Cold Calling Tips: 13 Lessons From 23 Years on the Phone

Why most cold calls fail before they start

Gong and 30 Minutes to President's Club analysed more than 300 million cold calls. An average rep needs 19 dials to get one conversation. A top rep needs 8. Once they're talking, the average rep books a meeting in about 5 out of 100 conversations; top reps get close to 17. The difference isn't luck. Top reps lose fewer people at every step, and every step can be learned.

Before you dial

1. Start with one problem, not a list of companies

Everyone you call in one session should have roughly the same problem: the same type of customer, the same headache. Then you only need one reason to call, and you get better at saying it with every dial. If your list is "everyone with a phone number", you're inventing a new pitch every call, and people hear it.

2. Know your one sentence

Not a pitch. A reason. A pitch sounds like "we're a leading provider of solutions that help companies grow". Nobody has ever said yes to that. A reason sounds like "most people I talk to pay more than they need for their energy, and I wanted to see if that's the case for you too." If you can't say that sentence, you're not ready to call.

The first 30 seconds

The average cold call lasts less than a minute and a half. So the first 30 seconds aren't the start of the call. They are the call.

3. Never ask "did I catch you at a bad time?"

It sounds polite, but in Gong's research it was the worst opener measured: it made booking a meeting about 40% less likely. You hand them the easiest exit and ask them to take it.

4. Say it's a cold call

My first ten seconds: my name, my company, and then "I'll be honest with you, we don't know each other yet. This is a cold call." It works because it's true and because nobody expects it. In the data, being upfront about the cold call is one of the best performing openers, and simply saying why you're calling doubled the success rate.

5. Never lie to get them on the line

Fake referrals and "as we discussed last week" are taught in some of the biggest cold calling videos online. It works once. Then you're the person who lied to them.

The conversation

6. Drop the script

I've trained more than 70 new salespeople. You can give someone your exact pitch word for word and it won't work the same, because what sells isn't only the words. It's the confidence in your voice, and that mostly comes from volume. Someone who has heard "no" 200 times handles the next one easily.

7. Have a conversation, not a pitch

When I started, I followed the script line by line and was always chasing the close. The moment I switched to an open conversation and put myself in the customer's position, my numbers doubled. The data agrees: successful cold calls have far more back and forth than failed ones. Short turns, like ping pong.

8. Don't fire questions

On a cold call, more questions don't mean more success; Gong found no link. It's not about the number of questions, it's about an actual conversation.

9. Be the call you'd want to get

Before every call I picture myself as the person being called. Friendly, human, a bit of humour. I avoid "red words" like contract, I stay friendly even when they're not, and I take notes. If someone mentions a birthday or a holiday, I ask about it next time. That's how a cold call becomes a relationship.

Objections and gatekeepers

10. Treat brush-offs as reflexes

About half of all objections are a brush-off: "not interested", "send me an email", "now's not a good time". A reflex, not a decision. I wrote a separate guide on what to say when they say "not interested".

11. Tell the truth about where you got their number

"I found you on your website" is a perfectly fine answer. People don't hang up because you were honest. They hang up when you get caught. And if someone says "don't call me again", you don't.

12. Ask the gatekeeper for help

Be honest about who you are and why you're calling, and ask who the right person is. If they're not available, ask for their first name. Read the full approach in how to get past the gatekeeper.

How the call ends

13. Always end with a date and a time

"Call me sometime" isn't a result. Every call ends with a clear next step: "Does Tuesday at 10 or Thursday at 2 work better for you?" Send the invite while you're still on the phone. And if they don't pick up, call more than once. How many times should you call? The short answer: five.

The whole game

The best sellers I led all had the same thing: energy, and a genuine interest in getting better at the craft, not just the commission. The twelve year old at that flower stall didn't know any of this. He just knew that if you're honest and talk to people like people, they stop for you. That's still the whole game.