How to stop cold calls and sales emails at work

A UK guide for professionals. Last reviewed October 2026.

Most unwanted sales calls and emails to professionals start with a sales database. This guide explains where callers find your details, what UK law lets you do about it, and the steps that make the biggest difference.

Why you get so many cold calls at work

Companies such as ZoomInfo, Apollo, Lusha, Cognism and RocketReach build profiles of working professionals from websites, sign-ups and other sources, then sell access to sales teams. A sales representative can search by job title, company or location and see a direct phone number and email address within seconds.

Your details can stay in these databases long after you change roles, which is why calls sometimes ask for you by an old job title or reach a number you no longer use for work.

Does the Telephone Preference Service stop business calls?

Partly. Organisations must not make live sales calls to numbers registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS) unless the subscriber has agreed to receive them. Sole traders and some partnerships register with the TPS. Companies and other organisations register their numbers with the CTPS.

There are three limits. For a work phone, the subscriber is normally your employer, so registering the number with the CTPS is a decision for your organisation. The registers cover live calls, not email. And they do not remove your details from the sales databases that callers use in the first place.

Your right to object to direct marketing

Your name, work email address and direct phone number are personal data, even when they relate to your job. Under UK data protection law you have an absolute right to object to their use for direct marketing: once you object, a company must stop. In some circumstances you can also ask for the data to be erased.

These rights apply to the companies that sell your details as well as to the companies that contact you. That makes the sales databases the most effective place to act, because one request can stop your details reaching many sales teams.

Steps you can take today

  1. Ask callers and senders to stop. Tell the company you object to direct marketing and ask it to remove you from its marketing lists.
  2. Ask your organisation whether its phone numbers are registered with the CTPS. If you are a sole trader, register your number with the TPS.
  3. Contact the sales databases. Send each one an objection to direct marketing and a request for erasure, keep a record of what you sent, and follow up if there is no reply within one calendar month.
  4. Check again from time to time. Details are often re-added from new sources.

Calls to your own mobile? See how to stop recruiters and salespeople calling your mobile. Wondering where callers found you? Read how ZoomInfo gets your information.

Let ColdStop Pro handle the sales databases

Step 3 takes the most time. ColdStop Pro sends formal requests to more than 25 sales databases on your behalf, follows up with those that do not respond, and reports every outcome to you. Our subscription plans re-check every quarter. Plans start at £29.

We cannot guarantee a reduction in the calls or emails you receive, because some come from lists we cannot reach. Removing your details at the source deals with the most common route by which sales teams find you. See our plans or read how to remove your details from sales databases.

This guide is general information, not legal advice.