The short answer
B2B cold calling is allowed in Germany, but only by phone and only with a reason. The Act against Unfair Competition requires a business's presumed consent before you may call it with an offer: concrete circumstances from which a material interest of that particular company in that particular offer can be inferred. A cold email to a company you have never sold to is not permitted, not even to info@.
That changes the order of the work. In many countries cold calling starts with a list and a script. In Germany it starts with the question of why this company may expect a call from you this week. This page walks that route in seven steps, from the list to measurement, with a call script you can actually use and the rules placed where they bite. The rules themselves, with sections and fines, are set out in cold outreach rules in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
What cold calling is, and what it is not in B2B
Cold calling is the first contact with a company that has no business relationship with you and did not ask to be contacted. Warm outreach is the opposite: the contact knows you, has sent an enquiry, filled in a form or was referred.
In B2B, cold calling is not a number from a directory and a pitch. It is the work of turning a company that fits your offer into a conversation partner with a reason. Anyone who translates the term as "a hundred calls a day" is not only working badly in Germany but at the edge of the law. Anyone who translates it as "twenty calls with a reason" has understood the point.
What is allowed: the rules in Germany
Two sections decide your channels. Checked on 11 September 2026; this is not legal advice.
Phone. Section 7(2) No. 1 UWG splits by recipient. A consumer needs to have given prior express consent. For "other market participants", meaning businesses, presumed consent is enough (UWG § 7). Case law requires concrete factual circumstances from which a material interest of the called company in exactly this offer can be inferred, for example because it continuously needs the goods or service. That the product might be useful is explicitly not enough. And once it is clear there is no interest, the presumption is used up.
Email. Section 7(2) No. 2 UWG treats advertising by electronic mail without prior express consent as an unacceptable nuisance. There is no exception for businesses. Section 7(3) allows email to existing customers only, under four cumulative conditions: address obtained in a sale, advertising for your own similar products, no objection, and a clear notice of the right to object at collection and on every use.
Post. Postal advertising to companies is permitted and is the least regulated channel.
What a breach costs runs through two routes. Regulatory fines under section 20 UWG reach €300,000 for advertising calls to consumers without consent, €50,000 for failing to document consents under section 7a, and €100,000 for the other offences (UWG § 20). In 2025 the Bundesnetzagentur received 39,842 written complaints about unlawful advertising calls, six percent more than the year before, and concluded 13 larger fine proceedings totalling more than €1.09 million (Bundesnetzagentur, in German). The second route touches B2B teams more often: a call without presumed consent and any cold email are unfair competition, which competitors and competition associations can pursue with a cease-and-desist letter.
Step 1: the list
In Germany the list is not a productivity tool but the first link in your justification. Presumed consent arises from the connection between what a company does and what you offer. A list that does not capture that connection produces calls you cannot defend.
Four columns most lists lack:
Why this company. The sector or activity from which it follows that it continuously needs your service. A construction firm continuously needs protective workwear. A thirty-person software company does not continuously need a forklift.
Why now. The trigger from step 2, with a date.
Who. The role that decides, and the role that works with it every day.
Channel. In Germany almost always "phone", and for existing customers also "email". Fill the column per row and nobody has to look it up per call.
How to get from a target profile to such a list, source by source, is in how to build a B2B lead list.
Step 2: the trigger
The trigger is what makes the call permissible in Germany and better everywhere else. It answers the question the person on the line has before they ask it: why are you calling me, of all people, today of all days?
A vacancy in the department that would use your product.
A new managing director or a change in the role that decides.
A new site, a move, an acquisition.
Annual accounts showing clearly more staff than the year before.
A visit from that company to your website.
A technology in use that your product fits or replaces.
A trigger is not a pretext. "I saw you have a nice website" is not one. "You have been looking for an inside sales rep for three weeks, and we supply the company data the new colleague can call from on day one" is one. In Bizzy, job postings, leadership changes, website visits and the technology stack sit on the company record as signals; for Germany the company data comes through Creditsafe rather than from the commercial register. The list from step 1 can then be sorted by trigger instead of alphabetically.
Step 3: the first fifteen seconds
The person you call decides in the first seconds whether to hang up. Three things need to have happened by then: they know who you are, they know why you are calling, and they have noticed you looked at their company.
What must not happen in those seconds: asking whether they have a moment (they never do), introducing your company in three sentences, and the word "quick". Give your name, your company, the trigger in one sentence, and then a question only they can answer.
