Arnaud Renoux

Co-founder @Scalelist

Co-Founder

All infos are just one click away: www.thescalelab.com

The Scalelab is a Lead Acquisition Agency and Consulting firm helping companies to make the first best impressions in front of their prospects by using cold email and cold LinkedIn messages.

🚀 Interested?

Only 1/3 of sales reps still cold call to build their sales pipeline.
I understand why.

- Cold call is uncomfortable. 
- You can’t edit your words. 
- You can’t hide behind an inbox or a social media platform

It’s just you and the prospect trying to start a real conversation

When I was doing 150 dials a day, I improved faster in 3 months than in 1 year sending cold emails with any automation.

Also,

After constantly hearing the same objections, 

- You start recognizing patterns. 
- You stop taking rejection personally 
- You start testing approaches

Some works; Others don’t

You just adapt.

Cold call is a real life exercise. You try, you learn, you adapt.
Cold calling isn’t magic.

It’s exposure.

And because most reps avoid that discomfort, the few who lean into it build a real edge.

Not because they’re better.

Because they’re willing to stay uncomfortable longer.

Help B2B Sales teams find the best email addresses and mobile numbers worldwide.

3 days ago, someone sent this to our support team: “How do I cancel my free trial m*ther f*cker” (yeah… 2026 is intense already 😅 )

Chris from our team replied right away.

He said two things clearly:
- don’t speak to our team like that,
- and your account will not be charged at the end of the trial unless you upgrade.

(the prospect didn’t even take 1.5 sec to read what they were signing up for lol)

A bit later, the person apologized. He said he thought it was an AI chat.

That part almost makes it worse.

People tend to forget that they are humans behind the tools/AI we used.

If you talk trash to your LLM in your corner. That’s your problem.

But they are obviously people behind the customer support of a data company like Scalelist.

Be respectful to support teams. They exist to “support” you.

I’d rather lose customers than teach my team that disrespect is part of the job.

Next time you think: “I don’t have time to cold call”
I had a 45 min after lunch today (Friday) 
Made 11 calls, booked 2 meetings.

lol,

Maybe I got a bit lucky,
But,

It just shows that there’s no rule,

I call and that’s it.

- I get great mobile numbers in APAC (but not only) using Scalelist
- I call on WhatsApp (free)
- I grow my pipeline 1 day after another.

Have a good weekend, I’m off

Want 25–35% pickup rates on cold calls in APAC?

Do this:

- Stop calling like everyone else.
- Call prospects on WhatsApp.

Get more people to pick up.

That’s it.

In APAC, many prospects are simply easier to reach on WhatsApp than through standard calling routes.

So no, cold calling is not dead.

You’re just calling on the wrong channel.

PS: 25-35% pickup rates isn’t a random number, this is what I get when doing cold call.

The first 5 sec of a cold call decide whether the chat continues or dies.
Since 2015, I’ve opened every cold call with the same line.
(And yes — it still works in March 2026.) 👇 


Script:

- Prospect: “Allo?”
- Me: “John?” (or whatever your prospect’s first name is)
- Prospect: “Yes.”
- Me: “This is Arnaud from Scalelist, how are you doing?”

That’s it. Simple. Human. Natural.

From there, the replies are almost always one of these:

- “Arnaud from where?”
- “Good, and you?”
- “What is this regarding?”
- “Scale—what?”
- “Is this a cold call?”

And so on…

The secret? Repetition. You don’t get better at handling these without hearing them again and again. (I’ll break that down in another post.)

But if you want to boost your results right now:

1- Get mobile numbers from Scalelist.
2- Call on WhatsApp. People pick up more often there.
3- Smile. (Yes, they hear it in your voice.)
4- Be confident.
5- If they hang up, keep smiling. Then dial again.

Cold calling isn’t dead.

It just requires consistency, confidence, and the right opener.

PS: Show you an example of how I use that script into the video below 👇

I built a Cold Calling Skills Pack for Claude.

Inside, you’ll find:

- absolutely nothing
- because Claude is not picking up the phone
- and because cold calling still works better when an actual human does it

If you’ve been saying “cold calling is dead” but you’re not fully sure you believe yourself,

Tomorrow, I’m hosting a webinar with my friend Tomas Blatak from Leadspicker to talk about:

- what still works on cold calls
- what kills a call in 5 seconds
- how to sound human
- how to handle objections better
- how to get more meetings booked
- and why cold calling is not dead, just badly done by most people

If you want the “skills”:

1) Connect with me
2) Comment “SKILLS”
3) Or just show up to the webinar like a normal person

See you tomorrow.

