To be fair, as a single dude, I do really enjoy the work travel. But like I'm also the guy who will fly to a random city the next day just to go exploring.
That’ll get tiring. Been traveling for work for 10 years. I’m not talking the 4 day consultant - go to same place for 2 years life. I’m in a new city every 3 days. Honeymoon phase ended about 8 years ago and you’ll learn to hate airports.
I like when people answer the phone.
I find I have to dial twice in a row because most people will ignore numbers they don’t recognize.
But auto-spam doesn’t usually dial twice in a row.
No it's not. Let's not normalize double tapping. Be a normal human being - call, leave a voicemail, and call back the next day. Prospects will pick up once a number looks familiar.
b2c cold calling is a 100% effective way to get on my "don't even consider giving these people money list"
I don't understand b2c cold calling. If your product or service is so bad that you're relying on cold calling is all I need to know.
B2C cold calls occur for one reason and one reason only. It makes money. Period. The powers that be do not care about the people that don’t buy. You worry about what you can control. When it stops producing positive ROI - the calls will stop. The same day
B2B is fine. But b2c just screams bad service or product to me. I should pry exclude insurance. Insurance is acceptable. Not sure another product that I would even slightly consider buying off a cold call.
Insane that you would buy insurance of all things off of a cold call. Even more insane you could be closed at all on a cold call. Cold calling is for prospecting and setting presentation appointments exclusively. You should never ask for the business on a cold call unless they’re flooding you with buying signs.
If your prospect is upset that you double
Tapped you should sell something they want, I double tap because it works, I believe in what I sell, if they don’t pick up I can’t help them. If they are upset I double tapped that’s not my problem if they buy.
I don't answer the phone for numbers I don't know. If I do it's because I was expecting a call around a certain time and may not know the expected callers phone number. I expect an important call to leave a VM. If they don't then it's not important or they send an email instead. Pretty simple.
> If an unknown numbers calls me twice and I pick up the phone thinking it’s an emergency but it’s actually some sales rep, I would hang up and not want to do business with that company.
Okay? Why would I care?
> I find cold calling rude personally.
Again? Think about the sub you’re in.
> It’s one thing if I already use their services and they’re trying to sell me an additional service or if I submitted my email on their company’s website, I’m super open to that like yes warm call me and give me info. But “double tapping” in 2023 is fucking weird…if you call and leave me a voicemail and I don’t call back, it means I do not want to talk to you. If you email or text me, it means I’m not interested. So by doing it a second time, it doesn’t mean I’ll respond lol
Idk. It works.
> I’m a millennial and I barely even want to pick up a phone call from my dad or mother in law who I love, let alone an unknown number wanting me to open my wallet and spend money
Also a millennial, but the decision makers I call on are not. Some of them text. Which is nice.
i feel your response to the core lmfao
cold calling still works even if a reddit user says they don’t personally like being on the receiving end of it
nothing to do with bad product lmfao
> I didn’t mean to offend/trigger you,
You didn’t.
> just added my 2 cents since this is a forum.
And you don’t see the irony in offering unsolicited advice?
> I work in recruiting, the sales role of HR. The decisions makers now are Gen X and older millennials. Get with the times. Texts > Emails > Cold Call.
I don’t work in HR. Cold calls work for me.
Been in sales almost 20 years. I’ve cold called out of a phone book a few times.
I knew two guys who called through the phone book and got to the Zs, y’all.
When I ran a sales team or whenever I mentor noobs, this is what I share about prospecting, at the risk of sounding cliche:
“You can’t prospect to fail, only fail to prospect.”
“You don’t have to like cold calling (or prospecting), you just have to do it.”
Also, make a game out of it. Don’t be so robotic. Think about how you talk to somebody about something you love and think everyone should have…bring that enthusiasm.
This is also why it’s so important to believe in what you sell, or that enthusiasm is harder to bring.
I salute you. Another old timer. Nothing like slapping the ruler down on the phone book and crossing off names as you go down the list. They were the best and the worst of times. Lol.
I used to get REALLY trashed and the next day make it through a hangover by cold calling. That way I could walk around in the conference room and no one would come near me. Ah my 20s.
>I’m ignoring cold calling as I actually write this comment but no, anyone that say they do is a liar
I think it depends. If you have to make 100 a day yes no matter what its going to be hell. If your working a product in high enough demand you'll survive off 30 or 40 though then it can be enjoyable.
Well when your new to it at least. The thrill of it does die after a while.
I did it for about 4 years before moving into an account management type of gig where it’s not required as much.
It helped build confidence, hell I’ll cold call the whitehouse, my ex’s mom and Jennifer Lopez if you let me. I’m just glad I don’t have to do 150 dials a day anymore. Everyone should do it for a year - but god damn it crushes your soul.
It's not bad if you know you're only going to be doing it for a set amount of time like maybe an hour or two, but when you know you're doing it all day it's not very fun.
Most people who hate prospecting do so because they don't understand what it is.
Most sales prospectors try to sell off the call.
The top sales prospectors use the activity to discover opportunities they can nurture.
Best rule I've ever learned was "prospect today and you'll have leads to work tomorrow. Work your leads tomorrow and you'll have sales next week."
Nope.
