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?

SpotDraft

Program Manager - ABM (Founder's Office)

Quota Attainment:
Q4 2022: 150% (Ramp)
Q1 2023: 213%
Q2 2023: 183%
Q3 2023: 225%


Built rapport via cold outbound, analyzed technical needs of prospects, and recommended ideal solutions in collaboration with AEs.
Contributed significantly to revenue growth, helping close 14 new logos worth over $312k within a year, consistently exceeding sales targets by 150%.
Generated a $1 million sales pipeline with a 30% close rate, the highest in company history.
Prospected the largest outbound led closed won deal for Europe (United Kingdom-based enterprise organization. 
Developed a successful, personalized outbound sales strategy for the EU region. 
Tested innovative outreach methods, including video prospecting and LinkedIn audio notes.
Created a scalable personalization framework used by the entire outbound growth team.
Drove marketing activities (e.g., webinars, events) and increased end-user registration and attendance across geographies.
Worked with AEs on deal qualification, nurturing leads throughout the sales cycle, and ensuring successful closures, familiar with BANT & MEDDPIC.
Consistently won awards/ recognition for my pipeline generation efforts including but not limited to quota attainment, demo day contests, etc.

Growth Specialist

B2Brain

Played a pivotal role in building the sales function from the ground up (second sales hire).
Generated a $200k pipeline and closed 2 new logos, contributing $17k ARR.
Developed a successful outbound sales motion.
Collaborated with the founder on GTM strategies.
Constructed effective sales cadences to optimize lead nurturing and conversion rates.
Consistently achieved quota, driving company growth.
Fostered strong partnerships with marketing, implementing creative outreach methods (e.g.,
memes, videos).

Growth - North America

Zycus

✔Drive business development efforts and generate opportunities for Enterprise Accounts across North America
✔Maintaining pipeline  and change of opportunities 
✔Recognized for Personal Partnership 
✔Work with the marketing and sales  team
✔Build a culture of continuous learning and improvement by sharing industry best practices, competitive landscaping, smart use cases and related strategies.
✔Working knowledge in various tools, such as SalesForce, Zoom Info, Sales Navigator, Outreach etc.

Growth - NORAM

Nestlé

Marketing Intern

SRV Media Pvt. Ltd.

Summer Intern

Alkem Laboratories Ltd.

Worked as an intern studying management practices applied at a production facility located in Amalya, Daman, India. Prepared a report based on my experiences at the organization.

Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd. (Times Group)

Worked as a marketing intern for Times of India. I was involved in generating subscriptions for various magazines of Times Group. Presented a report based on consumer behavior and reading patterns of customers in Ahmedabad.

Sales And Marketing Intern

With a solid foundation in both startup growth and sales, I've honed my skills in growth marketing and outbound sales to drive company outcomes forward.

The core of my professional ethos is to blend empathy with data-driven insights, crafting solutions that not only meet but exceed our business goals. By focusing on impactful outcomes, my contributions support the team in adapting to the ever-evolving demands of the B2B SaaS industry.

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The Battle

Mark Bangs

Pranav Nair

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taplio

The Battle

Mark Bangs

Pranav Nair

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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