Is there ever a best time to cold call? You might presume there’s a straightforward answer to that, but like everything in sales, it’s never that simple. Time zones vary and the best time to cold call depends on an array of factors, ranging from industry to more overlooked things like cultural differences. Don’t stress though; there’s plenty of advice out there to find the right answer for you and pinpoint the best time to maximize your prospecting strategy.
So let’s get down to business. What’s the best time to cold call according to the experts?
When’s the Best Time to Cold Call, According to the Experts?
Of course, even experts differ on something so divisive as cold calling. Read all the cold calling tips you want, you’ll still struggle to find a unanimous decision when it comes to the best time to cold call.
That, however, doesn’t mean there aren’t experts that are worth listening to. We’ve gathered some industry leader’s tips and advice here. First, let’s check out a high level overview of what they said.
Time of Day (Local Time) | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
8:00 am – 10:00 am | 🟥 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 |
10:00 am – 12:00 pm | 🟥 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 |
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm | 🟥 | 🟡 | 🟡 | 🟡 | 🟡 |
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm | 🟥 | 🟡 | 🟡 | 🟡 | 🟡 |
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm | 🟥 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🟥 |
Legend:
- 🟥 Red: Not recommended for cold calling
- 🟡 Yellow: Okay time for cold calling
- 🟢 Green: Good time for cold calling
It all seems so straightforward here, but the expert’s opinions often vary. Let’s get to them!
Call During The Golden Hours – Jeb Blount
Jeb Blount is a leading author of tons of sales books and is one of the most sought-after sales speakers to this day. Focusing on Fanatical Prospecting in particular, the book is littered with direct and underlying messages emphasizing the importance of the perfect timing to make a cold call.
“Golden hours” is a particular term Jeb likes to use, insinuating the best time to cold call is early in the morning when most people have just woken up and are maybe heading to work. He also specifies this as a great time to call as it’s when both you and your prospect have the most energy and are feeling the most positive. It’s a task most people want to avoid so getting it done early means it gets done, full stop.
He also makes the important point that it depends on the industry. If you’re selling in the manufacturing industry, for example, it’s often better to call early in the morning, from 06:30. You can hear him talking about early mornings below.
Jeb also makes the point that Saturday mornings are a great time for cold calling prospects. This is because a lot of executives are still in the office at this time, and they’re gonna find it impressive that you’re working on a Saturday. It adds an element of respect and intrigue that you just don’t get from weekday calls. This will obviously depend on the industry.
Catching prospects when they’re at their most receptive gives you more time for a conversation to try and seal the deal. It allows you to get your foot in the door.
He reiterates time and time again that it’s all about the golden hours. You don’t want to call too late because you don’t want to invade anyone’s downtime, however, sometimes you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.
“Here's the deal. If you want sustained success in your sales career, if you want to maximize your income, then you've got to interrupt prospects.”
Cold calling has to happen, one way or another. You have to interrupt your prospects – but only to get them on the phone. Once you’re in the conversation, sit back, shut up, and let them do the talking.
Jeb Blount’s Worst Time to Cold Call
Throughout his entire career, Jeb has expressed that calling from lunchtime onwards is the worst time to call. People are generally unavailable. He suggests that if nobody is picking up the phone, it’s because “you’re calling at the wrong time of day. Usually that means that you’re calling in the afternoon.”
During Non-Peak Hours – Chet Holmes
Chet Holmes, another leading sales expert and author of numerous sales books, has a similar opinion to Blount’s golden hours. In The Ultimate Sales Machine, Blount states time and time again the importance of timing when it comes to making cold calls.
The best time to cold call, according to Holmes, is early in the morning or late in the afternoon, during non-peak hours. He uses phrases such as “the early bird catches the worm” to back this up, referring to the same golden hours as Blount, with the exception of suggesting afternoons can work too, so long as you can actually get through to your prospects in the first place.
In fact, the research tends to support Holmes here, with 4pm to 5pm being considered the best time to cold call by CallHippo.
Chet Holmes believes in strategic timing. He emphasizes that Friday is often the best time to cold call. When everyone is finishing up for the weekend, that’s the time to pounce. TGIF isn’t TGIF for nothing! We all feel relaxed on a Friday. It’s a good time to catch prospects when they’re looking forward to the weekend, not halfway through the week when they’re likely tied up with tasks and meetings, and certainly not at the start of the week.
Worst Non-Peak Time to Cold Call
Monday is by far the worst day to cold call, specifically between 06:00 and 12:00. This is when the week is just starting and people are at their busiest.
