Call Prep 2.0 shifts the focus from manual, time-consuming tasks to personalized, data-driven conversations. Sales reps no longer have to rely on generic scripts that lead to hang-ups; instead, they can engage prospects with precise, actionable insights.

How Call Prep 2.0 is Different:

• Call Prep 1.0: Manual research and reliance on basic call scripts resulted in low engagement rates. SDRs would typically conduct Google searches, LinkedIn dives, and website reviews, only to face challenges with low conversion rates.
• Call Prep 2.0: A key element of Call Prep 2.0 is AI-generated call prep notes. AI-driven tools automate the research process, gathering and prioritizing relevant information from multiple sources, such as:
  

• 10K reports
• Quarterly earnings calls
• Business news
• Social media activity
• Job postings

Providing SDRs with personalized, relevant information.This allows reps to ask insightful questions and build rapport with prospects right from the start.  

“Call Prep 2.0 is not just preparing notes with general questions but getting very specific information about prospects to get permission to call in the first place”  

#1: Results from Our Power Dialer Experiment (Q3 2023)

To test Cold Calling 2.0, we used power dialers in Q3 2023, focusing on increasing call volume and conversion rates.

Team Setup:

• Team: 4 SDRs and 1 Account Executive (AE)
• Tools: Nooks for dialing, Gong for call tracking, Evabot for call prep notes

Process:

• Each SDR made around 150 calls/day using power dialers and generic scripts

Key Metrics (90 Days):

• Dials: 37,194 total
• Connect Rate: 2.32%
• Conversations: 68.75% of connects led to conversations (594 of 864).
• Meetings: 5.05% of conversations led to meetings (30).
• Prospect Connect Rate: 8.91%
• Meeting booked/sales rep = 6 (Q3 2023)

Impact:

• Productivity: Power dialers boosted productivity and efficiency.
• Scalability: High call volumes were maintained while increasing meeting setups.

#2: Signal-Led Prospecting + Power Dialers (Q3 2024)

In the last three months of 2024, we saw even better results with only 2 SDRs after switching to signal-led prospecting with power dialers.

Team Setup:

• Team: 2 SDRs
• Tools: 2 SDRs using Nooks, Gong, and Evabot for prospecting and call prep.

Process: SDRs used power dialers, targeting prospects with pain based insights. 

Key Metrics (90 Days):

• Dials: Each SDR made ~400 calls/day
• Connect Rate: 6.20% (2,441 connects)
• Conversations: 1,184 conversations
• Meetings: 32 booked (up from 30 in the previous experiment)
• Prospect Connect Rate: 16.39%
• Meetings booked/sales rep = 16

Impact: 2.5X

• Productivity: Pain based insights boosted conversion rates
• Engagement: Call prep notes led to more meaningful conversations.
• Scalability: Signal-led prospecting proved scalable with fewer SDRs. 
• Outcome Improvement: 100% - same no of meetings booked with half the SDRs. 

Results with Evabot:

• Before: 2 meetings booked per week
• With Evabot: 5 meetings booked per week

Evabot's AI tool significantly boosted SDR performance, leading to impressive outcomes.

The Future of Cold Calling with AI

AI-driven cold calling isn't just about increasing the volume of calls—it's about improving the quality of those interactions. With account prioritization, AI-generated call prep notes, and power dialers, sales teams can focus on building relationships and setting up more meetings.

Here’s how : 

1. Enhanced Account Prioritization:
   • How it Works: Tools like Evabot analyze real-time data and generate insights that prioritize accounts most likely to engage based on business context and pre-intent signals.
   • Benefit: SDRs can focus their time on high-potential prospects, increasing the chances of successful conversations and ultimately conversions.
2. Automated Call Prep Notes:
   • How it Works: AI tools pull relevant data from public and proprietary sources to auto-populate call prep sheets with up-to-date insights.
   • Benefit: Sales reps are fully prepared for each call, leading to more personalized and effective conversations.
3. Power Dialers:
   • How it Works: Power dialers like Nooks automate the dialing process, allowing SDRs to make multiple calls simultaneously.
   • Benefit: SDRs can spend more time talking to prospects rather than dialing, improving efficiency and call connection rates.
4. AI-Driven Call Tracking and Analysis:
   • How it Works: Tools like Gong record calls and provide AI-driven analysis to track key conversational benchmarks, compliance, and customer sentiments.
   • Benefit: Reps can receive actionable feedback, leading to continuous improvement in call quality and strategy.

Conclusion

Cold calling isn’t dead—it’s evolving. With AI-powered tools like Evabot, sales teams can make smarter, more effective calls, leading to higher conversion rates and more meaningful connections. Evabot’s Cold Calling 2.0 has proven its ability to drive ROI and scale across industries, making it the future of cold calling.

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