B2B Cold Calling Year in Review: Why "No Budget" Was Everywhere in 2025

3:38Dominka: Very important for me to know: would you say we can be happy with this year? With what we've done?

3:48Marijana: Yes, I would say so. But I think you can't always look at it completely in isolation. Every year is actually a good year. The year of the pandemic, of course not, but even then you could somehow get something good out of the year. The year was good. Next year will be even better, and I think that's the best attitude you can have in the end.

4:16Dominka: And with that the episode is already finished. That's all we need. No, but honestly, if we did a review now: quite a lot happened. A few people left, a few new ones joined and then left again, and then we maybe had new projects starting. Was there a time when you'd have said: wow, it's really hard to work at this moment, or: a change is coming, and that's not something that gives me courage? Or would you rather have said: no, actually full throttle all the time?

4:58Marijana: Well, I think what's really important is to look at it from two perspectives. The first perspective is that everything is right within the team. And when there are people who leave, that's of course a pity, because at that moment a part of the team is simply missing. But of course it also goes on with new people, and then it's important to give these new people a chance too. The second perspective is the work itself, how you make progress there. Of course there were ups and downs too. There were phases when nothing worked, when nothing happened, when a lot of companies were uncertain. I'd even say because of the current geopolitical situation in the world. And then you keep hearing: no budget, cuts, we have to wait and see how things develop. And that's of course something that puts you in a bit of a negative mood and takes away a bit of your motivation.

6:00Dominka: Do you think that was also a real challenge in cold calling as a BDR? That you got a lot of rejections precisely because people were very unsettled?

6:10Marijana: It didn't happen every week, but if you look at the whole year, it did keep happening now and then. Maybe also worded quite differently, simply with the words: "Get back to us next year, we can't plan anything at the moment" or "There are more important things right now." And you can actually read a lot, a lot from these words. So that you also look past your blinkers (German: Scheuklappenblick, tunnel vision) and simply look at what's happening in the world and in sales in general.

6:45Dominka: Okay. There were also other debates, not only geopolitical but maybe a bit ideological, with Gendern (gender-inclusive language) and so on. You may remember that you once wrote to me: should we take that into account on calls? Have you noticed people doing it on calls or in emails? That you got an email where you thought: okay, maybe we should do that too?

7:12Marijana: Actually, no. I find that quite interesting too, because we talked about the topic back then: what about Gendern and so on? The only thing that happened to me a few times: that on the phone I couldn't immediately tell whether it was a female or a male person. But that someone actually told me "I'm neither", I haven't really experienced that, and not in emails either.

7:39Dominka: I don't think you can go that deep into topics like that anyway.

7:42Marijana: No. Above all, I also don't know how you could ever make that a topic on the phone, especially in cold calling. I imagine that would be very, very difficult. In emails it works somehow, there I could imagine that it really happens at some point. But on the phone, because they're partly short calls, when you talk to reception for example, there I would say that it won't happen.

8:11Dominka: Okay. In general we can say that the year actually went quite well for us and we can be happy. You already mentioned that in conversations you also feel the uncertainty of the people you call, of the companies. But would you still say it was an unsuccessful year for the partners you made calls or did acquisition for?

8:34Marijana: No, I wouldn't say that. This year we put the focus above all on one aspect: that it's definitely quality over quantity. It's not important to book as many meetings as possible that you get nothing out of in the end, but to really work with quality, to also analyze on the calls what the need is and whether someone is really interested or not. And we definitely expanded that this year, of course also in cooperation with our partners.

9:12Dominka: Have you maybe also noticed with our partners that … Okay, you work for a partner who has been with us for a very long time and who has certainly handed everything that has to do with BDR, cold calling and presales over to us. Do you have the feeling that they're leaning back more, or are they still just as engaged, or have they reorganized themselves? Or maybe also in other projects, from conversations with colleagues?

9:45Marijana: Yes, well, especially with my partners, let me just put it that way, a lot was changed internally. But I'd still say that regardless of that you're actually always involved with the same motivation, because we're simply part of this company's team and are therefore actually integrated into everything. We keep getting trained. When things are unclear or still need to be built out, we actually always have the partner's support.

10:21Marijana: But before I switched to this partner, I worked for someone else. And there I have to say that towards the end of the collaboration you noticed that motivation had dropped. Because internally a lot, a lot of things weren't right with them, above all the matter of quality and quantity. In terms of quantity there were a lot of meetings, but in the end they weren't good in terms of quality. And then, for example, drafts, cost estimates, offers were made, whatever, and some of them either weren't noticed at all, or the client went to a provider who was cheaper. Which is of course very disappointing for the sales people. Of course we had nothing to do with that in the first place, because we qualified them properly, but it then failed in the sale. And when I compare these two partners now, you do notice the difference: that motivation really always has to be constant. If it isn't there, you as a BDR do make progress, but very, very slowly.

11:36Dominka: Do you have the feeling that people saved a bit more this year?

Marijana: Saved in what way?

11:42Dominka: That they simply don't release budget, that people were a bit more frugal. Not only with regard to whether they want to do extra things with us, but with the partners: did you notice, wow, people are somehow stingy, or they're afraid and holding on to their budget?

