filler words improvement for cold calls is one of the highest-ROI investments a sales professional can make. Research consistently shows that how you say something in a sales call matters as much as what you say.
Knowing how to improve filler words is one thing — doing it consistently is another. Most professionals are aware of their weaknesses in general terms but cannot pinpoint the specific moments where filler words breaks down. Without objective analysis of actual conversations, improvement remains based on guesswork and memory, which are unreliable.
SpeakFlare addresses filler words improvement for cold calls by automatically analyzing every Zoom and Google Meet recording. The platform transcribes each word using AssemblyAI with word-level timestamps, identifies each speaker, and runs AI analysis across four categories: grammar errors, filler words, clarity issues, and presentation effectiveness. You receive a detailed report within minutes of your meeting ending.
Progress tracking is where the real improvement happens. After your first few analyzed meetings, SpeakFlare shows your baseline metrics: filler word count per minute, grammar error frequency, clarity score, and overall communication effectiveness. Each subsequent meeting updates these metrics, creating trend lines that show concrete improvement in filler words. Most users see measurable progress within two to three weeks of consistent use.
How to measure filler words
The core metric is your filler word rate — the share of your spoken words that are fillers:
Worked example: a transcript of 1,420 words containing 34 fillers:
The second metric, fillers per minute, normalizes for how long you spoke:
What counts as high?
| Filler rate | Fillers / min | How it reads |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1% | 0–1 | Polished, confident |
| 1–2% | 1–3 | Natural, professional |
| 2–4% | 3–6 | Noticeable to listeners |
| Over 4% | 6+ | Distracting, reads as uncertain |
Typical filler words
um · uh · like · you know · basically · literally · actually · right · so · well
To improve filler words effectively, track three consecutive meetings and focus on the pattern, not individual instances. SpeakFlare's trend view shows which specific aspects of filler words are improving and which need more attention.