Cold Calling Playbook for 2025
(Data-Driven)
Read time: 30 min
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Cold Calling Playbook for 2025 (Data-Driven)
"Is CoLd cAlLiNg DeAd?"
Absolutely Not.
Let’s get real: if you’re asking if cold calling still works, you’re behind.
Here’s the truth, backed by data and real-world results:
Look at Rippling. Their biggest growth engine? Outbound.
50% of their demos come from cold calls—650 a month. That’s 32 meetings booked every single day over the phone. Their ACV (average contract value): $32,266 (Repvue). Multiply that by 650 demos: $20.9 million in pipeline every month. Even at a modest 10% win rate, that’s $2 million in ARR closed monthly just from cold calls. The Outbound SDRs alone generate them $50 million in ARR a year.
And this isn’t just theory. Will Falkenborg, an SDR who originally leaned on multichannel, was hitting 130-150% of quota. But when he shifted 80% of his focus to calls? He shot up to 300-500% (Fully ramped). That’s what dialing can do when done right.
At Chili Piper, we relied heavily on email, but in hindsight, cold calling should’ve been our top outbound channel.
Why? Because cold calls work—and no, AI isn’t going to replace that anytime soon. It’s easy to hide behind emails, but the real impact? That comes from the tough conversations on the phone. AI won’t replace the human touch in cold calls anytime soon.
Here’s what no one wants to admit: if your cold calling isn’t working, it’s not the channel—it’s your strategy.
Stop blaming the method and start building the infrastructure and enablement your team needs to dominate.
Here’s what’s on today’s menu:
The State of Cold Calling in 2024
The Biggest Challenges with Cold Calling
The Data-Driven Cold Calling Playbook for 2025 (Funnel, script, dealing with rejection, etc)
Suggested actions
The State of Cold Calling in 2024
🚨 Heads up, most of this data is US-focused. Next year, I’ll be diving deeper into benchmarks so you can get insights tailored to specific industries, buyer personas (GTM, Cybersecurity, Data, Finance, Restaurants, etc), company sizes (SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise), and regions (NA, EMEA, etc).
Overview of Cold Calling Metrics
Number of outbound attempts vs success rate
Jacco van der Kooij drops a brutal truth in his Revenue Architecture book: SaaS GTM efficiency is in freefall.
In 2015, 100 cold emails got you 1 opportunity (1% conversion rate).
By 2018, it took 200 outbound attempts for the same result (0.5%).
Fast forward to 2023, and you’re looking at over 1,000 attempts to get one shot (0.1%).
If you’re still clinging to the same old playbook and seeing a 0.1% success rate, you’re done. SaaS companies that don’t evolve their outbound strategy are digging their own graves.
Quality Conversations (QCs) per Rep per Day
The data’s clear: outbound is getting harder. In 2014, SDRs averaged 8 quality conversations (QCs) per day (from all outbound channels). By 2022, that’s dropped to 3.6—a 55% decline over eight years, with a 10% drop each year.
It’s time to stop pretending outbound is easy and start facing the hard truth—it’s only getting tougher.
Source: Bridge Group data
Daily Quality Conversations (QCs) by Dominant Channel
The data splits teams into three categories: Email-centric (39%), Phone-centric (28%), and Neutral (33%), depending on which outreach channel dominates. Unsurprisingly, Phone-centric teams make more dials each day. What’s interesting, though, is that these teams report 1.4 times more quality conversations (QCs) than their email-focused counterparts.
To break it down, Phone-centric reps averaged 6.8 QCs per day in 2021, while Email-centric teams only managed 3.3.
However, by 2023, QCs dropped across the board: Phone-centric reps now average 4.1 QCs, and Email-centric reps have fallen to 2.9.
But here’s the kicker: despite the decline, phone-heavy reps are still winning. They make more dials (53 vs. 25) and land more quality conversations than the email camp. So, if you’re hiding behind emails, thinking it’s going to save you, think again. You’re leaving real conversations—and real deals—on the table.
Source: Bridge Group data
Conversion and Success Rates
How Many Dials to Book Meetings?
Average reps make 800 dials for 43 connects (5.4%), landing just 2 meetings (4.6% conversion).
