Cold Calling Mastery

Build the confidence and practical calling skills to earn attention, handle brush-offs and book qualified meetings.

It takes confidence to start a conversation with someone who was not expecting your call. BDRs, SDRs and ADRs are asked to create pipeline while learning new markets, handling rejection and making every message relevant. We understand the difference between being busy and creating a meeting an AE can build on. Here, buyer curiosity comes before the pitch.

Enquire About This Lab Explore the course

Two sellers role-playing a customer conversation while a colleague observes — Explore. Practise. Perform.

Duration

Half day · 3.5 hours per half day

Group size

Maximum 8 delegates

Format

Online or face to face

Price — Face to face

From £1,150

+ VAT

Price — Online

From £900

+ VAT

where understanding becomes useful —

Why this course matters

The first moments of a call can create the space for a genuinely useful conversation.

What you’ll explore in the Lab

For BDRs, SDRs and ADRs, new business sellers and inside sales teams, cold calling means earning attention quickly and keeping conversations moving when prospects push back. Cold Calling Mastery develops a practical approach to preparing in under two minutes, opening confidently and earning the right to talk.

Delegates explore how to handle common brush-offs and gatekeepers, ask for a qualified meeting, and use voicemail and follow-up sequences to support their calling activity. The focus is on building confidence, resilience and a daily calling routine that helps sellers approach the phone with greater consistency and turn more conversations into qualified meeting opportunities.

a real challenge. a purposeful response.

The challenges this addresses

Nerves making openers sound rushed or rehearsed
Brush-offs ending calls before the concern is understood
Gatekeeper conversations leaving BDRs without a useful next step
Voicemails disconnected from the rep’s planned follow-up sequence

What this can change at work

Give the calling day more purpose and less hesitation. Reps practise quick preparation, confident openings and calm responses to brush-offs, with qualified meetings as the focus rather than a rushed diary booking. Managers can coach specific moments in the call and the follow-up around it. For the business, a more consistent calling routine can support relevant conversations and clearer early qualification.

Prepared before dialling

Reps use a brief preparation routine to identify why they are calling this prospect and what makes the conversation relevant.

Calmer responses to pushback

When prospects brush them off, callers explore the concern before deciding whether to continue, arrange follow-up or step back.

Follow-up with continuity

Voicemails and subsequent outreach connect to the original reason for calling, with a clear route towards a qualified meeting.

Explore. Practise. Perform.

Less theory. More application.

What participants will practise

Realistic sales scenarios, role-play and peer feedback around call preparation in under 2 minutes and openers that earn attention. Where helpful, participants work on their own live (or anonymised) opportunities.

What they’ll take away

Take-away materials with the questions, frameworks and techniques covered, plus a short personal action plan for the next customer conversations where the skill matters.

How we help it stick

Reflection and action planning are built into the session. Reinforcement such as manager guides, follow-up labs or coaching depends on the programme you choose and is agreed with you.

How we make learning stick

Inside the workshop

This interactive half-day session brings together 6–8 delegates for focused preparation, breakout exercises and peer-to-peer learning, with live practice of openers, brush-off responses and meeting requests. Delegates work through practical call scenarios and leave with approaches they have rehearsed, a clearer follow-up sequence and a daily calling routine to support confident, consistent activity.

Make Cold Calling Mastery relevant to your business

Tell us where you want to make progress with call preparation in under 2 minutes. We can discuss suitable workplace examples, priorities and access needs before agreeing the scope. Choose live online or face-to-face training for your UK or European team, with delivery arrangements agreed before booking.

Discuss a customised version

What the training covers

The scope below sets out the subjects covered. Workplace examples and practice are shaped around your team within the booked format.

Call preparation in under 2 minutes
Openers that earn attention
Handling brush-offs and gatekeepers
Booking the meeting
Voicemail and follow-up sequences
Building call confidence and resilience

What’s included in your booking

Your booked time and format: Half day · Live online or face to face, agreed before booking · Maximum 8 delegates.
Included in every course: Interactive, facilitator-led learningLive, hands-on sessions built around practice and participation.
Group discussionsShared conversations about real situations, so people learn from each other as well as the facilitator.
Breakout exercisesSmall-group practice, role-play and problem-solving, online or in the room.
Take-away materialsCourse materials, tools and templates to use back at work.
Facilitated learning and practical application: The subject coverage, exercises and facilitator feedback described above, with space to connect the learning to relevant workplace situations. The workshop description sets out the specific plans, prompts or tools developed in this course.

Follow-up coaching, refresher sessions and additional delivery days are not automatic inclusions; any additions are agreed in your proposal. Travel, venue arrangements and any software licences are confirmed separately where relevant. Prices exclude VAT.