12:12Marijana: Not with our partners. Actually, no. And I think the reason for that is, without praising ourselves somehow … of course I'm praising us …

Dominka: You're doing it anyway?

12:25Marijana: But you do notice that they're dependent on people like us, right?

12:31Dominka: I have the feeling people have far, far less desire to do this job.

Marijana: Yes.

Dominka: Less than ever.

12:38Marijana: And the funny thing, or above all the interesting thing: a few months ago we had a meeting with one of the partners where we had a short exchange, and among other things it was about the topic of BDRs. And he said very clearly, if they were to hire BDRs … He gave the example of other companies and other countries: many want to get ahead in sales through the BDR position. You're a BDR, and at some point you move up, then you're in sales, sales manager, and then it goes on. And the BDR job is then basically just: come on, I'll do this for a few months, and then I'll move on. And then the motivation does drop at some point.

13:26Dominka: Yes, but that's just the wrong attitude. Because in every job ad they're somehow looking for a junior BDR or a junior person who is supposed to do the job. It's not a position for someone who just wants to get to the next step and doesn't want to do this job. It's a serious job. People's rhetoric needs to change a bit there too, right?

Marijana: Yes.

13:58Dominka: They only notice it later. And I'm firmly convinced: You can never become a good sales manager if you haven't done the cold calls yourself for a few years. Forget it. Because then you always rely on being the one who closes, and you're the star. Meanwhile the BDR does all the work for you in advance, so that you get a qualified meeting at all. If you don't close, you're just a loser who didn't manage to close a good lead. Just imagine that. I'll say it openly: I think you're not a good salesperson if you haven't done it for a longer time or don't go back to this, in quotation marks, first step every now and then. It's not the first step in the sense of "the first step", but it's first place. That's why: it's number 1. Anyone who can do BDR, or business development as such, can do the rest anyway.

15:00Marijana: Many see it as a step: okay, this is step 1 now, but I want to get to step 4, 5. But if this first step didn't exist, nobody could move up at all. And that's why, the partner said this too, it's important to notice BDRs and to value them. And it's absolutely possible to be a BDR permanently, because …

15:25Dominka: Absolutely. Sorry, but I never get bored. The thing is: you really have to dig, right? And I think you get frustrated much faster once you land in sales and can't close there, if you haven't had the experience of what it's actually like to get to such a lead in the first place. Only from the point when you get it at all can you really value this lead. Then you don't just treat it like: wow, this is just some lead, some MQL. It isn't. Somebody has already worked really hard to make it a qualified lead.

16:05Marijana: But now think about it: if you as a sales manager don't close it, that's it.

Dominka: That's it. You as a business owner too.

Marijana: True, of course.

16:14Dominka: They often say: can't you make another call and see where he's at and what's going on with it? Because they don't do it themselves.

16:20Marijana: And as a BDR it can happen that you don't pitch well in the first call. Happened to me often.

Dominka: You don't have to, of course.

16:30Marijana: But then I set myself a follow-up in six months and approach the whole thing very differently. Maybe with another person, maybe with another pitch, maybe with something completely different. But a sales manager can't do that. He's on the last step, and he also has the responsibility then. Which doesn't mean we don't have the responsibility. We have the responsibility to qualify, but we have far more chances to qualify.

16:57Dominka: I had prepared another question, or rather a little segment: the three most important learnings from this year. But I think we can start with it right here, right? Absolutely the truth. That's actually something we already know and have long been carrying out into the world as the foundation of our existence as an agency. But it really is like this: it's truly the supreme discipline (German: Königsdisziplin), number 1, the thing that will always remain and where you can really prove yourself in sales. And I think anyone who has mastered it hardly feels like doing only the sales part. I haven't made any calls for years. I'm doing it again now. I really enjoy it.

17:50Marijana: Because it's something new.

17:52Dominka: Yes, I go back to the roots when I have the time. I have huge respect for it. It's the be-all and end-all of our company anyway, right?

18:03Marijana: I think as a sales manager at some point you can't see the forest for the trees anymore. And if you as a BDR take a step back again, lean back, then you can see a lot more. Then you can actually see: what is the market like, what is developing how, in what way. That's completely different.

18:21Dominka: Yes. I'd really say that's a learning we should carry out into the world very clearly. BDR as a position, as a person, as a concept is not a third-rate sales employee. It's number 1 in sales, someone you should praise. And you can really count yourself lucky if you have someone in a full-time or a half-time position, or can outsource it to someone who then really does it and sticks with it every day. Learning number 1.

19:05Dominka: Would you maybe have something to add as learning number 2 and 3? Maybe also about us as a company in general, or simply about the year itself?

19:17Marijana: Not specifically for this year, I think you can say it every year. Let's put the words together as one learning: Patience and motivation, keeping them up, and very, very important, of course, is the team itself. If we as BDRs didn't have the support of our project managers and everyone else, a lot of things would often go wrong. That way we always have the guideline we can stick to, and that's how we always keep moving forward in the end.

