The Cold Calling Trait Measures Willingness to Prospect Before You Hire
The cold calling trait is one of six dimensions in the Expressive and Social quadrant of the Behavioral Assessments. It tells you whether a candidate will keep working a list of strangers once the first months have gone by. A proven sales record does not answer that question.
What Does the Cold Calling Trait Measure?
The cold calling trait measures the willingness to make outbound unsolicited calls with the intention of marketing or selling to people who will most likely be resistant. It also covers business calls made in the ordinary course of work.
It does not measure how well or how successfully somebody makes those calls.
Why cold calling problems are invisible in interviews
Interviews ask candidates to describe outbound calling rather than do it. Most sales candidates say they are comfortable on the phone, and in that setting most of them believe it. Behavioral assessments measure the pattern across many items, where reluctance is far harder to mask than in a single conversation.
What the Cold Calling trait helps you evaluate before you hire
Two calling scores sit side by side on the same chart. This one covers unsolicited calls to strangers who are likely to resist, while Calling Comfort covers outbound phone calls in general. A candidate can be comfortable on the phone and still avoid the cold list entirely.
Why the Cold Calling Trait Matters in Hiring
This is the trait where a strong resume is the least reliable evidence you have — experience does not substitute for willingness, and the gap only opens once the first months are behind the hire.
Experience vs. Willingness
Candidates with a proven sales record still struggle in positions that require cold calling most of the day. Experience does not compensate for a low score.
Willingness, Not Skill
This trait does not measure how well a candidate cold calls. It measures willingness, which the assessment identifies as the single major hurdle to telemarketing success.
Strength and Blind Spot
Very high scorers open new business without hesitation. A strength at that level can carry a weakness, such as limited awareness of others or little empathy.
How low Cold Calling scores show up on the job
Low scores rarely show in the first months, because new hires push through unfamiliar tasks. The pattern appears once the initial energy fades and call volume drops.
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How the Cold Calling Trait Is Scored
The cold calling trait is scored from 0 to 100, and the three bands below summarize the picture. Because the trait matters only in proportion to the outbound calling a position requires, role benchmarks are essential for interpreting results accurately.
An IC profile does not report this trait at all. It appears on the SL Behavioral Assessment and Work Styles DISCovered.
Low — 0 to 39
Reluctant to phone strangers for marketing, and below 5 that reluctance turns severe. A proven sales record will not carry this past three months, though the assessment attaches no indicator of integrity or attitude problems to the range.
Medium — 40 to 60
Somewhat reluctant to make cold calls, which works where prospecting stays occasional. The reading falls short wherever the whole position runs on outbound calling, so compare it against your benchmark for the position before you decide either way.
High — 61 to 100
Little fear of making cold calls, and above 81 no fear at all. Usually makes a good sales prospector, though a strength this large can carry a weakness such as little awareness of others or very little empathy.
Cold Calling is one of six traits measured together in the Expressive and Social quadrant
Each trait in this quadrant shapes how candidates approach people they do not know, and when several read low together the combination sharpens the prediction considerably. The Expressive / Social Quadrant sets the reading beside Talking, Warm and Sociable, Calling Comfort and Impulsive, which together describe how a candidate approaches people they have never met.
Calling Comfort
Calling Comfort is the broader of the two, covering outbound calls in general. Read them together, since a candidate can clear one and fail the other.
Talking
Talking covers comfort expressing yourself out loud. The assessment names it closely related, so a reluctant caller who also reads low on Talking has no fallback.
Warm & Sociable
Warm and Sociable covers ease with strangers face to face. The assessment names it closely related too, and together they describe how a prospector opens relationships.
Confront People
Confront People covers facing difficult situations directly, and a resistant prospect is exactly that. The assessment lists it among the closely related traits for good reason.
Hunter
Hunter scores understanding of how to win new business, while this trait scores whether the candidate will actually dial. Knowing the method never replaces the willingness.
Expressive / Social Quadrant
Cold Calling is one of six readings that build the Expressive and Social quadrant, the profile the assessment matches to promoting, sales presenting and relationship selling.
Best Practice: Assessment results support your hiring decisions, they do not replace them. Always read the cold calling trait score alongside the full profile and your role benchmarks before drawing a conclusion.
How to Interpret Cold Calling Results
The share of a position that is genuinely outbound determines how much weight this score carries. An IC profile does not report the trait at all.
What to Do Based on Your Cold Calling Score
Rule out prospecting positions regardless of what the resume says. This score carries no integrity or attitude concern, so consider account management or service roles instead.
Confirm how much of the position is outbound. Where prospecting drives the role, expect the problem to appear once the first three months have already passed.
Some reluctance remains at this level. Confirm the weekly share of outbound work, and review Calling Comfort before assigning any position built around constant outbound dialing.
A good prospecting profile. Confirm the wider sales picture supports it, and add the Telemarketing Test when the role is genuinely telemarketing rather than general sales.
Assessment results support decisions, they do not make them. Always interpret scores in context: the specific role, interview performance, references, and your organization's culture.
The Cold Calling Trait Matters for Every Role You Hire
Outbound calling varies enormously between positions, so benchmarks define what a strong or weak score means for each role. Review results alongside job-specific benchmarks.
Roles where Cold Calling is especially critical
| Role | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Telemarketing Representative | Telemarketing applicants are the one group with a dedicated companion test, advised alongside this assessment because it surfaces contradictions that are worth investigating in more detail. |
| Sales Development | Prospecting is the entire role here, and the upper ranges describe good sales prospectors, meaning exactly the candidates who bring genuinely new customers to a business. |
| Business Development | New business means approaching people who never asked for the call, so a reluctant caller returns instead to the accounts that are already on the books. |
| Field Sales Representative | Even where most selling happens in person, calls still build the pipeline behind it, so a low score limits how far a territory can ever grow. |
Relevant for all role types
Sales Development Representative
Account Manager
Telemarketing Representative
Inside Sales Representative
Business Development Manager
Field Sales Representative
Fundraising Officer
Collections Specialist
If any of these situations sound familiar, this assessment is for you
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Frequently Asked Questions
The cold calling trait measures the willingness to make outbound unsolicited calls with the intention of marketing or selling to people who will most likely be resistant. It also covers willingness to make business calls generally, and it is about readiness to do it rather than skill at it.
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