Step 4: a call script you can actually use
A script is not a text to read out. It is the order in which you do four things, with one sentence per step that you put in your own words.
Step | What you do | Example |
|---|---|---|
1. Open | Name, company, trigger. No question about time. | "Good morning Ms Berger, Jan Weber from Bizzy. I am calling because you have just posted two inside sales positions." |
2. Connect | One sentence showing you understood the trigger, and a question about it. | "When two new people start, the question is usually which lists they call from on day one. How do you handle that today?" |
3. Offer | Only now one sentence about the product, tied to the answer. | "That is exactly what we supply: company lists with contacts and a trigger, so the new colleague does not spend two weeks researching first." |
4. Ask | A concrete request with a date, not "may I send you some information". | "Would Thursday at 10 work for twenty minutes, so I can show you what such a list looks like for your sector?" |
One note on step 4 that matters this much only in Germany: if the person wants material by email, obtain that consent explicitly in the call and record it. Section 7a UWG has required since October 2021 that consents are documented and retained. A line in the CRM with date and time is enough; "did not object" is not.
Step 5: objections
Most objections in the first minutes are not objections to the product but to the call. Three always come, and all three have an answer that is not a trick.
"We already have a supplier." Good, then you know the subject. Ask what the supplier covers for Germany and the neighbouring countries, and where the list last fell short. If nothing fell short, say thank you and end the call. The presumption is used up, and the next call to this company needs a new trigger.
"Send me something by email." Ask what exactly, and obtain the consent explicitly. Without it you may not send.
"No need." Ask once about the trigger: "Understood. So the two inside sales roles are already filled?" If yes, the call is over. If no, you have just found the need.
Step 6: follow-up
Follow-up in Germany means calling, not emailing. Without documented consent the email stays closed, and "we spoke on the phone" does not replace consent. What works: the second call with what has happened since the first (the role is filled, the new site has opened), a letter with a concrete example for the sector, and an invitation to a meeting over the channel the person named themselves.
For every contact, set when the next call comes and which trigger carries it. A contact without a next trigger does not belong in the follow-up queue but in watch mode.
Step 7: measurement
Do not count calls. Count conversations with the decision maker, meetings booked and meetings that take place. The number that reveals most in the German market is reachability: how many dial attempts does it take until the decision maker is on the line? If it is high, the list is the problem, not the script. The second number is the share of conversations where the trigger was right. Below half, step 2 is producing pretexts instead of triggers.
Ten cold calling tips, briefly
Only call when you can say the trigger in one sentence.
Sort the list by trigger, not by alphabet or revenue.
Never ask whether now is a good time. Say why you are calling.
One sentence about the product, and only after the first answer.
Ask for a meeting with a date, not for permission to send material.
Obtain email consent in the call and write it into the CRM with a date.
If there is no interest, end the call politely. The next call needs a new trigger.
Call in one-hour blocks with a finished list, not between two meetings.
Keep a "channel" column and a "last checked" column so the list does not age.
Measure reachability and meetings, not dial attempts.
Frequently asked questions
Is B2B cold calling allowed in Germany? By phone yes, when the company's presumed consent exists, meaning concrete circumstances from which a material interest in your offer follows. By email no, without prior express consent; there is no exception for businesses.
May I send a cold email to a company's info@ address? No. Section 7(2) No. 2 UWG has no exception for generic company addresses. Email advertising is allowed only with consent or to existing customers under the conditions of section 7(3).
What does presumed consent mean? That you may infer from concrete facts that the company is interested in your call, for example because it continuously needs your service. That the product might be useful is not enough. The trigger from step 2 is the practical form of that justification.
How many calls a day are realistic? Fewer than most targets assume. A salesperson with a prepared list and a trigger makes ten to fifteen dial attempts with complete notes in a focused hour. More calls without a trigger do not improve the numbers; they worsen reachability on the next attempt.
What does a breach cost? Fines under section 20 UWG of up to €300,000 for consumers, €50,000 for missing documentation under section 7a and €100,000 for the remaining cases. In B2B the more common route is a cease-and-desist letter from competitors and competition associations for unfair competition.
Read next: cold outreach rules in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, B2B cold calling in Europe and how to build a B2B lead list.
Photo: Neuer Zollhof office buildings in Düsseldorf MedienHafen with the Rheinturm, Heribert Pohl, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons