How to Craft Opening Lines for Cold Calls

⚠️ The one question you should never ask your customers⚠️ I spend the first decade of my career working in business development, holding sales and partnerships roles at global tech leaders. I worked for companies of diverse sizes, from an AI startup to Techstars, talked to hundreds of customers and partners every single working day, whether there were global like Microsoft or hyperspecialized like SFEIR, and there is one question I never asked when a prospect would answer a cold outreach - actually, I would never ever ask this question, end. ❓"So... what caught your attention exactly"❓ I now find myself on the receiving end of pitches which is a very interesting exercise, and this question is the worst way to start a sales conversation. ❌ I don't know the company you work for as well as yourself and I might not remember *exactly* why I took the call in a first place. ❌ It is a very poor initiative to create trust and build relationship - who wants to feel like there are getting a surprise quiz they did not study for? ❌ You are not doing your homework and I am already thinking about a way to end this conversation ASAP. While it is important as a seller to make sure your solution is a good fit for the buyer, a sales conversation is not a series of question so you can tick your BANT boxes. The qualification phase is important but it has to go both ways, so here is what you should do instead to kick things off. ✅ Start the call by thanking the customer to be available, remind them *how* you got introduced to them. ✅ Introduce yourself first. Your name, your role, your location, followed by a one-sentence description of the company, is the strict minimum. ✅ Allow the prospect to introduce themselves first before pitching anything. It is a smart way to reuse what they would say in your advantage, therefore customizing your messaging. This is "beginner mode" of any sales conversation but you would be surprised by the amount of sellers who are not applying this basic technique, and who are missing a large amount of sales opportunity. Corentin Le Reun Ioanna Mantzouridou Onasi Virginie HAAS

I’ve tried so many cold call openers: “Hi Pete, this is Josh with Jellyvision. How have you been?” “Hi Lisa, my name is Josh. We’ve never spoken, but I was hoping you could help me out for a moment.” “Hi Kim, this is Josh with Jellyvision. Are you still in charge of benefits communication?” While these openers might sound different, they all share a common thread: they’re designed to manipulate the prospect into engaging with you. Whether it’s pretending to be familiar, asking for a favor, or trying to validate their role, the underlying intent is clear—you’re trying to get what you want. For me, using manipulative tactics didn’t feel good on my soul, even if these openers worked. What does feel good? Being radically transparent and honest. Like this: “Hi Pete, this is Josh with X. Full disclosure—this is a cold call. Do you mind if I share why I’m calling you specifically, or would you prefer to hang up, which I would completely understand?” By being honest and transparent, you’re not trying to manipulate people. Instead, you’re stating your intent and giving people the choice of whether or not to continue the conversation. Some people will agree to talk. Some won’t. It’s okay either way. There are plenty of people you can call. How do you start your cold calls?

You’re either talking AT your prospects or WITH them And trust me the difference is everything Heres a quick reality check One of the SDRs I worked with this week was using an opener like this on their cold calls “On a scale of 1-5 hows your experience with XYZ?” Its well intentioned but thats a dead end question that usually leads to a quick number and then silence right? Now you’re stuck trying to dig deeper without much context Instead we refined it like this “Saw you’re using XYZ for customer support. I was talking with Sara and Mike last week who said it’s about a 3.5 on a good day. Just curious hows the experience been for you?” This approach 👉 gives the prospect something real to work off of 👉 shows credibility by referencing peers in their space 👉 and opens the door for a genuine conversation If they say “It’s a 5! We love it!”- perfect! Now ask whats really moving the needle for them If they say “Yeah it’s about a 3 for us too” Awesome! Thats your chance to dig deeper “What’s holding it back from being a 4 or 5?” Now you’re not just grilling them with basic questions you’re guiding a conversation driven by real curiosity and insights As sales reps remember we get the chance to talk to a ton of folks in our ICP every week Use those conversations to refine your approach and bring real value into the next call It’s all about talking WITH them—not AT them But hey if you’d rather keep talking at your prospects… Well maybe cold calling is dying and you’ll end up like these guys ☠️📞

