Cold calling still works, but only for some buyers. It works for owners and managers who answer their own phones, such as contractors, shops, clinics, restaurants and other local businesses. It works poorly for people behind voicemail trees and call screening, which describes most corporate buyers. Pair it with an email and it works better for both.
No one can give you a clean success rate that applies to your business, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What you can do is pick the buyers where calling makes sense, run a short test, and keep score. This article shows how.
Cold calls: fast conversations, low pickup rates
A phone call has one big advantage over every other kind of outreach: it's immediate. If the person answers, you can have a real conversation in 90 seconds, answer an objection, and book a time. Email can't do that. Its big disadvantage is that most people don't answer calls from numbers they don't know, and many see an unexpected call as an interruption.
So the question isn't "does it work?" It's "does it work on the people I need to reach?" For some, the answer is yes, and for others, the same time spent on email would do better.
Who still picks up
Some groups answer unknown calls routinely, because a call is how their customers reach them:
- Owners of local trades and services: roofers, plumbers, landscapers, electricians, cleaners.
- Small retail and restaurant owners, though not at rush hours.
- Independent practices: dentists, chiropractors, vets, accountants, small law offices (their staff may screen, but the owner often takes the call).
- Property managers and facility managers, whose phones are part of the job.
- Small manufacturers and distributors, where the owner or plant manager answers.
These people are used to phone calls from strangers, and the best ones will give you 30 seconds just to find out if you're useful. In these groups a phone call can beat an email, which they'd have to find among invoices and supplier mail.
When it works best
A cold call works best when you have a specific reason, and that reason is true. "I noticed your van is parked outside a job on Elm Street" is a reason. "I wanted to introduce our services" is not. The more your call sounds like it was meant for this person, the less it sounds like a cold call.
It also works better at certain times. Many trade owners are most reachable early in the morning, before they're on a job, or late in the afternoon after they're done. Office-based managers do better mid-morning on Tuesday through Thursday. Avoid Monday mornings and Friday afternoons for most buyers.
And it works better after an email. When the person has seen your name, the call isn't a surprise. We cover the order in should you call or email a lead first.
When it wastes time
Skip calling, or at least don't lead with it, for these buyers:
- Corporate buyers behind receptionists, phone trees and assistants. You'll spend most of your time getting to voicemail.
- Senior executives who don't take unscheduled calls. An email or a warm introduction does more.
- Technical or remote workers who rarely use a desk phone. Many have no listed number.
- Anyone whose number you can't verify, which turns the exercise into dialing wrong numbers.
For these buyers, a short email or a LinkedIn note usually goes further, as discussed in LinkedIn outreach versus email. If you're reaching them, the question of whether to do all of it yourself is covered in should founders do their own cold outreach.
Call after an email
The most dependable pattern is email first, call second. Here's how it runs for a fictional commercial cleaning company, Brightway:
- Monday: send a short email to the owner of a dental office, about one specific problem.
- Wednesday: call. If voicemail, leave 20 seconds and mention the email.
- Friday: send a one-line follow-up on the same thread.
- The next Tuesday: one more call at a different time of day, then a closing note.
By the second call the person has seen your name twice. The call goes from "who is this?" to "oh, the cleaning email." If you're sending the emails from your own account, keep volume modest and follow the usual rules: your real name, an honest subject line, a physical address and a working opt-out.
One legal point, since you're making calls: in the US, calling business lines is treated differently from calling households, but state rules vary, and calls placed with prerecorded or AI-generated voices have stricter consent requirements. Check the rules for your state and your kind of calling before you start. This is general information, not legal advice.
A 10-minute calling block
Cold calling gets easier when it's small and regular. Set a timer for 10 minutes, at the same time each day. Before you start, have a list of 10 names with numbers, a one-line opener, and a notepad.
A simple opener: "Hi Dr. Sato, this is Alex from Brightway. I sent you a short note Monday about after-hours cleaning. Do you have 30 seconds?" If yes, ask one question: "Who handles your cleaning right now?" Listen. If no, say "Understood, when would be better?" and write down the answer.
Ten minutes will get you through eight to ten dials. Most will go to voicemail. If two people pick up and one gives you a next step, that's a good day. Keep going for two weeks before judging. After 100 dials, you'll have real numbers on how many picked up and how many agreed to a conversation.
If making the calls yourself is the part you dread, AI that makes the call for you describes the alternative. Rocketship's AI worker places phone calls on your behalf as part of its outreach, alongside the emails it sends from your own Gmail, and books the meeting on its own when someone says yes.
When the call goes to voicemail, which it usually will, the message matters. A voicemail script for following up with a lead has a 20-second version for a cold call.
What to say when someone does answer
Most cold calls go wrong in the first ten seconds, when the caller launches into a pitch. Instead, be honest that it's a cold call, ask permission, and make the question about them. "I know this is out of the blue" works better than pretending you've spoken before. If they say they're busy, thank them and ask for a better time. If they say they already have someone, ask one gentle question: "Are you happy with them, or would a second quote ever be useful?" Then let it go if the answer is no. A polite exit leaves the door open for a later email.
Call outcomes to log
Log every dial with one of these tags, so you can learn from them:
- No answer, left voicemail.
- Reached, not interested.
- Reached, call back later (with a date).
- Reached, meeting booked.
- Wrong number or not the right person (with who is).
After 50 dials, count each. Say you get 4 conversations and 1 meeting: that's a 2 percent meeting rate per dial, and 25 percent per conversation. If one meeting is worth $3,000 in expected revenue, a dial is worth about $60. Whether that beats other uses of your time depends on you, but now you're deciding on numbers, not a hunch.
Cold calling is a tool with a narrow range, not a dead technique and not a cure-all. Rocketship finds the buyers, emails them from your own Gmail, follows up, and books the meeting on its own. Plans that get you customers start at $24.99 a month (Launch), and both Launch and Frontier start with a 7-day free trial, card required. Answering your existing number is included; a dedicated line is $5 a month. See the AI workers.