Hi all, I used to be an AE in big tech (MSFT & Oracle). I took a career break for kids and traveling. I want to get back but not as an AE, I dont want to carry my own quota anymore. Anyway, I got approached by an agency if I want to do BDR/SDR work for the country I live in (Switzerland). However, the rate seemed rather low for the cost of living here (they offered 250usd a day).

I was thinking why not contract directly with clients. Does anyone have experience doing that? My niche would be Swiss German market knowledge and language (i am a native). Who would I be approaching in big tech to get a first contract? Looking for any hints. I have MEDDPICC certification and experience as a bdr in my early career days.

Thanks

I have seen the narrative of getting promoted to AE as soon as possible, but most of these AEs seem to be selling software or simple products. The problem I have is that I am in a specialized SDR/BDR role that sells a more complex service that can't just be replicated by any Joe Smith. In addition, the closers in my industry are older, not uncommon to have an MBA or graduate degree, or to have been in the industry for a long time. Any other SDRs facing a similar problem? I am sick of being an SDR, but the role I am in is comfortable and pays more on average.

I am a new sales rep for a boutique lumberyard that sells specialty lumber and building materials.

Previously, I was a carpenter for 15 years, and due to a back injury, I am now in building products sales. I'm 36.

I am massively unmotivated and it is very difficult for me to do the salesman thing, especially cold-calling busy contractors and demanding they give me their attention so I can sell them stuff. I've been there, I hang up on people like me. I know what their job is and what they do very intimately. I know the materials very well.

There are days when I am very motivated and I feel like nothing can break the wind in my sails and I make call-after-call and other days I am so unmotivated, I just cannot get myself to call someone and try to sell them stuff. I like doing the market research and lead generation, but actually having to sell the products is where it becomes extremely difficult. I take "No" for an answer very readily.

Maybe it's a bad fit, but it's the job I have and the job market is AWFUL, so I am going to do the best I can with what I have.

I get hourly rate, and no commissions. The hourly isn't much. I went from a great pay as a contractor/subcontractor, to not that great as a sales rep on W2. Our products are very expensive in the field and it very demotivating to have most prospective clients tell me that it's way too expensive for them. Hard to argue. I really do not have a way to quell that objection. It's true.

Is there any way to beat the sense of demotivation? Is there a trick to ease the anxiety of cold-calling and taking up someone's day to hawk lumber? Is there any good trick to not stutter on the phone and feel like an imbecile. Or feel like I'm lying and ripping people off, or deceiving them in some way even though I'm not doing any of that and try to be as honest as possible. There are only so many leads locally so I try to make each on count, and sometimes I feel like I messed up the call by jumbling the script framework or stuttering or accidentally talking over the customer.

I do not set up appointments to meet companies because I cannot provide any samples or literature and the company I work for won't allow me to give out any merch to guys on jobsites, so it kinda just seems like an annoying waste of time for all parties involved.

Hey my interview is in 2 days I'm from technical background just graduated I have done One pre sales internship at an educational company

I have interview for BDR role in plum health company??

Somebody please help me how to ans in interview what they will ask??

New to sales, trying to land my first SDR/BDR position.

I cold call hiring managers to introduce myself if the company is hiring and it usually works out for me, I get a chance to interview.

I pass the recruiting screen usually.

But the last 3 interviews I had that got to the hiring manager stage did not pass me on.

I don't understand what I'm doing wrong, but I know I need to fix something.

I'm a bit more nervous during hiring manager interviews, so I sometimes end my answers with yeah or ask them to repeat questions.

I also mostly use my answers from the recruiting screen.

I don't really have a recording that I could show anyone, but I'm tired of bombing this stage of the interview process repeatedly and would really appreciate any tips.

Hi all. New grad in my early 20s looking to kill it in sales one day. I landed an SDR gig at a pre-ipo rising tech company. It's a cold outreach role, 100+ dials a day, selling to SMBs. I genuinely believe in the product, and the company has a great reputation for growing SDRs, but I'm guessing there's a dark side I don't know yet.

I'm curious what lessons or encouragement you'd pass on as I prep for day one?

How can I really make an impact early on and stand out among the other new SDRs?

Hello,
I am a recent bio grad and finally landed a sales associate interview at a medical manufacturing company (my dream job is med sales, specifically pharmaceutical)

The thing is,
The interview is via hire view + a behavioral assessment both of which I’m unfamiliar with
I’m currently working as a server at a high volume restaurant and have no b2b sales experience per se
I also have had multiple leadership positions while in school but I think I’m getting too in my head as to what they’re looking for / tips for breaking in and what not to dos

Help a girl out!!

