Cold Calling 2.0 : How to finish Q4 strong?
Discover the latest insights and strategies for cold calling in today’s fast-paced sales landscape, featuring tips and real-world stories from industry pros who know what works—and what doesn’t.
It all started as an initiative to bring industry professionals and sales champions together for a deep dive into cold calling.
We had a webinar last week on “Cold Calling 2.0 : How to finish Q4 strong?” by Alan, Jan and Satwick.
The goal was to figure out what’s working in cold calling right now—and what’s not.
Alan, Jan, and Satwick shared stories, mistakes, tips, and plenty of anecdotes during the webinar. As Jan put it, “Cold calling is a grind, but when done right, it’s magic.”
The way forward isn’t just about dialing more—it’s about dialing smarter with personalized insights to show prospects that you are interested and have done your homework.
That is the evolution of Cold Calling to Cold Calling 2.0
They were hard-earned lessons from the trenches, straight from the mouths of experienced pros.
As Alan said during the session, “Sales is both a science and an art.” That idea stayed with us and we tried to cover all the important takeaways and discussions in this newsletter.
Here are the topics that we are gonna cover below…
1/ The state of Cold Calling
2/ What’s your cold calling story?
3/ Cold Calling 1.0 + Power Dialers
4/ The Problem with traditional cold calling
5/ Call Prep Script 2.0
6/ How AI Powers Cold Calling 2.0
The state of Cold Calling
Cold calling has changed—big time. What worked five years ago doesn’t work anymore.
As businesses lean more on outbound strategies, they’re hitting a wall: lesser connection rates and meeting booking rates.
Cold Calling Isn’t Dead—It’s Evolving.
AI tools like power dialers are reshaping the landscape, but volume alone doesn’t drive results.
- Earlier: Connect rates of 12%-14% were standard.
- Today: Even optimized strategies yield only 5%-8% connect rates.
Alan puts it: “You could call 100 people and get 10 meaningful conversations. Now, even with the best tools, it’s hard to hit that.” Prospects are harder to reach with fewer office numbers in use and more people working remotely.
Yan recalls how his early role required him to hit 100 calls a day. His KPI? 10 connected calls per hour. He learned the hard way that working smarter, not harder, is the way forward.
Over-calling your list leaves you with no prospects for final stretch.
Be strategic: Call key stakeholders first, working top-down or bottom-up as the situation demands.
Power dialers and AI offer speed, but without soft skills, they’re useless. Many teams think higher call volumes will fix the problem, but Alan warns: "More calls don’t mean better results." Here’s why:
1. Cold calls work only when reps are trained to:
- Start conversations with impact.
- Handle objections smoothly.
- Know their "Why You, Why Now?" pitch by heart.
2. Quality over Quantity
- Poor skills + high volume = lower booking rates.
- More calls also mean more blocked numbers.
Relevance is super important today. Yan sums it up perfectly: “If you can answer three questions—‘Why you? Why change? Why now?’—you’ll have fun with cold calls.”
Winning cold calls today require:
- Personalization: Tailoring every conversation to the prospect’s pain points.
- Timeliness: Reaching out when it matters most to them, not just when it’s convenient for you.
AI and power dialers help with volume, but automation alone won’t win deals. Sales teams need to combine efficiency with human empathy. Alan emphasizes: “Without strong conversation skills, your AI tools won’t save you.”
Here is the recording of discussion -
What’s your cold calling story?
1. When Persistence Pays Off (or Backfires)
Yan recalled a rookie mistake that turned into a win:
- The Setup: He made a call, introduced himself, and the prospect immediately hung up.
- What He Did: Thinking the call had dropped, Yan called back.
- The Result: The prospect laughed, saying they hung up on purpose. Yan didn’t give up—he leaned in and said, “Don’t you want to hear why I called?” That persistence led to one of Yan’s biggest closed deals.
Lesson: Sometimes being a little naive works. A second call might just be the one that clicks.
2. The Danger of Apologizing Too Early
Alan shared an experience that hit hard. He called a prospect, but instead of being confident, he opened with:
- “Sorry for bothering you; I promise I’m not selling anything.”
The response? The prospect lashed out, demanded proof of Alan’s identity, and slammed the phone down. Alan followed up with a polite email, apologizing again—but the damage was done.
Lesson: Never apologize upfront. It puts you on the back foot and signals insecurity. Cold calls are about confidence—if you don’t believe in what you’re saying, neither will your prospect.
3. Burned by Assumptions and Scripts
Yan shared how scripted calls can kill conversations. When his personal number ended up in the hands of real estate agents, he noticed a pattern:
- Every agent started with the same canned line: “Are you living in [insert location]?”
