What do you think about cold calling for outreach compared to cold email or Loom videos, especially regarding spam risk and effectiveness? Do you recommend it over cold email, and what's the best outreach method you'd suggest?

#125 · Running Cold Email vs PPC Ads (for AI Automation)

What do you think about cold calling for outreach compared to cold email or Loom videos, especially regarding spam risk and effectiveness? Do you recommend it over cold email, and what's the best outreach method you'd suggest?

I don't cold call anymore because of three main issues. First, you often don't get a pickup—if you call 100 people, maybe only 30‑50 actually answer, wasting a lot of time. Second, even when you get past the voicemail, you frequently reach a gatekeeper or front desk instead of the decision maker, and gatekeepers tend to discard your message. Third, after finally reaching the decision maker, they're often busy or give excuses, so you don't get meaningful time with them. Overall, I'd estimate that 80% or more of cold calls are wasted, making it negative leverage—you'd need to make five calls just to get one worthwhile conversation. I much prefer sending Loom videos, which let you convey your message asynchronously and avoid those gatekeeper and pickup problems.

cold callingoutreachloomapollos

Related answers

youtube ↗Lead Generation

Is cold calling a bad lead acquisition method for agencies, or are other methods better?

Cold calling is a very direct way to reach people, but it's inefficient—you might spend only about 15 minutes of an hour on actual calls, with pickup rates around 3-6%. This means you often waste time on dialing, voicemails, and unanswered calls. I've made over 10,000 cold calls in my career and realized I could achieve the same outreach using Loom videos: record a video, send it, and it lands at the top of their inbox with no dial time, plus you can automate follow-ups. Loom saves time, lets you show visuals, and avoids the spam fatigue of phone calls. So instead of cold calling, just send Loom videos.

cold callingLoom videolead generationoutreach

youtube ↗Cold Email

Would you recommend adding cold calling to the outreach stack?

No, I don't think so. When you cold call, very few calls actually reach a qualified prospect. For example, out of 100 cold calls, roughly 50 are disqualified immediately, another 30 either don’t pick up or get routed to a secretary, and the remaining calls often hit busy or dismissive decision‑makers. The synchronous nature of cold calls limits your ability to pitch effectively. Instead, I recommend using customized video recordings as a modern replacement. Send a personalized video via email; decision‑makers check their inbox frequently, and the video can be watched on their own time, delivering high value and a no‑brainer offer. This approach works better than cold calls and even beats cold email because the offer stays in the inbox and can be reviewed later across time zones.

cold callingoutreachvideo outreachpersonalized email

youtube ↗Cold Email

Why do you recommend cold email over cold calling?

Cold calling is inefficient: you spend only about 40% of your time on actual talking (10% dialing, 10% waiting for connection, 20% dealing with gatekeepers) and often never reach the decision maker. Cold email guarantees you’re speaking to the decision maker and lets you automate follow‑ups to stay top of inbox. I equate the effort of cold calling to sending cold Loom videos—Looms add video but the core effort is similar; you can skip the call time and send Looms directly via email for better pound‑for‑pound results. Cold calling does build a killer mindset, but for pure productivity cold email wins.

cold emailcold callingloom

youtube ↗Sales

What are your thoughts on using cold calls for outreach, and should I change my approach?

Cold calls are far less efficient than cold emails these days. Roughly only 10% of the effort you put into calling translates into real results because many leads never answer, you often talk to gatekeepers, and even qualified prospects are frequently busy or uninterested. In contrast, a cold email campaign can reach thousands of leads, pre‑qualify them, and give you a list of warm prospects before you ever pick up the phone. Cold calls can still have a place, but they’re much more manual and low‑yield compared to email outreach.

cold callsoutreachefficiency