Cold call openers: the first 10 seconds that decide everything

A good cold call opener is the start of a call that gives the prospect a reason to stay on the line. The strongest opening line I know has three parts:

• Who I am, in one sentence.

• Honesty: this is a cold call.

• The reason I am calling this particular person, followed by a request for permission or a question.

Example: "Hi Ms Martin, it's Cyriac from Flunter. I'll be honest, this is a cold call. Can I have 30 seconds to tell you why I'm calling you specifically, and then you tell me whether we keep going?"

Banned: "Is this a bad time?", "How are you today?" and a three-sentence company introduction.

Put yourself in their shoes.

They are answering an email. Or eating a sandwich. Or both.

The phone rings. They pick up on reflex.

One question in their head: "Who is this, and how do I hang up politely?"

They are not wondering whether your product is any good. They do not even know what you sell yet. They just want to file the call: useful, or a sales call to get rid of.

So your opener has one job: move them from "I'm hanging up" to "fine, I'm listening". Nothing more. The pitch, the discovery, the meeting all come later.

The day I understood that, I stopped trying to squeeze my pitch into the first sentence. And I got a lot more second sentences.

I have said all of them. Some more often than I will admit.

"Is this a bad time?"

You are handing them the exit on a plate. The honest answer is "yes", and they will give it. Of course it is a bad time: you are calling out of the blue. Gong ranks it last of the openers it tested, at a 2.15% success rate (Gong, 2024).

"Hi, how are you today?"

With a stranger, on the phone, this line sounds like a call center from the first syllable. Prospects have heard it a thousand times, right before someone tries to sell them home insulation. Gong ranks it well behind the permission-based opener (7.6% success vs 11.18%, Gong, 2024). On my calls, it does even worse.

"I'm taking the liberty of calling you because..."

Too polite to be honest. It sounds like a registered letter.

"Do you have five minutes?"

Nobody has five minutes for a stranger. Thirty seconds, on the other hand, almost everyone can spare.

"I'm Cyriac from Flunter, the leader in..."

Three sentences about your company before you have even said why you are calling. The prospect picked up to find out why someone is calling, not to hear your brochure.

"I'm not trying to sell you anything"

They know you are. You have just lied in your first sentence. Not a great start for trust.

The awkward silence after "Hello?"

This one is not a line. It is the moment you are hunting for the contact record while the person repeats "Hello? Hello?". Have the first name, the company name and your reason for calling in front of you before they pick up.

One Tuesday, I call a sales director. He picks up, in a hurry:

"Yes?"

I go:

"Hi, it's Cyriac from Flunter. I'll be honest, this is a cold call. Can I have 30 seconds to tell you why I'm calling, and then you tell me whether we keep going?"

Short pause. Then:

"Go ahead, you've got 30 seconds."

And now you had better stick to those 30 seconds. Not 45. Not "just one more thing". Thirty.

That day, I kept it to two sentences: "I saw you're hiring SDRs. The sales directors I call tell me their teams spend more time on voicemail than with prospects: is that the case for you?" We talked for ten minutes.

What works in this opener: you hand control back to them. They choose to listen. And someone who chose to listen actually listens.

I am not the only one who sees it: across more than 300 million calls, Gong ranks the permission-based opener among the most effective, with an 11.18% success rate (Gong, 2024). Their earlier study already showed that clearly stating the reason for the call multiplies the success rate by 2.1 (Gong, 2018, 90,380 calls). Those are calls in English, but on the phone, honesty translates very well.

And if they say "no"? You saved time, you ask when to call back, and you move on to the next one with no hard feelings.

Adapt them to your own voice. A recited opener can be heard a mile away.

1. Honest permission

"Hi Mr Petit, it's Cyriac from Flunter. This is a cold call, I'd rather say it up front. Can I have 30 seconds, and then you tell me whether it's worth carrying on?"

2. The trigger

"Hi Ms Roux, it's Cyriac from Flunter. I saw you're hiring three SDRs right now, that's why I'm calling you today."

Hiring, a funding round, a new role, a new office: a trigger proves you are not calling at random.

3. A problem they recognize

"Hi Mr Garnier, it's Cyriac from Flunter. I call sales directors whose teams spend more time hitting voicemail than talking to prospects. I wanted to know if that's the case on your side too."

4. Peers

"Hi Ms Blanc, it's Cyriac from Flunter. I work with several lead generation agencies your size, and they all have the same headache right now. Can I tell you which one in 30 seconds?"

Never make up customer references. If you have no peers to mention, pick another opener.

5. The context of a first touch

"Hi Mr Faure, it's Cyriac from Flunter. You replied to me on LinkedIn last week, I said I'd call you, so here I am keeping my word."

