bonez

Account Executive

Is cold calling during a final interview normal?

Hey All!

Been interviewing with a pretty awesome SaaS company and things were going well. It's a full cycle AE job so I'd have to do my own prospecting but have my own territory and work deals within there.

I just found out they would have me do a presentation and then 3 hours of cold calling and I would need to get 3 meetings booked. I have no idea if I would even get to keep those people in my new pipeline but considering I don't even work for them yet this feels weird.

The weirdest part is this org gets really, really good glassdoor reviews from AEs so it seems that once you're in you're in. OTE is great too for the LA area.

Any advice here would be appreciated. It seems good but the free work piece is raising a ton of red flags for me.

Thanks in advance savages!

🤝 Interviewing/Offer

101 comment

Sort by:

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Never heard of this before. I haven't made cold calls in a while but 3 meetings in 3 hours for a product you don't know much about seems like a tall order.

Hambalang

Politicker

Enterprise AE

Agreed that seems pretty unrealistic. I've never heard of this being done in an interview before. Despite the positive Glassdoor reviews this situation would make me wary.

SalesSage

Valued Contributor

National Account Manager

I have also worked for a company that requested (on the down low of course) that certain reps write up good glassdoor reviews for the company. No idea but sure there was a kick back

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

It does feel like a tall order for sure! WIth 0 training on the product I'm confused what they expect to happen.

goose

Politicker

-1

Sales Executive

It's not that tall. I mean, you are just trying to book a meeting, right? If they were asking you to close deals that would be a different story.

I bet this is just a test anyway. Are you a company guy?

You can always say no...

TheQueenofDiamonds

Politicker

Account Executive

In order to book a meeting you need to understand why the prospect would want to book a meeting with you. Sans the training how the fuck would you know how to book a said meeting? Who r are you booking it with? Who r are you booking it for?

goose

Politicker

-4

Sales Executive

Ah. Excuses. Sounds tough. Might as well quit.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

They want you to work? Cool. Then they can pay you.

Don't believe everything on Glassdoor.

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

I know this is a dead thread but wanted to say this was invaluable to me when looking at my job search. I took everything with a giant grain of salt and didn't let great reviews sway me - same with negative. Can't DM so wanted to let ya know.

SlinginSoftware

Politicker

Account Executive

Wow… I’m with you on that. Seems really odd and like they’re trying to get some free work out of you.

DannyBoy

Enterprise Sales

I’m guessing you applied at Paycom?

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Are they the only ones that do this? Because you're right except they reached out to me. Do you work there?

DannyBoy

Enterprise Sales

No they reached out to me and I took the interview because they said you could be a millionaire “blah blah blah”. But when they pulled the cold calling thing out I did a lot more digging and asking around and turned out it was a sweatshop. I thought the cold calling thing was pretty unprofessional. Ended up choosing another role over it- but to each their own! They do have a great solution and stock, but do your research

DannyBoy

Enterprise Sales

They probably just use it as another source of outreach in a scumbag way- cuz I set my 3 and gave them all the contact info, times…etc

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Thank you so much for this! The first few calls felt great and then they pulled this out of thin air and it’s honestly felt like a bait and switch since I was told my final interview was just a meeting with the sales team. Out of nowhere it’s presentation plus real cold calls. Everything about this irks me and I don’t care what the potential is no other org has pulled this on me and this one feels like I’d be betraying my own values if I did it just for another job.

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Yeah agreed they have a good product. I took this advice and have been looking at them more and sure enough I’m seeing the cracks. Reading about people who interviewed and got 3 meetings but didn’t land the job still. This sounds like something I would tell anyone else not to do. Best to follow my own advice and the others in here. Thanks!

ppg

Catalyst

All around good guy

Hey Bonez,

i feel y’a. I did interview for a security guard kind of company and had to do a fake cold call with the sales manager, but that’s pretty legit. Doing it on cold leads, no go. They could also burn their reputation from a cold call that would go very bad, not sure why they do that tbh.

wise choice to pass.

