How to Turn a COLD Call into a HOT Lead
Ever get that pit-in-your-stomach feeling just hearing the words “cold call”?
You’re not alone—and you’re definitely not doomed to stay stuck there. In this high-energy episode of Secrets in Medical Device Sales, Lisa and Cindy break down the art and science of cold calling into three powerful phases: planning, action, and reflection. Whether you're brand new or a seasoned rep needing a boost, you’ll get mindset shifts, tactical advice, and hilarious stories that prove cold calls can actually be fun—and wildly effective.
Don’t just survive your next cold call. Master it.
Episode Chapter Markers
00:00 Introduction
02:06 Cold Calls = Cold Water? The Swimming Analogy
03:25 Breaking It Down Into 3 Simple Steps
03:37 Step 1: Planning with Purpose
05:14 Set Your Cold Call Goals
07:50 The Secret: Personalization
08:18 Step 2: Taking Action with Personalization
12:34 Follow-Up Strategy That Works
13:45 The Power of Scheduling a Lunch
15:53 Smile and Infuse Happiness
18:38 Step 3: Reflection and Follow-Up
19:26 Analyze, Repeat, Improve
20:07 Cold Calls That Turn Into Cases
21:20 Make Cold Calling Fun (Yes, Fun)
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
Dive Into Strategy – Why Planning Changes the Game - Lisa and Cindy break down how strategic planning—from online research to goal-setting—can instantly reduce cold call anxiety and lead to more productive, focused conversations.
Personalization is Power – How to Warm Up a Cold Call - Learn how Lisa turns a first walk-in into a future lunch meeting, all by being kind, curious, and committed to remembering every name.
Smile Through the Awkward – The Science of Confidence - Cindy shares how something as simple as smiling (even when you’re nervous) can change the chemistry of a call—and your results.
Don’t Forget the Follow-Up – Where Cold Calls Actually Convert - The follow-up isn’t just an afterthought—it’s where the ROI lives. The girls talk scheduling, accountability, and making sure you never forget to order lunch again.
The Secret to Cold Call Success – It's Not About Perfection - Cold calls won’t always be pretty, but each one teaches you something. Hear how Lisa and Cindy use reflection to grow and fuel their momentum.
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
“You don’t have to love cold calling. You just have to master it.” – Cynthia Ficara
“Smile when you're uncomfortable—it literally rewires your brain and boosts your energy.” – Cynthia Ficara
“Don't just show up. Show up with purpose, kindness, and a plan.” – Anneliese Rhodes
“The hardest part is breaking in. Once you're in, keep swimming.” – Cynthia Ficara
“Personalization is the secret to turning a cold call warm.” – Anneliese Rhodes
“You already did the hardest part—why not follow up and win?” – Cynthia Ficara
“Be kind, be confident, and never underestimate the front desk gatekeeper.” – Anneliese Rhodes
“Cold calling isn’t about pressure—it’s about possibilities.” – Cynthia Ficara
“Add joy to the job, and the anxiety disappears.” – Anneliese Rhodes
“Plan. Act. Reflect. That’s how high performers cold call.” – Cynthia Ficara
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A Team Dklutr production
Blog Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Anneliese Rhodes: Hey, declutter. All right. We are recording our next episode, and this is the snippet. It's just gonna be me, and then we're gonna roll right into our recording. Oh my gosh, Cindy, can I tell you, I just spent this entire past week doing cold calls, and you know what? It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be, and I cannot wait to share with everybody these tips and tricks to get rid of the anxiety associated with cold calling because truthfully, it's not as bad as it seems.
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Secrets and Medical Device Sales, brought to you by the girls of Grit.
Cynthia Ficara: Hello, everybody. Happy to have you here. Lisa, what you just said about anxiety and cold calls, like it's kind of funny hearing you say that makes me feel anxious. I don't know if anybody else found it.
Just the word cold call. Anxious. I know. Seriously, right?
