Connect rate is how often a dial reaches a person.
Connect rate is the share of outbound calls that reach a live conversation with the person you meant to call, rather than voicemail, a gatekeeper or no answer.
How we use it.
Our team's record on cold calls is a 15% connect rate. We lead with email and LinkedIn and bring in cold-calling professionals to lift connect rates, because a call that follows an email the prospect has seen is a warmer call.
In our reporting a connect means the intended person picked up and a conversation started. Voicemails and switchboards are logged but not counted, so the rate shows how often a rep actually gets a chance to talk.
Reading a day of dials (fictional)
A fictional rep makes 60 calls in a day.
9 reach the intended person: a 15% connect rate.
Of those 9, 2 agree to a meeting.
The other 51 calls are voicemails, no answers and wrong numbers, and they still took time.
Common mistakes
- Counting any pickup, including a receptionist, as a connect.
- Judging a calling list by connect rate alone. A high rate on the wrong buyers books nothing.
- Calling with no earlier email or LinkedIn touch, then blaming the list.
