Good morning! It’s officially the 2nd day of November which means there’s only 37 selling days left in the year. If you’re behind on your quota, we might have something that can help. According to a new study, anger can help you achieve your goals. Time to get angry out there. 🫡

In today’s Follow Up:

• Going from CEO to an SDR 📞 

• An objection handling tip 🗣️ 

• Sales news across the internet 🖥️ 

• New remote sales jobs 🤑 

• LinkedIn sightings & a meme 😂 

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The Story of a CEO turned SDR

Most people dream of starting their own business, selling it for millions, and never working again.

The American dream right?

Well… Brian’s story is a bit different.

In his late 30s, Brian Bernstein had a friend who was an outside sales rep for a water cooler business. His friend mentioned that they’d buy the machines for $300 and then rent them out to businesses for $70 per month, with a long-term contract.

*This was the lightbulb moment* 💡 

So in 2014, with a dollar, a dream, and a $300 water cooler, Brian started Dove Water. 🚰 

Brian did what he knew best and used cold calling to land 1,000+ B2B contracts, including major national brands. Things were going well, and Dove Water quickly became a major player in the NYC area.

But in 2020, just 5 years into business, the unexpected happened.

*dun. dun. dun.* 

The entire US shut down and the future of Dove Water was uncertain.

So, after a bit of panic, Brian decided to sell the company and struck a deal with Quench Water for a 7 figure exit.

For most people, that would be the end of the story.

> Millions of dollars in the bank.
> No more company to worry about.
> “7 Figure Entrepreneur” in your Instagram bio. 🙃 

But not for Brian.

Fast forward to today, and Brian is working as a remote 1099 sales rep for multiple companies in the home services industry, on 100% commission. He works about 30-40 hours/week and is on track to make $250-300K this year (and anticipates $400K+ in 2024).

Now, if you’re anything like us, you have a lot of questions after reading that.

We originally found Brian’s story through an anonymous Reddit post, but with some persistent follow up, we got ahold of him to get the answers.

Let’s dive in 👇️ 

What kind of SDR role allows you to make $250K to $400K per year?

Brian’s specific SDR gigs are commission only, remote 1099 roles in the home services industry. This means he can spend as much (or as little) time on them as he chooses, and only eats what he kills.

Brian typically spends 30 to 40 hours on the job per week and averages around $5-6K per week.

Why home services?

Are these results typical?

The short answer is no. But they’re not unusual.

Brian says he is a “cold calling expert with 25 years of experience in telesales & closing deals over the phone. I’m a top 1% performer who doesn’t take "no" for an answer.”

Brian isn’t calling to log call metrics. He’s calling to close deals, and not wasting any opportunity he gets.

So where can you find a job like this?

Brian recommends LinkedIn, Fiverr, UpWork, and tapping into your personal network.

There are a ton of commission based roles out there (because they don’t cost the company upfront money), but only about 1% of them are any good. It’s important the company has a good product and a long track record of sales.

Most people see 100% commission-based roles as risky, but Brian thinks the opposite. When you take on a base salary + commission, you need to justify that expense to the company. As soon as the company can no longer justify your base salary, you’re the first on the chopping block.

What are Brian’s secrets to cold calling?

The secret = experience.

Brian estimates he’s made more than 2 million cold calls over the last 25 years of his career.

The answer isn’t fun or exciting, but it’s tried and true.

*We wanted some magic secret too. Oh well.*  🤷 

On average, it takes someone 10,000 hours to master a skill, and cold calling is no different.

What happened to the 7-figures from the exit?

According to Brian, “it was a nice 7 figure number.”

So of course we want to know…. WHERE’S THE MONEY!

*Pushes poker chips back into the middle of the table*

The Takeaway?

In the words of Brian, “Whether you want to start your own company, or make a bunch of money without a traditional 9 to 5, if you can sell, you will always land on your feet.”

Checking in on LinkedIn 👀 

Twitter Edition 😂 

Sales Meme of the Day

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