Hi, I’m Jonathan Vaudreuil.
I’m the Director of Business Development at InsightSquared where I oversee a department of 25 entry-level Sales reps.
The strange thing about what I do now? If you told me 10 years ago that I’d be responsible for a large cold calling team I would have never believed you…
…because honestly, I was afraid of making cold calls.
It was the only part of Sales that I hated, because I felt like I really struggled with cold calls.
What happened? I wish I could say I read a book, attended a seminar, or simply had a career-changing breakthrough on my own. All those things helped me, but I was a long way from being GOOD on the phones.
I was barely removed from my startup’s collapse when I took a job at a small direct marketing agency. The founder was an exceptional Salesman and I was eager to learn what he knew.
Who was he? This Salesman changed IBM’s product launch strategy in the 1980’s, shifting the Marketing budget from advertising to using a cold calling center to book in-person meetings for the company’s Sales team. He spent 15 years at IBM, rising through the ranks steadily, then left to launch the international sales strategy at Forrester Research when it was a 20-person company. He left Forrester to start his own agency, combining research with sales strategy to create a unique niche in the market he held onto for nearly 20 years.
Call it luck, fate, chance, whatever you want. Once I realized where I landed I saw it as an opportunity and dove in head first for the next 3 years.
However, things did not start well in my book.
When I started they told me I was going to make cold calls every day for my first few months. I couldn’t believe it. I had been hired to manage marketing campaigns. Why was I making cold calls?
I was petrified that this would be my living nightmare.
I’d cringe opening a call. Literally cringe.
When I’d ask for a few minutes to talk about their needs and how we could help, in the back of my head I was praying their current vendor just sent them an astronomical price hike and they were ready to buy from the first decent competitor who called them up.
All that changed so quickly at my new job.
The founder didn’t teach me tips or tricks, though. What he taught me was deep and thoughtful. It connected the dots between the books and training and seminars and what I felt I was doing wrong but couldn’t come up with the words to describe it.
What he showed me was his unique approach to prospecting and developing a business relationship one phone call at a time. It required me to shift my perspective, my goals, and how I spoke about what I had to offer. What he taught me was hard to learn, but once I had it down I realized I had nothing to fear picking up the phone.
To my surprise, it wasn’t long before my biggest fear was making dial after dial without someone picking up!
If only I had known what he taught me when I started my career in Sales, I would have been far more successful.
Now I help entry-level reps develop the skills needed to succeed in sales, from cold call to their first close.
Looking to do the same for your career?
Read my blog, subscribe, and I’ll show you a few things that could help take your sales skills to the next level.