6 Winning Cold Calling Scripts that Actually Book Meetings

Your cold leads don’t owe you their time.

Why should they answer an unexpected sales call from a stranger? What’s in it for them? 

The best cold callers give them an irrefutable answer — using intrigue, preparedness, and a value-based cold call script. 

The right cold calling scripts, applied in the right scenarios, help sales reps test, track, and master the exact words that are likely to convert a cold call into a meeting or demo. 

Keep reading to uncover the cold calling scripts endorsed by some of the most accomplished and respected leaders and experts in the field of B2B sales — and how to integrate them into your best outbound campaign yet.

What is a cold call?

Before we jump into how to make cold calls that book meetings, let’s review this particular outbound touchpoint.

The cold call is an outbound sales strategy that attempts to engage prospects for the first time. More often than not, these are prospects who have never interacted with your business before and maybe haven’t even heard of your brand.

If you’re in sales, you know all of this.

You also probably know that cold calling gets a bad rap.

Only 27% of sales reps believe that cold calling is an effective first step in sales outreach. However, 82% of buyers say they’ve accepted a meeting with a salesperson after a series of touchpoints that began with a cold call. 

Cold calling does work. But too often, salespeople mistake poorly strategized sales calls that fail to offer any value as buyer disinterest.

What makes a successful cold calling script?

Good cold call scripts come in many different forms, but all need should include a few key elements: 

• Personalization. Tailor every cold calling script to address the specific needs and interests of the prospect.
• Clear value proposition. In your cold calling scripts, highlight how your product or service can solve a problem or improve the prospect's situation.
• Engaging opening. Start with a strong, attention-grabbing introduction that piques the prospect's interest.
• Handling objections. Prepare responses for common objections to maintain the flow of conversation.
• Conciseness. Keeping the cold call sales script brief yet impactful to respect the prospect's time and maintain engagement.
• Building rapport. Incorporating elements that help build a connection with the prospect.
• Flexibility. Allow room for natural conversation flow and don't stick too rigidly to the sales script.

Cold call script examples

1. When you want to address the elephant in the room

This simple cold calling script, from Apollo’s own top sales rep Manny Martinez, uses a popular, yet effective strategy: directly addressing that—yes, this is in fact a cold call.

“It usually brings up a smile and sets them to at least hear your sales pitch versus you acting like you’re not cold calling,” says Manny.

He notes that some people will never ask how are you back. In that case, cut right to “Caught you on a cold call, can I steal a minute?”. Chances are they will appreciate transparency and give you the chance to pitch.

2. When you’re calling based on a relevant trigger

Making cold calls based on new triggers is a great way to get purchase-ready leads on the line. When you use this outreach strategy, sales coach Charlotte Lloyd recommends sales teams use that information to its full advantage by surfacing specific challenges that speaks directly to that experience. 

For example, if they are a growing team, they may have issues in efficiently scaling. Or if they are recently remote, they may have workflow challenges. 

Check out the full cold-calling framework that earned Charlotte $1.5M in net new business.

3. When you want to invoke fear of missing out

FOMO (or fear of missing out) is a powerful emotional tool—especially put in the context of a prospect’s competitors.

This winning cold calling sales script from Charlotte works deserves a spot in your sales process because it:

• Uses a permission-based opener
• References hard, relevant data as social proof
• Paints a picture of a better reality that the prospect is missing out on

4. When you’re getting pushed off the phone

Prospects are going to try to push you off the phone—the trick is finding ways to get your value proposition out before they can.

Anthony Balestras, one of Orum’s highest-performing salespeople, does this with one simple question: “Can I ask you one quick question?”

It stops busy buyers in their tracks and subtly piques their interest.

“It’s important to ask something intriguing, a question where you know the answer will be ‘yes’ or something positive,” says Anthony.

To learn how Anthony consistently hits 150% of his quota by cold calling, check out the Apollo Academy for Anthony's full guide (including a cold call voicemail script).

5. When you hear “Just send me an email”

This simple cold-calling maneuver comes from the one and only Sarah Brazier. When a prospect says they will review your pitch over email, she calls this “lobbing a shallow objection”. 

It’s not a firm no—but it might as well be one.