Diving Into Cold Calls with Courage
Anneliese Rhodes: You're like, it's like diving into like a frigging. Freezing cold ocean or something, you know, nobody wants to get in and be freezing cold. It's like, oh, I don't wanna do it. I don't wanna do it. It's like diving into a pool, right? When we used to swim, we still swim, but like, you know, it's cold outside and you're like, oh, this water's gonna be so cold.
I don't wanna do it. But then once you get in, you start swimming, you're like. Hey, you know what? This is actually not that bad. And by the end you're actually hot, hot and you're like sweating and you got a great workout and you're like, dang it. I'm so glad I got over that initial anxiety of diving into the water and you know, there is a little bit of a chill that that's a hundred percent.
It doesn't actually go away, but it's all in your mindset. And honestly, it's in strategy when it comes to cold calling. And I think today's episode is super freaking awesome because. The thought of cold calling can give everybody anxiety, but I promise you after today's episode, you will look at it differently.
Cynthia Ficara: I love your swimming analogy because nobody wants to get in cold water. And maybe that's why somebody called this cold calling. 'cause if you think about it, it is, it's, it's a quick shock to your system. It's uncomfortable. Yeah. So how do we navigate this uncomfortableness to be comfortable enough to get to the point where you go from cold to hot, because everybody out there listening knows what it feels like to be in that hot zone of your business.
Oh my God. It feels warm. It's good. You're friendly. You're, you've got momentum. Momentum. We all want this.
Anneliese Rhodes: Mm-hmm. Uhhuh. It all begins with cold calling. A lot of it begins with cold calling. Right. So I'm excited. Okay, so we are gonna give you guys what three sections today, Cindy, that we're gonna, this is
Cynthia Ficara: simple.
Okay. Three simple. We're gonna break this. Let's put it this way. I think that. Alleviating anxiety from cold calling. We're gonna take this episode to break down into three different parts. That's an easy way to say it. Yeah. And make it simple.
Anneliese Rhodes: Perfect. Awesome. And I, I love this when we just simplify things.
Plan with Precision, Not Panic
So, alright, number one is your planning. Uh, I know that cold calling can sometimes seem like, oh, I'm just gonna throw a dart at the wall. But no, it's actually not like that at all. You actually have to be strategic in your cold calling. So doing your research can be as simple you guys as like making sure you're calling on the right docs.
I mean, there may be a group of, let's just say orthopedic surgeons, but only two of them. Whatever, use your products so you're not gonna waste your time with the other 20 of them or however many are in that group, because it doesn't make any sense. You just really wanna hone in on those, those docs that are absolutely gonna use your product or have the potential to use your product.
So that's doing research 1 0 1. Super simple. You know, even though they, and when you look that up, how do you figure that out? Well, you can go onto the internet. We all love Google. Look up their background, look to see if they have like something that's written, Hey, I treat this part of the spine, or something like that.
Sometimes hospitals will do like little videos on their docs that are like big time docs and they'll have a video of the guy talking about what he does. So it's not hard to figure out. Who the guys or gals are that specialize in where your products fit. But you have to do that because otherwise you're just spinning your wheels and wasting your time and energy.
Cynthia Ficara: This can actually be really fun. And you know, sometimes, like Google is literally your number one resource and, and Lisa's, right? I mean, everything is listed of what they do. Now you may have hospitals where you're wondering, well, do they do this? Or who else shares this? That becomes step two when you go in and ask.
And sometimes cold call is you simply ask, you know? Yeah. But so. I think that the next part of our plan, you research where you're gonna go. Now you have to have a goal. And I know that sounds like duh, but how many of you actually cold call with a specific. I'm gonna challenge you on that one because it's not just, oh, I wanna go in and yeah, I wanna have business here.
What kind of business? Where do you start? Do you just wanna contact, do you just want a meeting? Do you just want them get to know you? Do you wanna find out? Maybe there's a big conference coming up. Maybe there's something else going on. So. Knowing your goal kind of fits into some of the episodes we've had before where we really talk about knowing you.