PS: The link to attend the webinar is in the comments. 🙂

Before blaming the sales rep, check if you don’t have a “this phone number belongs to a guy who left the company 14 months ago” problem.

Because some teams really look at a dead pipeline and think:

“Maybe Josh needs more energy.”

No.

Maybe Josh is calling a number that now belongs to a dentist in Kuala Lumpur.

The rep is doing the job:

- 100 calls a day.
- Sequences live.
- Follow-ups done.

Meanwhile the data was assembled by hope, outdated exports, and one provider having a spiritual connection with accuracy.

Then everyone acts surprised when conversion is bad.

Some sales problems are rep problems.

A lot of them are just:
- wrong person,
- wrong number,

You can’t out-perform garbage inputs.

PS: if you want great phone numbers with a worldwide coverage (with an APAC focus); Check out Scalelist

If you sell in APAC, you already know that cold calling is a big acquisition channel. Your mobile numbers coverage can’t suck. This is my thought after 11 years doing sales in APAC:

Prospect data is less structured more fragmented in APAC

Last week, we ran a simple test to compare Scalelist to others:

We took 100 CEOs in the Software Development industry with 51–200 employees located in every past of APAC

Our goal was to test our mobile coverage:

This is what we got:

- Scalelist — 95/100 
- SmartE — 91/100 
- Datagma — 81/100 
- Wiza — 74/100 
- Prospeo — 61/100 
- Firmable — 12/100 
- Forager — 8/100

This isn’t a “we’re the best” post.

Most providers are extremely strong in the US and Europe and in other specific countries

But APAC exposes gaps.

If this region is part of your pipeline, don’t rely on global averages.

PS: Check out Scalelist

Today at 12:07 pm, one of the biggest cold calling agencies in the world reached out. With their current APAC mobile data, their reps can't do 10 connects/day.

Their current setup:

- ~10 reps in the region (across APAC)
- Each rep does ~ 80 to 100 dials a day (~ 400 a week.) 
- And still, getting to 10 connects a day is a grind.

They target enterprise accounts in:
- finance,
- healthcare,
- manufacturing.

They already use:
- Lusha,
- ZoomInfo,
- Firmable,
etc... 

And yet, APAC is still a weak spot. That is the part many teams miss.
 
When connect rates are bad, people often blame effort.
Not enough calls. Not enough reps. Not enough volume.

But sometimes the issue is much simpler: the numbers are just not good enough for the region.

APAC is where that shows up fast.

A provider can look great on paper: 
- Strong in the US.
- Strong in Europe.
- Solid global average.

And still underperform badly in APAC.

Your reps feel that every day: In lower connect rates, wasted dials, and slower pipeline.

That is why we will start a test with this agency this week.

Also, it lines up with a benchmark we ran last week across APAC with:

100 CEOs in the Software Development (51–200 employees) in 6 to 7 APAC countries

Goal: test mobile number coverage.

Results:

- Scalelist — 95/100
- SmartE — 91/100
- Datagma — 81/100
- Wiza — 74/100
- Prospeo — 61/100
- Firmable — 12/100
- Forager — 8/100

This is not a “we’re the best” post.

Most providers are extremely strong in the US and Europe and in other specific countries

But APAC exposes gaps fast.

So if APAC matters for your outbound, do not buy based on global averages.

Test for the region you actually call.

PS: Check out Scalelist if you want to improve your mobile number coverage in APAC

That cold calling feeling when someone who has no idea who you are but decides after 90 sec that you're worth more of their time. 
It never gets old. 

I have been doing cold calling for 12 years. 

I don't cold call every day. Not even every month. 

But I picked up the phone last week and it was still there. 

Exactly the same feeling as day one. 

And I realized something. 

The people who are really good at this aren't just good at selling. 

They're addicted to that specific moment. 

When you hit a complete stranger with: 
- the right ton of voice 
- the right emotions 
- the right words 
- the right question 
- the right smile 

All of that in 90 sec; to get more of their time. 

That's the hit. 

That's what keeps you dialing. 

I know it keeps me coming back.

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Aiman Aslam

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Engagements

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