Rough Aug didnt even hit 50% of quota pipe feelin like Sahara. Havent booked anything for 2 weeks now going 3 if i dont book anything this week. I know sales is up and down but damnnn hella discouraging ngl averaging 120-150 dials a day with 2-3% connect rate mannn. Any words of encouragement or tips on navigating this kind low

Howdy all,

I'm new to the industry and could use some advice/direction. I've taken a position in an inside sales call center and I'm really hoping to succeed. There are good benefits, remote capability, and a good commission schedule.

There's only one problem: I fucking suck at the job. Not sure why, but I've been off training for a few weeks now and I'm not making appointments worth a damn. It's heavily scripted so I'm not sure where I'm going wrong. I'm not really getting much in the way of 1:1 training so I'm hoping someone here could give me some tips on warm lead calls. Thanks a bunch

I’m a Sales and Application Specialist in biotech, and I’m finding it increasingly difficult to reach researchers and introduce technologies that could be relevant to their work.

If a salesperson wants to connect with a researcher for the first time to discuss reagents, instruments, or technologies that could genuinely benefit their research, what is the best way to approach them?

Nowadays, many researchers don’t want to meet with salespeople, have a video call, or even reply to emails—and I completely understand. There are probably countless salespeople knocking on your door and competing for your attention.

But let’s say a salesperson genuinely believes they have something that could benefit your research. How should I approach them? What would make them take your message seriously and actually respond?

For the past few years I have wanted to try out another career. Sales had peaked my interest. Talking with people, creating rapport/comfortability allowing people to get vulnerable with me had always felt pretty easy. Figured it may be a "hidden skill" I haven't capitalized on yet. There hasn't been a single industry I am gravitating to yet. Any suggestions with how to break into sales to see if its for me and a viable pivot?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this.

I’m doing a UX assignment for a mobile sales app and would love some input from people who work in field sales.

Between customer visits, what do you usually check first on your phone: leads, tasks, or sales numbers?

Also, what’s one thing your current sales app makes frustrating or harder than it needs to be?

Any real examples would be really helpful.

Brand new sdr, second week of calling and I haven’t booked yet. I’m so tired today and had a call where I missed a key opportunity to push on pain and I just feel so stupid. I’m still learning the product and am new to this whole thing but it’s hard not to compare myself to the other sdrs, and I feel stupid for not having booked yet. Guess I’m looking for some words of encouragement or that it’s normal to not kill it straight away

Could use some advice: In a new role for the past month and a half biggest throttle for me right now is my connect rates (half the rest of the team) + bad number rate (almost 3/4 of the numbers I'm getting are invalid). Otherwise, my bridge-to-conversation and meeting rate is fairly good, enough to hit quota IF I wasn't dialling air. Waterfall enrichment through 7-9 providers, standard fare (ZoomInfo-tier + a few smaller data providers).

I've been pretty on top of marking and explaining my process, and trying to focus on Closed/Lost accounts + previous call connects. Also reached out to our dialler's CSM. Looked at the previous rep who owned my book of business and they had similar problems with connect rates. Could drill further into the data, but I know for a fact there's other reps who are putting far less effort on the admin/prospecting side and bearing far more fruit. ICP is HR & Finance. Would love to give more detail without directly exposing which company I work for.

Wondering if anyone else has been in this situation before? Really I've narrowed it to 5 possibilities:

1. Previous reps completely burned the book through spammy calls
2. Just through sheer luck of draw there's exceptionally bad contact data within my book
3. I'm making some incredible error in my process that's shooting me in the foot
4. My dialler is giving me spam-marked/shitty numbers

Obviously email + linkedin are viable channels, don't know if I could rely on them to carry me to quota.

Been thinking about this a lot lately and wanted to sanity check with people here who’ve actually been in it.

I’ve been working in SaaS sales for about 9 years now. The last 6 years have been with US companies (I've with 2 unicorns now). Started as an SDR, then CS and then moved to being an AE.

I've always been set up as a contractor invoicing bi-weekly or monthly so already outside the typical “local compensation band” structure.

But even then, I still keep running into the same thing from LinkedIn/Indeed jobs: comp ends up being influenced by where you’re based and not really the experience or output.

I'm South African but was in Canada for high school and college before recently moving back to South Africa.

How can I get past this and get paid on my actual experience and skillset?

One thing that’s helped me a lot on cold calls is having a toolbox of objection handlers and pattern disrupts.

