I Tried the 7 Best Cold Calling Software Tools for 2024

Cold calling is the bane of plenty of sales reps' professional existence — and I’ve had my fair share of tough experiences. It can feel like a grating, uncomfortable, often awkward process, involving a whole lot of rejection from frustrated prospects.

That's why any sort of cold calling tools that expedite the process and alleviate the associated pain are welcome resources for your everyday salesperson. Enter cold calling software — the tools that take some strain off of cold calling reps and the managers that guide them.

In this post I’ve gathered seven of the best tools on the market and will walk you through what I see as their top features, cons, and more.

Table of Contents

• Cold Calling Software
• What to Look for in a Cold Calling Software
• Using CRMs and Call Recordings for Cold Calling Success

What to Look for in a Cold Calling Software

After exploring the software in this post, I realized that every cold calling tool is designed slightly differently. With that in mind, here are some of the things I recommend considering as you prepare to choose your cold calling software.

Auto Dialer

Auto dialers are exactly what they sound like — a feature that puts the dialing process, well, on autopilot. I can see how it would be incredibly helpful to save all that time dialing and waiting, and more time actually doing sales work.

Did you know that sales reps spend less than 30% of their time on selling activities? Auto dialers are one aspect of cold calling software that can turn that around.

Predictive Dialer

A predictive dialer takes it a step further by anticipating when sales reps are likely to finish calls and dialing the next number automatically, ensuring there's no downtime between conversations.

While I don’t have experience with predictive dialers myself, I have dialed lots of calls back to back, and this sounds like having a sales assistant who can read minds — win-win in my book.

Call Recording and Monitoring

I’m not sure if it’s fair to say that I’m obsessed with the idea of recording calls and using them as training opportunities. But revisiting conversations at specific time stamps and fact checking to make sure that someone actually said something specific can be helpful.

While I don’t do a lot of cold calling these days, I do spend lots of time on calls and periodically need to revisit specific phrasing. Or when someone says something particularly interesting, I note the time and often go back to listen. To me, this is an absolute must for any cold calling software.

CRM Integrations

Having this kind of feature is an absolute lifesaver when it comes to working smarter not harder. I’m always here for any way to reduce endless manual workarounds, data entry, or copy-pasting. In addition to saving countless mind-numbing hours, I find automating things is the best way to avoid mistakes.

In a perfect world, you’d choose a cold calling tool that either has a built-in CRM or bi-directional native integration with your CRM. That’s a fancy way of saying where data syncs back and forth between the two. However, Zapier integrations are a solid next-best-case scenario — I’ve used them to automate some incredibly complex yet extremely repetitive workflows.

Lead Management Automation and Segmentation

Okay, so this relates really closely with the CRM integration, because it simplifies lead management, which can be a complete nightmare when dealing with the sheer volume of cold call prospects.

Even if your cold calling software doesn’t connect with your CRM, I recommend making sure it has some automation tools that can segment leads based on the likelihood to engage and stage of the sales funnel, among others.

Voicemail Drop

Leaving messages is the bane of my existence. I’m always getting caught off guard by an untimely beep, getting cut off, or occasionally rambling despite a really great script or plan. Voicemail drops solve that by letting you drop a pre-recorded message — plus it saves time.

Call Scripts

I’ve written plenty of email and call scripts for sales teams over the years, and I know how easy it is to get off track during a call. Just see my comment on rambling voicemails and add in conversational elements that get everyone lost in the weeds. There are platforms out there that can help you script each call so you stay on point and can draw the conversation back to center if needed.

Custom Number Selection

This is something insanely cool. I’ve played around with it for inbound call tracking to ensure that there’s a local number on emails or landing pages. Cold calling custom numbers take this to the next level, making it easy to make it look like you’re calling locally, even if you’re not.

Call Scheduling and Reminder

Ever had someone promise to do something and not follow through? Of course, you have. We all have. Not only is it incredibly frustrating on the receiving end, but it’s also a deal-killer.

Maybe that lead really did want to buy, but by not following through, you’re sending the message you don’t care and don’t want their business. That’s the last thing you want. Call scheduling and reminder features make it easier to stay on top of any follow-up items or calls and help leads feel wanted.

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1. HubSpot Sales Hub

Pricing: Plans starting at $15 per month

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Best for: Seamless integration with your CRM

HubSpot Sales Hub's extensive call-tracking capabilities make it one of the premier cold-calling software solutions available. Backed by a robust suite of features and an accessible interface, the software can suit the needs of virtually any business, individual rep, or manager.

The program works in tandem with the HubSpot CRM to help you easily line up and prioritize your calls. It also lets you place calls directly from your browser and automatically log your sales calls. On top of that, the software includes first-rate conversational intelligence features to help inform more thoughtful, effective cold calls as time goes on.

Key Features and Benefits:

• CRM data-driven call prioritization
• Direct from desktop dialing
• Conversational intelligence capabilities
• Automatic CRM call logging

2. Aircall

Pricing: Plans Starting at $30 per User per Month

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Best for: Trimming fat between calls and improving reps' productivity

Aircall is one of the better cloud call center solutions available for sales and support teams. The program is well-suited for boosting individual reps‘ productivity and streamlining your organization’s cold calls. Hundreds of integrations mean that it works with popular software, including HubSpot, Salesforce, and ActiveCampaign, among others.