- Some were so scripted, they fumbled: “Hey, [insert name], how are you?”
Lesson: Prospects aren’t robots, and they know when you’re reading from a script. The most successful calls happen when you use natural conversation and ditch the robotic script.
4. Cultural Sensitivity Matters
Alan highlighted how cultural nuances shape cold calling approaches. In Latin America, WhatsApp is the go-to channel, not cold calls. Instead of forcing calls, successful sellers:
- Start with WhatsApp messages: “Hey, I sent you a WhatsApp earlier. Can we connect there?”
- Use humor: A line like, “I hate cold calls as much as you do,” can break the ice.
Lesson: Adapt to the communication preferences of your audience. In regions where WhatsApp reigns, cold calling might feel invasive. Blend channels for better outcomes.
5. Confidence Is King
Yan shared a simple but powerful tip:
- Think of your cold call like you’re calling a friend.
- When he calls a CFO, Yan imagines he’s talking to his brother: “How’s it going? How was the weekend?”
- This mental trick lowers his voice, eases tension, and makes him sound more conversational.
Lesson: Confidence comes from comfort. If you’re stiff or nervous, prospects can sense it immediately. The goal is to sound human, not like a telemarketer.
6. Growth Through Mistakes
Alan emphasized that cold calling success comes from making mistakes and learning from them. His advice:
- Make the mistakes early. The more you stumble, the faster you grow.
- Find your own style. Scripts can guide you, but great conversations happen when you’re comfortable being yourself.
- Track your progress: Each call—whether a win or a loss—teaches you what works and what doesn’t.
Cold calling isn’t just about numbers; it’s about stories. Every call adds to your learning curve. Whether you get laughed at, shut down, or win big, each experience counts. As Alan put it: “You can’t find your style unless you try, fail, and try again.”
What’s your cold calling story? Keep dialing, keep learning, and who knows? Your next call might just be the one that closes strong.
Here is the recording of discussion -
Cold Calling 1.0 + Power Dialers
Before power dialers, cold calling was as manual as it gets. Yan shared how his team had to:
- Hunt for numbers manually: They spent hours pulling contact info from websites.
- Order pizza nights: Thursdays became pizza-and-research marathons, with each rep tasked to find 10 numbers.
- Office numbers only: Calls were often routed to empty desks as more people shifted to remote work.
Yan’s words capture the frustration: “I spent 20 minutes researching a perfect pitch and then called five times—nobody picked up.”
Power Dialers: A Game Changer?
The first solution to this grind was power dialers. They allowed reps to dial hundreds of numbers a day, turning a week’s worth of work into a few hours. Here’s how they helped:
- Increased efficiency: Reps could make 200+ calls a day instead of 100 calls a week.
- More practice: Frequent calls exposed reps to more objections, helping them develop soft skills faster.
- Higher volume = Higher chance: More dials meant more chances to book meetings, or so it seemed.
But as Alan shared, higher volume doesn’t guarantee success. The conversion rate for cold calls dropped to less than 2%. "Even with power dialers, you need soft skills. Otherwise, it’s a disaster."
The New Challenges
Power dialers introduced speed, but they also came with drawbacks:
- Reduced research time: With three parallel dials running, reps barely had seconds to prepare.
- Lower message relevancy: Reps defaulted to generic pitches instead of personalized ones, hurting their effectiveness.
- Burnout risk: Yan pointed out, “We thought volume would bring more meetings, but instead, it exhausted the team.”
Reps went from thoughtful, researched calls to a "spray and pray" approach, leading to frustrated prospects and increased rejection rates. Alan summarized it perfectly: “If the first words out of your mouth don’t hook the person, you’ve lost them.”
Finding the Balance: Quantity vs. Quality
Power dialers work—when used the right way. The key is combining volume with preparation and personalization. Here's what successful teams do:
1. Use AI to enhance research: Integrate tools that quickly surface insights about prospects before calls.
2. Limit parallel dials: Fewer simultaneous dials give reps more time to personalize conversations.
3. Focus on soft skills: As Alan stressed, practice makes perfect. But it’s quality practice that builds confident reps.
A New Approach: Learn, Iterate, and Adapt
Yan highlighted how over-reliance on speed burned out his team. He stressed the importance of pacing:
- “It takes three years to get comfortable with the process,” he said.
- In year one, you’re learning.
- In year two, you refine your pitch.
- By year three, you start having fun—that’s when you perform your best.