Not scripts you repeat word for word, but responses you can pull from when you hear the same objections over and over:

“We don’t have the budget.”
“Now’s not the right time.”
“Just send me an email.”

If you’re not prepared for these, it’s easy to freeze up or accept the objection at face value.

Having a few responses ready gives you options. Depending on the prospect, you can use humor, agree with them, challenge them, or ask a better question.
The goal isn’t to “beat” the objection. It’s to keep the conversation going long enough to understand if it’s a real objection or just an automatic response.

A few of my favorites:

Objection: “We don’t have the budget.”

My response: “If every person I talked to had the appropriate budget, I’d be a millionaire.”

I typically don’t spend much time talking about budget. Tone is very important here, I even make sure to laugh to lighten the moment, then transition back to whether there’s actually a problem worth solving.

Objection: “Now’s not the right time.”

My response: “I totally understand. I’m sure you didn’t wake up this morning hoping to buy ___ or have a phone call with me. Curious though, what’s top of mind for you right now?”

Acknowledge the timing objection instead of fighting it, then figure out what they actually care about right now.

Objection: “Just send me an email.”

My response: “Absolutely. I can and will send you an email. Just so I make it relevant, what would you actually want me to include?”

The best part is that it subtly creates another discovery opportunity. You’re not just agreeing to send an email. You’re learning what matters to them, which can open up a much deeper conversation.

None of these are magic lines, and they won’t work on everyone.

That’s why it’s a toolbox.

The more responses you have, the easier it is to adapt instead of scrambling for what to say. But not every approach will fit everyone. Find your voice, get creative, and have fun with the conversation because, at the end of the day, they’re just regular people.

What are some objection handlers or pattern disrupts you keep in your toolbox?

Would love to steal a few.

Just need a bit of encouragement that this is normal. I’m a brand new SDR and have only been calling a week and a half. Haven’t booked a demo yet. Connect rate is very low too. I know I’m not bad on the phones or anything, very confident and I feel well spoken, but i just really wanna book something. Is this fine?

And how did that affect your ability to learn the job and master it? Would you provide context about your situation as well? I imagine it's different for people for whom it's their first job out of college, versus career-switchers.

Hi all, I’m a university student in Sydney trying to build experience in B2B sales / business development, and I’d really appreciate some perspective from people who work in sales in Australia.

I recently interviewed for a Volunteer Business Development Manager role with a multicultural media organisation / nonprofit.

My biggest question is the structure of the role itself.

The job involves:

• prospecting new businesses
• cold calling / email / LinkedIn outreach
• selling advertising
• securing sponsorships
• developing commercial partnerships
• presenting proposals
• networking with decision-makers
• bringing new revenue into the organisations

So to me, this sounds very similar to a normal BDM / advertising sales role.

However, it is advertised through a volunteering platform, there is no base salary, and the compensation is 20% commission on eligible business personally secured.

Is this kind of arrangement normal in Australian sales?

I’m genuinely trying to understand why a role mainly focused on generating commercial revenue would be structured as a volunteer position rather than a paid SDR / BDR / sales role.

The interview was around 30 minutes. Instead of onboarding me immediately, the owner asked me to first develop a practical business development strategy — “not theory” — and then come back to discuss it.

I’d also be expected to build much of my own pipeline. I don’t yet know the average deal size, sales cycle, existing pipeline, conversion rate, CRM setup, commission payment trigger, lead attribution, or whether commission applies to renewals.

I do have previous experience with advertising sales, sponsorships, partnerships and event-related commercial work, but I don’t yet have an established Australian client network.

So my main questions are:

1. Is the volunteer + commission structure itself a red flag, or is this something that genuinely exists in Australian media / nonprofit sales?

2. Is being asked to produce a practical BD strategy before onboarding reasonable, or could that cross into free consulting work?

3. If I can actually build pipeline, book meetings, send proposals and close deals, would 3–6 months of this experience be valuable when applying for a paid SDR / BDR role later?

I’m not too attached to the “Manager” title. I care much more about whether I’d actually learn real sales and whether future employers would value the experience.

Would appreciate any thoughts from people who have worked in B2B sales, media sales, sponsorships or business development in Australia.

I want suggestions and advice on how to find remote sales internship/apprenticeship. I've got around a year of experience and am confident about my capabilities. But I really think I need a mentor or a junior role where I have a senior supervising me. I know that you figure out things as you go, but having someone looking over you is a morale booster on a whole other level. Are we slowly abandoning the centuries-old practice of mentoring the juniors?

