The CRAP Report

You know who was a confident mother-effer?  Clubber Lang.  I’m not talking AM (after Mickey) Clubber Lang, but PM (pre-dead Mickey, Rocky’s manager) Clubber Lang.  Here’s a guy who just does nothing but exude confidence.  For those of you who don’t know who I’m talking about, I’m referring to the “Rocky III” bad guy played by Mr. T.  Clubber Lang, the antagonist of the movie, is an up and coming boxer in the heavyweight circuit.  In one scene, when the city of Philadelphia unveils a statue in Rocky’s honor, and Clubber Lang is there watching in the crowd.  He interrupts the entire ceremony yelling at Rocky, then at Rocky’s wife, questioning the champ’s virility.  Who does that!?  Someone convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that they’re better than anyone else in their field.

Confidence is huge when you’re a teleprospector.  Prospects are like sharks, man.  They can SMELL the fear in a new BDR and use that to their advantage to get them off the phone really quick.  If you’ve got an inside team or use an outsourced sales prospecting team to find sales leads, I’m sure you’ve seen this before, the BDR who is not sure of him/herself.  It’s really uncomfortable to see.  They’re not confident in their skills and they’re certainly not confident in their understanding of what they’re calling on.  But then when you see the BDR who is more certain of their abilities, it’s awesome, right!?  There’s no stopping them.  You see, confidence is easily one of the top 100 qualities of a great teleprospecting rep because of everything that confidence brings with it.

Most importantly, confidence brings with it success.  I’ve seen it plenty of times even in my own cold calling.  The days that I was not as comfortable with the technology that I was calling on were significantly less productive than the days when I really felt like I had a great handle on things.  Even if I didn’t really understand a client’s technology, I found that if I was just certain of my abilities to qualify a prospect, I passed more opportunities.  BDR’s who are surer of themselves are just better at the job, bottom line, and bottom line part two, you want them that way.

Clubber Lang spends his time training, fighting, and studying the current champ, Rocky Balboa.  When he clinches his spot as the number one contender for the heavyweight belt, Mickey is in the crowd watching.  Clubber Lang calls him out, screaming, “…I’m gonna kill him!  Nobody can stop me!  You tell Balboa that!  I’m coming after him!  You tell him!”  I want BDR’s with that type of confidence. I want them to look at their targeted teleprospecting lists and yell, “Nobody can stop me…I’m coming after you!”