SuperSRAEVI

Fire Starter

Account Executive

They did the same to me. Ultimately decided I'm not going to do free work for someone else to possibly get paid on it. Didn't even think about how many other people they have go in and interview/cold call for people for free!!

TrickyPants

Director

There are a lot of studies that show pretty much every interviewer is bad at interviewing people. The highest success rate is having people do the job they are applying for and even that has a 50% success rate. Success being defined as a long term career.

That said, 3 hours of actual cold calling to book appointments is too much. If it were me in the interview, I would have you run through a number of roleplays on how you would cold call. Give you feedback, see if you can take it, and go from there.

Another thing to note, a lot of interview portions isn't necessarily about completing a given task or answering a question correctly. Its more about seeing your process.

I agree with a lot of the commentators though, 3 hours of cold calling real clients when you don't have the job already is way too suspicious.

Kirby

Politicker

Sales Representative

Agh, I really don't like it when interviewers have you do homework that would benefit them even if they don't hire you. It just feels weird. But if the reviews are good, then it's probably just one weird thing.

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Reviews are good and it's a publicly traded company. Not small and def knows what they're doing. Just confusing this would be the process. And yeah, I went through Sandler Sales training and one thing I learned was don't do any work for free. Really wondering if I should stick to that here.

Kirby

Politicker

Sales Representative

What if you told them that? Treat this like a sales negotiation. State your terms, tell them you'd be willing to do mock cold calls, but that you don't feel comfortable doing free work.

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Great advice! I think I'll throw it to them that way and explain my reasoning. If they can't hear that then I probably don't want to be there.

DannyBoy

Enterprise Sales

There’s a lot of bad reviews to. Look up on glassdoor (May not all be true but there is SOME truth to it and it helps you formulate questions to actually ask them to gauge their character) the location you are interviewing for. The manager makes all the difference.

SaaSam

Politicker

Account Executive

I've never been asked to cold call before, very weird. But I have been asked to put together an extensive, in depth "playbook" for a potential employer as part of the interview process. Never again. Felt exploited to say the least, found out later that the dude that did get the job was the brother of the sales manager so I shudder to think about the free work they got out of myself and other candidates when they were probably already going to hire this dude anyways.

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Exactly what I'm worried about feeling. Not a fan of giving my time to an org that wants free work out of me. It feels scummy and more focussed on you being a number than seeing if you're truly a fit.

SaaSam

Politicker

Account Executive

Agreed, some companies want "yes men" and this would definitely be a way of filtering for them. Then again, ensures anyone they hire really wanted to work there hence the high rating. Not sure yet if that's a good thing or not.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

I've literally interviewed hundreds of people for my teams, and I've been through quite a few interviews myself, and no one ever had me do that honestly. A warning here: 3 meetings in 3 hours tells you how little they understand and know about cold calling.

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Very salient advice. Appreciate this. And yeah it feels like an arbitrary number to really put pressure on folks. My gut is telling me no and I think that’s what I’m going with.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

Yeah, it's just weird to be honest, don't know how they came up with this but it does look that they either don't know a lot about it, or just expect to crush people's souls in there.

CPfor3

Opinionated

Business Development Representative

I've heard of running calls and doing mocks in an interview process but never really heard of having a quota for an interview. Mocks and running calls were more just practice to see how we'd do. Even if live was never held to a certain quota or dynamic

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

Sounds super weird and not really like an org I’d want to work for. Careful with Glassdoor reviews. Companies will ask top reps to go leave reviews and then the truth comes out when you start there. I’d be wary

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

This is what I keep thinking about too. I know I've been asked to leave a glassdoor review when I'm in the honeymoon phase of an org and then of course 2 years in you hate the place. Good advice.

FromaBlankPerspective

Politicker

District Manager

We’ve done this for our small business reps, but I’ve never heard of it for mid market or higher

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Yeah this is definitely a mid market role too. Felt really strange to hear that this is what's going on. I may investigate further but I have other orgs in my pipeline and this is definitely not my only option. But considering their size it could be good for long term growth.

