Overview
You're prospecting for a small consulting firm that helps businesses streamline operations and adopt technology. You'll spend most of your time cold calling business owners, sending LinkedIn messages, and trying to book discovery meetings for the advisory team. It's a new role at a small company, so you'll be building processes as you go.
Role Snapshot
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Role Type | BDR/Outbound prospector |
| Sales Motion | Outbound-heavy (90%+) |
| Deal Complexity | Consultative |
| Sales Cycle | 4-8 weeks (discovery to signed consulting engagement) |
| Deal Size | Likely $10-50K initial engagements |
| Quota (est.) | 15-20 qualified meetings/month |
Company Context
Stage: Bootstrap/early-stage (13 employees, no funding data)
Size: 13 employees
Growth: Actively hiring but very small team - you'll have high visibility but limited support
Market Position: Generalist consulting firm in a crowded space competing against thousands of similar advisory shops
GTM Reality
Pipeline Sources:
- 90% Outbound - you're building lists, cold calling, sending connection requests on LinkedIn, and emailing prospects
- 10% Referrals - occasional intros from existing clients or the founding team's network
SDR/AE Structure: No dedicated SDR team - you're likely the first or only BDR, working directly with senior advisors who close deals
SE Support: No technical pre-sales support - advisors handle discovery and scoping themselves
Competitive Landscape
Main Competitors: Thousands of regional consulting firms, Big 4 consulting arms, specialized technology consultants, independent advisors
How They Differentiate: Multi-industry experience, full advisory team approach, technology focus - but these are table stakes in consulting
Common Objections: "We already have consultants," "Too expensive," "We'll figure it out internally," "What makes you different from [other firm]?"
Win Themes: When they can show specific ROI examples, have relevant industry experience, or get referred in by a trusted source
What You'll Actually Do
Time Breakdown
Prospecting (60%) | Qualifying/Follow-up (25%) | Internal (15%)
Key Activities
- Cold Calling: 50-70 calls per day to business owners, COOs, operations directors across various industries (retail, manufacturing, healthcare, etc.). Most calls go to voicemail. You're trying to get 2-3 conversations per day.
- LinkedIn Outreach: Sending 30-40 connection requests and messages daily. Low response rates (5-10%) are normal. You're looking for people open to a conversation about process improvement.
- Email Sequences: Building lists from databases like ZoomInfo or Apollo, sending multi-touch email campaigns. Expect 1-2% reply rates.
- Meeting Scheduling: When someone shows interest, you qualify them (budget, timeline, pain points) and book them with a senior advisor. You'll probably set 3-5 meetings per week if you're doing well.
The Honest Reality
What's Hard
- Consulting services are a tough sell when cold calling - people need to trust you before spending $30K+ on advisory work, and that doesn't happen in one call
- You're competing against every other consulting firm in India plus established relationships prospects already have
- No proven playbook - you'll be testing messaging, building lists, and figuring out what works through trial and error
- Rejection rates are high (95%+ of your outreach gets ignored) and it's repetitive work
- Small team means limited coaching, no formal training, and you're expected to ramp fast
What Success Looks Like
- Booking 15-20 qualified discovery meetings per month that turn into scoped proposals
- Building a repeatable outbound motion (scripts, email templates, target lists) that the next BDR can use
- 20-30% of your meetings result in serious conversations (not just tire-kickers)
Who You're Selling To
Primary Buyers:
- Business owners / Founders (small to mid-size companies)
- COOs / Operations Directors (looking to improve efficiency)
- CTOs / Technology leads (evaluating tech stack improvements)
What They Care About:
- Specific, measurable ROI - they want to know how you'll save them money or drive revenue
- Relevant experience in their industry - they don't want to pay for you to learn their business
- Time to value - they're skeptical of long consulting engagements that don't deliver
- Cost - consulting is often seen as expensive, and you'll need to justify the investment
Requirements
- Comfortable making 50+ cold calls per day and hearing "no" constantly
- Self-starter who can build their own process without much direction
- Conversational Hindi and English (you're calling businesses across India)
- Basic understanding of business operations, technology adoption, or consulting (helpful but you'll learn)
- Willingness to work onsite in Ahmedabad