Your first 60 seconds on a sales call can make or break the close. Most reps open calls like this: “How’s your day going?” “Crazy weather lately, huh?” Harmless? Sure. But it wastes valuable time and sets the wrong tone. Your prospect didn’t book a call to talk about the weather. They booked because they’re curious if you can solve their problem. The best reps know this and they build trust from the get go. Here are 3 call openers I’ve used to instantly establish authority & connection on sales calls 👇 1. “Just so I understand where you’re coming from—what made you take the call today?” This one flips the dynamic. You’re not chasing. You’re curious. It invites the prospect to open up and gives you gold: context, motivation, and urgency all in one question. No small talk. Straight to the signal. 2. “Out of curiosity—why now?” Timing is everything in sales. If someone booked a call, something triggered it. Your job is to find out what. This question helps surface pain points fast, without sounding pushy or scripted. You’ll learn what’s happening in their world right now—and that’s where the real sale lives. 3. “Before we dive in—mind giving me the 60-second recap of where you’re at?” This one does 2 things at once: ✅ Puts the prospect in the driver’s seat ✅ Shows them you value their time and context It feels casual, but it gives you everything you need to tailor the rest of the conversation. These 3 openers have shortened my sales cycles, reduced objections, and made calls feel more like collaborations than interrogations. In remote sales, trust isn’t built at the end of the call. It’s built in the first few minutes. Set the tone. Lead with intention. Ask better questions.

I'm a human cold-calling experiment. Update on results? 79% success rate for the top call opener... ✅ success rate is connect ⇨ conversation aka 4/5 people said, "Ya go ahead & pitch." In this post I'll cover ⤵️ 1) The experiment details 2) My winning opener 3) Why it works 4) How I do it 1) The Experiment Details 🧪 - minimum 100 convos for each - took about 2-3k calls for each opener - I experimented with all 6 call openers equally 👨🔬 Bottom 5 Results ranged: 58% - 66% 2) Ryan Reisert's opener: 66% 3) Justin Michael's RRM: 65% 4) Wanna roll the Dice: 64% 5) "Name ring a bell?": 59% 6) Got 27 seconds?: 58% 2)The Winning Script 🥇 Comes From Sandler & Sarah Brazier ⤵️ Hey <name>! [hard stop] Hey <name>. It's (YOUR NAME) with (COMPANY). How’ve you been? [they reply] So I know that **nobody** likes getting a cold call… especially on a {Monday, Tuesday, etc} {morning OR afternoon}... so I can keep it super brief and then you can decide if you wanna hang up on me? [hard stop] 3) why it works 🧠 I sound different. Which stops the prospect's auto-response. This is based on psychology (heuristics). And it's science that won the Nobel prize! It also answers the 'must answer' questions: 1- Who's this? 2- What's this about? [explained in the full Matt Macnamara video] 4) tone to deliver it with 🗣️ 🤗 Tone: Smile, Warm, Upbeat, and Friendly (lots of laughs) 🐇 Pace: Slightly fast, but very clear enunciation Hear it in the video here ⤵️ Extra Bonus... Join me and Will Aitken this Friday on the SellBetter show We'll do a free training From the opener to closing In under 30 minutes. What is YOUR opener?? 🤙 PS. check out my full cold calling script, SellBetter event deets, Matt's video, and so much more here ⤵️ https://lnkd.in/eiju7W7S

Problems sell deals—but leading with problems can backfire with outbound. Why? Because outbound is a game of first impressions. And you know what may not make a great first impression? Telling someone—who never asked you to reach out to them—about all the problems they have. Let me give you an example: ⛔️ Lead with problem Prospect: "Hello?" Rep: "Hi Samantha—it's Jason. I'm curious, how are you removing all the redundant work from your support team's workload to reduce support costs?" That's going right for the jugular. It takes a special kind of rep to be aggressive and pull off the tone to get the prospect leaning in. It's too assumptive for having met someone 10 seconds ago. ✅ Lead with priority, followed by problem This sounds more like this... Prospect: "Hello?" Rep: "Hi Samantha, it's Jason. I'm calling because we met with a support leader at a large retailer yesterday. They needed to scale more personalized customer interactions, but their team was bogged down with repetitive work that was driving up the cost to serve. Is that by chance top of mind for you as well?" ~~~ It doesn't seem like much, but you'll get prospects to open up way more when you— 1) Don't assume they have the problem 2) Lead with a goal or aspiration Try this in your cold calls this week and you'll get prospects to open up more.

If I were starting my tech sales career as a BDR today, I’d drop the “Hey, this is a cold call” script immediately. Let’s be real—when you open a call like that, you’re waving a red flag. Their defenses go way up. You’re spotted. You’ve lost momentum before you even get to the value. Instead, lead with curiosity. Lead with a real problem. Lead with a reason for them to lean in. Try this: 👉 “Hey [Name], quick question—can you help me out? I work with [Your Company], and we partner with companies like yours to solve [PAIN POINT YOU KNOW THEY HAVE]. I’d love 20 minutes on your calendar because I know how painful that issue can be.” Now pause. This hits differently because: • You’re inviting collaboration, not pushing a pitch. • You’ve identified a real business pain they definitely feel. • You’re speaking their language and skipping the fluff. That’s how you earn attention. That’s how you open doors. If you’re just getting started in sales, make it your mission to understand your buyer’s pain better than they do. Dig in, go deep, and build your message around it. Sales isn’t about slick talk. It’s about relevance. Be human. Be sharp. Be obsessed with the customer’s world. #techsales #salesstrategy #bdrlife #coldcalling #salesdevelopment #startupsales #salestips #businessdevelopment #sdrlife #salesmindset #demandgeneration #salesleadership

