7-Step Cold Call Script To Turn Them Into Hot Calls

Not sure where to start with your cold call script? Afraid to even pick up the phone? Not to worry! We’ve been there … And we’re here to help with a 7-step cold call script that will turn your ice-cold calls into hot calls.

There are seven steps in a cold call:

1. Opening lines

These are the very first—and the most important—words you’ll say on a cold call. If the call is truly cold and the prospect is not expecting you to reach out, then you’ll only have about 5-10 seconds to convince them they should stay on the phone for any longer than that. Almost every call will start the same. Someone will pick up and say, “Hello?” If they don’t introduce themselves first, we want to confirm to whom we’re talking. I recommend this as the absolute BEST opening line for any cold call:

“Hey, John?”

It’s just their first name, but you ask it like a question. You can achieve this by inflecting your tone upward at the end of their name. If you don’t have the first name of the decision-maker, no problem! Just use the name of the business instead:

“Hi, is this John’s Cafe?”

It sounds simple, but it’s WAY better than introducing yourself right away. You take control of the conversation immediately by asking the first question. Instead of putting all your cards face-up on the table, you keep them close to your chest. Let’s imagine it’s not the decision-maker who picks up the phone. Maybe it’s the receptionist, Parker. Parker has probably been trained to hang up on salespeople. But he doesn’t know you’re a salesperson, because you haven’t introduced yourself yet. You might be a client, supplier, or friend of John’s. So Parker is more likely to get John on the phone for you. If it’s John himself who picks up the phone, even better! His knee-jerk reaction to hearing his name asked like a question will probably be, “Uh, yea, who’s this?” And now is the perfect time to introduce yourself with enthusiasm …

2. Introduce yourself

I recommend putting these exact words in your cold call script:

“Hey John! This is <your name> from <your company>. How’ve you been?”

First, you repeat John’s first name. “Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language,” writes Dale Carnegie in his book How to Win Friends and Influence People. Then, you say your own name and company. This is the risky part. If John already knows about your company and he doesn’t want to hear from you, this is where he might hang up … Which is exactly why you ask a question right after you introduce yourself. It’s much harder to hang up after someone has just asked you a question. The natural human tendency is to answer, especially when someone is asking how you’re doing. And the wording of that exact question is backed by data! According to research from Gong, in which they analyzed a dataset of 90,380 first-interaction cold calls, this question correlated with the highest success rate of 10.0% …

“How have you been?”

Here are the results from the other questions included in the research:

Question	Success Rate
Baseline	1.5%
Did I catch you at a bad time?	0.9%
How are you?	5.2%
How have you been?	10.0%

Based on the prospect’s response, try to build some rapport. Their response will likely fall into one of two categories:

Conversational
Blunt

If the prospect’s response is conversational, and they ask how you’re doing in return, you might try saying something like, “Oh, I’m alright, a little rainy outside. How’s the weather in <their city>?” It sounds cliché but weather is the safest topic imaginable—everyone can talk about it. Click here to read more about how to build rapport. If the prospect’s response is blunt, it’s time to give your elevator pitch. But what if the prospect gives you an objection before you can get to your elevator pitch?

3. Handle initial objections like “I’m busy”

Right after you introduce yourself is a crucial moment on a cold call because it’s the moment that the prospect will realize you’re a salesperson, which means … Objections! Here are some common objections on a cold call:

I’m busy.
I’m with a customer.
I can’t talk right now.
Call me back later.
Just email me.

If you don’t remember anything else about handling objections, remember this one rule … Start with a question! This is especially important on a cold call, for two reasons:

It will keep the conversation going.
And it gives you another turn to talk.

Question, statement, question, statement … this is the natural flow of a good conversation. When you ask someone a question and listen to their answers, the other person will feel obliged out of politeness to give you a turn to talk. If you just keep talking and making statements after you get an objection, then the prospect is more likely to hang up on you mid-sentence. Click here to learn more about handling objections on a cold call.

4. Elevator pitch

Eventually, you have to get to the point of your call. When legendary sales trainer John Barrows transitions to his elevator pitch, this is his favorite line:

“The reason for my call is … “

Barrows writes, “My favorite introduction is: ‘The reason for my call is…’ because if you cannot finish that sentence then you should not be making the phone call.” Click here to read the full post by John Barrows. Sometimes I use the Barrows line. Other times I use this line because it feels more casual:

“I’m reaching out because … ”

5. Handle more objections like “Not interested”

If you’re paying attention, you’ve realized we have handling objections in two separate steps. That’s because the initial objections will just be vague smokescreen objections because the prospect doesn’t want to talk to ANY salespeople. It has nothing to do with what you’re offering. The second set of objections, on the other hand, comes AFTER you’ve given your elevator pitch. Therefore, these objections will be different because they’ll be specific to what you’re offering. We recommend using a strategy called the Objection Pentagon. This is the same strategy that we recommend for closing calls. And it works for cold calls too! Here are the five steps in the Objection Pentagon:

Objection
Empathy statement
Question
Show value
Ask for the sale

And here’s what it looks like visually:

A picture of the Objection Pentagon for use in handling cold call objections

The only difference on a cold call is that, instead of asking for the sale, you’ll be asking for the appointment, or at least for more time to finish giving your pitch.

6. Qualifying questions

Don’t make the mistake of barreling into a full-length pitch just because you’re overjoyed that a prospect is finally staying on the phone long enough to hear you out. Not every prospect is a great fit for what you’re selling, so you still have to qualify! Qualifying is the process of asking questions to determine if a prospect has the potential to become a customer. Here are some common qualifying questions organized into the acronym BANT that is popular in tech sales:

Budget: How much is the prospect willing to spend?
Authority: Who makes the buying decision?
Need: What is the prospect’s pain point?
Timeline: When is the prospect planning to buy?

Click here to read more about BANT. If the prospect’s answers to these questions indicate that they are NOT a potential buyer, then you shouldn’t waste your time. Not every prospect is a good fit for your product or service, and part of being a great salesperson is quickly differentiating between the buyers and the time-wasters. Click here to read more about why it’s a good thing to disqualify bad prospects.

7. “Pitch on the fly” or set an appointment

In sales, a pitch is when a salesperson explains the value of their product to a prospect, and eventually, asks for the sale. Pitching “on the fly” refers to when a salesperson goes into their full pitch on a cold call. This is rare because prospects aren’t usually just sitting around in their office waiting for an hour-long phone call from a salesperson. Usually, you’ll have to set an appointment to call back later to give the prospect your full pitch. Click here to learn more about how to deliver the perfect sales pitch.

Here’s the full cold call script:

Ring ring … Prospect:

“Hello?”

Salesperson:

“Hi, is this John?”

Prospect:

“Uh, yea, who’s calling?”

Salesperson:

“Hey John! This is <your name> from <your company>. How’ve you been?”

Prospect:

“I’m fine, why are you calling?”

Salesperson:

“So John, the reason for my call today is …”

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