Christian PolkYour Friendly Neighborhood Sales Trainer

The Best cold call opener of "All Time"

11 Apr 2026 · 0 min

Watch on YouTube

0:24

In this YouTube segment, Christian Polk reviews a cold‑call demonstration between Owen (the caller) and Donnie (the prospect). Owen opens with a playful “good news or bad news” line, immediately revealing it’s a cold call and framing it as well‑researched. Donnie responds positively, allowing Owen to continue. Polk praises the opener as a strong pattern‑interrupt: the unexpected humor (a dad‑joke style question) catches the prospect off‑guard, triggers laughter, and releases dopamine, which lowers defenses. He explains why dad jokes work and how this technique can increase receptivity. Polk then critiques the next step, noting that instead of simply asking for 30 seconds to pitch, Owen should have asked a probing question about the prospect’s problem to gain leverage. He concludes that the opener is solid, and with a better structured follow‑up (problem‑focused question) the caller could secure many appointments.

Hello?
Hey, is this Donnie?
Yeah.
Donnie, this is Owen. You want the good news or the bad news?
Who is it?
This is Owen. Owen, do you want the good news or the bad news, Mr. Donnie? I want the bad news. Bad news, Donnie. This is a cold call. Good news is this is a well-researched cold call. And if you give me 30 seconds, I can explain how I can help you.
You know what? I like your style. Go right ahead.
Perfect. So it's pretty simple.
We build AI receptionists. What he did really well, pattern interrupt. They weren't expecting that and it caused the prospect to laugh. So when somebody laughs, it just releases dopamine in their brain. So at the beginning of a lot of my sales calls, like I'll do dad jokes and dad jokes work so well because it just lowers people's guard. Like that was just quintessential dad joke. Now where you could have done better instead of like, hey, just give me 30 seconds to let me pitch you, actually ask a question that delves into the problem. It'll just give you more leverage. But overall, really, really solid pattern interrupt. And to follow it up with the better structure, you'll get a lot of appointments from cold calling.