Why Cold Calling Still Wins in 2026 – Ep. 27

In this episode of Prospecting Pros, John Karsant talks to Dillon Tucker about his transition from finance and insurance sales to SaaS, SDR leadership, and fractional growth consulting. Dillon shares his early mentorship experiences at Outreach that sparked his love for coaching and developing sales talent. They talk about the common mistakes SDRs make and Dillon says that bad follow up is often the biggest reason opportunities are lost. He explains how prioritizing prospects, eliminating friction and making scheduling easy dramatically improves conversion rates. Dillon also talks about the importance of multi-channel prospecting via phone, email, and LinkedIn, while adjusting to evolving buyer behaviors. The episode wraps up with practical advice on asking better discovery questions, building SDR programs from scratch, and how sales professionals can stand out by focusing on genuine curiosity, empathy, and solving real customer problems.

In this episode of Prospecting Pros, John Karsant chats with Anthony Benedettini, AI Enablement Manager at ZoomInfo, about his unconventional journey from health and wellness startups to tech sales and AI enablement. Anthony shares how he got into the SDR role with zero previous B2B experience, became a top performer in record time, and fast-tracked his career through discipline, organization, and continuous learning. He discusses the importance of systematizing, time management, and looking for leadership opportunities before a promotion becomes available. They also talk about Anthony’s career path from sales development, to enablement, and now to AI training. He talks about how AI is changing go-to-market teams, the skills sellers need to develop and how organisations can drive adoption through practical use cases and training. The episode wraps up with valuable career advice on networking internally, aligning career moves with long-term financial goals, and staying adaptable in a rapidly evolving technology landscape.

In this episode of Prospecting Pros, John sits down with Chris Ritson to talk about the real path from SDR to AE and why that jump is a lot harder than most people think. Chris shares how his own career moved from SDR to AE to sales leadership, and why that experience shaped the way he now coaches reps and SDR leaders. The conversation gets into what actually makes someone successful in an AE role, why so many internal promotions struggle, and why leadership is not always the obvious next step for top SDRs. Chris also talks about ambition, career ownership, and the pressure younger SDR leaders are under in today’s market. It is a thoughtful, honest conversation about sales careers, growth, and figuring out what you actually want, instead of chasing the title that looks best on paper.

In this episode of Prospecting Pros, John sits down with Fletcher Cox to talk about his path from Oracle and startup sales into building Odessa, a cold calling agency focused on pay per meeting outbound. Fletcher shares why he still believes the phone is one of the best ways to break through the noise, learn fast, and actually hear what buyers care about. He walks through how his team thinks about list quality, messaging, and what makes a strong offer, plus why he avoids rigid scripts in favor of frameworks that help reps sound human. The conversation also gets into hiring, resilience, and why some of the best cold callers come from unexpected backgrounds. Fletcher also reflects on the mindset he built through long distance travel and how that same grit shows up in sales, entrepreneurship, and the day to day reality of doing hard things consistently.

In this episode of Prospecting Pros, John sits down with Rahul to talk about his path from odd jobs in Poland to leading sales teams and eventually building School of SDR. Rahul shares how he got his start as an SDR, why outbound taught him resilience, and how a few lucky breaks, paired with a lot of hard work, pushed him into sales leadership much earlier than expected. He also gets real about management, why it is often less glamorous than people think, and why not every top rep should become a leader. The conversation digs into what actually makes a strong SDR today, from hunger and coachability to business acumen and curiosity. Rahul also explains why he started School of SDR, what he is trying to fix in sales training, and why he believes SDR teams deserve far more respect than they usually get.