Cold calling is changing shape. In France, the Cazenave law locks down cold calls to consumers starting August 11, 2026. In Switzerland, the rules are different but just as consequential for your prospecting strategy. For B2B sales teams, now is the right time to build sales prospecting that no longer depends solely on the phone.
In this article, we explain what's changing, what it concretely means for your sales development, and which alternatives let you keep generating qualified leads without navigating a gray area.
What's changing in France with the Cazenave law
Starting August 11, 2026, cold calling to consumers is banned by default. Two exceptions remain. A company can call its existing customers about complementary offers. It can also call someone who has given explicit, verifiable consent.
Bloctel disappears. Standard contact databases become unusable for cold calling, unless you document, for each contact, the date and exact nature of the consent collected. Companies that relied on large prospecting databases need to overhaul their prospecting method entirely. Penalties are severe: fines of up to the equivalent of CHF 375,000 for companies, and nullity of any contract signed following non-consented solicitation.
This law covers B2C. B2B retains more room to maneuver, but the underlying trend is clear: B2B prospecting also needs to become more qualitative and more consent-based.
And what about Switzerland?
Switzerland doesn't have a Cazenave law, but it already regulates cold calling fairly firmly through the Unfair Competition Act (UCA). Article 3, paragraph 1, letter u UCA prohibits calling someone registered with an asterisk in the phone directory, unless prior consent exists or there's an existing business relationship. Ignoring this registration constitutes unfair competition, with possible criminal penalties.
In practice, for a prospecting company based in Switzerland, that means systematically checking each number's directory status before launching a prospecting campaign, keeping a clear record of consents obtained, and never relying on purchased lists with no traceability. This is especially true in French-speaking and German-speaking cantons, where sensitivity to cold calling remains high.
The impact for Swiss companies active in B2B is twofold. On one hand, regulatory pressure pushes companies to professionalize contact collection and document every interaction. On the other, it creates a real opportunity: companies that build a clean, consent-based prospecting database gain an edge over those still buying unqualified lists. Over time, the Swiss market should follow the same trajectory as France, with even stricter rules on B2C cold calling. B2B, for now, remains less constrained, as long as it stays factual, relevant and respectful of expressed refusals.
Alternatives to cold prospecting that actually work
Inbound and targeted content
Publishing useful content (articles, guides, case studies) attracts prospects who take the step of leaving their own contact details. A lead who downloads a guide and checks a contact box automatically becomes a healthy base for your lead generation, with no regulatory gray area.
LinkedIn prospecting in B2B
LinkedIn prospecting has established itself as the go-to B2B channel. Posting regularly, commenting on target accounts' posts, joining the right professional groups: all of this builds credibility even before the first direct message. A prospect who has already interacted with your content receives a personalized message as a logical next step, not as an intrusion.
Consented prospecting email
A well-built prospecting email remains one of the most cost-effective levers of multichannel prospecting. What matters isn't volume but relevance: each step of the sequence should provide useful information, tailored to the prospect's actual behavior (pages visited, content viewed).
Customer referrals
This is often the most effective method, and the best protected legally. A prospect who arrives through an introduction from a satisfied customer starts the conversation with a favorable bias. Identifying your promoter customers and requesting targeted introductions remains an underused lever in most prospecting strategies.
Building a compliant multichannel prospecting strategy
To stay effective without depending on cold outreach, a good prospecting technique combines several channels rather than just one. In practice, that means:
A CRM that centralizes each contact's consent status, with automatic timestamping. Precise targeting based on a real Ideal Customer Profile rather than lists bought in bulk. A sequence that alternates email, LinkedIn and calls only for qualified or consented contacts. Rigorous tracking of replies to turn every sign of interest into a qualified prospect, then into a meeting.
This approach, slower to set up but far more sustainable, is what's now replacing sheer cold-call volume.
FAQ
Does B2B cold calling fall under these new rules too?
The laws discussed here mainly target B2C. B2B remains less regulated, but the general trend pushes toward more transparency and traceability, even between companies.
Can you still buy prospect lists in Switzerland?
It's risky if the list doesn't trace the origin of consent or each contact's directory status. It's better to build your own database from qualified, documented sources.
Which alternative should you prioritize first if you still rely heavily on cold calling?
LinkedIn prospecting combined with consented email sequences is generally the fastest transition to set up, before rebuilding a clean contact database over the long term.
At Undersales, a B2B sales prospecting agency in Switzerland, we help companies build compliant, sustainable multichannel prospecting strategies. Want to review your approach? Contact our team.
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