What are you selling? Be confident. Yeah. So you know. If you think about this, if you've got your goal, what are you gonna go in and say, if you don't pre quote unquote recall plan, essentially, I think it's pre goal plan. Know what your goal is and essentially it's kind of like your own elevator pitch, right?
Because yeah, your cold, this is cold. You wanna know what your goal is, who you are, what you stand for, how you impact them.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yes. And that is so great. Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. And I'm like, you know, and I, two things are coming into head. First of all, don't over, don't give too much away, like too much information.
What I mean by that is like. My goal is always to get them to use my product. I, I mean, honestly, that really probably is everybody's end goal, right? With a, with a user. But you know, sometimes, and Cindy, you do a good job of this. Sometimes it doesn't need to be that right away. Sometimes it needs to be the step-by-step process because a lot of docs don't like to just be oversold to things.
Um, so don't come in too hard, right? Um, but be thorough, be strategic. But then to your point of an elevator pitch, I don't know about you guys out there, but I will tell you, the girls of grit. Have a special way of doing our elevator pitches and there is a chance that very soon we are going to release some resources to you guys that are gonna get you all to literally master that and you can cross that sucker off your list.
Cynthia Ficara: I love you revealing a little hint of those things to come. So do stay tuned because maybe there's a secret framework to make this super simple when you shift your mindset and understand these cold calls that we're planning can be opportunities for prospects rather than that like interruption of your day or not focusing on your value because that's what we're really here for.
So. In this planning phase, I think it's a really appropriate time to reveal our secret, Lisa. Yes. And the topic of the eliminating anxiety from cold calls mm-hmm. Is essentially the focus on cold calling we have today. We wanna eliminate the anxiety about even starting. So the secret that we believe will help you do this is
Personalize or Be Forgotten
Anneliese Rhodes: drum roll.
Uh, it's personalization. Absolutely. What do we mean by personalization? So we're moving into step two now, which is your action. It's your actual, like you're gonna do the steps for the cold calling, right? So I'm gonna talk about this with you guys because I literally just spent like a full week, as I said.
Doing cold calls and truthfully, it, it's not as bad as you guys think it is, I promise. And we are gonna help you remove that anxiety. So personalization, what does that look like? Well, first of all, what I mean by that is you need to make these cold calls as personal as possible, meaning. Get as much information as you can, right?
So let's just say you're walking into an office for the very first time. You just literally Googled the address of the office. You don't know a single soul there. You know that your top docs work outta that office, but you don't know anybody else. You don't have anybody's number, no email, not even a name.
Okay, that's fine. It's a cold call. So you walk in, put a, put a smile on your face. First of all, you better be smiling and happy. Uh, look good, right? And you walk in and you wait patiently. For those patients to check in. And sometimes you, normally, you're working in, walking in on a clinic day, there's a ton of patients there.
Be kind, be understanding that yes, you have a a reason to be there, but so do they. Right? So your very first goal is to be kind, allow them all to check in, and then you kindly walk up to the front. And here's what I do, you guys. I say, Hey. I am Lisa Rhodes with so-and-so, and I am, you know, looking to meet with Dr.
Smith. And I think Dr. Smith would be extremely interested because we have a new product on, you know, this therapy with this data. And I know recently Dr. Smith attended, if you know this, this would be great. Attended a meeting. And I think he would really love to learn more about our products. Do you have an office manager or a scheduler that can set up a lunch for me to come in?
I'll buy the entire office lunch and I will come in and meet with Dr. Smith. Um, you know who, who is that person? As soon as that gatekeeper at the front desk gives you the name, you better commit that to memory, because you're gonna put that in your notes next to Dr. Smith's name, and she will say, sure, I'll give him your, I'll give her your business card.
Okay, great. That usually goes nowhere, just so you know. That's fine. Don't be disappointed. You wrote her name down. If you don't get a call in a week from her, which you probably won't, you will pick up the phone, you will call that office back, and now you're gonna ask for her name personally. You're gonna say, Hey, is Amanda there?
