Timmy Tanks

Timothy M. Barnes proudly works as a Sales Development Representative for BigTech. A self-proclaimed veteran he’s been on the job for over three months now and a few weeks ago Timmy had his first cold calling session. According to him it went great and he professed to everyone his performance was borderline ridiculous.  It was so good that Timmy hasn’t made a cold call since his encounter with grumpy Nick Davis. If you remember, in a not so nice way Nick told Timmy that he wasn’t interested in hearing about BigTech. In the back of Timmy’s mind he knows that his first go around with cold calling didn’t go well but what he doesn’t understand is that it wasn’t supposed to be great. Of course, he is learning how to do this for the first time and it wasn’t like he had actual practice before he was pushed onto the phone.

Timmy’s front in regards to his lack of cold calling skills has gone unquestioned. It’s not as if Josh or any of the other SDRs are talking about this dreaded task. It’s sort of a don’t ask and don’t tell in office cold calling. Well, things are about to get shaken up a bit. BigTech’s CEO wisely decided that she wants to hear firsthand some of these cold calls. Effective immediately the SDRs will be periodically recorded by the sales trainer during their call sessions. BigTech doesn’t have a power dialer like PhoneBurner so the trainer will actually be right next to Timmy while recording his calls. “OMG” goes off in his head! After that last cold call debacle he was thinking he wouldn’t have to do this again under the don’t ask don’t tell policy. Things can change quickly for an SDR and Timmy is now filled with worry about when his turn will be up with the trainer.

There is Still Time Now

It’s already been a couple of days since Timmy found out the horrible news about the “recordings”. He’s seen other SDRs already walk the plank but fortunately his number hasn’t been punched as of yet.  As he sits in cubicle fear, Timmy ponders for a minute about actually making some cold calls to prepare for his recording session. Nah, he decides. I’m Timmy Barnes and I can wing it he tells himself. He tries to convince himself that his first cold calling session wasn’t too bad and his “Let’s cut to the chase” voicemails were solid gold.  As long as he keeps getting sent to voicemail he will definitely impress the trainer and he’ll take his chances if somebody actually answers.

The next morning comes and the sales trainer sends Timmy an email asking if 2:30 is a good time to record his cold calls? Ready to get this over with Timmy grudgingly responds by saying that 2:30 works well but he isn’t feeling great and that he might be coming down with a cold (wiggle room). The trainer responds by saying I hope you feel better and let me know if anything changes because the CEO wants these recordings by Monday. Timmy now feeling even more pressure responds that he should be fine. Five hours until show time, he’s feeling pretty nervous about these recordings. This is really only his second calling session and he should already have a lot more calls under his belt.

Show Time

Tick, tock, the day goes by slowly. Sending emails, researching companies, and planning his call session, Timmy is now very anxious for 2:30. The trainer finally peaks into his cubicle and things go from anxious to flat out sweaty palm nervous for Timmy. It’s one thing when you have to do this cold calling thing with some privacy. Having a trainer right on top of you and being recorded makes this a little worse than a prostate exam. The trainer asks Timmy if he’s ready and he claims to be all set. He makes his first dial and gets a voicemail (sigh of relief) but he doesn’t leave a message and hangs up the phone. A little confused the trainer asks Timmy why he didn’t leave a voicemail. He says it’s because he left this contact a message a few days ago, which he did not. However, the trainer reminds Timmy that at BigTech it’s best practice to leave a message on every call. Matter of fact, he explains that SDRs leaving informational voicemails is a vital part of the company’s marketing efforts. Nodding with a smile, Timmy agrees and forges on with his next dial. 

He gets another voicemail and delivers his “Let’s cut to the chase” with perfection only to see a look of utter disbelief on the trainer’s face. “What’s wrong?” Timmy asks. The trainer explains “your voicemail message is what is wrong”.  He asks Timmy “when did you come up with that gem?” Timmy explains that he decided to come up with his own message because he thought the standard company voicemails were pretty boring. With amazing patience, the trainer tells Timmy “you’ll need to start using the company’s messages moving forward”. 

With the last part of Timmy’s fragile confidence now shattered, he haplessly carries on with his calls. The next dial brings another voicemail and he sputters out a very rough version of the company mantra. After the brutal message, the trainer tells Timmy that he should just make dials and not worry about leaving voicemails for today. Feeling a bit relieved and thinking he’s in the clear, Timmy punches through his call sheet getting voicemail after voicemail while still being recorded by the trainer. Only a few numbers left and it’s over. He enters in a phone number for Rita Collins assuming she’s a sure fire voicemail. After two rings a short but happy voice comes on the phone and says, “This is Rita”. Click. Timmy panics and hangs up the phone. Timmy tanks.

Don’t give up on Timmy, he’ll be back soon!

Thanks for reading the cold calling tales of Timmy. This semi-fictional article series is written in defense of all SDRs and sales people who are not properly prepared or developed before they're required to make cold calls. Cold calling is one of the most difficult things in business and the preparation for it is widely undervalued. 

Matt Wanty is an Enterprise Sales Consultant and the author of the ‘The Lost Art of Cold Calling’ a sales training book written to help modern sales people succeed on cold calls. More at turnthetide.pro, #coldcall #timmy #thesdrfiles Timmy Part 3: Timmy's Thinking

This article series was inspired by comments shared in a LinkedIn message from Jay Jensen. Jay is a wise man and has much knowledge to offer.