This send is about cold calling, but before we rock your world with our profound and thoughtful insight, I have an ask.
This newsletter is officially in motion, and we want to know what you think.
So, I'm trusting you with my personal (work) email — jfuchs@hubspot.com — to share your thoughts on what we're doing right, what we're doing wrong, and ways to make this content more valuable
List quality warrants a much harder look than some orgs are giving it.
Our survey indicates poor list quality and targeting hurt cold calling ROI more than any other factors (23%). However, 32% of respondents say their org's cold calling methodology is primarily rooted in consultation and strategic questioning — versus 23% who say theirs is driven mostly by referrals and warm leads.
This mismatch indicates that some sales orgs may not have their priorities 100% straight, emphasizing execution on a shaky foundation.
Sales reps need to know how to conduct thoughtful, empathetic, consultative calls — but even the most thoughtful, empathetic, consultative rep is going to struggle with crappy leads. In other words, you can put Sonny Hayes in a Ferrari, but he won't get far on a dirt road.*
Sales orgs with lackluster cold calling ROI should consider allocating more resources towards targeting efficiency, prioritizing refining their tech stack and ICPs over their training techniques.
*That was a sick reference to F1 starring Brad Pitt: the undisputed best movie of 2025 and a high-octane cinematic revelation that makes you want to run through a wall.
Rejection resilience training may be an interesting blind spot.
According to our study, 25% of sales leaders say top cold callers set themselves apart with an analytical, resilient approach to rejection — but only 10% suggest reps prioritize emotional resilience development to become better cold callers.
That 15-point gap could reveal a discrepancy in how sales orgs train reps for cold calling.
Elite cold callers have thick skin, but some leaders might undervalue "skin thickening" — a weirdly unsettling term I coined for psychological training for powering through hard nos.
While leaders acknowledge the value of toughness, they might expect it to occur naturally. But grit isn't always intrinsic. It can be learned.
Leaders may want to consider investing in resources and frameworks for reps to develop mental safeguards to get more out of their cold calling strategies.
What can you do with this next-level, revelatory insight?
For reps: Work on rejection resilience independently. Your org might not offer a formal training framework, but you can explore confidence development resources outside of work and apply those principles to calls.
For managers: Treat rejection resilience as a trainable skill, not an innate personality trait. Build it systematically through post-call debriefs, reframing exercises that shift perspective, and mental models that help reps process rejection analytically versus emotionally.
For leadership: Conduct an audit to see the extent to which training and targeting, specifically, are limiting ROI. If poor list quality is the primary constraint, consider shifting attention (and potentially resources) from cold calling training toward tech stack refinement and ICP reevaluation.
"I pierced my soul and bled truth onto the page before me (this edition of my newsletter was the page before me.) "
Jay Fuchs. Managing Editor, The Science of Scaling Newsletter
The data in question
We sourced the data we used here through Panoplai: The best panoramic research platform of all time — that opinion is subjective, but if you disagree with it, you're objectively wrong.
What methodology primarily drives your team's cold calling execution?
- Consultative methodology focused on discovering prospect needs through strategic questioning - 32%
- Educational methodology positioning reps as industry experts who teach prospects - 14%
- Disruptive methodology using pattern interrupts to break through traditional resistance - 7%
- Systematic methodology following proven frameworks with built-in conversation flexibility - 18%
- Account-based methodology targeting multiple stakeholders within strategic prospects - 9%
- Referral-based methodology leveraging warm connections over pure cold outreach - 21%
What's the primary factor limiting cold calling ROI in your current sales process?
- Reps lack the industry expertise needed to have credible business conversations - 11%
- Insufficient call volume due to rep reluctance or competing activity priorities - 15%
- Poor list quality and targeting resulting in low-probability prospect conversations - 23%
- Inadequate follow-up sequences after initial contact attempts - 19%
- Failure to leverage social selling and multi-channel approaches alongside voice outreach - 19%
- Misalignment between cold calling messaging and later-stage sales conversations - 13%
What skill should reps focus on developing to cold call more effectively in the next two years?
- Research and preparation techniques to personalize every conversation - 30%
- Questioning strategies that uncover business impact beyond surface-level needs - 18%
- Digital communication skills for multi-channel prospecting approaches - 12%
- Industry expertise development to establish credibility faster - 9%
- Emotional resilience and rejection management for consistent performance - 10%
- Data analysis skills to identify patterns in successful conversations - 10%
- AI tool proficiency for conversation analysis and performance improvement - 11%
What distinguishes your highest-performing cold callers from the rest of your team?
- They treat rejection as data points rather than personal failures, maintaining consistent activity - 25%
- They demonstrate genuine curiosity about prospect challenges rather than pushing product messaging - 27%
- They master the psychological aspects of interruption and permission-based conversations - 11%
- They consistently uncover expansion opportunities beyond the initial point of contact - 19%
- They leverage industry knowledge to establish credibility within the first 30 seconds - 14%
- They focus on disqualification as much as qualification to optimize time allocation - 4%
Frameworks + Strategy