I'll cold call for you.

Try me out for £1,000.

30-50 conversations with your target market.

I'll provide the list, mobile numbers, and reporting.

All I need to know is the problems you solve, who you solve them for, and why they'd be motivated to solve them.

If it goes well, we keep working together.

If not, you walk away.

Mark Bangs

“Just pick up the phone to grow your business.”

It’s ok advice, but it misses most of what actually makes outbound work.

Before a single dial happens, you need to:

- Build a quality list without Sales Nav sprinkling in Yoga Instructors and Chemistry Professors

- Find reliable data that isn't full of wrong numbers

- Set up a CRM so you can stay on top of tasks

- Choose and configure a dialler so you're not manually calling everything

- Write and refine messaging that doesn't make you sound like a call centre in Bangalore

- Track follow ups (it takes us 4.2 dial attempts on avg to get a conversation with someone)

- Work the list consistently

That’s a big ask for a founder who’s already wearing five hats.

What usually happens is this:

A few good sessions, a few missed ones, and that non-negotiable “prospecting time” ends up being quietly removed from the calendar.

At that point, most revert back to relying on referrals or inbound,  neither of which are scaleable or consistent.

The truth is, cold calling works.

But it only works when it’s done systematically, every day, at volume, by people who live and breathe it.

That’s why founders outsource it.

Not because they can’t do it but because it's a ballache.

I book qualified meetings for founders and MDs 📞

Spoke with a company recently who said they don’t cold call as they know everyone in their market. 

Yet I routinely see their MD twerking on every teenager's post to get their super secret AI prompt or n8n workflow for lead gen.

Maybe he just didn't like me.

Or he’d spoken with Céan.

That’s more likely.

🚨 Comment "BRO" to boost my reach. 🚨

If your outbound sales efforts aren’t landing, it might not be your pitch or your people.

It might be your list.

If you’re calling people who don’t feel the pain you solve, or who aren’t motivated to fix it, you’re probably wasting time and money.

Before you invest in outsourcing or hiring salespeople, make sure you know your target market inside and out.

If you don’t, that’s fine.

Just recognise that your goal shifts from selling to learning.

Use outbound to validate your assumptions.

Every “no,” “maybe,” and “tell me more” gives you clues about your market.

The wrong list makes sales impossible.

The right list allows you to learn exactly what matters to your ICP, what questions/objections they're likely to raise, and ultimately what will motivate them to spend money with you.

LinkedIn engagement ≠ quality service

Instead of paying someone to do your outbound sales because their posts get loads of likes and comments, think about:

1. What are their clients saying about them?
(If anything)

2. How many will actually vouch for them?
(We can point to several)

3. What is their overall retention rate?
(Ours is 92.3%)

The "fractional SDR" space is getting more popular as people realise they can just post selfies on LinkedIn and work for themselves.

It's important to vet these people and ask what kind of results their clients are seeing.

If you've got monkeys dialling for you, don't be surprised if it ends up being a banana skin for your business (yeah I know, terrible...)

🙈

The list is the foundation of any outbound campaign.

If the list isn't right, everything else falls apart.

You can have great messaging delivered expertly, but it's all for nought you’re not speaking to the right people.

By “the right people,” I mean those who actually have the problem you solve, and who are motivated to solve it.

This is why clarity on your ICP isn’t optional.

If you’re not clear on who you help and why, you’re probably not ready to hire an outsourced sales agency.

And hiring internally could be disastrous.

That said, outbound can still play a role in finding that clarity.

If you have a working hypothesis of who your ICP is and what your value proposition might be, cold calling is the fastest way to test it.

Every conversation is a data point.

Every objection, question, or nugget of feedback helps you refine your message and/or targeting

By having live conversations you’ll very quickly know whether to pivot or double down.

I'd never do "brand partnership" posts.

Mainly cos I never get asked.

Researching prospects before cold calling can be a waste of time.