Hate to say it, but I just hung up on someone cold calling me. Here's how it went: Them: "Hi, is this Alexander?" Bad start. Nobody calls me that, and even if they did, asking my name tells me you don't already know it. Me: "Yes it is. (playful tone) Is this a cold call?" Them: "No it's not. We're a partner of [company I've never heard of]." Wrong answer. I know it's a cold call. If they had said yes I would have more than happily heard them out. Lying by pretending to be a partner of my existing vendor gives me the ick. Them: "You bought your home in February 2024, right?" Me: "No, I didn't, and I'm sorry but I really don't have time to chat right now. Goodbye." Them: "Goodbye." Lessons: 1. 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡.  Not "How's your day?" Not "Is this a good time to speak?" Instead: "Saw you bought a copy of Cold Calling Sucks." or "I work with criminal defense attorneys in Chicago." or "Jan in your office told me you run the procurement team." The first thing out of your mouth should be the reason you're calling. An analysis of 300M dials prove this works way better than anything else. 2. 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐞. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫. Prospects are smart. They can smell BS better than my own grandfather (he was a manure salesman.) Even if it did work (which it doesn't), lying is gross. Own that you're cold calling, and have a good reason for it, and you have a way better chance of earning a few of your prospects' moments. 3. 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨. In the Tournament of Ways to Jack Up Your Cold Call, messing up your prospect's info is undefeated. I don't say all this because I enjoy being negative or mean. I say it because getting good at cold calling can literally change your life. It changed mine. There's a way to master it. Lots of ways, actually. Club Pass by 30 Minutes to President's Club is one of them. Find one and work it until it works. #Sales

I was doing cold outreach all wrong, until I learned this insanely simple formula from Jason Bay's interview with Adam Robinson: Responses = Effort + Value. "Your cold outreach isn't working? You're probably asking for too much and giving too little." It hit me right there. Most sales teams get the equation wrong, expecting responses without offering adequate value in return. Jason reframes outbound as a simple formula: Responses = Effort + Value Effort represents what you're asking from prospects. A 60-minute demo call? That's high effort and likely too much for a cold outreach. Value is what you're offering. "I'd love to discuss how we can partner" is vague and low-value. A personalized insight or quick audit? Now that's compelling. Consider this approach: Instead of: "Do you have 30 minutes to explore how we can help improve your e-commerce conversions?" Try: "I ran a quick audit on your checkout flow and found three potential improvements that could reduce cart abandonment. Happy to share details—worth a quick chat?" By lowering the effort (a short call) and increasing the value (specific insights), you're creating an irresistible offer. To craft these high-value, low-effort CTAs: 1. Do your homework: Identify a potential issue they're facing using LinkedIn, Google Alerts, or company news. 2. Be specific: Tailor your pitch to their world and priorities. 3. Keep it light: Use language like "worth a quick chat" or "open to learning more." By rebalancing your outbound equation, you'll see a significant uplift in responses and, ultimately, your pipeline. It's about giving more than you ask for - a principle that extends far beyond sales into all professional relationships. #sales #marketing #coldoutreach

I've made over 100,000 cold calls. Here are the 4 steps I take to push deals forward: 1️⃣ The Permission-Based Opener "[Name]? Hey this is [Your Name] from [Company]. We haven't spoken before, I'm calling you out of the blue, but if you give me 25-30 seconds I can tell you why I called and you can decide if it makes sense to keep talking. Does that sound fair?" This almost always gets a "yes." 2️⃣ The Hook (Pain Points) Present 2-3 specific problems your solution addresses. "We work with [companies like yours] who typically face one of two challenges: either [Problem 1] or [Problem 2]. Which of these resonates more?" NEVER list more than two problems. 3️⃣ Problem Amplification Once they identify with a problem, dig deeper: "How long has this been a frustration?" "What impact is this having?" "What have you tried that hasn't worked?" Make them feel the pain BEFORE offering relief. 4️⃣ The Meeting Close Sell the meeting, NOT the solution: "Based on what you've shared, I think we could help. The next step would be a 30-minute call with [person]. How's [specific day/time]?" Always propose a specific time. This framework works across every industry I've sold in. And if you want to build a team of cold callers who can execute this framework perfectly... Join our Systemized Sales Challenge (May 29-31) where we'll teach you our proven hiring and training process (we've placed 400+ sales reps in under 2 years). Head to my profile for the link.