Now look at the top 25%: they get 106 connects (13.3%) from 800 dials, booking 18 meetings (16.7% conversion). That’s a huge difference.
And the top 10%? They’re booking 1 meeting for every 3 connects.
Source: Gong + 30 Minutes to President’s Club in Cold Calling Sucks
Cold Call Duration vs. Success Rate
The longer your cold call, the better your chances of booking a meeting. Gong’s data proves it.
Here’s the deal:
Calls under 1 minute? 0% success. Total waste of time.
Hit 2 minutes? Your chances jump to 4%. At 3 minutes, it’s 6%.
By 5 minutes, you’re at 16%.
The real magic happens at 7+ minutes, where it climbs to 30% if you get to 10+ minutes.
Why? It takes time to get past the “telemarketer” vibe and show you can actually hold a smart conversation. The longer you stay on the call, the more curiosity you create, and the better your chances of locking in that meeting.
Here’s the point: If your cold calls are too short, you’re missing opportunities. Get through those first few minutes, and you’ll see your chances of success go up. Just keep the conversation going!
Show Rate By Weeks From Cold Call to Meeting
Gong Data (Weeks Out from Meeting):
Booking meetings for the same week has the highest show rate at 54%.
As you push meetings further out, the show rate declines steadily—53% after one or two weeks, 49% at three weeks, and it drops to 32% if booked four or more weeks in advance.
The closer the meeting, the better the chances of your prospect showing up. Anything beyond two weeks significantly reduces your show rate.
Altisales Data (Days Out from Meeting):
Booking meetings 0-1 days out results in the highest show rate, peaking at 80.79% for day 1.
The show rate stays relatively strong for the first few days, around 75%, but starts to dip by day 5 and steadily declines to around 60% by day 14.
Like the Gong data, Tito Bohrt at Altisales (analysis made on 6’414 meetings) shows that booking meetings sooner rather than later increases the likelihood of prospects attending. The drop is more gradual than the Gong data but still significant after a week.
Both data sets point to the same conclusion—book meetings as soon as possible. The further out the meeting, the less likely your prospect is to show. Ideally, aim to lock in meetings for the same week or within a few days. Longer delays drastically hurt your chances of them showing up.
Source: Gong + 30 Minutes to President’s Club in Cold Calling Sucks, and Altisales
The Number of Calls It Takes to Reach a Prospect
This data shows how many calls it typically takes to reach a prospect across multiple attempts. The vast majority of connections happen on the first attempt with 3,963 calls leading to a successful connection. From there, the numbers drop off dramatically, with only 761 connections on the second attempt, and further down with just 303 on the third. By the time you’re at the 5th or 6th attempt, you’re looking at only 32 and 15 calls, respectively, actually reaching a prospect.
If you don’t reach a prospect on the first attempt, your chances drop significantly with each additional try. By the 3rd or 4th attempt, you’re looking at a fraction of the original success rate, and by the 5th or 6th attempt, the odds are slim to none.
Cold Calling Impact on Email Success
Cold calling nearly doubles your email reply rate even if you don’t connect live.
Email Reply Rate
Without Cold Calls: 1.81%
With Cold Calls: 3.44% (1.9x higher)
Every cold call you make and voicemail you leave draws attention back to your emails, so you book even more meetings across other channels.
Between those 18 extra meetings a month and whatever comes from the increase in your email reply rate of every email you send …
Best Practices for Leaving Voicemails
Impact of Voicemail on Connect Rate
I found 2 data sources for this: Orum, and Gong. But both got 2 different results.
Orum found a positive impact on connect rates.
Gong found the opposite.
Orum claims that leaving voicemails boosts future connect rates by 25%, suggesting voicemails help you stay on a prospect’s radar and lead to more conversations down the line.
Gong, on the other hand, found the exact opposite. They report that leaving voicemails hurts your future connect rate by 28%, dropping from 7.18% without voicemails to 5.17% after leaving them. According to Gong, leaving a voicemail flags you as a salesperson, making future calls less effective.
Impact of voicemails on Email Reply Rate
Gong data shows that your email reply rate jumps from 2.73% to 5.87% for every email you send after leaving a voicemail.