With features like automatically triggered post-call workflows to minimize downtime between calls, the program can trim a lot of fat from your general cold calling efforts. Its top-notch analytics resources can help managers understand their team's performance and make data-driven decisions accordingly.

Key Features and Benefits:

• Automatic call data entry
• Automatically triggered post-call workflows
• First-rate call analytics

It’s worth noting that Aircall AI is now available as a cold calling software add-on for $9/license to help you understand and analyze each call.

3. Toky

Pricing: Plans Starting at $20 per User per Month

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Best for: Accessibility across channels and devices

Toky is another cloud-based sales calling solution that offers an extensive suite of features — including instant CRM call logging, cross-system monitoring for data-driven decision-making, and a wide range of integrations.

Though its capabilities are impressive in their own right, the software sets itself apart from most other programs with its range of accessibility. With Toky, sales teams can access calls and conversations via browsers — or on iOS, Android, PCs, or Macs. What’s more, by integrating with any website, popular CRMs including Hubspot, and Zapier, it’s likely to work with the rest of your tech stack.

Key Features and Benefits:

• Unlimited inbound callsExtensive integrations
• Accessibility from anywhere
• Call logging

Worth noting, the Entrepreneur, Business, and Enterprise plans all have similar capabilities, with the main differences lying in reporting capabilities and price-per-minute for in-call features.

4. RingCentral

Pricing: Plans Starting at $20 per User per Month

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Best for: Straightforward, effective call scripting

RingCentral Engage Voice is a dedicated outbound sales and cold calling resource. The program includes a host of features that reconcile accessibility with powerful functionality — including a drag-and-drop scripting builder, a versatile dialer system, and other features that allow for focused personalization and minimal downtime between calls. Vanity numbers, high-volume SMS, and other features are also available for an additional fee.

Key Features and Benefits:

• Drag-and-drop scripting builder
• Real-time insights
• Several integrations — including HubSpot and Salesforce

Of note, RingCentral now features RingSense AI for video on all plans, with phone and messaging coming soon.

5. Klenty

Pricing: Plans Starting at $50 per Month

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Best for: Coachable recordings and reports

Klenty offers a dynamic calling solution that streamlines and simplifies cold calls for reps and managers alike. The software features one-click call placing to minimize downtime between conversations.

It also has top-notch call recording capabilities via its “Action Replay” feature — allowing management to review reps' calls for focused, effective coaching. Beyond that, the program includes call reporting resources that provide insight into how individual reps are handling their calls.

Key Features and Benefits:

• One-click dialing
• Coachable call recording
• Actionable call reports

The entry-level plan has more than 20 robust features that are great for teams working to reach more target customers. Higher-tier plans feature more in-depth automations, include a CRM plugin, and allow for a more comprehensive multi-channel approach.

6. Rafiki

Pricing: Plans Starting at $20 per User per Month

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Best for: Actionable insight on customers and reps

Rafiki provides a powerful conversational intelligence platform that offers sophistication without sacrificing accessibility. The software captures and transcribes sales calls in 50+ languages, uses artificial intelligence to analyze the data it accrues, identifies topic patterns, documents KPIs, and ultimately provides actionable insights sales teams can use to be more effective.

Additionally, you can create auto-generated follow-up emails after your cold calls, plus, a ChatGPT assistant provides meeting insights.

Key Features and Benefits:

• Customer insight
• Opportunity identification
• Organizational intelligence

Of note, CRM integrations are available in higher-tier plans.

7. Gong

Pricing: Contact for Pricing

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Best for: Exceptional conversational intelligence

Gong may very well be the preeminent conversational intelligence platform on the market. The company boasts an impressive list of customers, including Okta, Monday.com, LinkedIn, Zillow, and PayScale.

Businesses using Gong as a cold calling tool, have seen results like a 34% increase in first call to close rate (Mintel), a 50% win rate increase (Genesys), and 40% growth in methodology adoption (SproutSocial). The platform is a bit more specialized than most of the software listed here, but if you‘re looking for an exceptional conversational intelligence platform to support your broader cold calling efforts, you’ll have a hard time doing better than Gong.

Key Features and Benefits:

• Actionable next steps
• Top-performer playbook sharing
• Potential “close lost” deal identification

Using CRMs and Call Recordings for Cold Calling Success

I’ve touched on this a few times and want to reiterate the point absolutely explicitly: a CRM can make or break your cold calling success. While the specific cold calling tools I’ve detailed above enable your sales team to make and manage cold calls, it’s how you track your prospects, notes, and follow-up tasks that ensure you don’t miss out on mission-critical touch points.

Enter your CRM — a centralized location for storing your notes, recordings and transcriptions from cold calls. In addition to helping each sales rep remember conversations and specifics that allow you to personalize conversations, it provides greater continuity from person to person if prospects talk to multiple people at your company. What’s more, great notes make it easier to see trends and find messaging that will help lookalike prospects convert.

So what’s the bottom line? Great salespeople use all the tools at their disposal, including great cold calling software, call recording features that also transcribe, and effective CRM practices. No matter the nature or scale of your business, if cold calling is central to your outreach, you need to look into some of these cold calling software options — sooner rather than later.

30 Free Sales Call Templates

Have better conversations with your sales prospects using these free templates.

• Discovery call template
• Follow-up call template
• Standard outreach template
• And more!

Download for free Learn more Download for free

Download Free

All fields are required.

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Download Now