80%+ of cold calls get shut down in the first 30-60 seconds.
If this is happening to you, try this
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Reframe your goal to: "How can I make the prospect feel it would be irresponsible NOT to give me the time of day?"
Read that again, carefully.
You need to come to the cold call with so much heat that it's hard to say no.
This is accomplished in two parts:
✅ 1) Relevance
Bring evidence of a problem you think they might be having. One that's so pervasive that every one of their peers is dealing with it.
✅ 2) Social Proof
Name-drop two companies that are so similar (competitors even) that they just can't ignore you. They have to be similar in size, industry, etc.
If you don't have these two things, don't even bother calling.
✅ Example of what this could sound like:
Rep: "Hi Dave, it's Jason with _________. Was calling about the recent acquisition of Agropower and the consolidation of your Texas distribution plants. Mind if I take a minute to share more?"
Prospect: "Uh...you're catching me right in the middle of something, but go ahead..."
Rep: "Thanks. With the recent Agropower acquisition and the plant consolidation—I had a hunch you might be focused on something similar to two of our clients: Kroeger & Nabisco. Their CISOs wanted to get better insights into the devices inside of the plants they were acquiring to know the vulnerabilities they were inheriting. Their teams had more findings than resources so it was imperative to find a way to prioritize what really needed their attention and what they could ignore...
How'd I do?"
~~~
This is what it sounds like to bring a laser-focused hypothesis on the buyer's situation.
This weaves in killer relevance and social proof that's just too hard to ignore.
If you're getting shut down in your cold calls, work on a better answer to this question:
"How can I make the prospect feel it would be irresponsible NOT to give me the time of day?"
I've never seen a great SDR leader who accepts high attrition rates.
"It's part of the grind running an SDR org."
These same leaders have 40-50% attrition rates, mostly voluntary. Their reps are choosing to leave the org.
From our work with dozens of SDR teams, attrition happens for a few reasons:
⛔️ Toxic culture
You know...the smile and dial stuff everyone's always talking about.
Fear-based leadership. Unrelenting focus on hitting dial activity. Strict adherence to scripts and cadences.
This is the obvious one.
⛔️ Lack of role-specific enablement
I see this all too often. Enablement is strapped on bandwidth, so SDRs never get role-specific training.
The "last mile" training/coaching around what to do when a prospect picks up a cold call and says "hello." How to write great emails, subject lines, etc.
SDRs attend enablement sessions meant for AEs, then have to translate that into their outbound approach.
⛔️ No career track (a big one)
SDRs are no longer getting promoted to AE in 10-12 months. Orgs are struggling to hold onto SDRs for 1-2+ years because there isn't a place for them to go.
Ideas:
- Create a "belt system" where reps can earn promotions: SDR 1, SDR 2, etc
- Give them extra responsibility (like owning the playbook)
- Make them a team lead
- Build an AE development program to start AE training when they're still SDRs
⛔️ Inexperienced front-line managers
99% of sales orgs spend 6-7 figures on rep training every year, but ZERO on manager training. You have managers that don't know how to run proper 1on1s, weekly team meetings, coach around skills, etc
⛔️ Poor AE/SDR alignment
Still seeing this one a lot. Alignment is basically three AEs bossing around one SDR on what accounts they should reach out to.
There has to be specific guidance that allows SDRs to work autonomously.
What helps an SDR hit quota vs. pleasing their AEs is often in conflict. Fix that immediately.
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What would you add to the list?
Everyone's talking about job changes, but this search is just as powerful
Here's a quick LinkedIn Sales Nav hack
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Target recently promoted Heads/Directors or VPs.
These are folks that have been at the company for a while. Many for multiple years.
So they won't show up as new hires within the past 90 days.
They will have a ton of influence, know the company inside and out, and now have bigger initiatives and budget.
Here's how to use this search:
✅ Open Sales Navigator's Lead Filter view
✅ Filter against your account list
✅ Enter current job title as vice president
✅ Enter past job title as vice president, make sure to exclude
✅ Under Years In Current Position, select 'Less than 1 year'
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Super simple. Work those folks into your outbound rotation with your account list.
