🧊Ice Breaker
(Cold Call Openers)
(Cold Call Openers)
Prospect says: "How did you get this number?"
Stay confident, don't apologize. Use a creative opener to flip the energy.
Use openers like:"You're going to hate me, this is a cold call" or "Do you have 37 seconds for me to tell you about [Z]?" — Acknowledge with humor, then pivot to the hook immediately
Prospect says: "We have no budget for this."
Rep should empathize, normalize, add value, and re-engage.
Correct empathy phrases:"That makes total sense given your priorities right now."
Then pivot: add a success story or social proof, and re-engage with:"What impact would it have on your team if we could reduce your threat exposure without adding headcount?
Prospect says: "We already have antivirus, we're covered."
Classic reflex response. Rep should empathize, then educate: AV is reactive, Arctic Wolf is 24/7 proactive detection AND response.
Use a success story to show social proof."You're not the first IT leader to mention that — antivirus catches known threats. What we're seeing is that it's the unknown threats, the ones that don't trigger AV, that are costing companies the most.
Arctic Wolf monitors security events and triages them down to how many alerts per customer per day? (Hint: it's a number that'll make you feel better about your own inbox.)
Win: Less than 1 alert per customer per day. The full stat: Arctic Wolf analyzed 330 trillion raw observations and generated just 8.6 million alerts — that's 1 alert per 138 million observations.
The punchline for a prospect:"Most companies are drowning in 9+ alerts a day from their current tools. Our customers get less than one — and when they do get it, it actually means something." Crowd goes wild. Partial credit for "one" or "less than one."
Fill in the blank — and the crowd votes if it's accurate:"A prospect says 'send me some information.' That actually means ___________."
Prospect says: I don't take cold calls
Lead with empathy + a quick hook. The training notes that tone of voice sets the pace in the first 5–10 seconds — you want to be Confident, Powerful, Adaptable, Professional, Human. Reps should say something like:
"Totally fair — I promise to make these 30 seconds worth it. We just helped a company like yours reduce their security alert volume by X — can I share how in one sentence?"
Prospect says: "We just finished our budget cycle, nothing to spend until next fiscal."
Reps should frame around ROI and financial risk reduction.
Example:"A ransomware event can cost $60K–$100K without a retainer, versus $20K–$30K with Incident360."
Rep should ask:"Who in your organization would pay for incident response work, and from what budget?"
Prospect says: "We already work with [a competitor]. They do the same thing."
Response: Rep should NOT go on the defensive. Ask a curiosity question:"Totally makes sense — mind if I ask, when's your renewal with them?" (TKO window).
Then:"What do you like about them? What would you change if you could?
A prospect says: "Ransomware won't happen to us — we're too small to be a target." Drop ONE stat from Arctic Wolf's real-world data that politely destroys that sentence. Closest answer wins.
You're doing a cold call LIVE right now and the facilitator (Jae) is the prospect. Your opener is:
"Hi, did I catch you at a bad time?" — Tell me, what's wrong with this opener
Prospect says: What is this call about?" — Give a strong 30-second hook pitched at a Director of IT at Softchoice's mid-market client in healthcare.
Must reference: (1) a relevant industry pain, (2) a clear outcome, (3) an alternative close for a meeting.
Should say:"Use your research for a solid hook that gets their attention — this should be about your prospect or at the very least relevant to their world."
Reps get bonus points for mentioning alert fatigue or understaffed IT teams
Prospect says: "Your pricing is too high. The other guy is cheaper."
Win: Rep should challenge the comparison, not the price.
Key response: IR360 saves up to 70% versus emergency IR engagements. Arctic Wolf pricing includes "forensics, up to 30 hours of restoration, threat actor communication and negotiation."
Ask:"When you compare price, what exactly is included on their end vs. ours — apples to apples?
Prospect says: "We use Microsoft Defender, that's good enough for us."
Rep should acknowledge their investment, then redirect:"That's great — and most teams do. The challenge isn't the tool — it's that static or manually updated data quickly becomes outdated." Arctic Wolf continuously aggregates and deduplicates asset data.
The question is:"How confident are you there are no unknown or unmanaged assets in your environment?
Arctic Wolf has something called a "Security Operations Warranty" — and no, it's not a guarantee your laptop won't die. What does it actually cover, and what's the maximum dollar amount a customer can receive? Need Both to win.
Win: The Security Operations Warranty provides up to $3 million USD in financial coverage — at no extra cost — to qualifying customers. It covers:
You've called this prospect 6 times. They finally pick up and say: "Oh, you again." You now have one sentence to not get hung up on. What do you say?