FromaBlankPerspective

Politicker

District Manager

Definitely odd. Good luck with your search!

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Thank you!

slaydie

Big Shot

Account Executive

I've never heard of this before. Definitely feels weird. But it sounds like everything else is great. You have nothing to lose asides from 3 hours if you do it so I say do it and see what happens?

HappyGilmore

Politicker

Account Executive

Hmm this seems a bit odd..

goose

Politicker

Sales Executive

I don't think this is that far from ordinary. Anyone saying don't work for free obviously never tried out for a sports team. Imagine someone walking on a college football team saying I won't try out unless I get some of that scholarship. Apples and oranges, sure. But asking you to set some appointments isn't that out of the ordinary.

Boutdamtime

Politicker

Client Executive

Sports ball isn’t how 99% of us make a living. I get the comparison but it doesn’t translate when my mortgage & well-being of my family is on the line. What is the purpose of cold calling and booking appointments? To prove you can do it? Is there another way you can prove you can do that besides selling their product for free as everyone else has mentioned? Imo doing this is setting yourself up to be exploited in the future by the same people. It’s not a “can you do it” test it’s a “how much of our BS will you put up with test” and it really is a personal question that only you can answer. Do you really want the job?

goose

Politicker

Sales Executive

That's a good point. For what it's worth, I'd tell them to go fuck themselves.

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

I get where you're coming from but it does feel apples and oranges as you said. A presentation makes complete sense to show I can demo and talk with clients but judging cold calling and no guarantee of a job is a bit much for me personally. It's the first many of us have heard apparently. Either way, appreciate the different perspective honestly!

goose

Politicker

Sales Executive

Yeah. What's the worst thing that can happen? Lose a leg? Get your eye poked out? I mean, it doesn't sound like a shitty experience if you want to work for the company.

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

You’re not wrong but wanting to work for them is starting to wane the deeper I dig around now. But I do get your logic!

goose

Politicker

Sales Executive

In the end, trust your gut. It won't let you down.

TheQueenofDiamonds

Politicker

Account Executive

Major Red flag for me, my friend.

Talk to them and ask what is the end goal of this exercise, is there a way to assess your prospecting skills any other way, maybe? Mock calls come to mind.

I would be raising many questions if I were you.

Either way, good luck to you, hope you get it since you want it 😻

Mothy

Politicker

Account Executive

I had to do an auto dialed exercise for my final interview for my current role, but there wasn’t an expectation to book any meetings. My manager basically wanted to see how I sounded on the phone, as well as how I like the tool/if I would be competent with it. I think cold calling as part of the process is becoming more common place from what I have heard.

revenuehunter

Executive

Global Enterprise Sales

This is odd. But looking at the rating part where you mention AE’s have rear ratings, there could be one big reason. Interview 30-40 candidates, ask everyone to get three meetings booked - the AE who is onboarded gets 100 meetings. Boom!

revenuehunter

Executive

Global Enterprise Sales

Hit the quotas in Year 1. And then to build your own pipeline Year 2 onwards, you have an entire year. Looks like a good unethical tactic.

Broncosfan

Politicker

Account Manager

Absolutely not unless theyre paying me for 4 hours of my time.

OutboundCowboy

Good Citizen

Sr. SDR

Don’t believe Glassdoor or the “OTE”. This company seems like they’re trying to take advantage of you and they haven’t even hired you yet. Huge red flag.

YoursTruly

Politicker

Account Executive (SaaS)

Do. Not. Work. For. Free. Especially for paycom

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

You have experience there? I know they're profitable and trying to get some first hand knowledge here if you have any

YoursTruly

Politicker

Account Executive (SaaS)

Nope know people and stories is all. Their reputation is shit.

In no way would i ever make calls on behalf of a company if im not on their pay roll though. Nor have i wver been asked to. Companies train SDRs to do that work amd AEs have already cut their teeth, its why the aren’t SDRs anymore

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Thanks for this. I've definitely already been down that path and done plenty of cold prospecting and feel like I'll do it if I need to still of course but rather it not be 90% of my job anymore. Glad I did when I did but want to spend my time closing now like I have been for years. Also I did more research and kept seeing the same things over and over that painted a negative picture.