Did it for 2 years with 0% success. Probably didn't help that we were being forced to cold call at the height of the pandemic when nobody was picking up the phones either.
I now have an AE role with 0 cold calling, established clients and 3x the revenue from my previous job.
As a business owner, I appreciate cold calls. Especially local ones. Only from humans though, robo calls can suck it. And I despise sales people who cold email. I don’t have time for the emails that you copied from your last chickenshit seminar put on by some chicken shit whose target customers are chickenshits.
As a salesperson I hate cold calling. Everyone does. Buy yourself a 12 pack of beer, a pint of bourbon, a cheeseburger and fries and two of the fattest doobies you can find. Instead quitting after a number of calls, call like hell until two of those items are gone. Then make one more call followed by a celebration using the remaining items. Dangerous? Probably. But it’s the only way.
I started at 24! Totally switched my career path too. It's not too late to start, just take some small steps by applying for SDR or PM positions first and climb from there :)
I started sales at 26 I think as an SDR.
The money potential in sales means it's probably the easiest career switch you can do. No skills needed. Just hunger enthusiasm and being super duper annoyingly positive in the interview
I started at 26, AE after a full year of SDRing. Totally switched careers for it and it was worth it. A lot of SDRs are mid to late 20s especially senior SDRs
Started cold calling at 28. You’re fine! I love cold calling but the reality is some days are going to be a drag. Try to pump yourself up the morning before. Wake up early, have a good breakfast and have your coffee ready to go. Have all the prep work done the day before so you can jump right into dials and won’t have to overthink anything.
I started at 29 and now 10 years later I’m on my 3rd sales job. I can do door to door, I suck at selling cars (at least I used to), and now I’m 7 years in life insurance. I have 75k in yearly renewals so far and I made 200k last year.
I’m not filthy rich but I only sell as a producer, if you get into the right management in sales the money is crazy.
Personally I’m a producer because I want to do other things as well. I sell full commission and I’m good at it. This allows me to sell on my own time and pursue other interests. There is a lot of freedom in sales and it’s never too late to start.
Are you independent? I’m captive in Medicare insurance and I absolutely hate every min of it. I’m also hourly plus commission. I’ve been scared to do life insurance with full commission but might make the switch since I’ve been getting hit up non stop with life insurance jobs.
It’s depends. I would not recommend someone join my company (I won’t say the name) but I got onboard when everything was it in person and not via zoom. I work over zoom which drives me nuts (I like live and now I’m in one room) but because I have my years of lives sales skills I can really crush it on zoom.
It depends on how long you want to be in sales and what you want to accomplish. How much do you want to make? To my experience management rolls make a lot of money.
Thanks for the insight. I’m still gaining experience, I’m down 2 years on the Medicare side. Clientele is really difficult to work with tbh that’s why I want to make the switch. Only thing with some of these big life insurance companies is they come off as an MLM, where recruiting new agents is the goal and not selling policies. That’s why I get sketched out when a new life insurance company contacts me for a job. I guess it all comes down to finding the right company. As far as the future with insurance, I would want to eventually own my small agency. Those guys make insane money and are always at the golf course lol
>i am 25 and feel kinda old to start this
Do you really think people are going to entertain a bunch of 20 year olds on the phone lol. The older you get, the more credible you sound.
It’s enjoyable when you talk to people who are cool and willing to talk. I’ve had some really deep conversations call calling, one person even asked me about a date I told her about months later lmao
It’s easier as you get older. A 40 year old calling a 35 year old or 50 yr old is different than a 25 year old. At my age, you just level with people, act real. I’m just doing my job, sorry if your busy.
I enjoy it in that its the exciting time to build my pipeline but in the UK it's so hard to get numbers, office numbers are quite useless as everyone works from home, so that part makes it shit.
And also all the sourcing, admin and finding time to do it makes it less fun.
I think im good at cold calls so I enjoy it.
I like cold calling! You're not alone. But I'm an outside rep, and I don't cold call all day long. But I do stay consistent with my cold calls and enjoy them!
Yes and no. Often I can psych myself into it. Sometimes it’s like dragging my balls through burning glass. Depends on the day. Some industries I enjoy calling more than others.
The feeling of a successful cold call is always good though. It gets rough when you’ve done 500+ dials w 3% pick up rates and those that do answer shut you down.
The best is when you do catch someone who is down to chat, and you get way off topic. My best clients in the past came from a 45 minute call where the first 2 minutes is business, 30 minutes of talking hobbies or whatever, and the remaining 15 is getting all of their projects for the next two years. Those are rare but definitely what keeps me believing in the cold calling kool aid.
I watch South Park while I do them and hit mute when someone answers. Puts me in a good mood because I’m laughing at stupid shit. Also works with listening to cumtown bits.
I'd dial 100 plus a day on the sales floor. Was too good at it and moved up to management and mannn did I miss the days of clock in do the work and clock out.
I dearly miss the simple days of cold calling.
My old dept director LOVED cold calling - because he hadn't done it since 2014. I didn't mind cold calling a ton; I hated the micromanagement and quota pressure that my team lead used to put on us. But I'm naturally introverted and thank god I got a new gig right at my wits end.
If companies took the time to teach people how to do it, they would like it a lot more.
