BEST COLD CALL OPENER “How’ve you been?” We were surprised too (at first). It works because it’s a pattern interrupt. It breaks the normal cold call examples we’re taught to expect. Like the standard (and dreaded) question: “Can I have a minute of your time?” Instead of defaulting to “not interested,” they’ll hang on to your call just a little longer. Gong Labs data proves it. Cold calls using this opening line are 6.6x more successful in getting a meeting booked. Try it on your next call.
I’ve been running with ‘How’ve you been?’ instead of ‘How are you?’ or any permission-based opener for a long time, and it’s consistently worked. I think tone trumps any magical set of words every time. If I can talk about my kids in any way, there’s also about a 75% chance I’m booking something. Turns out being a human being and genuinely trying to talk to people instead of gamifying everything still works in the big 25
Chris Clark Douglas A. Sechrist Emmanuella Duroska Grace Zhuang Kordell Pritchard Matthew Meakem simple and effective way to switch up your intros! Tone will make a difference too, let’s give it a shot!
Love this. Pattern interrupts matter way more than people realize. When you break someone out of their default script, you break them out of reaction mode. It’s the same idea as pulling up to Chick-fil-A expecting to order the usual… then seeing a completely new menu. Your brain snaps out of autopilot and you actually think. 💡 Cold calls work the same way. Novel opener → novel thought → honest response. And honest responses are where real conversations begin. Like the way I think? I’m transitioning careers. Let’s chat.
“How you doin’?”
Bullshit.
"is this a bad time" was one of my go to. Most initial reactions to cold call is "no", so when you ask this question, it opens the door because it is "not a bad time".
Just to be clear, it's baiting a lie - that you've spoken before and the prospect feels awkward for not remembering you. It's bad vibes.
🤮 What if they say, “My mum just died,” or “I’ve got diarrhoea”? That’s why it’s not a pattern interrupt it’s a fake rapport trap. Stop pretending you care. Trust me the prospect doesn’t care about you either. Start the call like an adult.
Account Executive @ SentriForce | Passionate about community, security, and conscious progress
1dThis is surprising to me! At one point permission based openers worked the best because most people asked "how are you doing today?" The permission based opener used to be a form of a pattern interrupt. It makes me wonder if sales, like fashion, is cyclical.