The “Cold Open” Method: Skip Small Talk, Build Rapport Instantly

I do 30+ Zoom calls a week and never waste time talking about the weather. Instead, I start them with a “cold open” inspired by The Office. It saves me hours of dull conversations.

The 2-Minute Hack: Here’s how to “cold open” your next call

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 1: 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡

Spend 3 minutes researching the person in advance of the call. Check LinkedIn, Twitter, their company website, their blog etc. In that research, create one genuine observation to share that will probably trigger a positive reaction from the person.

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 2: 𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐇

LAUNCH the moment the call starts and assume the other person can hear you (true 95% of the time). Do not say hello or ask how they are doing. Act as if you have been talking for 30 minutes and simply continuing a conversation and pre-existing relationship.

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧:

• 50% instantly intuit what’s happening, and match the energy

• 30% are confused for about 30 seconds but catch on

• 20% will think you are deranged. But they would have thought that anyway and these are generally negative, low-openness people

𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

When you cold open with a question, you put people on their toes. They don’t know you and they don’t know what to share. Instead, if you take up the first 60-90 seconds of airtime with a colorful conversational tidbit, it opens up positive emotions that enable candid conversations for the duration of the call.

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥-𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬:

For a Sales Call:

“I was just looking at your LinkedIn and noticed you transitioned from corporate finance to leading a startup. That’s exactly the journey our most successful customers take—they bring that financial discipline but apply it to growth. Speaking of which, I wanted to talk about…”

For an Investor Meeting:

“I saw your recent investment in [Company]. Their approach to [specific feature] is fascinating. We’ve taken a completely different angle on solving the same problem by…”

For a Partner Call:

“Just before jumping on, I was reading your company’s case study with [Client]. The ROI numbers you achieved there are impressive. It reminded me of what we’ve been doing with…”

For a Networking Call:

“I noticed we both follow [Industry Leader] and commented on their post about [Topic]. Their take on [Industry Trend] is interesting, but I think they missed something critical that could affect how we all approach…”

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬:

• “I noticed you know my friend Candace. Here’s a project we worked on together:”

• “I love that you worked for Candace’s company. I use the product daily, here’s how they changed my life:”

• “I’m so glad Candace intro’d us. She told me an epic story about you:”

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞:

𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺, 𝘐 𝘋𝘈𝘙𝘌 𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 5 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬.

𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫:

𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘉𝘚𝘖𝘓𝘜𝘛𝘌𝘓𝘠 𝘌𝘗𝘐𝘊 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 😂

These are hands down the best calls I’m ever on.

I hope you’ve found this hack helpful.

And remember: 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 Z𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬

See you next week.

Lets doola it ⚡

Arjun