Um, you know, I need to give her a call back, um, discussing, you know, a lunch that we had talked about, whatever you want to say to get you to her, to get to either her voicemail. Or to her personally. And that is, that's so simple. Like it's just, you're just trying to personalize things, you know? I can give you another example.
I mean, recently I needed to call a scheduler for a doctor that I had hosted at a dinner months ago. And I had no idea who that new person was. Supposedly it was a new person. 'cause I tried the old person and she didn't reply. So I'm like, okay, well it's not her. So I reached out to another rep that I know that I know works with this doctor and I said, Hey, can you give me Dr.
Smith's, you know, scheduler. What is her name and what's her email? She's like, oh, I can do one better for you. I'll give you a cell. I'm like, freaking perfect. Whoa. Right? So I call the girl on her cell. No answer. That's fine. I didn't leave a message, but I followed up with a text message and I was just like, Hey, 'cause I know they're busy.
I'm like, Hey, this is Lisa Rhodes. You know, I met with Dr. Smith a couple weeks ago or a month ago, over dinner. I wanted to follow back up. Can I schedule a lunch next week or in the next couple of weeks and bring in lunch for all of you guys and meet with Dr. Smith? And she was like, sure, no problem. Let's do this date.
And I was like, great. That was easy. Okay, next task. You know, so. These are things, these are ways to personalize. But I will tell you guys any little bit of information that you get, you need to write it down in your notes. You need to put, and I, by the way, I took that girl's number. I put her in my phone as you know, Cindy, with Dr.
Smith's office. Office scheduler, doing lunches that way, anytime I type into my phone, Hey, Dr. Smith, you know Cindy? Or if I can't remember her name, I just write lunches. She pops up.
Cynthia Ficara: And I tell you, these iPhones make it so simple. Or if you have like a Android, when you write notes like that in, in the contact itself, then you've got it there.
But don't forget, you've got your notes. If you have an iPhone on your phone, and Lisa, you said something so spot on. You have to write it down when you leave and think about it, you guys, you took the courage, the confidence to put your toes in that cold water. You walked into that office and you asked those hard questions.
Why on earth when you're starting to get a little bit warm in the water, would you not go back and realize you just did the hardest part already? The hardest part is breaking in. So that follow up is important because cold calls are not one and done. Cold calls take multiple succession of showing back up.
And calling, and you did exactly that and how to make it easier. Have it right there on your phone and put in this. The other thing that I love that you bring up is one of my favorite things about cold calling. I. Is alright, let's all face it. It takes confidence. It takes a day that you're in a good mindset to be like, I'm ready.
And you go in and you cold call confidence. There you did it. How do you make yourself keep your toes warm before you get hot? Is an appointment, the only way you're gonna go back is a little bit of accountability. If you walk out of that office with a date on the calendar of a lunch, you're committed.
You are committed. Now you have a commitment to go back, you are held accountable to fulfill that lunch. And you can't chicken out. You can't decide, oh, I'm gonna put a towel on on the beach and I'm not gonna go in the cold water. Nope, you are already warm. You've committed. Go, go. It's so exciting. And keep swimming.
Keep swimming. I love this. I'm just gonna make me wanna go swim today. But the uh, it's so true. Like, just. Committing yourself and not overanalyzing it. Being hard. It's not hard. Yeah.
Anneliese Rhodes: Abs No, it's not. But you're right. You gotta keep going. And you know with that, okay, you got the lunch date. Okay. Put it in your calendar and don't forget to order the lunch.
Hello? Can I tell you I have done that and thank goodness, by the way, no way. I have, I literally just did it. I have a really good girlfriend who owns a lunch place, and I legit texted her and I was like, oh my God, girl, I totally forgot about this lunch. She's like, no worries, I got your back. Thank goodness it wasn't for like 40 people.
