How to cold call: get past the first 30 seconds, then book the meeting

A cold call goes better when there's a real reason this person might want to talk to you this week. Spend ten minutes on the list before you spend an hour on the phone.

• Pick one kind of buyer for the hour, such as office managers at dental clinics with 5 to 20 staff. The same opener then works on every call.
• Write down the one problem you solve for them, in the words they'd use.
• Find one thing about each name before you dial, like a new branch, a job ad or a post they wrote. One line in your notes is enough.
• Decide the meeting you want: 15 minutes on video, or 30 in person. If you don't know what you're asking for, you won't ask for it.

The cold calling script template has a space for each of these at the top.

The person who picks up is deciding whether to hang up. Give them your name, your company and the reason for the call before they have to ask, then ask for 30 seconds.

"Hi Sam, it's Priya from Northwind. This is a cold call. I'm calling because you're hiring two receptionists, and most clinics we work with tell me the phones are why. Can I have 30 seconds to say why I called, and then you tell me if it's worth a longer chat?"

Gong studied its recorded cold calls to see which openers booked meetings. Calls where the rep gave the reason for calling early did 2.1 times better. Calls that opened with "Did I catch you at a bad time?" booked a meeting 0.9% of the time, against a 1.5% baseline. The question hands them an easy way to end the call.

After the opener, ask about their week and the problem you solve. Two questions are enough:

• "How are you handling [the problem] today?"
• "What happens if that's the same in six months?"

Then let them talk. If their answers show there's no problem to solve, thank them and move on. That's a fine call too: it took two minutes and you've crossed a name off.

Don't finish with "Can I send you some information?" Ask for the meeting, and make yes easy:

"It sounds worth 15 minutes. Would Tuesday at 10 or Thursday at 3 work better?"

Then confirm it on the call. Say the day and time back, get their email and send the invite before you dial again. A meeting that's only in your notebook isn't booked.

Most brush-offs are a reflex. The person hasn't decided anything yet, so agree with them, ask one question and stop talking.

• "I'm not interested." Say: "Fair enough. Is that because you've already sorted [the problem], or because it's not a priority right now?"
• "Just send me an email." Say: "Happy to. So it's worth reading, should it cover [option A] or [option B]?"

If the second answer is still no, take it. Note it as not now, with a date to try again in a few months if they fit. The cold calling script template has a line for the other three brush-offs you'll hear most: we already use someone, no time, and how much is it.

A gatekeeper decides who gets through, so ask them for help, not a transfer:

"Hi, it's Priya from Northwind. Who looks after the front desk phones there? Could you put me through, or is there a better time to catch them?"

Keep a voicemail under 20 seconds, say your number twice and give one reason to call back:

"Hi Sam, it's Priya from Northwind, on [your number]. I'm calling about the receptionist roles you're hiring for. I'll try you again Thursday morning, or call me back on [your number]."

Then call on Thursday morning. The voicemail and the Thursday call are two touches that match, and the second one is warmer.

Put an hour in the calendar, close email and chat, and do nothing but dial. Ten calls squeezed between other jobs means ten cold starts. An hour of calls gets you into a rhythm by the fifth.

Then work out your own number from a week of calls. A made-up example:

In this example one meeting takes 20 dials. A rep who needs 6 meetings a week needs 120 dials. At about 30 dials an hour, that's four hours of calling, so an hour on four days. The guide to sales activity metrics covers how many calls a day to aim for, and the activity calculator does this sum from your own rates.

Every call ends in one of six ways: booked, call back, no, gatekeeper, voicemail or no answer. Write down which, with the next date, before the next dial. "Try me next month" only turns into a meeting if next month has a reminder in it.

Once a week, look at three numbers: dials, conversations and meetings. If there are plenty of dials but few conversations, change the list or the time of day. If there are plenty of conversations but few meetings, change the opener or the ask. The sales call log template has a row per call and adds up the day.

These are the official rules in two countries, summarised. It isn't legal advice, and your company may have stricter rules.

In the US, the Federal Communications Commission's rules (47 CFR 64.1200) say:

• No telephone solicitation to a residential number before 8am or after 9pm, local time where the person is.
• No telephone solicitation to a residential number on the National Do Not Call Registry.

In Singapore, the Do Not Call provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act cover marketing calls and messages to Singapore numbers:

• Before a marketing call to a Singapore number, check it against the Do Not Call Registry. The PDPC says the check must be made within 21 days before the call.
• You don't need the check if the person gave you clear consent to those calls on that number, and you can show it.
• The Act's Eighth Schedule leaves out a message sent to an organisation for the organisation's own purposes. A call to a business about the business's needs is outside these rules. A call to someone about something for themselves isn't.

The sales cadence guide covers the same rules for texts and WhatsApp messages.

• Asking "Did I catch you at a bad time?" and getting the answer yes.
• Talking for a minute before saying why you called.
• Pitching the product before you know they have the problem.
• Ending with "Can I send you some information?" instead of two times.
• Arguing with a brush-off instead of asking a question.
• Promising to call back Thursday, then forgetting.

This guide is free. ActivityTracker, the app we make, is paid. Here's what it does for cold calling.

• Calls are one tap each to log on your phone, and you can add booked meetings as your own activity
• Type "call Sam Thursday 10am" and it's a dated follow-up, reminded 30 minutes before
• A routine like 30 calls a day comes back each day and shows the days you slipped
• A 25 or 50 minute focus timer for the calling hour, with a line for what it's for
• Your weekly goal fills in as you log, so Wednesday shows whether the week is enough