Hypothetical A:

+ 6 hours of dialling time
+ 5 mins of research per call
+ 2 min avg. call duration
= 51 dials (assuming you don't eat, drink, or pee)

15% connect rate = 8 connects
80% connect to conversation rate = 6 conversations

Hypothetical B:

+ 6 hours of dialling time
+ 2 min avg. call duration
= 180 dials

15% connect rate = 27 connects
65% connect to conversation rate = 18 conversations

So for all you hyper-personalisation "warm call" advocates, a genuine question:

Is the quality of your 6 conversations higher enough than my 18 conversations to justify having 1/3 as many?

Could it make more sense to build a list and go after it with a relevant message?

Germaine J Muirhead

Germaine J Muirhead Consulting

Marketing Consultant

Social Saturday Squad

Germaine has been involved in various social networking group where he has built and influence various LinkedIn account from 1000 to 14,000 LinkedIn followers in 2022.  

Germaine has generated new LinkedIn followers in the following groups: Recruiters, job seekers, C-Level executives, Directors, Managers, Freelancer, Aspiring Entrepreneur and leading expert in Sales organizations.  

Germaine was featured in LinkedIn News for his expertise in mass layoff and optimizing your LinkedIn account.

Germaine established 5 step process on how to optimize your LinkedIn account. Here are Germaine's recommendation: 1. Creating LinkedIn posts 2-3 per week, 2. Commenting on other people post, supporting a job anniversary, job loss or major event, 3. Using #hastags to spread your message out to other people, 4. Join network that will help you be more discovered on LinkedIn 5. Provide your expertise on LinkedIn to your audience so they can learn from your post

Member

Sun Life

▪	Researched key decision makers and stakeholders and completed detailed cold calling for over 40-50 dentist/paramedical client’s daily, ranging from small business owners to Enterprise clients consisting of 1-100 employees; presented marketing solution or SASS, to generate brand awareness and drive client growth
▪	Managed full sales cycle from prospecting to booking appointments for virtual (Zoom) and telephone calls; created engaging and customized presentations to address client requirements for a successful close, managing existing accounts and prospecting potential new business
▪	Managed sales leads through Salesforce, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Avaya Phone System, to pull trends and analysis, identify client ROI, territory marketing presence and high potentials
▪	Closed a multilevel facility (5 locations) that included 75 employees; through robust prospecting, relationship building and management (within 15 touch points) and provided value add service excellence to support client business objectives
▪	Communicated with internal departments located across Canada/Asia such as Sales, Marketing, Operations and Management, to contribute overall sales strategies, customer value proposition & marketing plans

Account Executive

South Shore Fleet Management Inc 

•	Generated and researched leads for the company through prospecting sources like Tradeshows, Yellow Pages, Kijiji, Homestar, LinkedIn, Colleges/Universities, Facebook, Google, Referrals 
•	Develop, hire, recruit, mentor and train a roster of 30 self-employed Taxi Drivers, Operation Manager, Fleet Manager, General Labor Workers, & Interns
•	Created company’s Google Page to fully utilize digital platform for potential consumer to find location of operations
•	Created a sales team to acquire new business through SPIN selling, created monthly goals plans for reps and implemented effective strategies to manage existing business 
•	Managed external relationships with Marketing Agency to promote taxi top build board advertising for clients; “Humber College, Ashley Madison, Justeat.ca Bullfrog Insurance, 411.ca, Borrowell, Kijiji” which resulted on average 110% in sales & brand awareness increase for clients

Business Development Manager

AlarmForce Industries Inc.

•	Received inbound leads, web leads, & referrals from prospect and convert them into customer by educating them on the product and services 
•	Over achieved sales target by 170% in 2015, 136% in 2016 & top 5 sales rep in the organization 
•	Generated over $45000 annually in revenue & 1138 new customer acquisition yearly
•	Received Employee of the Month for Jan 2016 becoming number 1 sales rep on the floor for North America, building relationship in different department & displaying core value 
•	Generate contracts, Referral form & inputting them on database 
•	Worked in an Entrepreneurial environment to managed deals & communicate with different department in North America

