The Follow Up
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How a cold call made this medical student a billionaire

How a cold call made this medical student a billionaire

Why this billionaire credits his success to a single cold call

June 27, 2023

Happy National Sunglasses Day! 😎 Studies show that wearing sunglasses while cold-calling will improve your confidence level by 100%. The study was done by us, and the only participant was our intern… but we’ll count it.

In today’s Follow Up:

Medical student uses cold-call to build a billion-dollar company 🎤
Sales in the news 🗞️
Sales tools 🛠️
Sales jobs for closers 💰

Sales Fact of The Day

77% of B2B decision-makers say they’d rather meet with vendors via video than on a phone call.

McKinsey

Billionaires believe in cold-calling too.

Let’s face it. Nobody loves cold calling.

They’re like vegetables. We know we need them, but don’t always want them.

But sometimes, a cold call can change the entire course of our future.

Today, we’re going to show you that, by doing something a little different.

Instead of hitting you with another enterprise sales news bit, we’re telling you the story of how an unknown Sri Lankan boy used cold calling to go from a broke medical student to a billionaire business mogul.

They say Renaissance Men are dead, but THEY haven’t met Sam Prince.

Before Sam turned 39 he:

Founded a Mexican restaurant franchise valued at $1 billion.
Became a medical doctor.
Eliminated a disease.

Sam grew up in Canberra, Australia in the late 1980s and was born to Sri Lankan parents in Scotland. He’s now worth more than $1.2 billion and reeled in a $250m investment last December for his Mexican restaurant chain, Zambrero.

But how, did a Scottish-born Australian man of Sri Lankan descent start a billion-dollar franchise and become a doctor at the same time?

When Sam was in medical school he worked as a night cook at a Mexican restaurant. One day after making a mean bowl of guac, he had the idea of creating his own.

His next step? Find a business mentor.

Sam cold called the richest man in his area, the billionaire owner of Canberra Airport, Terry Snow.

Sam says he got the idea after reading Richard Branson’s Losing My Virginity:

“I wanted to be a strong entrepreneur from Canberra. So I thought, who is the strongest entrepreneur living in Canberra? I rang the airport direct and asked for Terry.”

When he called, he was put through to Tony’s executive assistant. Even though she wasn’t supposed to patch Sam through to her boss, she was amused by his audacity to call, and within minutes, Sam got on the phone with the boss man himself.

At first, Terry Snow thought Sam was out of his mind.

“He described what he was doing, and I thought ‘This bloke’s mad. At first, I didn’t quite believe he was a doctor, with everything else he wanted to do. But he was disarming, and I soon realized he was deadly serious.”

Snow invited him to his office and later became a mentor to Prince.

“I’ve heard him say I had a big impact on him, but he’s had a bigger impact on me. He’s a tonic,” Snow says.

To this day, Sam credits Terry Snow’s mentorship as a major factor in his success.

But the story doesn’t stop there.

Years later, another entrepreneur by the name of Steven Chapman cold-called Sam, and landed an apprenticeship in one of Sam’s new ventures. Steven went on to start the energy drink brand, Shine+, a company that has raised more than $200m AUS.

While a cold call was a pivotal moment in Sam‘s upward trajectory toward billionaire status, he also credits his ability to take interest in people he meets every day.

In a 2012 TED Talk, Sam tells the audience, “We try to find meaning in randomness. The truth is if you have a meaning and vision, the people around you on a daily basis are waiting for you to take an interest and be curious.”

I think salespeople could learn from this.

Whether you’re grabbing a morning coffee, chatting with a fellow employee from a different department, or at an industry conference. Don’t worry about what’s in it for you. Lead with genuine curiosity and take an interest in their life.

You never know what doors one relationship can open up. 🚪

TLDR takeaways for salespeople:

Shoot your shot. The worst someone can say is no.
You can use cold calling for more than just your sales job.
- Looking for a mentor? Want to buy someone’s house? Want a job at a different company? Cold call them.
Learn from people that have already done what you want to do.
Be nice to more people. You never know who will be the one that opens the next opportunity for you.

And lastly… cold calling is still king. 👑

Sales Tip of The Day

Instead of the cliche meeting openers, try something personalized:

❌ How’s a going?

✅ Saw you worked at “xyz company” 2 years ago, any chance you know John Doe?

❌ How’s the weather where you’re at?

✅ I see a guitar in the background. How long have you been playing?

❌ How’s your day going?

✅ How much do you bench?

Get the idea?

Sales in the News

Many salespeople have a side hustle, but is it ok for the VP of Sales to have one?
LinkedIn changed its algorithm. Here’s how to get more attention to your posts.
4 B2B sales lessons from the COO of Novakid.
From Reddit: What "popular" companies have been sh*t shows to interview or work for?