You can try your cold calling out at non-peak times on Monday, but you’ll be far less successful than other days. You’re better off using Monday to be productive elsewhere.
10 AM – Inside Sales Podcast
Victor Antonio, sales influencer and the host of Inside Sales Podcast is another industry leader who believes mornings are the best time to catch business prospects. According to him, 8am and 9am are too early, but 10am is the perfect time. It gives you time to get that cup of coffee so to speak, organize your thoughts, and open your emails.
Check out his analysis of cold calling times below.
According to the cited study, 10am is the best time to cold call, with 4pm being second best. It suggests Tuesdays are the best day of the week to call. The studies referenced in the podcast are based on 4000-6000 prospect calls.
The study looked at 5, 6, and 7am but it reveals that “the call rates and connect rates are very low.” Nobody likes being woken up, but wait a few hours and your success rates fly through the roof.
Worst Time to Cold Call, According to Inside Sales Podcast
So far, every single expert has agreed that morning calls are generally successful, but there’s been little harmony in regards to specific times. According to the data presented in Antonio’s podcast, however, Friday is the least successful day.
This clashes with what Holmes said as he suggested that Friday was the most successful day. As always, remember that these experts are presenting their opinions or citing studies that are not necessarily representative of your industry or niche. The timing of cold calls varies wildly.
You can make the argument for both good and bad regarding Fridays. They can be quieter as everyone is winding down for the weekend. Most executives and decision makers will have more time and it may be a good time to strike! However, some may have already mentally checked out. Your chances are slim if the prospect is counting down the hours till hometime on Friday afternoon. It varies from prospect to prospect.
Wednesday and Thursday – Gong
Sales leaders, Gong, suggest that Wednesday and Thursday are the best days of the week to cold call. In their research, they found that these days resulted in higher conversion rates and lengthier calls.
This makes sense as they’re not so early into the week that prospects are super busy, but not so late into the week that they’ve already mentally shut off. It’s the Goldilocks zone of cold calling.
Gong also found that asking, “Is now a good time?” at the start of a cold call resulted in 40% less booked meetings. In addition to that, they found that successful cold calls used 65% more “we” statements than unsuccessful ones.
Nice tips to keep in mind!
Between 4-6pm on Wednesday and Thursday – Lead Ring
Gong wasn’t alone in their findings. Lead Ring performed a separate study and also found that Wednesday and Thursday were the best days. Wednesday came out on top, but Thursday was a relatively close second. They found that you are 46% more likely to get your prospect’s attention by calling on a Wednesday.
Additionally, they found that calling between 4-6pm on these days was the sweet spot.
The Worst Time to Cold Call, According to Lead Ring
Lead Ring found that the least converting time was between 6am and 12pm on Mondays. This is the second source that suggests these times are the absolutely must-avoid cold calling times.
10am-12pm on Wednesday – HubSpot
Last year, Hubspot, a leading provider of sales, marketing, and customer service software, wrote an extensive post on the best time to cold call in 2023 with research to back it up. Of course, the times still vary depending on your audience’s demographic, industry, and other factors, but Hubspot expresses the importance of getting the timing right for initiating cold calls.
Below, you can find a short summary of the most important findings by HubSpot.
- Mornings. Once again, mornings lead the way with 10am-12pm being the ideal time for a sales call.
- Midweek. Wednesday is the best day to cold call, but Tuesday and Thursday aren’t too far behind.
- Avoid peak times. Before 8am is a big no-no, and between 2-6pm is not that great either.
It’s worth noting that there may be a little bit of bias in HubSpot’s research. The study is only from 109 individuals in the USA. It’s also worth mentioning that if, for example, some of the survey participants never make calls outside of work hours, i.e they don’t call on weekends or after 6pm, then the data can be skewed for those times.
One thing HubSpot did well, however, was emphasize the importance of testing to figure out the best time to cold call for your business specifically.
This leads nicely into how A/B testing can be used to determine which day and time is the best to cold call. Bear in mind that you may have to adjust your A/B testing strategy to fit your niche.
A/B Testing to Find the Best Time to Cold Call
As you can see, the expert advice for timing your cold calls is pretty varied. Monday is almost unanimously the worst day, but there’s some disagreement about whether Wednesday or Friday is the best, and the specific times change from expert to expert. In reality, this is to be expected. There are so many variables in all this advice that it leads to only one conclusion: you need to find out for yourself with an A/B test.
- Get a clear goal. What do you want to achieve after a successful test? Is it increased conversion rates, higher response rates, or more appointments scheduled?
