A SaaS cold call has four beats and should take about 45 seconds before the buyer says anything longer than "yes." Say who you are and why this person (10 seconds), name one problem you see at companies like theirs (10 seconds), ask one question about how they handle it today (15 seconds), then ask for 20 minutes only if the answer showed a problem. Everything below fills in those four beats for a real buyer.
The example is a fictional one. Priya Raman sells Routewell, software that routes purchase approvals, to controllers and finance managers at companies of 50 to 300 people. She calls them cold, usually with an email already sent. The script, the objections, the voicemail and the follow-up all come from that one scenario, so you can swap in your own product and buyer.
Who to call before you dial
Software is bought by a person with a problem and a budget, and those are not always the same person. Priya calls the person who feels the problem, the controller who chases signatures, and mentions the budget holder only if the controller says the money sits elsewhere. If your product helps sales, the buyer is a sales lead. If it helps hiring, it is a head of people or the founder. One title, one sentence about their week, and you are ready.
Spend two minutes on the company's own website before each call. A careers page with three open accounting roles tells you the finance team is stretched. A press page announcing a second office tells you approvals just got harder. You only need one fact to say out loud.
Beat 1: the opener (about 10 seconds)
Hi Marcus, this is Priya Raman at Routewell. I know I'm calling out of the blue. Do you have thirty seconds, and I'll tell you why I picked you?
Asking for thirty seconds is a small request, and a stated time limit is easier to say yes to than an open "do you have a minute." If he says "go ahead," the clock starts. If he says "not now," skip the pitch and use the line in the objections section.
Beat 2: the reason for the call (about 10 seconds)
I saw you're hiring a second staff accountant, and a lot of finance teams at your size end up spending that new hire's first month chasing purchase approvals over email. We route those approvals automatically.
The reason has to be about him, not about you. One public fact, one problem, one plain sentence on what the product does. Leave out the feature list, the funding round and the word "platform." If Priya has no fact to use, she says, "Companies your size usually approve purchases by email, and the approver is out half the time," which is a pattern she can defend.
Beat 3: the question (about 15 seconds)
How does a purchase over, say, two thousand dollars get approved at your company today?
The question is about the process, which the buyer knows better than anyone, so he answers it. Then stop talking. Listen for three things: how many people touch an approval, how long it takes, and whether he sounds tired of it. "It goes to me, then my boss, and honestly some sit for a week" is a yes. "We have a system and it works" is a polite no, and the right next step is to thank him and ask who owns the system, since sometimes it is someone else.
Beat 4: the ask
That's exactly what we fix. I don't want to explain it over the phone. Could we do 20 minutes Thursday at 10, or Friday at 2, and I'll show you with a few of your own purchase types? I can send the invite while we're talking.
Two times, a short length, a reason to show up. If he agrees, get his email on the call and send the invite before hanging up. If he hesitates, offer something smaller: "Want me to email a two-minute walkthrough first?" That is a fallback, not the plan.
Four objections and what to say
- "Send me an email." "Happy to. So I send you the right one, what is the one thing that would make it worth opening?" Whatever he answers is your subject line.
- "We already use something." "Good, that tells me approvals matter to you. What do you wish it did that it doesn't?" You are not attacking the tool. You are looking for the gap.
- "We have no budget." "That's fair. When do you plan next year's tools? I'll call a few weeks before that." Then actually write the date down and call on it.
- "I'm busy right now." "Understood. When is a better 5 minutes this week?" Accept whatever he says. A scheduled callback beats a rushed no.
The voicemail
Keep it under 20 seconds and give one reason to call back.
Marcus, Priya Raman at Routewell, 555-0187. I help finance teams stop chasing purchase approvals by email. I'll send a short note today with a two-minute walkthrough, and I'll try you again Wednesday morning.
A longer note on what works in voicemail is in the voicemail script for following up with a lead.
The follow-up email, sent the same hour
Subject: Purchase approvals at Harlan Supply
Hi Marcus, thanks for picking up earlier. You said approvals go to you and then your boss, and some wait a week. Routewell sends each one to the right approver with a reminder, and shows you where it is stuck. Would Thursday at 10 or Friday at 2 work for 20 minutes? I'll use three of your own purchase types so it is not a generic demo. Priya Raman, Routewell, 200 Mill Street, Dayton. Reply "stop" and I won't write again.
Quote his own words back to him. It proves you listened, and it is the only personalization that a template cannot fake. If you are deciding between phone and email for a first touch, cold calling vs cold email compares them.
When to call a software buyer
Weekdays, in the buyer's own time zone. Priya skips the last two business days of a month, because finance teams are closing the books, and she keeps her calls for midweek mornings after 9:30 and early afternoons. The reasoning for different buyer types is in best time to cold call. Note when people actually pick up and adjust after your first 50 calls.
The law, in plain words
Calling a business still has rules, and you should know three federal facts. First, the Federal Trade Commission's Telemarketing Sales Rule exempts most calls between a telemarketer and a business, under 16 CFR 310.6(b)(7). The exceptions are the rules against lying about the cost, the performance or the nature of what you sell (16 CFR 310.3(a)(2) and (a)(4)), and calls selling nondurable office or cleaning supplies. The FTC's guidance lists software as a durable good, so it falls in the exempt group, but a call aimed at an employee buying for personal use is not a business call. Second, the rule's calling window is 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the called person's location (16 CFR 310.4(c)). That text is written about calls to residences, and the business exemption sits on top of it, but staying inside those hours is the safe default. Third, in February 2024 the Federal Communications Commission ruled that AI-generated voices count as artificial voices under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, so calls using one need consent in the situations that law covers, especially calls to mobile phones. States add their own rules, so check yours before you dial. This is general information, not legal advice. The longer version is in is AI cold calling legal.
If you would rather not make these calls yourself, Rocketship's Launch plan and up includes AI phone calls that say they are an AI assistant and can book the meeting on the call, and it emails the follow-up from your own Gmail. Launch is $24.99 a month, and the pricing page shows what each plan adds.