Rethinking Cold Call Sales Practice with AI featuring Dr. Stefanie Boyer 

Cold calling in a hyper-competitive market isn’t about running through a rigid script—it’s about pattern interrupts, building rapport, and mastering sales conversations under pressure. 

In a recent podcast episode, Andrew Elsener, Co-Founder of Spot, sat down with Dr. Stefanie Boyer, a Professor at Bryant University and Co-Founder of RNMKRS, to unpack modern sales strategies and AI-driven training. 

Here are the key takeaways from their conversation. 

Lead with a “Pattern Interrupt” 

Both Elsener and Dr. Boyer love cold calling. They discussed how most prospects default to an automatic “not interested” when they hear a standard pitch. And gave the advice below to break through: 

• Interrupt the autopilot response: Swap standard questions for unexpected ones that make prospects pause and think. 
• Aim for 7 seconds of honesty: Focus on buying seven seconds of genuine engagement rather than closing a deal instantly. 

Eliminate Practice on Live Prospects 

Dr. Boyer also speaks on how sales reps often learn through live calls, which risks valuable pipeline prospects and reinforces bad habits. Building true agility in discovery and objection handling requires dedicated practice before stepping into high-stakes environments. 

Scale Training with AI Practice 

To give reps real-time practice at scale, Dr. Boyer co-founded RNMKRS—an AI-driven sales training platform. 

• The 30-Practice Threshold: Analytics across more than one million AI role-plays show reps hit a massive skill breakthrough at 30 practice sessions, with a secondary surge toward mastery at 50 sessions. 
• Immediate Feedback: Stopping reps’ mid-conversation to correct a mistake prevents bad habits from hardening. 
• The Core 5 Framework: High-performing sales programs evaluate reps across the five different stages of Opening, Discovery (accounting for 45% of call value), Presentation, Objection Handling, and Closing. 

The Takeaway 

This conversation covers how winning sales teams’ pair creative outreach with relentless, deliberate practice. Replacing static scripts with pattern interrupts and utilizing AI training tools can turn high-pressure sales calls into predictable wins. 

About Dr. Boyer 

Dr. Stefanie Boyer, Professor of Marketing at Bryant University, is the Co-Founder of RNMKRS, an AI platform for training and assessing sales talent. She runs the Bryant University Sales Institute and is the Executive Director of the Northeast Intercollegiate Sales Competition, linking organizations with top talent. Stefanie is on the Forbes Next 1,000 Entrepreneurs list, a TedX speaker, and regularly takes the stage as a Keynote speaker. Dr. Boyer has been named a Poets & Quants Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professor and is the recipient of the prestigious American Marketing Association Sales Educator of the Year Award.

Stefanie coauthored The Little Black Book of Social Media, Strategies to Ignite Your Business, Influencer, and Professional Brand, 9 Ways to Develop Highly Effective Salespeople, and authored Sales & Marketing by Sage Business, and 6 Sales Skills Everyone Should Know through a partnership with Audible, Amazon and The Great Courses. She brings unique and valuable experience to the classroom and to organizations that want to build their client base.

For more information, visit https://www.bryant.edu/academics/faculty/boyer-stefanie