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?

Clarity and Confidence

𝘼𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚?
Know there is more to life than this and ready to find out what and how? 

Maybe you've tried but things keep holding you back or getting in your way? 

But you're not waiting any longer, you're ready to live a life you love now? 

𝙄𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 6 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚:
	• Loving your job and knowing you're making an impact 
	• Looking forward to Mondays! 
	• Spending quality time with your family and friends 
	• Looking after yourself and feeling confident 
	• Having the work life flexibility that best suits you 

𝙊𝙧 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧
	• Feel exactly the same as you do right now? 

𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧….

So why not join the over 300 people I've coached through changes in their lives? 
	• Building confidence & setting boundaries
	• Changing careers & getting promotion 
        • Leadership skills
	• Making an impact in their role
	• Finding new role after redundancy 
	• Returning to work after parental leave 
	• Starting their own businesses
	• Retiring - and the whole identity shift that brings  

I bring a whole set of resources and experience, from my corporate global IT programme management role, to starting my own business, to all the training I've done (so you don't have to), to the learnings I get from working with each of my amazing clients 

So if you're looking for 1 to 1 coaching, small group coaching or masterclasses to learn from then don't hesitate to reach out to me! 

I work both with private individuals and organisations.

I've also got a website full of blogs and other resources, check them out too!

Career Coach I Confidence Coach I Change Leader I Executive Coach

ExxonMobil

Coaching colleagues and a member of the Global Project Management Mentoring Leadership Team.
Working within an Agile environment using structured project management methodologies, responsible for number of multi million dollar global rollout projects for manufacturing applications. Leading collaboration across the organisation, business, engineering and IT teams and vendors to deliver applications saving the organisation millions of dollars.

IT Global Project Manager - Manufacturing Applications

Partnered with senior management, IT teams, business stakeholders and vendors to roll out cyber security applications to protect users and the corporate network.
Coaching and mentoring colleagues as part of the Mentoring Network.

IT Global Project Manager - Cyber Security

Lead a multi million dollar project to ensure 120 sites had adequate networks and wifi coverage before voice-over-ip implementations
Managed the project to push Skype messenger to over 95000 users globally

IT Global Project Manager - Networks and Wifi

Facilitated portfolio management with over all cost management and reporting. Created a cost tracking tool which was selected as one of only 2 recommended tools in IT, and trained many people in the detailed processes.

IT Global Project Manager - Portfolio Planning

Led project management track of 2 concurrent $20m projects, including cost tracking and management, scheduling, presentations to senior management, risk management and problem resolution, coordinating across regional track leads covering around 40 sites globally.

IT Project Management Track Lead - VOIP

Responsible for leading a large variety of manufacturing operations and core hardware/software upgrade/installation projects across the world.

IT Project Manager

IT Project Track Lead and Analyst

IT End User Support 

𝘼𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚?
Know there is more to life than this and ready to find out what and how? 

Maybe you've tried but things keep holding you back or getting in your way? 

But you're not waiting any longer, you're ready to live a life you love now? 

𝙄𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜!

My "old" life was "ok", but I always suspected there might be more out there for me 

Then I got made redundant.... 

After the initial panic, I decided to use this as an opportunity to do what I'd never really done before: 
- find out what I actually wanted from life 
- get myself the support to help me 
- and CHANGE my life 
And I can honestly say I have never looked back! 

Now I want to support as many people as possible to live the life they love, now - however that looks for you at work, at home, and for life as a whole. 

There are various ways I can support you, including 1 to 1 or small group coaching
- Kickstart your change - a 4 week programme to get you taking empowered action 
- A little shot of confidence - a 4 week programme where you'll walk away knowing you are amazing! 
- Get your ideal role - a 4-6 week programme preparing you for your ideal role 
- CHANGE - a 3 month transformation programme taking you from where you are to loving your whole life 

I also run masterclasses, past subjects have included: confidence, creating change, managing conflict, working with different personality types 

I work with both individuals and organisations too, for more information DM me!  

I am passionate about equity - not just everyone having the same opportunities, but having flexibility around what we each need to be able to do our best at what we chose.

And I'm passionate about everyone living the life they love now - no more waiting - so if you're ready then reach out to me now!

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Mark Bangs

Karen Birchmore

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taplio

The Battle

Mark Bangs

Karen Birchmore

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

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

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