Overview
You're cold calling CEOs and Heads of Revenue to book discovery meetings for a 25-year-old sales consulting firm. You're sourcing your own lists, making 60-80 dials per day, and trying to get decision-makers to take a 30-minute call about improving their sales organization. You work directly with senior consultants who take the meetings you book.
Role Snapshot
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Role Type | Pure outbound BDR - meeting setter |
| Sales Motion | Outbound-heavy (95%+ cold outreach) |
| Deal Complexity | N/A - you book meetings, don't close deals |
| Sales Cycle | N/A - handoff after qualified meeting |
| Deal Size | N/A - consulting engagements likely $50K-$500K+ |
| Quota (est.) | 8-12 qualified meetings/week, 60-80 calls/day |
Company Context
Stage: Established (25 years in business)
Size: Unknown, but employee-owned structure suggests 50-200 employees
Growth: Actively hiring, mature business model
Market Position: Established player in sales consulting - competing for CEO attention against dozens of other consultancies, coaches, and DIY solutions
GTM Reality
Pipeline Sources:
- 95%+ Cold Outbound - you're building lists and dialing
- ~5% Referrals/Inbound - occasional warm lead from existing client
SDR/AE Structure: You ARE the SDR. Senior consultants take your meetings and close deals. No middle layer.
SE Support: N/A - consultants handle all technical/methodology discussions
Competitive Landscape
Main Competitors: Other sales consulting firms, sales training companies, fractional CROs, in-house enablement teams, status quo (doing nothing)
How They Differentiate: 25-year track record, employee ownership, focus on working directly with CEOs
Common Objections:
- "We're handling it internally"
- "Not the right time"
- "Just hired a VP of Sales"
- "Send me some info" (brush-off)
Win Themes: Long-term relationships, proven methodologies, working with CEOs vs lower-level contacts
What You'll Actually Do
Time Breakdown
Cold Calling (50%) | Email/LinkedIn (25%) | Research/Prep (15%) | Internal (10%)
Key Activities
- Cold Calling: 60-80 dials per day to CEOs and Heads of Revenue. You're getting past gatekeepers (assistants, office managers) or hitting direct dials. 90%+ go to voicemail. When you get someone live, you have 10-15 seconds to earn 30 more seconds.
- List Building: Pulling target companies from LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, or similar. You're qualifying based on company size, industry, and growth signals. Expect to spend 60-90 minutes per day on this.
- Email Sequences: Follow-up emails to voicemails and no-answers. You're probably sending 100-150 emails per day across various sequences. Response rates are 1-3%.
- Meeting Handoff: When you book a meeting, you're briefing the consultant on what you learned, prepping them on the company, and sometimes joining the first 5 minutes of the call.
The Honest Reality
What's Hard
- Rejection Volume: You'll hear "no" or get hung up on 50+ times per day. Most CEOs don't pick up. The ones who do often aren't interested.
- Visibility: Your numbers are tracked daily - dials made, connections, meetings booked. If you're having a bad week, everyone knows it. You'll get coached on it.
- Gatekeeper Battles: Getting past EAs and office managers to reach CEOs is its own skill. Many will shut you down before you get 10 words out.
- Meeting Quality Pressure: Not just about booking meetings - they need to be qualified. If consultants show up and the prospect isn't a fit, you'll hear about it.
- Quota Pressure: 8-12 meetings per week means 2-3 per day. If you have a few bad days in a row, you're behind and grinding to catch up.
What Success Looks Like
- Consistently booking 10+ qualified meetings per week
- 60-80+ daily dials without fail
- Meetings convert to opportunities at 40%+ rate (consultant feedback)
- Promotion to consulting role within 12-24 months
Who You're Selling To
Primary Buyers:
- CEOs of $5M-$100M companies (often founder-led or first-time CEOs)
- Heads of Revenue/CROs at growth-stage B2B companies
What They Care About:
- Sales team not hitting numbers
- Can't scale beyond founder-led sales
- High rep turnover or long ramp times
- Need to professionalize their sales org
- Looking for outside perspective on what's broken
Requirements
- Thick skin - you'll get rejected constantly and need to keep dialing
- Coachability - they say "coached hard" in the post, meaning you'll get direct feedback daily
- Discipline - hitting 60-80 dials per day requires structure and routine
- No prior experience required, but comfort with phones is essential
- Willingness to work in-office in Indianapolis (this isn't remote)
- Interest in eventually becoming a consultant (that's the path they're selling)