It was like for 15, but she's like, no worries, I got your back. She's like, what do you need? Just send me your credit card. You know? We'll get it taken care of. But truthfully though, I have done it where I will forget because you know, we all get busy, right? We get cases added on and we get. Longer, you know, calls added on and emails and reports and all the things of our job that makes it very busy.
This is an easy thing to forget. So for what I will, what I will actually do is I'll put the lunch in and a week before. So like if the lunch is on a Friday, maybe I do it like two days before, but if it's on like a Monday, I can't do two days before. That's a Saturday. So I'll put it like a week before and I will remind myself to call.
Chipotle, or I don't know, wherever. Tropical Smoothie, wherever you're ordering the lunch from. So you do it and put it at a time when you know that they're not running through lunch, right? Because, and this is so silly, but these are like so important things. If you call at restaurant during normal business hours, during lunchtime, they're not gonna talk to you.
They're gonna forget to call you back. Then you are going to forget to follow back up, and then the lunch never gets done. And I realize that we're talking about really like duh things, but it's happened to me, Cindy. It happens to me a lot.
Cynthia Ficara: So important, and I'm gonna take it a step further. Yeah. You put a reminder in your calendar, whatever, but or, or if you say, okay, week before I'm gonna call, I don't know about you if I don't have an alert.
Oh, I don't always look at the calendar because I do have multiple calendars now. I don't have 'em all me into one. 'cause there's too many things from work, too many things from whatever. And I try to make a point to look at it every day. It's very important that if you just those important things, set an alert so it shows up in the middle of the day on the hours.
That was key in information. Thank you, Lisa.
Smile While You Dial: The Power of Positivity
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. You know, one more thing before we go to the third and final little step. I think it's really important that you infuse happiness throughout this entire process. And I, you know, back in college I had a true cold calling job. I worked for the, um, alumni association for Florida State to try and get money from people now.
Oh, really? You know, those calls, you pick up the phone, you're like, oh, click. Right? Like, everybody's like, uhhuh, click. But like literally, I would sit there because we would get a little bit of a commission if we had X amount of like a charitable gift given, um, or a commitment. Um, and so like I would always smile and you know what, most of the time people, you could, you could hear it.
They were smiling back. A lot of times I got older people. I mean, sometimes I'd call in the middle of dinner and it's like, God, I know I'm calling in the middle of dinner. Thank you for at least picking up the phone and not hanging up on me. And I would tell them that. And then they're like. Oh my gosh, no, you're with Florida State.
Of course. We'll give a hundred dollars, 200, whatever it was, and every now and then you'd get like this big one. You're like, well, that's awesome. But you know, I think being happy when you're there smiling, it's contagious. Other people wanna help you when you're nice versus you're pissed off that you're having to do a cold call.
You walk in with a grumpy attitude, you cut in front of a patient. I don't know, you're just kind of a jerk. Nobody's gonna wanna talk to you. They're gonna be like, sorry, dude. I don't have to give you this lunch date with Dr. Smith, even though he might be your biggest doc. You ain't getting it, and they can literally stop you.
I mean, they're a gatekeeper for a reason. So infuse kindness and happiness. Be happy and be a little apologetic. Listen, I know it's a busy time. Um, you know, call me back when you're not busy. But here's kind of what I was thinking most of the time, you're like, Hey, no worries, honey. I'll give you five minutes.
Yes, let me look at his calendar. Yes, I think this date's gonna work. Great. And then you're done.
Cynthia Ficara: Think about it. Ask yourself, what do you have to lose?
Anneliese Rhodes: You're right.
Cynthia Ficara: Nothing. And you know what? There's something that feels good about no pressure calls and maybe think about personalizing these cold calls as opportunities for no pressure.
You know, later in the day or earlier in the day, you have a lot of pressure on something you're working on, but this is the time where you get to do a happy, friendly. Introduction that could turn into something amazing. It may not, but something you said reminds me of a little trick that I think all of us can, can take away from today is.
