David Dulany's Blog

​You might be wondering what a marketer knows about cold calls, and the answer is “Quite a bit!” I sit with my SDR team, when we’re not working remotely, so I hear their cold calls and pitches all day every day, which gives me insight into what’s working for them and what doesn’t based on the rest of the conversation.

There’s nothing more important for an SDR / BDR than the first words that come out of their mouth, and that especially holds true for an agent-assisted call, where the potential customer has been passed from the agent to the sales rep for the pitch and you have just a few seconds to gain and hold their attention.
So, what should you say and what should you NOT say?

It goes without saying that buyers today have a very different set of tools at their disposal versus just 10 or 20 years ago. There’s a tremendous amount of information online and on social networks that they can use in order to make a purchase decision. 

Think of the last time that you purchased a product. You probably started with a Google search where you didn’t leave the first page of results, and you started to get a feeling for what was out there. You may have checked a few review sites to see what other people are saying and see who the top players are in the market. 

Once you narrow down your top three or four you probably went to their websites and started to look at what their content and thought leadership. Are they legit? 

At some point in this process, your phone probably rang with an unknown number that you either blocked or sent to voicemail. If you decided to take that call or listen to your voicemail, and it was someone describing a problem that you were trying to solve at the moment and how they may have helped you might have added that company to your list of ones that you were checking out, you may have then filled out their lead form or taking a demo. ​

​There’s an old axiom in business that says “nothing happens until somebody sells something.”


No customer success can happen until there’s a customer. No money can be counted and no invoices sent without a transaction. No trade shows are funded, no salary payments made, no catered lunches. Until there’s a signed contract and next sales transaction is done, nothing happens.


Each day we read about companies with massive funding and a great idea that quietly fold or are purchased for a hugely discounted price in what’s described in a myriad of ways but what it comes down is one thing: they didn’t sell enough. 


In an office somewhere around the globe there sits someone with an amazing product that can definitely change lives for the better that is slowly wilting under the hot glow of time. The product may be great and the team may be amazing but if nobody is selling anything the company is slowly dying.