How to Win with iOS Call Screening
Tips to help outbound sellers craft better messages under Apple’s new update.
DEAR STAGE 2: I’m an outbound BDR and I book most of my meetings on the phone. A lot more of the numbers are cell phones right now and I’m trying to figure out how the new iOS update should change my approach. Any advice you can share? ~COLD CALLING IS ALIVE AND WELL
DEAR COLD CALLING IS ALIVE AND WELL: For those of you who don’t know the background here, Apple announced a new feature that will be released this fall as part of iOS 26: call screening. The functionality will follow this basic flow:
It’s off by default. Each user has to opt in and turn it on. It’s still TBD how many people will actually do that (personally, I’m all in on day one)
If a user decides to turn it on, callers will be asked to state their name and reason for calling.
Callers are not required to answer, and the call will go through after 30 seconds either way. If the caller did answer, a transcription of the message will show, allowing the user to answer or decline
What does this mean for sales? I called on Stage 2 LP and CEO of AltiSales, Tito Bohrt, to share his learnings after testing with beta users over the last few weeks. Tito has tested 100s of opening lines with Google Voice users over the past years and identified a few patterns that might help in this scenario as well. Read on for his top tips:.
Not answering the screener will kill you.
Tito advises, “Anyone who is turning this on will be using it to screen people. You have one sentence to catch their attention. If you call and don’t say why you’re calling, you’re connect rate is going to be abysmal.” Make the most of your preview intro…Craft a 5-Second Hook about THEM, Not a 30-Second Pitch about YOU!
Data point of one here, but I always read voicemail transcriptions even though I rarely answer my phone. This one sentence screen presents a whole new opportunity, so you'd better have that “reason for calling” right now. Your 30-second elevator pitch just got boiled down to <1 sentence, AND you have to think about how that hook will display on an iPhone screen. You’ve got one short sentence to win attention. Tito recommends:
Writing out a single, clear reason for calling that’s unique to this prospect, or a group of prospects.
Focusing on value or relevance to them, not your company.
Practicing! Say it out loud. Does it sound human or salesy?
Use Language That Screens Well
Remember, this is transcribed by AI, not a human. Avoid:
Jargon that might garble.
Complex names or product terms.
Fast talking.
Pro tip: Record yourself. Play back only the transcript (voice-to-text apps can help). If the message still makes sense without tone or nuance, you’re in good shape!
Prioritize Warm Connections
This feature rewards warmer outbound. I used to tell my team that voicemails were just one more way to create familiarity - this is the same. Think about ways you can build on existing messages and touchpoints. For example, you can reference:
A recent email thread
A mutual connection
A webinar or event they attended
These warm(er) reasons for calling mean you’re more likely to get through.
Putting it all together, here are a few tried and true examples from Tito. Picture Sam cold-calling Jenn:
❌ “Hi, this is Sam from Acme selling revenue management solutions.”
⚠️ “Sam calling with a quick idea on reducing your finance team’s end-of-month chaos.”
✅ “Jenn, how do you know Liz Christo? She’s a huge fan of our SDR as a Service…”
✅ “Jenn! Saw you’re attending BlackHat, got any time to grab coffee and talk about….”
✅ “Jenn! How’s the new role treating you? Thought I bring something to your attention…”
A final note on power dialing… generic outreach is likely over. This Apple update means you have to be prepared and know who you’re calling. Tito noted “Power dialing (1 line at a time) will still work, but parallel dialing (multiple lines) means you need to ‘voicemail drop’ your intro or have no intro at all which will hurt your connect rate.” With this in mind, a few companies (like AltiSales.io) allow SDRs to label their Outreach / SalesLoft phone numbers with their personal name. So if Liz from Stage 2 is calling, any prospect would see “Liz - Stage 2” on their phone as it rings… could this be the future? More verified callers, more transparent calling, and less high-volume generic pitches.
Some will view this as the end of cold calling, but I sneaky love this. Pretty darn sure it’s going to be harder to get connects, but the ones who do answer will be even more qualified than ever.
We’d love to hear from you as you kick off these experiments - we’re all learning together here.
Until next week!