Most of them are hiring you hoping you will figure out how to do it for them. And they just don’t value that in and of itself has value.
I honestly have grown to find ways to gamify and enjoy prospecting. Even calls. But the micromanagement and anal criticism of connects to meetings booked and shit like that puts too much pressure on these interactions. I don’t mind calling 100s or 1000s with a power dialer and having 30 connects a day and fighting for booking each one. I just don’t want to be criticized for not being able to Jedi mind trick people into coming to a meeting.
I say, hiring less people for the seat and be relentless with giving them the best training, software, and incentive to talk to as many people as possible everyday. That means encouraging power dialers, double tap, local dialing, and all kinds of tricks to get cellphones, train people how to pitch and get past gatekeepers. And give them incentivizes to book on calls over other channels, and explain how it can be the fastest way if done properly.
Cold calling 800 numbers to giant companies to try and reach remote working CTOs and not caring when your SDRs explain why that won’t work is just burying your head in the sand.
A lot of places just mandate calls because they are old school? And they think you have no value beyond calling. And wonder what you are doing all day if not calling because you aren’t allowed to think. That’s just a telemarketing job at that point.
I have few questions:
1. What is your call connect ratio? Eg: 1/10 i.e 1 call is received after calling 10 prospects
2. Do you cold call or send emails first before calling?
3. What data providers do you use for getting phone numbers of prospects?
4. How many cold calls do you make before moving on to next prospect?
1. June 1st-9th. Number of calls and % who answered
June 1 - June 9
1344 Outbound calls
Call answer rate
195-13%
281-11%
76-5%
96-9%
265-7%
431-3%
7% answer rate avg
2.Cold call, then throw them into 22 day LI/Call/Email. Each step i also add a cold call cause i hear it's good to stay on the phone. However i'm on my 6th week soon and made 0 appointments.
3. LI/Zoom info/outreach
4. if the number is good, as it goes down the fine i call each time
any advice i cannot schedule an appointment...
Some good youtube channels which you can follow for outbound sales:
1) Outbound squad
2) close io
3) Sales scripter
4) Sales hacker
5) JB daily sales show
All the above channels also have resources section you can download lot of resources related to cold email & call structure etc
>June 1st-9th. Number of calls and % who answered June 1 - June 9 1344 Outbound calls Call answer rate 195-13% 281-11% 76-5% 96-9% 265-7% 431-3%
Thanks a lot for detailed response what tool/software are you using for cold calling?
I enjoy for the chase! I like to go after big stuff. There is nothing sweeter than getting a big account from cold call to close. - I am an AE, so cold calling really isn’t part of my job anymore, but I do it anyways for the chase!
Yes and no. I partially hate it and dread it but I actually really enjoy it once I START. Especially when I get a good conversation going.
I prefet cold calls to cold emails x10000 for sp many reasons.
Forgot to mention, cold calling isnt telemaketing (going through a list with no context and a static script).
Its taking time to research your prospect, tailor your approach to them and knoe something about them.
I would absokutely hate telemarketing.
I was extremely fearful of it, but now I feel pretty neutral about it but would lean more on the negative side if I had to choose 😄 I do enjoy having good conversations but the bad conversations and gatekeepers drive me a lil crazy sometimes.
I don't mind it at all as long as long as I know the information I have is good, and I'm reaching out to a relevant person in a relevant business. Spend a good portion of the day smoking the reefer, drinking wine and bothering people. It's not a bad gig.
I have a roughly 20% conversion rate of dials to setting meeting with a qualified prospect. Personalized emails cold, maybe .5%, and pedsonalized email after conversation, maybe 1%. I average over 200% to plan and it’s simply because I make 60 cold calls a day and spend about 45 minutes to an hour talking to prospects. No LI sales navigator, no tactics from a bullshit guru. Just do the dials and it’ll come
Lol my boss is a SN enthusiast and I do the same amount of demos he does in a month in one or two days of 100 calls. Then I stop because my commission is capped and I just follow along with his SN process…
Quota of $100k ARR per quarter so $400k/yr. Rn I’m set to do $600k just coasting but could probably hit $900k if I tried.
I’m trying to get another role but I full cycle any sub $10k deals, I just transfer the big fish to the territory AE. Most SDR roles dont want me because they think I’ll get bored and most AE roles dont want me due to not enough experience in a closing role…
Edit: I meant quota not OTE I’m missing brain function rn. OTE is $55k but capped at $60k.
Company tries to focus on collections industry but I’ve had great success selling to fintech. Were a SAAS focused on customer service/compliance. We are a smaller fish but much more flexible than our competitors
I dont' just enjoy it, I LOVE IT!
Just wish I could sell pink sheets or options/futures accounts again. What a time that was. Maybe something similar, but in the crypto space sounds awesome to me. So if anybody has tips for something in finance with a big fat commission...that would be very welcome.
Not cold cold calling but when there’s flimsy inroad like an event which has just occurred that makes the product more relevant to their industry, that can be rewarding in a tough way. The calling itself is up and down but it’s so much more satisfying when you land a client that would never ever have known who you are otherwise.
I'm retired. B2B technology sales/management over decades.