Inside Sales Representative

Yellow Pages / Pages Jaunes – Canada

•	Generated and researched leads for the company through prospecting sources like 411.ca, Kijiji, Homestar, Manta, Yelp, Metro, Toronto Star/Sun, Facebook, Google and Association
•	Created Google Page and helped monitor Google Analytics for Small to Medium Business Enterprise in order to generate advertising dollar to determine effective ROI for clients  
•	Educated clients on impression, leads and calls for their Google AdWords Campaign to understand Digital Marketing Platform 
•	Educated business owners regarding online, print and mobile products to demonstrate the value of Yellow Pages 360 solution to fully utilize their marketing budget to generate revenue 
•	Generated over $120,000 annually in sales which resulted in 130% YTD result 
•	Over achieved sales target by 130% in 2013 which resulted in being named employee of the month and recognized throughout the sales channel for most sales for all of Canada in my department 
•	Communicated with company departments located across North America such as Sales, Marketing, Operations and Management to utilize clients advertising program to increase awareness of their brands and services

Account Manager

Influence Marketing

•	Received employee of the month recognition for demonstrating strong selling ability and marketing insights on consumers trends 
•	Sold over 100 units of consumers products to retail stores during a promotional weekend 
•	Conducted qualitative marketing research on consumer feedback
•	Involved in distributing and promoting various consumer brands like: Kraft and Maple Leaf
•	Analyzed the current trend of demographic groups such as: Baby Boomers, Generation X & Y

Brand Ambassador

Voysus

•	Promoted up/cross-sales of over $100 worth of telecommunications products to each client 
•	Participated in the creation and modification of sales scripts by providing creative suggestions and feedback to my department 
•	Resolved over 10 consumer complaints daily in order to increase consumer satisfaction
•	Produced a satisfying consumer experience by understanding client expectations, exceeding sales targets and providing an accurate, prompt and efficient service
•	Analyzed consumer needs and sales objectives to make prompt decisions. For instance, I tracked over 50 consumer’s spending habits through CRM which, combined with a solid knowledge of our products, allowed me to develop efficient selling techniques to be applied by the department

Vital Links Ice-Cream and Event Marketing

•	Generated profit for the company by establishing a net income over $250 which resulted in 400% R.O.I for the events and securing more events for the company 
•	Generated leads for clients through various marketing research techniques like Yellow Pages 
•	Recorded over 100 sales transactions through inventory sheets and handled cash/credit transactions

Sales Associate

Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services

•	Administered over 100 direct deposit applications submitted by suppliers and employees daily with their banking information to be setup/updated in the government´s financial software (Oracle) 
•	Acquired a good understanding about the operations of the Central Control Unit and its positioning in the Procure-to-pay process and the support to the operations of other Ministries in Ontario
•	Analyzed supplier’s information and adjust records regarding their legal or “Operating as” name, business number, address, contact details, SIN, T4A/T4A-NR applicability, etc. 
•	Verified the status of direct deposit applications submitted by employees for expense claim reimbursement

Administrative Assistant

Business Development & Account Management Expert/Marketing Genius/Networking Guru/Community Builder

I am a marketing consultant with over 10 years of experience in sales, business development, and account management across various industries. I have a BBA in business, management, marketing, and related support services, and I specialize in marketing communications, sales and customer relationship management (CRM). I help businesses and professionals grow their online presence and reach their target audience through effective and engaging LinkedIn content and campaigns.

As a member of Social Saturday Squad, a social networking group, I have built and influenced various LinkedIn accounts, increasing their followers from 1,000 to 26,000. I was featured in LinkedIn News for my expertise in mass layoff and optimizing your LinkedIn account. I have established a 5-step process on how to optimize your LinkedIn account, covering topics such as creating posts, commenting, supporting, networking, and personal branding. My mission is to empower and inspire others to leverage LinkedIn as a platform for learning, sharing, and connecting.

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The Battle

Mark Bangs

Germaine J Muirhead

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taplio

The Battle

Mark Bangs

Germaine J Muirhead

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Mark Bangs's LinkedIn Performance

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