Cold calling scripts and rules of thumb for the UK and Australia

A cold calling script is a fixed opening plus a set of prepared lines for the moments that come up on most calls: the gatekeeper, the voicemail, the "not interested" and the request to stop calling. In both the UK and Australia the law sets what the opening must contain. In the UK you give the name of the business making the call, show your number (or one you can be contacted on), and give an address or a free number if asked. In Australia you give your first name, your company, who the call is for and why you are calling, as soon as the call starts. Rules like 3-3-3 and 80/20 are sales folklore: they have no legal standing and no single agreed meaning.

This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. For the full calling process, see how to cold call in the UK and how to cold call in Australia. This page is the script library that sits beside them.

The short answer

Put the identification lines at the top of the script and never edit them out. Write one short reason for the call, one question, and one ask for a meeting. Prepare the branches you will need most often, and keep your address or free number, and in Australia your full contact details, printed on the same sheet. Treat any 3-3-3 cadence or 80/20 ratio as a habit some teams find useful, not as a rule, and screen every number before each call in the sequence.

What every script must say first

The two countries ask for different things in the opening, and Australia asks for more.

The UK rules are in regulations 21 and 24 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. Regulation 21(A1) and regulation 24 both apply to marketing calls whether or not the person asked for them. The Australian rules are in the Telecommunications (Telemarketing and Research Calls) Industry Standard 2017, which is due to sunset on 1 April 2027 under the Legislation Act 2003.

The Australian Standard covers business-to-business calls too. A telemarketing call under section 5(1) of the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 is any voice call to an Australian number where one of the purposes is to offer or promote goods or services. There is no carve-out for business recipients. So the section 9 opener applies when you ring a company switchboard, even though that line is not eligible for the register.

If an agency calls on a client's behalf, my advice is to say both names in either country. In Australia the Standard requires it. In the UK it is good practice, so the person knows who the call is really for.

A UK cold calling script

Before you use it, check each number against the TPS and CTPS and your own do-not-call list. You can try a single number on our free TPS check. Square brackets are slots to fill in.

UK opener

"Hi [first name], it's [your name] from [company]. [If calling for a client: I'm calling on behalf of [client].] I'm calling because [one specific reason that relates to them, for example a new site, a new hire, a change in their sector]. Have you got two minutes, or have I caught you at a bad time?"

Asking permission is not a legal requirement in the UK. It gives the person an easy way to say no, and a yes means they are listening.

UK reason and question

"We work with [type of company] who [problem you solve]. Most of them tell us [the specific pain]. How are you handling that at the moment?"

Then listen. Ask one or two follow-ups about what they just said, not about your product.

UK booking line

"It sounds like it's worth a proper look. Could we book 20 minutes so I can show you how [a similar company] dealt with it? I've got [day] at [time] or [day] at [time]. Which suits you better?"

UK, if they ask who you are

"Of course. We're [company], at [address]. You can also reach us free on [freephone number]."

Keep the address or freephone number on the script sheet. Regulation 24 says you must give one of them if asked, so it should not depend on the caller remembering it.

An Australian cold calling script

Wash the list against the Do Not Call Register first, and only call numbers washed within the last 30 days. Our Australian DNCR plans do this inside HubSpot. The calling window goes at the top of the sheet.

Call window: 9am to 8pm weekdays, 9am to 5pm Saturdays, in the recipient's local time. Not on Sundays or national public holidays unless the person agreed in advance to a call then.

AU opener

"Hi [first name], my name's [your given name], calling from [your employer's company or registered business name] [if calling for a client: on behalf of [client name]]. I'm calling to [purpose, for example: talk about how you handle [problem], and see if a short meeting would be useful]. Have you got two minutes?"

All four items from section 9(2) are in the first two sentences: given name, company, who the call is for, and the purpose. Section 9(2) applies "as soon as the call starts", so do not hold the purpose back until later in the call. Under section 9(3) it does not apply if the person hangs up before you can say it, or if you hang up within 5 seconds without speaking.

AU reason, question and booking

"We work with [type of business] who [problem]. How are you managing that at the moment?" [Listen, follow up.] "Would it be worth 20 minutes on [day] or [day] to go through what [a similar business] changed?"

AU contact details box

If the person asks, section 9(4) says you must give these immediately. Section 11 defines contact details as a name, an Australian number that takes calls during business hours where the recipient is, and at least one street, postal, email or web address. Fill in the box before the first dial:

• Employer: [company name], [Australian phone number], [address, email or web address].
• Client the call is for (if different): [client name], [Australian phone number], [address, email or web address].
• Complaints and enquiries: [name of person or team], [Australian phone number], [address, email or web address].

If the person asks you to end the call, or makes clear they do not want it to continue, section 13(1)(b) says the call must end there, without a second try. The detail on washing, hours and consent is in how to cold call in Australia.

Gatekeeper, voicemail and "not interested" lines

These work in both countries. In Australia the identification items still come first if the gatekeeper is the person who answers, because the call has started.

Gatekeeper

"Hi, it's [your name] from [company]. [AU: [if calling for a client: on behalf of [client],] I'm calling to [purpose].] I'm trying to reach whoever looks after [area]. Is that [name], or someone else?"

If they ask what it is about, tell them plainly. A receptionist who hears a clear reason is more likely to put you through than one who hears a dodge.