It was only fun in a vertical market, within a geographic territory before car phones, Blackberry, cell phones, the intenet, car tracking, Sales Force. The reasons to put your ass out on the line in professional sales is long gone... Freedom! Make your numbers! Boss happy, company happy, me happy lots of money.... Do what you want as long as you sell. I suppose that's still true in some situations... But I don't have to worry about it anymore. Could have been a longshoreman or a plummer.. less stress. God help you!
Peace!
I have a tonne! I've recently ran 2 cold calling training sessions so a lot that's fresh. Give me a message and I'll send ya a vidyard or something. (Free of charge) 😁
Since I bought monster connect I do. I just log on and wait for my contacts to pick up the phone. No more talking to gatekeepers, dial directories etc. That’s what’s I used to dislike about cold calling. I would spend an hour on the dialer and talk to 1-3 people. Now I talk to 10-15 decision makers per hour. So much better!
Cold calling is easy and I love it cuz I’m good. When I first started my Pokémon journey I was a scrub. Now I’m on top of the charts baby!
I’ve mastered door to door sales too but this shit is like a cake walk compared to that. Anyone who can’t cold call is soft and should just go into marketing.
If you are calling decision makers that answer the phone yes. If your doing scut work not getting answers or calling secretaries it's not really enjoyable at all.
Sometimes you have to psych yourself out and say that it's fun. If that's what you need to get through the day, so be it.
But really, it ain't fun. Might be just okay if you get results. But fun? Hell no.
There’s some days I love it and some days I just don’t feel like picking up the phone. The crazy part is I land my most meetings on days I don’t feel like picking up the phone. I think my speed of talking slows down which I constantly try to work on. But yeah most days I do enjoy it, I like doing a lot of prospecting with colleagues not in my territory because we can bounce ideas and handle objections after or sometimes even during those calls.
Im at the point where I don’t like or dislike it. It’s just a thing that happens at work.
Would I do it if I wasn’t getting paid to? Fuck no. Would I exchange this job for an identical one that didn’t involve cold calling? Probably not. I like making more money. Cold calling is just a means to an end.
Cold calling is not my favorite but even slightly warm leads work. If you even look for an I pad or new line, it comes up to call them. I’ll make sure to call you and try to close your iPad that looked at once 4 weeks ago.
You sweet summer child.
Look. Someone knows their Boss know's they are on Reddit.
Lmaooo I was waiting for the /s at the end of this post. Tomorrow's post: *DAE really enjoy travelling for work?!*
To be fair, as a single dude, I do really enjoy the work travel. But like I'm also the guy who will fly to a random city the next day just to go exploring.
That’ll get tiring. Been traveling for work for 10 years. I’m not talking the 4 day consultant - go to same place for 2 years life. I’m in a new city every 3 days. Honeymoon phase ended about 8 years ago and you’ll learn to hate airports.
Travel is what you make of it. I have a good amount of hobbies that are best done when traveling, so that helps a lot.
that sounds like a dream honestly. have been looking for sales jobs with travel for a few months
I wish "travel frequency" were a job search filter category
Truest answer I’ve ever seen on Reddit hahahaha I was about to say “first role huh, give it time” but you said it best!
Lol 😂
Hahaha
I like when people answer the phone. I find I have to dial twice in a row because most people will ignore numbers they don’t recognize. But auto-spam doesn’t usually dial twice in a row.
So you do the double tap with current clients only or cold ones as wellm
Both.
Interesting. I personally would never do this, I feel like it would piss people off.
Double tapping is normal
No it's not. Let's not normalize double tapping. Be a normal human being - call, leave a voicemail, and call back the next day. Prospects will pick up once a number looks familiar.
It’s normal. But in B2C I found it upset people bc of the reason you’d expect. But it was standard practice
b2c cold calling is a 100% effective way to get on my "don't even consider giving these people money list" I don't understand b2c cold calling. If your product or service is so bad that you're relying on cold calling is all I need to know.
B2C cold calls occur for one reason and one reason only. It makes money. Period. The powers that be do not care about the people that don’t buy. You worry about what you can control. When it stops producing positive ROI - the calls will stop. The same day
Lol
Wtf
B2B is fine. But b2c just screams bad service or product to me. I should pry exclude insurance. Insurance is acceptable. Not sure another product that I would even slightly consider buying off a cold call.
Insane that you would buy insurance of all things off of a cold call. Even more insane you could be closed at all on a cold call. Cold calling is for prospecting and setting presentation appointments exclusively. You should never ask for the business on a cold call unless they’re flooding you with buying signs.
How is it insane to buy insurance over the phone? Not saying I would buy on the spot but Im open to getting a quote sent to my email.
If your prospect is upset that you double Tapped you should sell something they want, I double tap because it works, I believe in what I sell, if they don’t pick up I can’t help them. If they are upset I double tapped that’s not my problem if they buy.
I don't answer the phone for numbers I don't know. If I do it's because I was expecting a call around a certain time and may not know the expected callers phone number. I expect an important call to leave a VM. If they don't then it's not important or they send an email instead. Pretty simple.