Email Reply Rate By Number of Voicemails
If you’re leaving 1 or 2 voicemails, you’re maximizing your chances of getting an email reply. But anything beyond that is counterproductive.
The data is conflicting, but here’s the reality: leaving a voicemail is a gamble for connect rate. Orum’s perspective is that it works, while Gong suggests it backfires. What’s clear, though, is that voicemails are more about setting up email replies than expecting callbacks or better future connect rates. You might improve your email engagement, but don’t count on voicemails alone to drive up your connect rate.
So, if you’re going to leave voicemails, keep your expectations in check: focus on boosting email reply rates rather than future call connections.
Cold Call Openers and Pitch Optimization
Top Cold Call Openers (Gong + Nooks Data)
Gong data:
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” - 2.15% success rate.
“How’s it going?” - 7.6% success rate.
Permission-based opener (with context) - 11.18% success rate.
“Heard your name tossed around” (with context) - 11.24% success rate.
Nooks data:
53% of top reps didn’t use a permission-based opener, but they used context. These reps ditched the permission ask but led with context.
41% used a permission-based opener with context. Adding context makes permission-based openers more effective
6% used a permission-based opener without context.
Cold call openers that work best are direct and context-driven. Asking “Did I catch you at a bad time?” is dead in the water. If you’re going to use a cold calling opener, always provide context.
Cold Call Success by Language Type (Gong + Nooks data)
Gong Data:
Buzzwords: 5.5% (Success Rate)
Social Proof: 12%
Problem Language: 16%
Problem language is 3x more effective than the buzzword language often used in value propositions.
Nooks data:
83%: Top reps used a value-based pitch
17%: Reps used a feature-based pitch
Stop using buzzwords—they don’t work. Throwing out terms like “synergy,” “value-driven,” or “next-gen” is ineffective and only gets you a 5.5% success rate. What does work is speaking the prospect’s language: problem language is your best bet at 16%. Top-performing reps don’t pitch features; they pitch solutions to problems. If you’re not talking directly about the challenges your prospect faces and how you can solve them, you’re missing out on 3x the potential success rate.
How to end the cold call
The data from Nooks and Gong gives a clear insight into how top-performing sales reps successfully secure meetings, and it’s all about offering value, not just filling up the calendar.
Nooks Data:
16% of reps offered access to an expert, such as a CEO or domain expert, during the call. This adds credibility and depth to the conversation, making it far more attractive to the prospect.
5% of reps offered exclusive information, like proprietary data or industry insights, to provide real value in the meeting, not just another sales pitch.
Gong Data:
Instead of simply asking, “Can we find time to discuss this?”—which is vague and uninspiring—top reps framed the meeting around specific value. For example, “Can we show you how MegaBank cut operating expenses?” makes the meeting sound like a valuable use of time, rather than just a generic sales call. This sets expectations and helps build trust that the meeting will provide real, tangible insights, not just a pitch.
Objections and Responses
Most Common Cold Call Objections (Sources: Orum, Gong, Cognism)
I found 3 sources for common objections.
Orum:
“This isn’t a priority for us right now.”
“I’m the wrong person to discuss this with.”
“Can you just email me some information?”
Gong:
“Not Interested”
Product fit
No budget
“Not my responsibility"
*Hang up*
Cognism data:
"I’m busy”
"I’m not interested/Didn’t have a problem”
“I’m the wrong person to talk to”
"Send me an email"
Timing and Strategy
What are the best times for cold calling in 2025?
Multiple tools: ZoomInfo, Gong, and Cognism have already done studies on this.
Timing is everything in cold calling, which is why it’s best to time your cold outreach.
According to ZoomInfo research, the best time to call is 5 minutes before the half-hour and hour. Why? Because people generally schedule their days in 30-minute blocks, and those few minutes before a meeting are prime for catching them when they’re available.
Gong Data
Morning person or not, Gong data shows that the best time to call is in the morning. From there, you’ll be primed to tackle more and more revenue-generating activities to extend your lead for the day
Connect Rates by Time of Day for Cold Calling:
10:00 AM is the sweet spot, with the highest connect rate of 8%. Connect rates stay relatively strong between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM, so mornings and early afternoons are your best bet. The idea here is that people are fresh in the morning and more willing to engage.