Rupert_Pupkin

Contributor

Account Executive

Paycom in the hot seat after Corp’s bracket chatter last week

ColdCall

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

You should invoice them for 3 Hours of your time. If they expect you to produce an outcome per hour you should be paid accordingly.

Also- seems suspect as they are letting a stranger (relatively), call their prospects? That seems odd.

Maybe speak to an existing AE or sales person and see if they did anything like this?

TheRealPezDog

Notable Contributor

Account Manager

I can see doing a role play but making actual calls? Seems odd to me as well, but hey, if that's the only thing holding you back I would say 1.) Get clarification that those meetings you book will be YOUR clients and 2.) Then just do it... It might be really hard to get 3 meetings in 3 hours so not getting the meetings might still be okay, they might just be testing you to see how much grit you have under pressure... Weird that you're not getting paid for it though so I would DEFINITELY make sure to get clarification on number 1.

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Role playing or mock cold calls would make total sense to me! But live ones still don’t.

and I looked it up, apparently getting those 3 meeting is a requirement to getting the job but still not guaranteed. So you could get all 3 and they can still say no but now you’ve worked for free. Thanks to suggestions here I dug deeper on Glassdoor and found others who went through the process.

illexpenseit

Opinionated

Account Manager

Nerds call this a Kobayahi Maru.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobayashi_Maru

Chep

WR Officer

Bitcoin Adoption Specialist

Sounds like they might be asking employees to give them a good glassdoor review if they expect you to set 3 meetings in 3 hours without any pay or incentive to do so besides the opportunity to "earn the job"

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

I would flip the cards and manage their expectations. Say to them I can do cold calling in the 3 hours but I cannot have the expectation i will get you 3 worthwhile meetings when I dont know your value prop/the ins and outs/the product etc etc. Flip the cards by saying I'll do 6 in my first 3 hours when I know what im doing but now, no we need to be clear.

salesnerd

WR Officer

Head of Growth

Very strange. I used to have my SDR candidates do a mock cold call, but never real cold calls...

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Mock ones would totally make sense!! Confused on it being real as well.

Chitownguy09

Fire Starter

Sales Development Rep

I recently interviewed at multiple different size tech companies for an sdr/bdr role and at only one of them did I have a “mock” cold call but it was a role play not a live one - check out repvue to get a better view of how they stack up against other sales orgs

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Did just this and it painted a picture of somewhere I do not want to be. Great advice!

Chitownguy09

Fire Starter

Sales Development Rep

Happy that it helped before versus after you decided!

SoCalSales

Fire Starter

Regional Territory Manager

I've had to role play in final interviews or give basic proposals based on their product's etc but never cold call. Hope that helps!

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Absolutely does!

SaaSsy

Politicker

I think I know where you're interviewing :) Wish we could DM chat. It's definitely strange and first time I've ever done it, but it's basically just to ensure you can handle the daily grind and give a realistic picture of how you spend your time. Good luck!

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

If you read through the thread it's stated :)

It feels like I'm being sold one thing and seeing another now. As I go deeper in reviews, and from one I saw here, it seems this place is a bit of a sweatshop. Not looking for a pressure cooker environment. Any insight is helpful.

SaaSsy

Politicker

It’s definitely high pressure, if you can last there though, earnings can be huge.

bonez

Politicker

Account Executive

Thanks for this. Everything I'm reading talks about it being a sweatshop and the current email communication I'm experiencing is sort of reinforcing that. I'm also making my 2nd year OTE for this org right now - without this level of pressure. Would rather stay than cold call all day again and worry about my job monthly (based on what I'm reading). Glad you're having success though!

Let me know if what I'm reading is completely off base.

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.

bonez

Is cold calling during a final interview normal?

101 comment

Related posts

How Do You React When You Recieve Cold Calls?

New Way to Cold Call?

Mock Cold Call with CEO - Second Interview