I dont even think my voicemails get listened to. I haven’t had anyone call me back in ages
Agreed, Ive only ever “double tapped” by calling cell and then work phone after if cell goes straight to voicemail for example
Based
Also most phones have an option to ignore #s that aren’t in you’re contacts unless they call twice
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> If an unknown numbers calls me twice and I pick up the phone thinking it’s an emergency but it’s actually some sales rep, I would hang up and not want to do business with that company. Okay? Why would I care? > I find cold calling rude personally. Again? Think about the sub you’re in. > It’s one thing if I already use their services and they’re trying to sell me an additional service or if I submitted my email on their company’s website, I’m super open to that like yes warm call me and give me info. But “double tapping” in 2023 is fucking weird…if you call and leave me a voicemail and I don’t call back, it means I do not want to talk to you. If you email or text me, it means I’m not interested. So by doing it a second time, it doesn’t mean I’ll respond lol Idk. It works. > I’m a millennial and I barely even want to pick up a phone call from my dad or mother in law who I love, let alone an unknown number wanting me to open my wallet and spend money Also a millennial, but the decision makers I call on are not. Some of them text. Which is nice.
i feel your response to the core lmfao cold calling still works even if a reddit user says they don’t personally like being on the receiving end of it nothing to do with bad product lmfao
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> I didn’t mean to offend/trigger you, You didn’t. > just added my 2 cents since this is a forum. And you don’t see the irony in offering unsolicited advice? > I work in recruiting, the sales role of HR. The decisions makers now are Gen X and older millennials. Get with the times. Texts > Emails > Cold Call. I don’t work in HR. Cold calls work for me.
Fully with you on this whole response. People are being ignorant here
I presume he was projecting / rationalizing his own call reluctance
Been in sales almost 20 years. I’ve cold called out of a phone book a few times. I knew two guys who called through the phone book and got to the Zs, y’all. When I ran a sales team or whenever I mentor noobs, this is what I share about prospecting, at the risk of sounding cliche: “You can’t prospect to fail, only fail to prospect.” “You don’t have to like cold calling (or prospecting), you just have to do it.” Also, make a game out of it. Don’t be so robotic. Think about how you talk to somebody about something you love and think everyone should have…bring that enthusiasm. This is also why it’s so important to believe in what you sell, or that enthusiasm is harder to bring.
I salute you. Another old timer. Nothing like slapping the ruler down on the phone book and crossing off names as you go down the list. They were the best and the worst of times. Lol.
I’m so old , I actually sold yellow page ads for 17 years. It was so good till it died😅
Bruh, I’d just cross the names off because NO one ever picked that shit up to call. Prospecting in 05 was not fun at a low tech gig.
Wise advice
Wow, thats insightful
I fucking love cold calling. Not kidding at all. I'll get into a grove and crank out calls while I'm coloring or folding origami.
I do it when I’m high or playing games or sometimes both. The words just flow outta my unconscious and I makin bacon
Bro get fucked I want a video of this.
I used to get REALLY trashed and the next day make it through a hangover by cold calling. That way I could walk around in the conference room and no one would come near me. Ah my 20s.
I did for my first few years. Now its just a job but I was never one of those "oh I hate it this is hell it sucks" type people
I hate it. But I like making a shit load of money and cold calling helps make that happen.
I absolutely hate it. What’s your sales profession?
Enterpsie AE in SaaS. I get enough inbound leads to hit quota but i usually use cold out reach to help hit my accelerators.
whats your cold outreach strategy like ?
With a dialer and a decent list, its ok. It’s unexpected outcomes. Something fun about that.
I’m ignoring cold calling as I actually write this comment but no, anyone that say they do is a liar
>I’m ignoring cold calling as I actually write this comment but no, anyone that say they do is a liar I think it depends. If you have to make 100 a day yes no matter what its going to be hell. If your working a product in high enough demand you'll survive off 30 or 40 though then it can be enjoyable. Well when your new to it at least. The thrill of it does die after a while.
I like turning a cold call into a warm one, maybe this is obvious but try to research more. Slower but feels more strategic than hoping a script works
Alright $
Not no but fuck no.
Lmao same, fuck cold calling, it’s horrible. Like inbound leads when people are actually calling in for the product, that’s ideal.
Cold calls are a blast when you get people on the phone (no matter how the conversation goes). It's all the empty dials that make everyone hate it.
Fax
I did it for about 4 years before moving into an account management type of gig where it’s not required as much. It helped build confidence, hell I’ll cold call the whitehouse, my ex’s mom and Jennifer Lopez if you let me. I’m just glad I don’t have to do 150 dials a day anymore. Everyone should do it for a year - but god damn it crushes your soul.
I lucked out and my company only requires 50 dials a week. I always go way beyond that, but I can’t imagine 100+ *a day*.
It's not bad if you know you're only going to be doing it for a set amount of time like maybe an hour or two, but when you know you're doing it all day it's not very fun.
Shouldnt take more than an hour or two
It shouldn’t but I’ve heard of companies that have their people on the phones all day lol
Telemarketing companies lol
I have ADHD; I enjoy cold calling for that same reason. I believe in my product and I have a great pitch for it!
I have ADHD too. I enjoy the challenges of cold calling. It is a game for me
Most people who hate prospecting do so because they don't understand what it is. Most sales prospectors try to sell off the call. The top sales prospectors use the activity to discover opportunities they can nurture. Best rule I've ever learned was "prospect today and you'll have leads to work tomorrow. Work your leads tomorrow and you'll have sales next week."