Cold Calling 1.0 was slow and painful. Power dialers promised speed, but many teams learned the hard way that volume without strategy leads to failure.
The future lies in Cold Calling 2.0:
- Smart volume + personalization.
- AI-powered insights + soft skills.
Power dialers are just tools. Success comes from combining them with thoughtful strategy, preparation, and continuous learning.
Here is the recording of discussion -
The Problem with traditional cold calling
Cold calling has a bad reputation. It’s time-consuming, emotionally draining, and often ineffective.
Traditional cold calling—let’s call it Cold Calling 1.0—involves long hours dialing random numbers with limited preparation, hoping for a connection.
1. The Numbers Game Gone Wrong
Traditional cold calling was all about volume:
- Thousands of calls made to get just a few meaningful conversations.
- Low connect rates: Many calls never reach decision-makers because of outdated office numbers.
- Less than 2% conversion rates on average, even after hours of dialing.
Alan shared that before power dialers, sales reps could spend a whole week making 1,000 dials, only to secure a handful of meetings—if they were lucky.
2. Outdated Contact Data and the Rise of Mobile
Many reps today still rely on office numbers that are practically useless:
- More people working remotely, so office phones are no longer the go-to.
- Even tools like Apollo and ZoomInfo struggle with mobile numbers, with 30-35% coverage at best.
And as Yan highlighted, when you do connect, you can’t afford to mishandle the call. One bad attempt, and the prospect may never answer again.
3. Time-Consuming Research with Little Payoff
The irony? Many reps spend more time researching than calling. As Yan joked:
- “You research for 18 hours, make one call, and then recover for the rest of the day.”
Sales reps get stuck in the trap of over-preparation, only to get no response when they finally call. It’s frustrating and demoralizing.
4. The Emotional Toll of Rejection
Cold calls can feel personal. Yan shared a story of calling a prospect who immediately hung up. Assuming it was a dropped call, he dialed back, only to be told, “I hung up on you.”
It’s no wonder many junior reps burn out quickly. They struggle to recover from rejection, especially when the process feels like a grind with no end in sight.
5. Why Traditional Scripts Fail
One of the biggest mistakes in cold calling is sticking to generic scripts. Yan explained how real estate agents bombarded him with scripted calls:
- “Hi, are you living in [insert address]?”
- “Hi [insert name], how are you?”
These robotic interactions kill conversations before they even begin. Prospects can tell when you’re not genuine, and they’ll hang up in seconds if the call lacks relevance.
6. Lack of Relevance = Instant Failure
As Jan emphasized, the success of a cold call hinges on relevance and confidence.
- The first sentence must be spot on—it’s your make-or-break moment.
- A generic opening like, “I can save you time and money,” will fall flat every time.
Cold calling only works when the conversation is useful and personalized. When the call is irrelevant, it’s annoying. But when it addresses a real need, prospects are grateful for the solution.
—--
Traditional cold calling is broken, but there’s hope. Cold Calling 2.0 blends efficiency with insight. It’s not just about dialing more numbers—it’s about dialing smarter:
1. Use AI tools to filter high-probability numbers.
2. Prepare with relevant insights, not lengthy scripts.
3. Ask specific questions to spark real conversations.
As Alan put it: “Cold calling is only annoying when it’s irrelevant. When it’s helpful, prospects love it.”
Here is the recording of discussion -
Cold Calling 2.0
Yan’s advice: Don’t randomly switch between CEOs, finance directors, and HR heads. Group similar roles in a single call block. This builds momentum, keeps your mind focused, and allows you to master each persona’s:
- Pain points
- KPIs they care about
- Responsibilities and emotional triggers
Why it works: After a few calls, you hit your stride. You’re no longer guessing—you’re solving problems.
Example: “If you’re calling finance heads, stick to finance heads for the entire hour.”
Nail the First 3 Sentences for Confidence
Your first three sentences are everything. They determine whether the call moves forward—or gets shut down. Alan shared this advice:
Lead with context: Reference something specific about the prospect’s company or role.
“I noticed you’re expanding into European markets. That’s exciting!”
Be upfront: “This is a cold call, but it’s a well-researched one.”
Ask for permission:
“If you give me 20 seconds, I’ll explain why I’m calling, and you can tell me if it’s relevant.”
Why it works: This framework shows that you’ve done your homework and respects the prospect’s time—making them more likely to listen.
Make the Message Relevant and Precise
Once you’ve hooked the prospect, the real magic begins. The goal is to connect the context with a pain point and solution:
- Highlight the problem: “When companies open new offices, processes often get chaotic.”
- Show the cost of inaction: “Teams waste time figuring things out, hurting productivity.”
