Article · ~8 min read

The best and worst cold call openers (backed by data from 300M calls)

Armand Farrokh · Gong Labs Free Beginner

Evidence instead of folklore: 'did I catch you at a bad time' converts at 2.15% and leading with context converts at over 11%. If you are learning outbound, start with the numbers rather than a mentor's habits.

• Across 300M plus calls, the permission-based opener converted at 11.18 percent and a name-familiarity opener at 11.24 percent.
• "Did I catch you at a bad time?" was the worst tested opener at 2.15 percent, barely above baseline.
• "How's your day going?" landed in the middle at 7.6 percent.