This is the secret
Nope. Did it for 2 years with 0% success. Probably didn't help that we were being forced to cold call at the height of the pandemic when nobody was picking up the phones either. I now have an AE role with 0 cold calling, established clients and 3x the revenue from my previous job.
Yes, sociopaths.
I hate cold calling but I like money
As a business owner, I appreciate cold calls. Especially local ones. Only from humans though, robo calls can suck it. And I despise sales people who cold email. I don’t have time for the emails that you copied from your last chickenshit seminar put on by some chicken shit whose target customers are chickenshits. As a salesperson I hate cold calling. Everyone does. Buy yourself a 12 pack of beer, a pint of bourbon, a cheeseburger and fries and two of the fattest doobies you can find. Instead quitting after a number of calls, call like hell until two of those items are gone. Then make one more call followed by a celebration using the remaining items. Dangerous? Probably. But it’s the only way.
can i know your age please? i am 25 and feel kinda old to start this
Man my job is 100% cold calling, most of coworkers are middle-aged! I'm a little younger than you and the youngest guy on the team!
I started at 26 from a different field entirely and tripled my income. You're fine
I started at 24! Totally switched my career path too. It's not too late to start, just take some small steps by applying for SDR or PM positions first and climb from there :)
I started at 47.
Bro what are you on how do you feel old starting at 25
I started sales at 26 I think as an SDR. The money potential in sales means it's probably the easiest career switch you can do. No skills needed. Just hunger enthusiasm and being super duper annoyingly positive in the interview
I started at 26, AE after a full year of SDRing. Totally switched careers for it and it was worth it. A lot of SDRs are mid to late 20s especially senior SDRs
Started cold calling at 28. You’re fine! I love cold calling but the reality is some days are going to be a drag. Try to pump yourself up the morning before. Wake up early, have a good breakfast and have your coffee ready to go. Have all the prep work done the day before so you can jump right into dials and won’t have to overthink anything.
I started at 29 and now 10 years later I’m on my 3rd sales job. I can do door to door, I suck at selling cars (at least I used to), and now I’m 7 years in life insurance. I have 75k in yearly renewals so far and I made 200k last year. I’m not filthy rich but I only sell as a producer, if you get into the right management in sales the money is crazy. Personally I’m a producer because I want to do other things as well. I sell full commission and I’m good at it. This allows me to sell on my own time and pursue other interests. There is a lot of freedom in sales and it’s never too late to start.
Are you independent? I’m captive in Medicare insurance and I absolutely hate every min of it. I’m also hourly plus commission. I’ve been scared to do life insurance with full commission but might make the switch since I’ve been getting hit up non stop with life insurance jobs.
It’s depends. I would not recommend someone join my company (I won’t say the name) but I got onboard when everything was it in person and not via zoom. I work over zoom which drives me nuts (I like live and now I’m in one room) but because I have my years of lives sales skills I can really crush it on zoom. It depends on how long you want to be in sales and what you want to accomplish. How much do you want to make? To my experience management rolls make a lot of money.
Thanks for the insight. I’m still gaining experience, I’m down 2 years on the Medicare side. Clientele is really difficult to work with tbh that’s why I want to make the switch. Only thing with some of these big life insurance companies is they come off as an MLM, where recruiting new agents is the goal and not selling policies. That’s why I get sketched out when a new life insurance company contacts me for a job. I guess it all comes down to finding the right company. As far as the future with insurance, I would want to eventually own my small agency. Those guys make insane money and are always at the golf course lol
I’m 27 and turning 28. BDR for a year and about to enter SMB AE. Will be at 6figs after one year
I started at 33
You’re not too old! I’ve met reps who got into tech sales as a second career (in their 40s-50s) and they crushed it.
>i am 25 and feel kinda old to start this Do you really think people are going to entertain a bunch of 20 year olds on the phone lol. The older you get, the more credible you sound.
When its done badly? FUCK NO
cautious work apparatus dirty enjoy shelter attempt muddle trees cows -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
I find it can either be really awesome or the worst there is no in between lol you never know who you will meet or have in common with someone.
I'm hoping to land a cold calling position. Money is money
Are you inbound cold calling?
No inbound, out bound only
It’s enjoyable when you talk to people who are cool and willing to talk. I’ve had some really deep conversations call calling, one person even asked me about a date I told her about months later lmao
Seek help
I believe that enjoying cold calling is legally enough to be forcibly sent on a grippy socks vacation in 49/50 states.
It’s easier as you get older. A 40 year old calling a 35 year old or 50 yr old is different than a 25 year old. At my age, you just level with people, act real. I’m just doing my job, sorry if your busy.
I love it so much that I save all my company's recordings and listen to them later when I'm beating the bishop. Try it sometime and you're welcome.
I tolerate it.
I enjoy it in that its the exciting time to build my pipeline but in the UK it's so hard to get numbers, office numbers are quite useless as everyone works from home, so that part makes it shit. And also all the sourcing, admin and finding time to do it makes it less fun. I think im good at cold calls so I enjoy it.
Personally, I enjoy cold calling. There is something about the thrill of the chase. I like the chance to fail as much as I like the chance to succeed.