You can use this line to subtly counter and try to salvage your opportunity to have a meaningful conversation with them right then and there (because there is never any guarantee you’ll get their attention again).

Sarah Brazier was named one of Apollo’s World Best Sellers. Learn the sales strategies that helped her exceed quota for 4 consecutive years.

6. When you want to open with a simple, humorous one-liner

This cold call script comes from comedian Jon Selig, king of the cold opener. He swears by this approach because it:

• Introduces yourself
• Immediately acknowledges that the sales call is cold
• Highlights pain points that a prospect likely struggles with (in this case sales and marketing alignment)
• Frames this hyper-relevance as a “one-liner” which makes people chuckle
• Does all of the above within 5-10 seconds of the initial cold call

And get creative with it!

The word “cold” is also used to describe emotional fears (i.e. “cold sweat”). Think about the prospect’s pain points and plug it into the one-liner: 

“This call is colder than {{enter your target persona's emotional reaction to the problem you solve}}.”

(It really works, too!)

Here are Jon’s top three tips for infusing humor into your cold calls.

Cold calling tips for more effective cold calling

1. Do your research

Your prospect may not know you, but you should know them.

Gathering information about the prospect's company, the technology they use, a mutual connection, their headcount, funding, job openings, and who they are as people will make all the difference in creating quality cold outreach.

When you use a data and engagement tool like Apollo for pre-call research, you can prepare for your cold call in seconds from comprehensive contact profiles that reveal everything from company history to buying intent.

If LinkedIn is an important part of your pre-call research, tools like the Apollo Chrome Extension can bring your workflow directly into the app, allowing you to make notes, add to call sequences, schedule a follow up call, and execute tasks all in one tab.

Download the Apollo Chrome Extension for free.

2. Practice makes perfect

Your pitch is a performance and you never want to sound like you’re reading from a cold call script (even if that’s exactly what you’re doing).

Outbound experts Josh Garrison and Anthony Balestras have a 7-day strategy for practicing and perfecting your cold calling pitch.

“I’ve often asked SDRs to practice their pitch 150x just so they can see that progress,” says Josh, “Cold calling is real work, and practice makes perfect.”

3. Deep dive into your cold call performance

Listening to successful (and not so successful) cold calls is a great way to improve and iterate on your own cold call script and up your sales game.

Take note on:

• Your pace and tone. Were you speaking clearly and at a comfortable pace? Was your tone friendly, confident, and engaging?
• Objective handling. Are your responses empathetic and solution-focused? Do you validate the customer's concerns before presenting a solution?
• The key moments. When does the buyer’s attitude shift, positively or negatively?
• Usage of silence. Silence can be powerful when engaging decision makers. Notice if you use silence effectively, giving the customer time to think and respond.
• Your personalization and adaptability. Do you tailor the cold call based on the customer's specific situation or do you stick rigidly to your call script?

By using tools like Apollo Conversations, sellers can do all of this alongside AI that auto-generates insights on action items, questions, and keywords. You can also assess your talk time, call volume, and win rates in a single dashboard.

Here’s what it looks like in action. 

4. Use multi-channel outreach

If cold calling is your sole outreach channel, you’re leaving money on the table.

Let’s say you average a 2% reply rate on cold calling. If you layer in LinkedIn touches that get even a 1% reply rate and cold emails that get a 2% reply rate, you can immediately 5x your opportunities. 

With Apollo's automated sales sequences, sellers can strategically build an outbound campaign and weave their cold calls into a variety of multi-channel touchpoints and tasks. You can tailor and personalize these to connect with your target audiences to go out at the right time with the right message with little to no manual work. 

Here’s an overview of how it works.

Get inspired to build your best outbound campaign yet with the top 5 sales sequences we’ve ever seen.

Start converting cold calls into connections

Whether it's addressing the call's nature upfront, leveraging timely triggers, invoking a bit of FOMO, or even using humor to break the ice, each approach has its unique flair. 

Tools like Apollo not only help you narrow in on buyer-ready prospects, but help refine your approach with AI-generated feedback and multi-channel integration.

So, dive into these scripts, embrace these cold calling strategies, and remember: every call is an opportunity to connect, engage, close more deals, and make an impact.