Rep with the best/funniest answer that would ACTUALLY work wins. Crowd votes.
Crowd votes. Confident, Powerful, Adaptable, Professional, and Human — this moment calls for all five at once. Any rep who apologizes for calling loses the round automatically. Persistence + humor is the winning formula here
Prospect says: "You caught me in the middle of something" right after you open. What are your EXACT next 2 sentences?
Rep should say:"I completely understand — I'll be quick. We're seeing [pain relevant to their world] hit IT leaders hard right now. Worth 30 seconds?" — Then pivot immediately to a hook. Hard close right after pitch
Prospect says: "I'd need to get budget approval and that takes months — we don't have time for this."
Win: Redirect to urgency and ROI."I hear you — budget cycles can be tight.
Consider the ROI: the new model actually reduces financial risk. Instead of gambling on hours, you get predictable coverage for one full incident, which can save $40K–$70K compared to emergency engagements."
Then close:"Let's at least get the info in front of the right people — who else needs to be in that conversation?
"We have an MSSP already. They monitor everything 24/7."
Don't dismiss it — dig in."That's great. Can I ask — when something gets flagged, what happens next?
Who does the investigation, the remediation, the follow-through?"
Key differentiator: Arctic Wolf averages 1 alert per day with a 99.9% true positive rate vs. competitors sending 9 alerts per day.
Ask what their MSSP's alert volume looks like! Do they even know?
A prospect asks: "How is Arctic Wolf different from just hiring an internal security team?"
Founded 2012. 11,000+ customers. 1,000+ security personnel. 24/7 monitoring. Less than 1 alert per day. 330 trillion security events analyzed. Up to $3 million warranty. 1,000+ incident response engagements per year. 30+ insurance panels worldwide. On-call in under 5 minutes."
Any rep who says"we're really good" or"we have great support" without a number gets zero points and a gentle roast from the facilitator
You're on a cold call and it's going GREAT — then you accidentally say your competitor's name instead of Arctic Wolf. The prospect heard it. What do you do in the next 5 seconds?
Win: DO NOT try to pretend it didn't happen. The right move is to own it with confidence and humor:
Ha — sorry about that, long week already. What I meant to say is Arctic Wolf — and honestly, I'm glad I have your attention because that's exactly the comparison worth making."
Then pivot immediately to a differentiator. Training says your tone of voice sets the pace — stay adaptable and human even when things go sideways. Bonus points for anyone who turns the flub into a competitive selling point.
You've reached a CISO at a 300-employee retail company. They answer the phone. You have 10 seconds before they hang up. Give your entire cold open — hook, relevance, AND a trial close.
Rep must nail: Strong Opener → Hook → Value → Trial Close. Training says:"The first few seconds determine whether the prospect stays engaged or hangs up." Full example:
"[Name], my name is [X] from Arctic Wolf calling through Softchoice — I know you didn't expect my call. We're working with CISOs in retail right now who are getting hit with 9+ alerts a day and a team too stretched to respond. We cut that to 1. Worth 20 minutes to see how? How's Thursday or Friday?"
Prospect says: "Security is a cost center. I can't justify the spend to my board right now."
Reframe security as risk transfer, not cost. Reps should say:"Many customers use security or insurance budgets for this because our IR team is insurance-approved and the retainer helps to improve insurability."
Connect to board language: regulatory risk, breach cost, reputational damage.
Then:"Would it be helpful to give you the language to bring this to your board?
Prospect says: "We just signed a 3-year deal with our current provider 4 months ago. We're locked in."
Clarity of Intention play. Rep should say:"I'm not trying to rip anything out or sell you something right this second. What I'd love is 20 minutes to show you what we do differently — so when your renewal comes up, you have the full picture. Is that fair?" Then plant the seed and stay in touch. Ask about renewal window and set a 6-month follow-up.
Arctic Wolf was founded in what year, has how many customers, and is headquartered where? (All 3 correct for full points.)
Founded in 2012. 11,000+ customers. HQ in Eden Prairie, MN.
Also acceptable: 3,000 employees, 1,000+ security personnel, Market Leader in Security Operations.
No words allowed. Act out ONE of these cold call situations and your team has to guess which one:
(A) Leaving a voicemail nobody asked for.
(B) Trying to hard-close someone who clearly wants to hang up.
(C) Realizing mid-pitch you called the wrong person.
(D) A prospect who hasn't said a word in 45 seconds and you don't know if they're still there.
Team guesses the scenario. Full points for correct guess + funniest performance. Bonus points if the actor's performance is so accurate that it makes teammates cringe with recognition. Award style points at facilitator discretion.