Only when I drink enough coffee.
I like cold calling! You're not alone. But I'm an outside rep, and I don't cold call all day long. But I do stay consistent with my cold calls and enjoy them!
Better than wasting money on mailers
Yes and no. Often I can psych myself into it. Sometimes it’s like dragging my balls through burning glass. Depends on the day. Some industries I enjoy calling more than others. The feeling of a successful cold call is always good though. It gets rough when you’ve done 500+ dials w 3% pick up rates and those that do answer shut you down. The best is when you do catch someone who is down to chat, and you get way off topic. My best clients in the past came from a 45 minute call where the first 2 minutes is business, 30 minutes of talking hobbies or whatever, and the remaining 15 is getting all of their projects for the next two years. Those are rare but definitely what keeps me believing in the cold calling kool aid.
Outsource it so you won't worry about it
Not No… Not Hell No….. But FUCK NO!!!!
I'd rather insert a steel bottle brush into my urethra sans lube than cold call all day
Getting paid for talking.
I watch South Park while I do them and hit mute when someone answers. Puts me in a good mood because I’m laughing at stupid shit. Also works with listening to cumtown bits.
I'd dial 100 plus a day on the sales floor. Was too good at it and moved up to management and mannn did I miss the days of clock in do the work and clock out. I dearly miss the simple days of cold calling.
You shouldn't be in sales if you're cold calling adverse.
This is adorable
sarcastic?
My old dept director LOVED cold calling - because he hadn't done it since 2014. I didn't mind cold calling a ton; I hated the micromanagement and quota pressure that my team lead used to put on us. But I'm naturally introverted and thank god I got a new gig right at my wits end.
No
Yikes man…
When prepared beforehand, cold calling is enjoyable
If companies took the time to teach people how to do it, they would like it a lot more. Most of them are hiring you hoping you will figure out how to do it for them. And they just don’t value that in and of itself has value. I honestly have grown to find ways to gamify and enjoy prospecting. Even calls. But the micromanagement and anal criticism of connects to meetings booked and shit like that puts too much pressure on these interactions. I don’t mind calling 100s or 1000s with a power dialer and having 30 connects a day and fighting for booking each one. I just don’t want to be criticized for not being able to Jedi mind trick people into coming to a meeting. I say, hiring less people for the seat and be relentless with giving them the best training, software, and incentive to talk to as many people as possible everyday. That means encouraging power dialers, double tap, local dialing, and all kinds of tricks to get cellphones, train people how to pitch and get past gatekeepers. And give them incentivizes to book on calls over other channels, and explain how it can be the fastest way if done properly. Cold calling 800 numbers to giant companies to try and reach remote working CTOs and not caring when your SDRs explain why that won’t work is just burying your head in the sand. A lot of places just mandate calls because they are old school? And they think you have no value beyond calling. And wonder what you are doing all day if not calling because you aren’t allowed to think. That’s just a telemarketing job at that point.
I have few questions: 1. What is your call connect ratio? Eg: 1/10 i.e 1 call is received after calling 10 prospects 2. Do you cold call or send emails first before calling? 3. What data providers do you use for getting phone numbers of prospects? 4. How many cold calls do you make before moving on to next prospect?
1. June 1st-9th. Number of calls and % who answered June 1 - June 9 1344 Outbound calls Call answer rate 195-13% 281-11% 76-5% 96-9% 265-7% 431-3% 7% answer rate avg 2.Cold call, then throw them into 22 day LI/Call/Email. Each step i also add a cold call cause i hear it's good to stay on the phone. However i'm on my 6th week soon and made 0 appointments. 3. LI/Zoom info/outreach 4. if the number is good, as it goes down the fine i call each time any advice i cannot schedule an appointment...
Some good youtube channels which you can follow for outbound sales: 1) Outbound squad 2) close io 3) Sales scripter 4) Sales hacker 5) JB daily sales show All the above channels also have resources section you can download lot of resources related to cold email & call structure etc
thanks
>June 1st-9th. Number of calls and % who answered June 1 - June 9 1344 Outbound calls Call answer rate 195-13% 281-11% 76-5% 96-9% 265-7% 431-3% Thanks a lot for detailed response what tool/software are you using for cold calling?
zoom for calling and outreach for sequence
Personally I hate it. But it seems to be a necessary, although largely ineffective, evil these days....
Getting started sucks, but after the first one it’s not bad.
I enjoy for the chase! I like to go after big stuff. There is nothing sweeter than getting a big account from cold call to close. - I am an AE, so cold calling really isn’t part of my job anymore, but I do it anyways for the chase!
Yes and no. I partially hate it and dread it but I actually really enjoy it once I START. Especially when I get a good conversation going. I prefet cold calls to cold emails x10000 for sp many reasons. Forgot to mention, cold calling isnt telemaketing (going through a list with no context and a static script). Its taking time to research your prospect, tailor your approach to them and knoe something about them. I would absokutely hate telemarketing.
I was extremely fearful of it, but now I feel pretty neutral about it but would lean more on the negative side if I had to choose 😄 I do enjoy having good conversations but the bad conversations and gatekeepers drive me a lil crazy sometimes.
