It doesn't make sense to ask Account Executives to make outbound cold calls...

It doesn't make sense to ask Account Executives to make outbound cold calls...

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Here's what a typical cold calling scenario looks like for an AE...

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Per week

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- 1 hour of calls per day x 5 days = 5 hours of calls

- 150 total calls (30 calls per hour)

- 5% pick-up rate = 7-8 conversations

- 10% booking rate = <1 meeting booked

- 70% show rate = <1 meeting held

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Per month

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- 1 meeting held

- 30% opportunity creation rate = <1 new opportunity per month

Per quarter

- 60 hours of cold calling

- <1 new opportunity

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Yet, this is exactly what sales executives are asking their reps to do. You can't make this math work heading into 2026.

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Does this mean the phone doesn't work? No

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Does this mean "cold calling" is dead? No

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Does this mean AEs shouldn't be expected to self-source pipeline? No (you thought I'd let you off the hook that easily?!)

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Here's how to make outbound work for AEs in 2026:

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✅ Bottleneck #1: Address low pick-up rates

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You need to find a way to generate more than 5% pick-up rates. Invest in mobile phone numbers and use a solution like a TitanX to call verified phone numbers. You'll see pick-up rates as high as 25%+.

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Or you can overcome the problem with a parallel dialer AKA increase the volume of calls. This isn't the ideal enterprise outbound option. Great if you're selling SMB.

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✅ Bottleneck #2: Address low conversion rates

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See how you can get that 10% live pick-up to booked meeting rate up to 20%. Train reps on all the stuff I share about every week on conducting a proper outbound call.

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Second, make sure reps are doing multi-channel outreach and following the basics: phone + email + LinkedIn.

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~~~

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Cold calling won't work for AEs unless you fix those two bottlenecks.

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