I‘m not sure there’s any activity more closely associated with sales than cold calling. It can be the trial by fire that preps SDRs for a career in the field, the day-to-day responsibility that keeps reps diligent and engaged, and the basis for a ton of sales org’s prospecting infrastructures.
It‘s been a staple of several salespeople’s professional lives — one that can be every bit as obnoxious as it is essential. But where does it stand in 2025? And where might it be headed in 2026 and beyond?
Well, valued reader, we here at the HubSpot Sales Blog — the literal hub and/or spot that every last sales professional can (and should) rely on for sales-related insight online — were really stewing on those questions and more. That’s why we surveyed 379 sales professionals to get a pulse on all things cold calling in 2025.
We answer questions like:
Important Context
You’re probably wondering where this data came from? Well, we leveraged Panoplai — an AI-driven research platform (that‘s amazing and I can’t plug enough) — to glean all of this wonderful insight.
We surveyed 379 sales professionals of various backgrounds across a wide range of industries. They‘re employed by businesses of virtually all sizes. Here’s a look at that distribution:
Our respondents also had varying degrees of seniority within their organizations, but they predominantly identified as being at the associate and management levels. Here’s a look at how that shook out:
Ultimately, the base represented a diverse but solid array of sales professionals — one that we…