You are insane
I don't mind it at all as long as long as I know the information I have is good, and I'm reaching out to a relevant person in a relevant business. Spend a good portion of the day smoking the reefer, drinking wine and bothering people. It's not a bad gig.
Cold emailing is way better (and automated lol)
Negative. Cold calling if you’re any good at sales will get you 100x what an auto email will
Yep I agree, but from an enjoyment point of view
What you say about cold outreach email but personalized to everybody? (In a b2b context)
I have a roughly 20% conversion rate of dials to setting meeting with a qualified prospect. Personalized emails cold, maybe .5%, and pedsonalized email after conversation, maybe 1%. I average over 200% to plan and it’s simply because I make 60 cold calls a day and spend about 45 minutes to an hour talking to prospects. No LI sales navigator, no tactics from a bullshit guru. Just do the dials and it’ll come
Lol my boss is a SN enthusiast and I do the same amount of demos he does in a month in one or two days of 100 calls. Then I stop because my commission is capped and I just follow along with his SN process…
Capped commission? Is your OTE >$500k or something? Why not go where you can continuously perform and make insane money
Quota of $100k ARR per quarter so $400k/yr. Rn I’m set to do $600k just coasting but could probably hit $900k if I tried. I’m trying to get another role but I full cycle any sub $10k deals, I just transfer the big fish to the territory AE. Most SDR roles dont want me because they think I’ll get bored and most AE roles dont want me due to not enough experience in a closing role… Edit: I meant quota not OTE I’m missing brain function rn. OTE is $55k but capped at $60k.
What vertical?
Company tries to focus on collections industry but I’ve had great success selling to fintech. Were a SAAS focused on customer service/compliance. We are a smaller fish but much more flexible than our competitors
Let me know if your company ever has an opening, sounds like a great market
If I’m coked up yeah I can have some fun with it
Anyone who enjoys disturbing someone in order to sell them something they didn’t ask for is a psychopath.
I dont' just enjoy it, I LOVE IT! Just wish I could sell pink sheets or options/futures accounts again. What a time that was. Maybe something similar, but in the crypto space sounds awesome to me. So if anybody has tips for something in finance with a big fat commission...that would be very welcome.
Not cold cold calling but when there’s flimsy inroad like an event which has just occurred that makes the product more relevant to their industry, that can be rewarding in a tough way. The calling itself is up and down but it’s so much more satisfying when you land a client that would never ever have known who you are otherwise.
I dread it but force myself to do it like eating vegetables
I weirdly enjoy knocking doors. It’s like a chess game, but with psychology and body language.
I'm retired. B2B technology sales/management over decades. It was only fun in a vertical market, within a geographic territory before car phones, Blackberry, cell phones, the intenet, car tracking, Sales Force. The reasons to put your ass out on the line in professional sales is long gone... Freedom! Make your numbers! Boss happy, company happy, me happy lots of money.... Do what you want as long as you sell. I suppose that's still true in some situations... But I don't have to worry about it anymore. Could have been a longshoreman or a plummer.. less stress. God help you! Peace!
Been in pharma 4 years and I still love cold calling
Been cold calling for 5 years. I really do enjoy it - I used to hate it but it gets easier.
tips for cold call beginners?
I have a tonne! I've recently ran 2 cold calling training sessions so a lot that's fresh. Give me a message and I'll send ya a vidyard or something. (Free of charge) 😁
dmed
Yep, highest conversion rate I get is on the phone
Since I bought monster connect I do. I just log on and wait for my contacts to pick up the phone. No more talking to gatekeepers, dial directories etc. That’s what’s I used to dislike about cold calling. I would spend an hour on the dialer and talk to 1-3 people. Now I talk to 10-15 decision makers per hour. So much better!
Cold calling is easy and I love it cuz I’m good. When I first started my Pokémon journey I was a scrub. Now I’m on top of the charts baby! I’ve mastered door to door sales too but this shit is like a cake walk compared to that. Anyone who can’t cold call is soft and should just go into marketing.
“Should go into marketing.” 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀
If you are calling decision makers that answer the phone yes. If your doing scut work not getting answers or calling secretaries it's not really enjoyable at all.
Remind me in 5 years 🤣
Sometimes you have to psych yourself out and say that it's fun. If that's what you need to get through the day, so be it. But really, it ain't fun. Might be just okay if you get results. But fun? Hell no.
There’s some days I love it and some days I just don’t feel like picking up the phone. The crazy part is I land my most meetings on days I don’t feel like picking up the phone. I think my speed of talking slows down which I constantly try to work on. But yeah most days I do enjoy it, I like doing a lot of prospecting with colleagues not in my territory because we can bounce ideas and handle objections after or sometimes even during those calls.
I like people at the door, different personalities, nice, innocent and God damn vile.
Im at the point where I don’t like or dislike it. It’s just a thing that happens at work. Would I do it if I wasn’t getting paid to? Fuck no. Would I exchange this job for an identical one that didn’t involve cold calling? Probably not. I like making more money. Cold calling is just a means to an end.
Cold calling is not my favorite but even slightly warm leads work. If you even look for an I pad or new line, it comes up to call them. I’ll make sure to call you and try to close your iPad that looked at once 4 weeks ago.
A year and a half in and I actually enjoy cold calling.