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?

Zinnia 

Senior Manager Learning Development

Good Learning

Provide Fractional Chief Learning Officer and Learning Strategy support by conducting learning needs analyses, collaborating with company leaders to design scalable solutions, and implementing learning plans aligned with identified needs.

Learning Strategist

CFCU Community Credit Union

Established and led L&D department serving over 200 employees in 14 locations. Increased learning offerings more than 650% over 5 years and supervised 3 L&D Specialists who delivered ~10,000 training hours annually.

Increased company satisfaction with learning 65% over 5 years by conducting needs analyses and implementing learning solutions aligned with organizational goals.

Managed 10+ projects to completion annually by leading cross-departmental teams of 10-15, resulting in the implementation of 5 technology systems utilized by 100% of employees.

Created over 200 training and communications materials and introduced knowledge management systems, leading to a 75% increase in efficiency for employees.

Trained 20 administrators and 200+ users on intranet and Learning Management System. Introduced 25+ programs that increased platform engagement by 85%.

Learning and Development Manager

Established strategic education program through creating live and digital learning opportunities. Facilitated 60+ training sessions annually for groups of up to 200, increasing employee engagement 80%.

Utilized business intelligence programs to research and analyze growth opportunities. Wrote, edited, and presented 250-page expansion application and two 50+ page merger applications that grew company customer base more than 50%. 

Executed 10-12 large-scale, organization-wide projects annually. Surpassed completion goals each year by communicating change processes and managing resources.

Education Manager

Wrote 100+ internal and external-focused speeches, reports, electronic communications, and presentations on behalf of the CEO and C-suite.

Reduced meeting preparation time for C-Suite by more than 50% through the implementation of meeting planning software. Provided training to 30+ constituents on software.

Executive Assistant

Purchase College

Analyzed enrollment data and implemented 15+ new courses by collaborating with faculty, increasing access to learning opportunities 25% among undergraduate students.

Coordinated 10+ in-person employee events annually for audiences of up to 300. Developed communications, created presentations, and edited speeches to ensure message clarity.

Chief of Staff

Advocated for adult learners on cross-functional committees and collaborated with faculty campus-wide to schedule courses to meet learner needs.  

Coached 100+ adult learners through 1-1 and small group meetings by discussing professional goals, analyzing previous course completion, and advising on graduation requirements. 

Supervised 2 academic advisors resulting in increased and consistent learner support, leading to high graduation rates among full-time Liberal Studies students.

Director of Adult Education

I am a Learning & Development professional with 7+ years’ experience managing a learning department serving 200 employees in 14 locations. My learning solutions are designed to bridge knowledge gaps and enhance employee development for organizations that value transparent communication, curiosity, and innovation. 

✨Top Skills✨
Program Management
Project Management
Learning Needs Analysis
Learning Strategy
Content Development
Cross-Functional Leadership
Change Management
Communication Strategy

💻Technology Experience💻
Adobe Captivate
7-Taps Microlearning
Loom Video Editing
Veed.io Video Editing
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Office
SharePoint
Google Suite
Canva
Zoom
LMS Systems: Canvas, BVS

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The Battle

Mark Bangs

Rebecca Lerch, M.Ed.

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The Battle

Mark Bangs

Rebecca Lerch, M.Ed.

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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