- Ask a question: “Is that something you’re facing right now?”
Why it works: Asking thoughtful questions makes the conversation a two-way street, increasing engagement.
Timing Is Everything: Call When Others Don’t
Jan shared a clever strategy: Call at non-traditional times to reach decision-makers:
- Early morning (7:30-8:00 AM): They’re often driving or dropping kids off, making them more likely to answer.
- Late Friday afternoons: Most SaaS companies wind down by 3 PM, so prospects are in a good mood.
Pro tip: Turn these sessions into team bonding moments. Have the team gather with snacks, beers, or coffee and make a round of calls together.
Build Confidence by Practicing the Fundamentals
Practice makes perfect. Power dialers help you get more reps in, but confidence comes from preparation and repetition:
- Prepare your opening lines until they become second nature.
- Anticipate objections and have answers ready.
- Develop your tone: Calm and collected wins over pushy and nervous every time.
Alan’s advice: “Sales is both a science and an art. The more you enjoy the process, the better you’ll get.”
The secret? Make every call intentional and personal. Treat each conversation as a chance to help, not just sell.
Here is the recording of discussion -
How AI Powers Cold Calling 2.0
Cold Calling 2.0 isn’t just about making more dials—it’s about making smarter calls. AI now plays a crucial role in helping sales teams shift from the old “spray and pray” method to targeted, high-impact conversations.
1. Personalized Opening Lines at Scale
The first few seconds of a cold call are critical. With AI, you can:
Auto-generate personalized insights based on public data, CRM, or LinkedIn updates.
Use trigger-based openers like:
“I noticed you’re hiring SDRs—sounds like a big expansion!”
“Congrats on your new office launch in Berlin!”
These details immediately convey relevance, catching the prospect’s attention. As Alan mentioned, the key is to make the prospect feel like you chose to call them specifically, not just anyone on a list.
2. Evabot's Impact: AI-Generated Scripts for High-Conversion Calls
The team shared how using Evabot’s AI-powered tools transformed their results:
- Connection to conversation rates doubled.
- 45% of calls turned into meaningful conversations lasting over 30 seconds.
- One in three conversations lasted more than 60 seconds—proof that the right opener builds trust fast.
Why this matters: The difference between a generic cold call and a well-researched one lies in personalization. AI ensures every opener speaks to the prospect’s world, not just your product.
3. AI-Powered Dialing: Focus on High-Probability Leads
AI helps sales teams work smarter by:
- Segmenting contact lists into mobile numbers, landlines, and “hot” leads with higher pickup potential.
- Using tools like Apollo or ZoomInfo to filter and validate numbers before calling.
- Predicting the best time to call based on previous engagement patterns.
Example: “Instead of dialing random leads, AI tells you which prospects are most likely to pick up.”
This reduces wasted effort and ensures reps focus on high-value conversations.
4. Continuous Learning and Iteration
AI doesn’t just generate scripts—it learns from outcomes:
- Analyzes call performance: Which openers work best? Which objections are most common?
- Adjusts strategies in real-time: AI recommends adjustments to scripts or call times based on trends.
- Coaches reps on-the-fly: With insights from previous calls, reps can quickly improve their approach.
Alan shared: “With each call, we’re getting better. AI helps us fine-tune our process, so every call feels more natural.”
5. AI Enhances Confidence and Consistency
Even junior reps benefit from AI-driven call preparation:
- Pre-filled notes ensure they start with confidence.
- Real-time prompts guide reps through objections and responses.
- Permission-based openers—“If you give me 20 seconds, I’ll explain why I called.”—help reps maintain control without sounding pushy.
Jan emphasized the importance of confidence: “AI helps reps feel more prepared, and that confidence is heard on the call.”
6. The Power of AI + Human Touch
AI is a game-changer, but it’s not a replacement for soft skills. The best results come when AI insights are combined with human empathy.
- AI preps the call with data and insights.
- Reps use those insights to create genuine conversations.
- Objections are handled naturally, not from a script, but from understanding the prospect’s needs.
Jan’s experience proves this: “The call that closed my biggest deal started with a cold call. I had AI-generated insights, but the conversation flowed naturally.”
AI transforms cold calls from random pitches into meaningful conversations by:
- Identifying the right prospects to call.
- Generating relevant, personalized openers.
- Coaching reps in real-time for better conversations.
Here is the recording of discussion -
With AI on your side, you’re not just making more calls—you’re making better calls.
Would you like to evaluate “Evabot AI” for Cold Calling 2.0? Book a meeting on the button below.
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