One of the most common questions salespeople ask is: Cold Call or Cold Email First?
The short answer: It’s best to start with email. In fact, you should send a sequence of emails — this helps educate prospects on who you are, how you help, and why they should spend time talking with you. Done well, this turns cold calls into warm calls.
In this post and video, I’ll show you how to create a simple cold email sequence to improve your outreach results.
A Typical (Flawed) Cold Outreach Sequence
Before we look at the best cold email sequence, let’s review the approach most salespeople use — based on the cold emails I receive every day.
Email 1
Company and product intro — usually something like:
This is the company I’m with. Here’s what we sell. Do you need what I sell?
Emails 2, 3, 4, etc.:
Repeated versions of the same intro, plus:
Just following up on my last email…
Bumping this up in your inbox…
Did you get a chance to read my last email?
Why This Doesn’t Work:
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Prospects get a lot of cold emails — this makes you sound like just another salesperson
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It flags you as someone trying to sell, not to help
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Most prospects aren’t in buying mode at that moment
Result? Most of these emails are instantly deleted — and you miss a big opportunity to educate your prospect.
Step 1: Create Your Story
The first step is to create your story — what message do you want to communicate to prospects over time?
We have a step-by-step process to help you develop this story by identifying key talking points:
✅ Product and company details
✅ Improvements you help deliver
✅ Problems you help solve
✅ Key questions to ask prospects
✅ Success stories from current customers
Each of these becomes a building block — and you can mix and match these blocks to build your cold email sequence.
Step 2: Build Your Cold Email Sequence
A simple, effective sequence is to use one block per email:
1️⃣ Email 1 — How you help
2️⃣ Email 2 — Problems you solve
3️⃣ Email 3 — A customer you’ve helped
4️⃣ Email 4 — Key questions to engage the prospect
5️⃣ Email 5 — Product and company details
This creates an ongoing conversation — and each email tells part of your story.
Step 3: Start Cold Calling
Once you’ve sent this sequence of cold emails, then you start your cold calling.
The beauty of this approach:
✅ You’ve already educated the prospect
✅ They recognize your name/company
✅ You’ve built familiarity and trust
Result? Your cold calls now feel more like warm calls — and your chances of success go way up.
Final Takeaway
Cold Call or Cold Email First?
The answer: Start with a thoughtful cold email sequence — then follow up with calls.
When you take the time to tell your story and build trust, you’ll turn more cold prospects into warm leads and more conversations into closed deals.