Happy hunting.
What's your favorite Sales Nav search?
I don't like when sales enablement & sales managers complain that reps don't use the stuff they create.
"Reps don't use the new messaging."
"Reps aren't following the steps we outlined for them."
"Reps keep reverting back to what they were doing before."
Boo freakin' hoo. Look in the mirror.
99% of reps want to succeed. They want to do well at their job. They want to make more money.
If they thought your stuff would help them do it, they'd use it.
Here's why reps aren't using your stuff & how to fix it.
⛔️ You don't involve reps in the creation of the training content
Most training content & messaging is created in a silo. An exec who decides to take on a project. The marketing team. Or a pod of enablement managers.
The big piece missing? The reps.
If you have more than 10 reps, there are reps on the team modeling what good looks like. Those are your champions.
Co-create the content with their input. Help them help you get the team excited about what you're creating. And give them credit.
⛔️ You steal the show
Most enablement teams have little sales background. Or haven't sold or outbounded in nearly a decade.
Imagine learning to cold call from someone who hasn't made a cold call in 5 years.
BUT they are experts in process, documentation, and facilitation. Something that, frankly, reps & sales leaders suck at.
The best sales enablement teams aren't the stars of skill sessions.
They highlight and feature the best reps (and outside experts).
⛔️ You mistake knowing for doing
Playbooks are great. But it's only one part of the equation.
You need soft skills training, coaching, and reinforcement around REAL scenarios.
This means that surveys shouldn't be the primary tool for measuring competence.
Run practice sessions with reps. Help them get better at executing the tactics.
⛔️ You don't make it easy enough to implement
This one is big. I call it "eating complexity."
If you can remove a step for the rep, do it. Every. Single. One.
Let's say you're rolling out new persona-based messaging. You need to translate that into talk tracks and email copy.
Your enablement should get reps 80%+ of the way there.
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If reps aren't using the stuff you want them to, take ownership. And execute the steps above.
My very best clients at companies like Shopify, Gong, Rippling, Zoom, and more do this at a world-class level.
Agree or disagree?
Some of the worst SDRs don't adopt this simple daily habit...
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Stay close to the problem.
Most SDRs haven't run a sales call. So they have very little context into what their buyers care about, and the nuances around the problem they can solve.
So they end up cold calling hundreds of prospects. And basically knowing nothing about what those people actually care about.
That's a recipe for not hitting quota.
The best SDRs stay close to the problem by:
✅ Watching recordings of AEs running the meetings they set up
✅ Riding shotgun with AEs on sales calls if their org doesn't record them
✅ Reading every single customer story and testimonial
✅ Watching and listening to their customers in interviews
✅ Listening to other rep's cold calls
etc
Bonus points if you use AI to gather all of these goodies en masse.
The best SDRs I've worked with spend the last 30 min. of every business day learning about what their buyers care about.
This simple habit will significantly level up your outbound results.
What would you add to the list?
Steven Bryerton, SVP of Sales at ZoomInfo, shared this cold-calling tip
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You need to come with a strong hypothesis on what you think the prospect is focused on.
I call this a reverse pitch.
Instead of pitching your solution within 60 seconds of meeting someone, you pitch the problem. What you hear every single one of their peers working on.
This sounds like:
"In a few recent conversations with Logistics leaders at companies like A & B, we're seeing a theme around two challenges:
1) Reliable Capacity. Securing affordable capacity in an uncertain marketplace to stay under our transportation budget.
2) Visibility. Get better freight visibility in transit to improve predictability and overall customer experience."
You can layer in more relevance based on your research. But those are the nuts & bolts of a great reverse pitch.
⛔️ What to do if none of this resonates with your prospect
This is where Steven's tip comes into play. Don't make a big deal about it. Keep moving.
This sounds like:
"That's interesting, Steven. That's all the logistics leaders are sharing in the last three conversations I've had. What's #1 or #2 for you?"
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Make your best educated guess. Show you did your homework.
That will activate the law of reciprocity to work in your favor.
Put in the work and, even if you're wrong, the prospect will put in the work to correct you.