Outcomes

The capabilities delegates work towards through the training and practice:

Open calls with confidence
Handle common brush-offs
Book more qualified meetings
Build a daily calling routine

the next conversation is where it counts —

Take it back to work.

Choose a real situation where you want to apply the learning. Use it to turn an outcome into a manageable first step, then reflect on what changes.

Choose

Start with one priority: Open calls with confidence.

Apply

Try the approach in a relevant task or conversation. Note what felt useful and what you would adapt.

Review

Reflect on what happened, seek feedback where appropriate and choose your next step. Follow-up support can be discussed separately.

Bring this topic to your next event

We can discuss adapting Cold Calling Mastery into a keynote or large-group session, focusing on the themes most relevant to your audience. Depth, activities, timings and any follow-up depend on the format and package you choose; an event session is not a substitute for the full course.

Explore Speaking & Events

More from Top of Funnel ADR/BDR Lab

BDR Bootcamp: From First Contact to Qualified Meeting

Build the foundations of new-business sales over two or three practical days, from understanding buyers to confident outreach, qualification and a supported skills sign-off.

2 or 3 days · 9:30am–5pm each dayMaximum 8 delegates

Course synopsis

New sellers need a connected foundation, not isolated tips for the next call. Starting in sales means learning a new commercial world as well as a new set of skills. This BDR, SDR and ADR bootcamp builds both. We connect buyer understanding and business drivers with research, prospecting, phone, email and LinkedIn outreach, questioning, objection handling and useful AE handovers. The two-day workshop establishes a complete prospecting routine; the third day adds deeper buyer scenarios, campaign development and repeated conversation practice. Both formats finish with a supportive practical sign-off against criteria agreed with your manager, showing what each rep can do and where further coaching will help.

Key focus areas

Sales fundamentals, the buying journey and the BDR role
Commercial curiosity: buyer priorities, business drivers and decision-making
Ideal customer profiles, account signals and stakeholder research
Responsible AI-assisted research and source checking
Relevant email, phone and LinkedIn outreach
Cold-call openers, gatekeepers and concise value pitches
Purposeful questions, listening and qualification
Handling brush-offs, objections and follow-up
CRM discipline, meeting quality and AE handovers
Weekly planning, resilience and practical skills sign-off

Outcomes — you'll be able to

Explain the buyer's commercial context before approaching them
Research and prioritise relevant accounts and contacts
Build a connected multi-channel prospecting routine
Handle prospect conversations and objections with greater confidence
Book purposeful meetings and capture useful AE handover context
Demonstrate core skills and agree a focused development plan

Included in every course

Interactive, facilitator-led learning
Group discussions
Breakout exercises
Take-away materials

Face to face

Price on request+ VAT

Course details

BDR Mini Bootcamp

Five live online half-day sessions for new BDRs, with practical prospecting, buyer conversations and time to apply the learning between sessions.

5 half-day sessions · 3.5 hours per half dayMaximum 8 delegates

Course synopsis

Five connected online labs give new BDRs room to learn, practise and bring real experience back to the group. A connected online development programme for people starting in business development. Across five live half-day sessions, BDRs, SDRs and ADRs build commercial curiosity, research skills, relevant outreach, call confidence, qualification and AE handover habits. Small-group breakouts, role-play and feedback make each session a working lab. Between sessions, reps apply the learning to agreed prospecting tasks and bring their experience back for review.

Key focus areas

Buyer understanding and commercial drivers
Target-account research and responsible AI use
Phone, email and LinkedIn outreach
Pitching, questioning and active listening
Objections, qualification and AE handovers
CRM habits, weekly planning and skills sign-off

Outcomes — you'll be able to

Connect buyer priorities with relevant outreach
Practise confident prospect conversations
Qualify and hand over purposeful meetings
Apply learning between sessions and demonstrate core skills

Included in every course

Interactive, facilitator-led learning
Group discussions
Breakout exercises
Take-away materials

Live online

Price on request+ VAT

Course details

your sales team. your priorities. your programme. —

Build your own sales programme.

Combine courses, focus on your skills gaps and shape the learning around your sales cycle. Standard workshops run with 8–10 delegates; BDR and MEDDPICC sessions have a maximum of eight; Sales Leadership workshops run with 6–8. Smaller bespoke cohorts can be discussed, with pricing agreed for your programme.

Your people. Your priorities.Ready to sell better? Build your programme.A programme shaped around your people — and the progress you want to make.

Where better selling begins.

Your team doesn’t need more slides. They need skills that stick.

Know you need help? Book a relaxed, no-obligation 30-minute call. We’ll talk through your team and challenge, and you’ll leave with an honest view of the options — no brief or programme needed.

Book a Discovery Call Enquire about this course