Smile when you're uncomfortable. You know, I remember running a race when somebody told me, no matter how bad you feel, if you smile, it literally like changes the endorphins in your body and releases this adrenaline that suddenly it's a switch. So you can apply that same thing to your cold calling. Yep.
Reflect and Repeat: Cold Call with Purpose
So we've said he what you need to do. Take action. Lisa, you had some phenomenal examples. I really thank you for that. So the third simple part of going out and making this happen is important to not forget the reflection and follow up. So kind of ask yourself like, did I achieve what I I set out to do?
Because sometimes, alright, I did it, check. Well, was it impactful? Thanks for going through the motions. Why put your feet in the cold water if you're not gonna make sure you can make it warmer and hotter? It's just so silly and so simple. Today's so simple. Yeah. You know? But if you think about the specific goals that you set out, did you accomplish the goal you set out and now.
Guys, it's okay if you completely flopped, but did you, you had nothing to lose. Maybe that just means I'm gonna make my next cold call somewhere else. Maybe you learned. I. This is not where I ever need to focus. Sometimes when it's a dead end. At first, they just saved you months of work. So analyze what worked, what didn't, and you know, some of these strategies you can repeat elsewhere because you know.
Maybe what didn't work. You can see what works. Then when you find what does work, it kind of gives you some confidence and ease to repeat. And again, Lisa, now I'm excited to think about the little thing that we may or may not be revealing to help you all with making this simple cold call elevator pitch to get yourself out there can be so simple.
Anneliese Rhodes: It can, and I, I really hope that today we just kind of remove, like you just said, Cindy, some of that anxiety, instead of going to it with a ugh attitude, go to it with a yes. This is, it's just like winning something, right? It's like getting the case. You got a cold call, lunch, dinner scheduled, you're meeting with the doc, and then when you actually have a good cold call with the physician or the customer.
Winning the Long Game
That in and of itself is a win. When you sit down and you present them what you were looking to present them, you don't overload them. They look at you and they're like, Cindy. This sounds awesome. I wanna learn more. Or, you know what? I got a case next week. I'd love to try your product. Or even, you know what?
It needs to go through VAT committee, and we've talked about that in the past. Here are the people that you need to talk to. I'm willing to support it. If you take it to the VAT committee. I mean, there's so much follow up with regards to cold calling. It's, it's. Endless. Right? It's not just about finally getting it and then being like, okay, I did that.
That was great. Okay. No, that's your first step. Now you're gonna swim. Now you're actually going to swim and, and win the race. And that takes time. You know? And, and each step along the way is strategic and it's smart, but it doesn't have to be anxiety ridden when you first start out. It sure everybody can get a little nervous.
I'm not saying that you don't get a little nervous or a little like. You know, but get over it. Get over it. We're in sales. Be strategic with it. And I think when you do it from that mindset just kind of melts away and you're like, okay, well this is what we're gonna do today. This is what we got on our plate.
Cynthia Ficara: Make it fun. Exactly. You know, as salespeople, all of us have a little bit of hunter inside us. This is a great opportunity, and when you break the paralysis by analysis and you dip your feet in the cold water, suddenly those customers as you follow up, don't become cold anymore. Now they're your customers.
Now you've got momentum. Now you're swimming in warm waters and soon you're gonna be hot. And we all know what it takes when you get hot. The ROI. On all of your work for all that we're in, for using your product, making amazing relationships is it's just awesome. And I think Lisa's stories today got me a little energized to remind us what we do can really be fun, and the relationships we make are amazing.
So I have a call to action for every one of you today, as you remember your plan, action, and reflection to simply execute a cold call. I challenge every one of you by the end of this week to put an appointment on your calendar for one cold call. Just one. It takes one call Then a week or so from now.
Please, please write into us and let us know your results. We are so happy to give you some little tips and tricks today. Love to have you listen in to the girls at Grit on Secrets in Medical Device sales.