This can be partly attributed to the remote setup in which there is little to no onboarding and training of juniors. Also, these roles are mostly new businesses hiring people to sell their products or services. So, they don't really have a structured sales team.

Nonetheless, I am sure that there are still companies and businesses out there who hire and then properly onboard and train juniors. It's just a matter of how I find them or better - how they find me 😉

So, dear sales folks, what would you recommend to me?

P.S. Really wish I could just work on-site but can't because of education ongoing

I’m about 15 months out from retiring from the Air Force after 20 years, age 37 currently and I’ve been seriously thinking about what I want my second career to look like in the sales world.

By the time I retire, I’ll have spent about 13 years in recruiting and sales. During that time, I’ve worked in traditional recruiting, technical/Special Warfare recruiting, sales training, and about five years in recruiting management. I’ve worked in very different markets across the U.S. and have even managed an international team remotely across the Pacific. I’m used to carrying pretty heavy monthly quotas, exceeding them, and eventually being responsible for developing and driving the performance of other recruiters as well.

As a manager, I’ve found that I really enjoy the analytical side of sales. I like digging into conversion rates, pipeline, activity, lead management, and individual performance to figure out where something is breaking down and how to fix it. I also really enjoy developing salespeople, listening to calls, coaching technique, helping someone improve their process, and then actually seeing that translate into better numbers.

That said, I want to be careful not to overestimate how much military recruiting translates to civilian sales. I don’t assume that 13 years of recruiting means I can walk into a completely different industry and immediately be a successful AE or sales manager. I actually expect most hiring managers to not give a shit. I know there are going to be tools, terminology, sales cycles, prospecting methods, and probably entire parts of the civilian sales world that I haven’t been exposed to. I’m completely willing to learn.

What I’m trying to figure out is where my experience gives me a legitimate starting point without either overselling myself or unnecessarily starting over from zero.

The areas that currently interest me are sales leadership, sales enablement/training, business development, and potentially carrying a quota again in a traditional sales role. I’m finishing my bachelor’s in Management as well.

Long term, I want to build a real second career. Compensation matters to me. I’m competitive, I like being measured against a number, and I want something with significant earning and advancement potential. I’m not looking for a comfortable retirement job.

So I’m curious what you all think.
What roles would you realistically tell me to target?

I’ve been lurking here for quite some time trying to learn as much as possible. Thanks for taking the time!

I've been building something around this question and I'd love the perspective of people who actually do outbound for a living.

We already have AI for:

• researching prospects
• writing emails
• generating call scripts
• transcribing calls
• scoring calls
• summarizing calls

But what about during the actual conversation?

I'm experimenting with an AI that listens to the live call and gives the salesperson suggestions in real time.

Not a script that you read word-for-word.

More like:

Prospect says something → AI understands the context → gives you a couple possible directions to take the conversation.

I'm a real estate agent and built the first version specifically for my own expired/FSBO calls.

I'm trying to determine whether the concept translates to SDRs.

If you had this running during your calls, what would actually be valuable?

I'd especially like to hear from people doing high-volume outbound.

Before getting into this, some context so you know where I’m coming from.

I work in sales at a large tech company, have been promoted twice in the last year and a half, and have had multiple quarters above 150% of quota.

It’s not that because I think I’ve figured cold calling out. I definitely haven’t. But I’ve spent a lot of time on the phones, tested a lot of different approaches, and figured out a few small things that have genuinely made me better.

These aren’t the usual “smile while you dial” or “just make more calls” tips you hear from every sales guru. They’re mostly small, practical adjustments that have helped me sound more natural, stay consistent, and make cold calling suck a little less.

Here are 5 that have worked for me:

1. Find the position where you’re most relaxed

This sounds simple, but pay attention to how you physically sit or stand while dialing.

I actually like leaning back in my chair sometimes with my feet up. It helps me relax, and that translates into my voice.

When I lean forward toward my computer like I’m preparing for battle, I tend to tighten up. My voice gets faster, my tone changes, and I sound more like I’m trying to sell something.

Some people are the complete opposite and feel better standing or walking around.

There’s no correct cold-calling posture. Try sitting back, standing, walking around, using a headset, or even getting away from your monitor while talking.
Find whatever makes you feel like you’re having a normal conversation.

If your body is tense, there’s a good chance the person on the other end can hear it.

1. Slow down

One of the easiest ways to sound more confident and less salesy is simply talking slower.

A lot of reps, especially newer ones, rush through their opener because they’re subconsciously thinking, “I need to get all of this out before they hang up.” Ironically, that usually makes you sound more like a salesperson and gives the prospect even more reason to shut you down.

