1 min lesson
Talk-time discipline
Tell someone how to act on this idea. "Aim to let the prospect talk roughly 80% of the call."
Step 1 of 3
Talk-time disciplinethe 80/20 rule
The biggest tell of a green rep is talking too much. Aim to let the prospect talk roughly 80% of the call. Your 20% is sharp questions and brief, concrete value. When you finish a question, stop talking and let the silence do its work.
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Advanced table
Reference table
- Phase
- Opener
- Who talks more
- You (briefly)
- Phase
- Hook
- Who talks more
- You (briefly)
- Phase
- Discovery
- Who talks more
- Them, heavily
- Phase
- Objections
- Who talks more
- Them, then you
- Phase
- Meeting ask
- Who talks more
- You
| Phase | Who talks more |
|---|---|
| Opener | You (briefly) |
| Hook | You (briefly) |
| Discovery | Them, heavily |
| Objections | Them, then you |
| Meeting ask | You |
Across a 5-minute call, your voice should be the minority for everything except the open, hook and close.
Tone carries the call
Engineers read pacing and tone as a signal of whether you know what you're talking about. A rushed, sing-song script reads as a vendor reading off a card. Calm, curious and unhurried reads as a peer. Slow down by about 20% from your nervous default and you'll already sound more credible.
A generic "Hi, this is Alex from Cursor, how are you today?" opener tells the buyer you could be calling anyone. Have a one-line reason for calling that only makes sense for this person: their team's recent growth, an observed tooling choice or the fact that engineers there already use Cursor. Specificity is the whole game in the first ten seconds.
QRoughly what share of a good discovery-heavy cold call should the prospect be talking?