The most productive times for cold calling are 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM, with the highest number of meetings booked at those times. Interestingly, 12:00 PM is the least productive time, with only 3 meetings booked—probably because people are at lunch or taking a break.
Thursday is the best day for booking meetings (58 meetings), while Friday is the worst (44 meetings). Mid-week—Tuesday to Thursday—shows the highest booking activity.
The data consistently shows that mornings and early afternoons—especially around 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM—are the best times to reach people. Mid-week (Tuesday to Thursday) is where you should focus most of your outbound efforts. Skip calling at lunchtime and late in the week, and pay attention to those few minutes before the half-hour mark—it might be the difference between connecting and getting ignored.
Benchmarks for Success
Recently, I spoke to two companies cold calling CISOs at 1k+ employee orgs:
One had a 1% connect rate, the other hit 2%.
For a SaaS selling to data leaders:
EMEA + APAC: Killing it with a 26% connect rate.
US: 7.5%.
Bay Area: 3%
Key Conversion Rates (Top Reps vs. Average Reps)
Key outputs (Top Reps vs. Average Reps)
Datasets:
Gong data + 30 Minutes to President’s Club in Cold Calling Sucks: They crunched through data from 300M+ cold calls made by their customers.
Nooks: They grabbed all the calls made on their platform over the last 30 days, then focused on the top reps based on meetings booked and their ‘conversation-to-meeting’ ratio.
Orum: They analyzed 7.8 million calls made using Orum software between June 2021 and March 2022.
The Bridge Group: Surveyed 365 B2B companies for their 2023 report.
The 5 Biggest Challenges with Cold Calling
Here are the 5 challenges:
Getting flagged as spam
Regulatory headaches
Information Overload
Skill Gaps
Lack of great data
Getting flagged as spam
Getting flagged as spam kills your chances of connecting with prospects. If your number is marked, you might as well hang it up.
With spam calls on the rise, prospects are screening and blocking like never before. The result? 87% of Americans don’t pick up unknown numbers, and 80% of cold calls go straight to voicemail. The challenge is real.
Regulatory headaches
GDPR, CCPA, TCPA—if you don’t know what these are, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Navigating data privacy laws and telemarketing regulations isn’t just important—it’s mandatory.
By 2025, 75% of the world’s population will have its personal data locked down under privacy rules.
Here’s the deal:
GDPR in the EU
CCPA in California
TCPA in the US
If you don’t stay compliant, you’re not just risking fines—you’re risking your business.
Information overload
As I mentioned above, reps are flooding inboxes and phone lines, leaving prospects overwhelmed and burnt out. On top of all the other challenges, you’re dealing with a fatigued audience that’s sick of being pitched to every five minutes. It’s no wonder they stop picking up the phone.
Skill Gaps
Most sales teams are flying blind when it comes to cold calling—because leadership doesn’t care enough to fix it. The fear of rejection? Ignored. Training? Minimal, if it exists at all. Instead, they just throw reps into the deep end and hope they can swim.
‘Smile and dial’ or ‘just pick up the phone’? That’s not advice—it’s lazy, outdated leadership. No wonder reps are burning out and failing. They’re set up to lose, with zero real coaching or support to help them handle the mental grind of rejection.
Leadership is failing their teams, and it’s showing.
Lack of great data
Nearly half of sales reps (43%) say getting quality data is their biggest challenge when cold prospecting (RAIN Group). Even worse, 45% of SDRs admit they’re struggling with incomplete data (LinkedIn).
In a recent SaaStr talk, mentioned that BDRs are wasting 20-50% of their time dialing bad numbers, doing manual research, or going after the wrong accounts. It’s a huge productivity killer.
No wonder cold calling feels like a waste of time when your outbound system is broken.
The Data-Driven Cold Calling Playbook for 2025
We all know the data and pain points with cold calling.
Now, let’s get real—here’s how to build a cold-calling playbook that actually works for 2025:
Cold-calling funnel
How to make more calls
Increase your meeting rate: connect → conversation → meeting
Handling the most common objections
Call dispositions for clean data
Dealing with rejection (backed by science)
Let's start with the cold-calling funnel:
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