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.
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.
No, not really. The math works out like this: you could call about 50 people in an hour and maybe have real conversations with 10 of them. If you spend that same hour setting up a cold‑email system, you can build infrastructure that lets you reach roughly 50,000 people. Comparing the two, 1 hour of calls reaches 50 people, while 1 hour of email outreach can reach 50,000. That’s a 1‑to‑1,000 ratio. In reality, emails are probably 50‑100 times less effective per contact than a call, meaning you need to send about 150‑times more emails to equal the effectiveness of a single call. Even so, per unit of time cold emailing ends up being roughly 20 times more effective than cold calling.
A cost‑effective way is to use cheap lead‑scraping services like Appify, Lead Finder, or Pipeline Labs. They charge roughly $1‑2 per 1,000 leads, so you can scrape 6‑7 k leads for about $10, then verify and end up with 3‑4 k usable contacts. For phone numbers, use enrichment platforms that add phone data to company records; many of the scraped leads already include numbers. Once you have the list, you can email everyone, then run a follow‑up call campaign—send the email first, then call to reference the email and increase perceived effort compared to typical cold‑call teams.
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.