Voicemail

"Hi [first name], it's [your name] from [company] [AU: on behalf of [client], calling about [purpose]]. I wanted to ask about [one-line reason]. You can reach me on [the same number that shows on caller ID]. Again, that's [number]."

Leave the same number that shows on caller ID. In Australia, section 14 requires that number to let the person call back and find out who called and why, for at least 30 days.

"Not interested"

"Fair enough. Can I ask, is it that you have it covered, or that it isn't a priority right now?"

One question at most, and only in the UK. In Australia a clear "not interested" is likely to count as the person indicating they do not want the call to continue (section 13(1)(b)), so end it. In the UK, if they say it again, thank them and go.

"Don't call me again"

"Understood, I'll make sure you're not called again. Sorry for the interruption, and thanks for your time."

In the UK, once a subscriber tells you not to call a line, regulation 21(1)(a) bars further unsolicited marketing calls to it. Add the number to your do-not-call list before the next dial. TPS and CTPS suppression explained covers how that list sits next to the registers. In Australia, end the call under section 13(1)(b) and record the request the same way.

Other objections

"Send me something." "Happy to. So it's useful, which part matters more to you, [option A] or [option B]?"

"Who gave you my number?" "It came from [source, for example your website or a named directory]." Always know the source.

"Are you recording this?" Answer truthfully. The rules on call recording are in our guide to call recording rules for UK sales calls.

Step 9 of how to cold call in the UK has prepared answers for the five objections that come up most.

Cold calling tips and techniques that hold up

• Identification first. Name and company in the first sentence, and in Australia the purpose too. It is the law, and it also tells the person what kind of call this is.
• One reason, specific to them. A new site or a new hire beats a line about your product.
• One question, then listen. The question is there to start a conversation about their situation.
• Ask for a meeting, not a sale. Give two time slots so the answer is a choice.
• Say it aloud until it sounds like you. Read the script out a few times and cut any line you would not say to a colleague.
• Keep the sheet to one page. The opener, the branches and the contact details box, and nothing you would need to scroll for.

I write scripts as a starting point. After twenty or thirty calls the words drift towards what the caller would say anyway, and that is usually an improvement, as long as the identification lines stay word for word.

The 3-3-3 rule

The 3-3-3 rule is sales folklore, not law, and published definitions disagree. A Linkbreakers help article describes it as making 3 phone calls, sending 3 emails and doing 3 social touches over 3 weeks. HelloExit describes three touches across three channels over roughly three business days, and says it is "not a legal rule, valuation method, or universal sales standard". Small Business Trends describes three calls, three follow-up emails and three meetings with a lead. The definitions disagree on the period, three weeks or three days, and on what counts as a touch, so the phrase means whatever the team using it says it means.

If your team adopts a 3-3-3 cadence, the legal rules apply to every touch in it. In the UK each call is screened against the TPS and CTPS, and in Australia each number is washed within the last 30 days. A "don't call me again" on the first call ends the call part of the sequence. If the people you call are consumers, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lists "making persistent and unwanted solicitations" among practices that are always unfair (Schedule 20, paragraph 28), where a consumer is an individual acting wholly or mainly outside their business (section 225(3)).

The 80/20 rule

The 80/20 rule comes from the Pareto principle, named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that about 80% of the land in Italy was owned by about 20% of the people. It is a rule of thumb, not a law. In cold calling it gets used in two ways.

The first is about who you call. Sales writers commonly apply it to accounts: a minority of customers or prospects produce most of the revenue, so spend calling time on the segment most like your best customers.

The second turns it into a talk ratio: listen 80% of the time and talk 20%. Gong's own call data does not back that split. Its 2025 analysis of 326,000 sales calls of at least 10 minutes found an average of 60% talking to 40% listening, with won deals at 57% talk time and lost deals at 62%. Those were calls of 10 minutes or more, which most cold calls are not. More on what the numbers do and do not show is in our cold calling statistics.

Cold call vs warm call

In sales usage a warm call goes to someone you or your company have had some prior contact with, and a cold call goes to someone with no prior connection. Close's sales glossary gives examples of prior contact: they showed interest, were referred by a mutual contact, subscribed to a newsletter, or attended a webinar.

The law draws the line somewhere else. In the UK the TPS and CTPS ban in regulation 21(1) applies to unsolicited marketing calls, so the question is whether the person asked for the call, not whether you have met. A warm call to someone who has not asked for it is still unsolicited. A TPS-registered person can tell you they do not object to your calls, and can withdraw that at any time (regulation 21(4) and (5)). There is no soft opt-in for calls: an existing customer on the TPS is not fair game because they bought from you once. The detail is in calling a TPS number with consent.

In Australia the register ban does not apply if the account holder or their nominee consented to the call (Do Not Call Register Act 2006, section 11(2)). Consent can be express, or reasonably inferred from conduct and the business relationship (Schedule 2, clause 2). It cannot be inferred just because the number was published (clause 4), and express consent with no stated period lapses after 3 months (clause 3). So a "warm" lead with no consent record still needs the wash.

Either way, the opener does not change. Identification rules apply to warm and cold calls alike.

What to do next

• Check a number on the free TPS check before you try the UK script.
• Read how to cold call in the UK or how to cold call in Australia for the full process around the script.
• Put the script into a wider plan with the go-to-market strategy template.
• For Australian lists, see our DNCR plans.