A cold call is won or lost in the first thirty seconds, and most of that is wording you can change. Below is a short fictional call with a note on each line: what worked and what to improve.
Fictional practice call. The seller and the buyer are invented. This is not a recording of a real call or a real customer.
Setup
A seller at a route-planning software company phones the dispatch manager of a regional delivery firm. They have never spoken. The goal is not a sale. It is a small next step the buyer agrees to.
Rubric focus: Opening, Building relevance, Active listening, Objection handling, Pressure management, Next step.
How to use this page
Read the transcript once for the story. Then read it again with the notes and, before each note, decide what you would have said. Notes marked Worked are worth copying in your own words, not word for word. Notes marked Improve point to a line you can rewrite and say aloud. The scorecard groups what you saw under the criteria DIRI AI uses in its reports, so you can pick one criterion to practise next. Pick one, not six. The call is short on purpose: it shows one pattern clearly, and a real call will not follow it line for line.
Transcript with notes
1. Seller: “Good morning, Ms Hale? This is Sam from Kestrel Route. I'm calling out of the blue. May I take thirty seconds to say why, and you tell me whether it's worth your time?”
- Worked: Name, company and the interruption are admitted in one breath, and the buyer is handed control of the call.
2. Buyer: “Go on. I've got a van leaving in a minute.”
3. Seller: “Thanks. When delivery firms plan routes by hand, winter mornings tend to take the most time. Is that part of your week, or is it already sorted?”
- Worked: The reason is about her work and ends in a question.
- Improve: "Tend to take the most time" is a general claim. Say "I'm checking whether" so she can correct you.
4. Buyer: “It's a bit messy in winter, but we manage.”
5. Seller: “Right. We have route optimisation, live traffic, a driver app, customer notifications and reporting, and it connects to most systems.”
- Improve: A feature list after a half-open answer. She said "messy" and the seller walked past it. Ask what is messy before you describe anything.
6. Buyer: “Sounds like everything else. Not interested, thanks.”
7. Seller: “Fair enough, I jumped ahead. One question before I let you go: what hurts most in winter, late drivers or re-planning?”
- Worked: Owns the slip in a few words, then asks one narrow either-or question. The objection is met with a question, not an argument.
8. Buyer: “Re-planning. Someone sits with a spreadsheet for an hour every morning.”
9. Seller: “An hour every morning is a long time. I won't explain a tool now. May I send one paragraph on what the planning step looks like with software, and call on Thursday at nine to ask whether it deserves a proper look? You can say no then.”
- Worked: Uses her words, names a small step with a day and a time, and builds in the right to refuse.
10. Buyer: “Send it. Thursday's fine, but if I'm at a depot I'll tell you.”
11. Seller: “Understood. Which address should I use, and would you like a text before I call?”
- Worked: Asks for the channel and respects how she works instead of assuming. The next step is confirmed.
12. Buyer: “This address is fine. Text first, yes.”
Scorecard
An illustrative reading of this call against the criteria on How we score.
| Criterion | 0 to 100 | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | 85 | Name, reason and permission in one short turn. |
| Building relevance | 60 | Relevant topic, but the claim in line 3 is generic. |
| Active listening | 55 | Missed "messy" in line 5, recovered in line 7. |
| Objection handling | 80 | Answers "not interested" with one honest question. |
| Pressure management | 90 | Never pushes; the buyer can decline. |
| Next step | 90 | Day, time, channel and a right to refuse. |
One thing would change the picture at once. If the buyer had asked not to be called again and the seller had carried on, a safety cap would hold the total at 35 (62 if the request was softer), whatever else went well.
Each criterion is shown from 0 to 100, as in a report. No total is printed: a real total is built by rules that read the transcript, not by averaging criteria, so adding up this table would mislead. A real report may read the same call differently.
What to take from this call
- Ask for thirty seconds and say why you are calling. When the buyer decides whether to stay, staying gets easier.
- A feature list is not an answer to a half-open reply. Ask about the exact word the buyer used.
- Close with a step the buyer can decline, and give it a day, a time and a channel.
Exercise
Ten minutes, one prepared scenario.
- Say lines 1 and 3 aloud in your own words. Keep the opening under 25 words.
- Replace line 5 with one question about the word the buyer used (here: "messy").
- Write a one-sentence reply to "not interested" that owns the jump and asks one narrow question.
- Run the prepared scenario, read the transcript and mark every place where you asked before you told.
Closest prepared scenario: a cold call where someone stands between you and the decision-maker.
Practise it out loud. The Free plan covers 3 voice calls a month, up to 5 minutes each; see pricing for current terms.