Only if it is true: a LinkedIn exchange, an email they replied to, a chat at a trade show. A real first touch turns a cold call into a warm one.

6. Self-mockery

"Hi Ms Morel, it's Cyriac from Flunter. Well, you've guessed it, this is a sales rep calling. I promise to keep it short, and you can hang up afterwards if it's not relevant."

I keep this one for days when my energy is right. Played badly, it sounds forced. Played well, it gets a smile, and a prospect who smiles does not hang up.

We all have a "sales voice".

You know the one: it jumps an octave the moment the prospect picks up. The frozen smile. The sports commentator pace. The cheery "Hiiii there!" at 9:05 am.

The prospect spots it in half a second. Before your words even land.

What I do now:

• I talk like I would to a colleague. Not a client, not a friend. The colleague at the next desk I am asking for a favor.

• I slow down. A bit slower than usual. When we are nervous we speed up, and a fast pace sounds like reciting.

• I lower my voice a little. A calm voice builds trust. A high, rushed voice makes people want to run.

• I still smile. Not the frozen smile, the real one. You can hear it on the phone, I promise.

• I leave a real pause after my question. That is the hardest moment. It is also when the prospect decides to give you the rest. If you fill the silence, you take the floor back before they have taken it.

A simple test: record yourself on ten call openings and listen back. If you do not recognize yourself, neither will the prospect.

This is the tip that got me the most messages. And, at first, the most teasing from my colleagues.

When I prospect, I stand up.

Not to put on a show. Because when I'm on my feet:

• I breathe better, so my voice carries without forcing;

• I have more energy on the twentieth opener than on the first;

• I move, I even gesture a bit, and you can hear it in my tone;

• I feel in action, not slumped behind a screen waiting for someone to pick up.

Sitting down, after an hour, I can hear myself going flat. Standing up, much less.

A wireless headset helps a lot. And warn the people next to you that you are not having a funny turn, you are just in a call session.

The opener did its job: the prospect is listening. Now do not ruin it with a monologue.

The rule: your opener ends with a question. Always. A simple, open question about their day-to-day.

A few transitions I use:

• "Walk me through how you handle... today?"

• "Is that a topic for you right now, or not at all?"

• "How do you handle that today?"

• "What takes up most of your time on... at the moment?"

If the answer is "yes, a bit", you have earned the right to dig. If it is "no, not at all", you have saved time: ask what their priority is right now, and you will often get a better lead than the one you had planned.

From there, you move into discovery, then booking the meeting. The full flow is in our cold call script template, and the complete method in our guide to B2B phone prospecting.

An opener is not written, it is broken in.

• Write two versions and test each one over a full session. Not over three calls: three calls prove nothing.

• Listen back to your first 10 seconds. Not the whole call, just the start. That is where everything happens, and it is the part we listen to least. My routine takes 20 minutes: see our cold call review method.

• Do volume. You get better at an opener by saying it fifty times, not by rereading it.

That is where the tool makes the difference. With a parallel dialer like Flunter, the most efficient one I have used, you run up to 5 lines at once (3 on Starter) and you only talk to people who pick up: the in-house voicemail detection filters out answering machines and passes people to you with no wait. The result: many more openers per session, so much more practice, and up to 5x more calls without hiring.

Every call is also recorded and transcribed, which makes listening back to your openings very fast. If you want to try it, plans start at €89 excl. VAT per license per month.

Read next: getting past the gatekeeper and discovery questions.

What is the best cold call opening line?

One that says who you are, admits it is a cold call and gives the reason for calling, then asks permission to continue. For example: "I'll be honest, this is a cold call. Can I have 30 seconds to tell you why I'm calling, and then you tell me whether we keep going?"

How do you start a cold call?

Hello, the person's name, your first name and company, then the reason for the call in one sentence. Have the contact record in front of you before they pick up, and end your opener with an open question.

Should you ask "Is this a bad time?" at the start of a call?

No. You give the prospect an easy way out, and the answer will often be "yes". Ask for 30 seconds to explain why you are calling instead.

How long should a cold call opener be?

About ten seconds for the opener itself, and 30 seconds at most if the prospect gives you more. Beyond that, you are pitching.

Why make calls standing up?

Standing up, you breathe better, your voice carries without forcing and your energy lasts longer across a session. The prospect hears it in your tone.

The first 10 seconds are not for selling. They are for earning the next 30.

Say who you are. Say it is a cold call. Say why you are calling this person. End with a question. Then stop talking.

The rest is tone, posture and a lot of repetition. Standing up, ideally.

And you, which opening line have you banned for good?