The Anatomy of First-Time and Subsequent Business-to-Business “Cold” Calls

ABSTRACT

This article examines business-to-business “cold” calls between salespeople and prospective clients. Drawing on 150 audio-recorded interactions, we use conversation analysis to identify the overarching structural organization and constituent activities in first-time and subsequent “cold” calls, a distinction that emerged from participants’ orientation to their relationship history or lack thereof. The article reveals how structural features of telephone conversations, such as identification sequences and “reason for calling,” are adapted to achieve local interactional results and that these conversational microstructures are consequential for the outcome of the telephone call and, ultimately, a company’s bottom line. Data are British English.

Notes

¹ 2/41 first-time calls only comprise information-gathering that is terminated abruptly when the prospect hangs up. See Extract 9 for an example of a unilateral ending.

² 27/41 first-time calls feature switchboard requests in the call opening, 11/41 calls feature switchboard requests as the first item of the “business of the call,” and 3/41 calls do not contain a switchboard request.