- Identify your variables. Your hypothesis should be a statement which predicts how a change in one variable will affect your goal. In regards to finding the best time to cold call, the variable should be the time of day.
- Segment your audience. Break your audience into different segments that are likely to respond to your cold calls in different ways. These will be cold called at different times. For example, if you have prospects in different time zones, they need to be identified and separated here. There may be other factors relevant to your niche that need considering too.
- Create your groups. Create two or more groups for your test. These will be cold called at different times.
- Randomize. Avoid bias by randomly assigning your audience to different groups, ensuring all groups are comparable in terms of size and characteristics.
- Implement the test. Start making cold calls to each group at the designated times. Make sure that your cold calling strategy remains consistent across all groups. The only change should be your identified variable: the time.
- Collect data. Keep track of important sales metrics like conversion rates. Particularly keep an eye on the metric that determines whether you are closer to your personal goal.
- Analyze results. Once you’re happy with the amount of data you’ve collected, it’s time to analyze the results and evaluate your findings.
- Draw conclusions. From the data you’ve gathered, you should be able to identify the best time to cold call in your specific niche.
- Iterate. Use the insights gathered from this test to refine your cold calling strategy. You may wish to conduct further tests to validate your findings, find the best day to cold call, or optimize other aspects of your cold calling approach.
Remember that the effectiveness of your cold calling strategy can depend on various factors beyond just the time of day, such as the quality of your leads, the content of your pitch, and the individual ability of your sales reps. It’s essential you consider these factors when interpreting the results of your A/B test, as they can influence the results quite a bit.
You can run A/B tests on these other factors too once you’ve nailed down the best time to cold call. Follow the link for more info about A/B testing to optimize sales scripts.
How To Use Your CRM to Find the Ideal Time to Cold Call
CRMs are a great source of data that you can leverage to find the best time to cold call your specific audience. They have tools to keep track of every interaction your company has with a customer, including emails, sales calls, social media interactions, and more.
By analyzing trends in your interactions, you can pick up patterns and identify when prospects are more likely to engage. You may notice that most conversions happen on a Thursday morning and there is a trend of people engaging more, longer phone calls, or just more pick-ups. These are all important things to keep an eye out for.
With this data in tow, you can organize and schedule your cold calling around these times in an effort to increase your conversion rates. With enough analytical study, a theme should emerge that highlights the optimal time to cold call. Follow it and success will follow you.
Differences to Keep in Mind
There are lots of things to keep in mind when trying to identify the most advantageous time to cold call. Obviously, time zones are important, but there are more subtle things too. Cultural differences, industry differences, and even seasonal differences can all impact your cold calling strategy.
Cultural Differences
You should always take into account the cultural differences when trying to figure out the best time to cold call. It’s so important to build rapport with your customer so you don’t want to p*ss them off by doing something they might consider rude.
In the UK, for example, it’s deemed pretty rude to call during the evening, when people are having dinner (or tea, as the Brits call it). They feel intruded on as it’s their time and they don’t want to be interrupted.
On the other hand, in the US, you might get a little more flexibility when it comes to cold calling due to the business culture that’s imposed on the citizens there. However, lunch hours should be respected and early mornings are usually hectic.
If your prospects are in China, it’s good to know the concept of “mianzi”. It’s about avoiding putting individuals in uncomfortable situations. In fact, cold calling may not be preferable in China at all as the culture there tends to lean towards face-to-face interactions and established relationships.
With all nationalities, it’s important to remember their national holidays. To refer to China again, no one is going to be picking up a cold call on Chinese New Year, for example.
Seasonal, Regional, and Industrial Differences
Depending on your business, the peak seasons will differ. If you’re in real estate, the house market tends to be more active in spring, summer, and autumn, with fewer people moving in Winter.
The travel and hospitality industry is another one that can vary wildly depending on season and region. For example, those in the northern hemisphere tend to go on holiday during July and August. This is when school closes and families take vacations. In the southern hemisphere, it’s often December and January.
However, it also depends on the region. For example, mountainous areas often get tourists in winter for skiing. They might get hikers in the summer too, so they have two seasons with distinctly different consumers. If you’re selling travel packages, you need to be aware of these differences as it can greatly impact the time to cold call.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that people book holidays in advance, so even though they don’t actually go on holiday until summer, they might book it in spring…
When Is The Best Time To Cold Call?
The best time to cold call depends on your industry, your target audience, and your individual business. Experts tend to agree that mid-week in the mornings or late afternoon is the best, but don’t take their word for it! The best way to find the ideal cold calling time for your audience is to test it yourself.
One thing is certain: avoid Mondays like the plague.
