How do you stay motivated to conduct cold calls?
While an account executive does a lot more than cold calling, there will be times when you need to call someone you don't know to introduce yourself and pitch Stripe's platform on the spot. There is a lot of rejection with cold calling, and the interviewer wants to know that you'll be able to handle this. Talk about any experience you have in this area and how you deal with the rejection.
"Cold calling is a part of sales. My past experience as an inside sales rep has given me thick skin, and I just don't take rejection personally anymore. I figure if someone doesn't want to hear me out or is rude to me, I just need to find another contact at that company who is receptive to hearing my pitch. I always tell myself: no pain, no gain. It takes effort to reap a reward, so if multiple people close me down, I live for the ones who hear me out because these are the people I'll likely be able to help. And that's what I love to do - find a solution to a problem for a client or prospect. As an account executive, only about 15% of my week is generally spent on cold calling. Since this is a limited amount of time, I just space out the calls over the course of the week. If any of them don't work out, I don't worry about it; I just try again the next day."
"Cold calling is an essential part of sales. To stay motivated, I create goals and challenges for myself. I don't allow the rejection to bother me, as I understand that it is part of the process. From experience, I have learned I can't take poor attitudes personally and that for every rejected cold call, there is still an opportunity, possibly with another individual inside the organization. Keeping track of my success motivates me to continue as cold calling is a proven method of reaching potential clients."
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