cold calling

Meaning

The practice of making unsolicited telephone calls to people who have had no prior contact with the salesperson, in an attempt to sell goods or services. It is often considered a challenging but necessary part of outbound sales.

Examples

• Most new sales representatives spend their first month doing cold calling.

  Most new sales representatives spend their first month doing cold calling.

• I find cold calling quite stressful because people often hang up immediately.

  I find cold calling quite stressful because people often hang up immediately.

• Our team has improved its cold calling conversion rate by using a better script.

  Our team has improved its cold calling conversion rate by using a better script.

• Is cold calling still an effective strategy in the age of social selling?

  Is cold calling still an effective strategy in the age of social selling?

• He is an expert at cold calling and can build rapport with anyone in under a minute.

  He is an expert at cold calling and can build rapport with anyone in under a minute.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ I need to make some cold callings this afternoon.

  ✓ I need to do some cold calling this afternoon.

  'Cold calling' is an uncountable noun phrase representing the activity. Use 'do cold calling' or 'make some cold calls' (using the countable plural noun 'calls').

• ✗ She is cold calling to potential clients.

  ✓ She is cold calling potential clients.

  In this context, 'cold call' acts as a transitive verb; do not use the preposition 'to' before the direct object.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Many sales reps dislike ___ because of the high rate of rejection.

  💡 Calling prospects who do not know you.

  Show answer

  cold calling

• The company relies heavily on ___ to generate new business leads.

  💡 Unsolicited sales phone calls.

  Show answer

  cold calling