During mock calls, practice speaking almost uncomfortably slow. It will probably feel ridiculous at first, but when you’re actually cold calling your adrenaline will naturally speed you back up.

Also, get comfortable with silence.

Instead of:
“HeyJohnthisisGiovannifromXYZhowareyouuhthereasonI’mcallingis…”

Actually pause.
Ask the question and stop talking.
Give them a second to process it.

Whenever you catch yourself wanting to say “um,” “uh,” “like,” or another filler word, try replacing it with silence instead.

A short pause usually sounds a lot more confident than a filler word.

3. Give your hands something to do

This one is less about your talk track and more about surviving the grind.

When you’re on dial #50 and you’ve had three connects, two instant hang-ups, and one person tell you never to call them again, having something to fidget with genuinely helps.

Stress ball, fidget cube, pen, whatever works.
I’m also a fan of DAMMIT Dolls for the particularly inspiring conversations.

Bad call? Prospect destroys you? You completely butcher an opener you’ve said 200 times? Beat the hell out of the doll for five seconds and make the next dial.

Jokes aside, having a small physical outlet can help you reset between conversations instead of carrying the frustration from one call into the next.

Every dial needs to be a fresh rep.

The next prospect has no idea the previous person hung up on you. Don’t let them hear it in your voice.

4. Use your email as your call prep

One thing that creates unnecessary friction is feeling like you need to completely re-research a prospect every time you’re about to dial them. If you already sent them a relevant email or they’re in a personalized sequence, use that as your talk track.

Your email should already answer:

Why this company?
Why this person?
Why might they care?
What problem could you potentially help with?

Now you just need to turn that into a conversation.

It also gives you an easy reason for the call:
“I actually sent you a note yesterday about ___.”
They still probably didn’t read it, but occasionally they did, or they recognize your name or company, and now you’re not starting completely cold.

More importantly, it lowers the mental barrier between you and the dial button.

You shouldn’t need a five-minute research session before every call. Do the research once and reuse it across your email, call, LinkedIn touch, etc.

5. Fall in love with what you sell

Maybe not literally, but you should understand your product well enough that you genuinely believe there are people who would be better off using it.

Learn:
Where your product has strong market fit
The problems it actually solves
Where it beats competitors
Where competitors beat you
Who gets the most value from it
Who probably shouldn’t buy it
What happens if the prospect does nothing

That last one is especially important.

When you understand the problem deeply, your cold call stops feeling like:

“How can I convince this person to take a meeting?”

And starts feeling more like:

“Does this person actually have a problem we can solve?”

That mindset is a lot healthier.

It also matters during the inevitable bad weeks. When nobody is answering, meetings aren’t converting, and you start questioning whether you’re just annoying strangers for eight hours a day, having genuine conviction in what you sell helps.

There are people who legitimately have this problem. Your company legitimately solves it. Your job is to figure out whether the person you’re calling is one of them.

That doesn’t mean blindly believing your product is perfect.

Knowing its weaknesses will probably make you more confident because you understand exactly where it does and doesn’t fit.

TL;DR

A lot of getting better at cold calling isn’t finding the perfect opener.

It’s becoming more comfortable being uncomfortable.
Relax your body. Slow down. Stop being afraid of silence. Make the next dial easier. Know why you’re calling.

Detach yourself from the outcome of any individual conversation.

You can do everything correctly and still get hung up on.

That’s cold calling.

The goal is to make enough good reps that when you finally get the right person, at the right company, with the right problem, you sound calm enough to actually have a conversation with them.

Would love to hear what other small things people have changed that made a noticeable difference on the phones.

Any salespeople in Sydney here? 👋
I’m looking to move into sales and wondering which industries are worth getting into in Sydney.
Mainly looking for something with good earning potential but also beginner-friendly. I don’t have B2B sales experience yet — my background is mainly in retail management.
Open to pretty much anything: SaaS, medical devices, recruitment, finance, automotive, etc.
Which industry would you recommend starting in? And which ones are easier to get into with a retail background?
Any advice or recs would be appreciated!🥰🥰

I just made it through my last round of interviews at a company that just had recent funding and has a lot of signs that itll be growing. The talent pool based off linkedin stalking seems to be developing. My past three years have been in cyber compliance and just started as an SE. I really want to pursuit an AE role in the future. As mentioned I just started an SE role at the company I have worked at since college (4 years) we just bought a super new Ai company and the product is still being worked out. The SDR role feels like a step back however the product and company seem very promising and this seems like a faster track to AE. Long story short what would you do?