19:50Dominka: I have to say quite openly, I'm totally happy with how this year went. For me it was a really very difficult year in a few moments. Above all when suddenly a few people left. That was a time when I thought to myself: Oh man, what have I done wrong this time? How long is this going to take now? And then I thought: I don't have to do this myself at all. I'm not doing it alone. Even if a few people have left, there are still 20 others on board who feel like working. And also a thank-you to everyone who was here and left and spent the years here. When you reflect on it again and simply tell yourself: ah okay, it was a good time, something new is coming. For me that was an important point where I told myself: okay, it's not the end if someone leaves, even though you liked the person and they have a position in the company where you think it's actually important that someone does this job. But I also learned: wow, you can distribute it. You can also do it differently. And I always find that really good, when something abrupt comes and you really have to reorganize yourself. For me that was a learning where I'd say: hey, whatever happens, as long as the rest pull along and you do your work, nothing bad can really happen.

21:24Marijana: Someone once said a sentence to me that can seem very hurtful at first glance. But in hindsight I thought: yes, that's true. "You can manage without anyone." This sentence sounds very, very harsh, but in the end that's how it is. It's a completely normal course of things that everyone at some point takes a new path, tries something new, wants to develop. That's all totally legitimate. That's okay. The tasks are then redistributed. People help each other, support each other. In the end it always goes on.

22:00Dominka: But hand on heart: without you and me it doesn't …

Marijana: … go on.

22:06Dominka: Of course not. You can forget it, everyone here.

22:16Marijana: No, but in the end that's how it is.

22:19Dominka: It's also like when you, I don't know, fall in love with someone, and then he's gone. You survive that too.

Marijana: You survive that too, yes.

22:34Marijana: All legitimate. As I said, at first it's always like: okay, harsh statement. But the world hasn't stood still. It always goes on. Only the way it goes on is what matters.

22:50Dominka: Exactly. And I think we managed that well.

22:54Marijana: And you should value the time you had. What you actually said: those who were here, it was nice, it was a great time. Now you take a new path, and that's that.

23:08Dominka: I've got another game, wait a moment.

23:10Marijana: Yes, what would our podcast be …

23:13Dominka: … without a little game (German: Gämchen)? The game goes like this: Dominka starts a sentence, Marijana finishes it spontaneously.

Marijana: Come on, I'll be totally spontaneous now.

23:35Dominka: The hardest objection this year was …

23:43Marijana: No budget. No budget.

23:47Dominka: Hung up. Nothing works anymore.

23:51Marijana: Yes, then I thank them for the honest feedback and set myself a follow-up in six months.

23:57Dominka: Have you ever asked: so where's all the money? All the money you're making here? I'm in the commercial register right now, just taking a look. I just looked at your revenue. So if you don't have a budget, then I don't know.

24:13Marijana: No, I leave that. I just accept it and think to myself: yes, we'll talk again in a few months.

24:20Dominka: Oh, stinginess isn't cool, is it? (pun on the slogan "Geiz ist geil", stinginess is cool)

Marijana: Not at all.

24:24Dominka: Nope, I don't think so either. Especially not with men. But not with women either. Do you have stingy friends like that? I hate that.

24:34Marijana: Ah, that's really bad. No, that's not okay. Luckily we're not like that.

24:38Dominka: No, as you can see. Or luckily … whether we can call that luck. Bottomless, budgetless.

24:46Dominka: The best moment in sales was … Oh, do you have a sales moment like that? You didn't have the thousandth meeting this year. That was someone else.

24:57Marijana: Well, I did have it, but it was taken away from me.

Dominka: Oh come on, no.

Marijana: But really, yes.

Dominka: By accident, then.

25:07Marijana: Yes. But fine, Franjo, you deserve it. I was happy that you were the one.

Dominka: It was definitely Franjo.

25:15Marijana: Besides, I didn't want to make myself unpopular by being the one here. Yeah, no: my top moment was and always is when right after my pitch someone says to me: "Why don't you just suggest a meeting time?"

Dominka: Awesome, right?

25:37Marijana: Then I think to myself: yes, man, that's why I'm here. Just totally uncomplicated. Another little anecdote that comes to mind, one I had today: how panicked decision makers get when you want something from them. You pitch, and suddenly they get completely panicked: "No, no, we have no need. Thank you very much, yes, have a nice day. Bye." And they don't let me get a word in at all. Then I think to myself: that's okay, I'm a human being after all. You can still talk to me for a moment, wish me a nice day, which I'd like to wish you too. That's why: people who say "Sure, why don't you suggest a meeting time."

26:20Dominka: That's great in sales. Exactly, those are the …

Marijana: … favorites.

26:30Dominka: Those are the ones who aren't stingy. That one was stingy. He has no time to lose.

26:42Dominka: This is what I learned about myself this year …

26:46Marijana: … that I have to be patient.

Dominka: Did you manage it?

Marijana: Now at the end, yes.

26:54Dominka: My biggest sales fail this year was …

26:58Marijana: … sometimes not pitching properly.

Dominka: Oh, okay. Really felt like a loser?

Marijana: Yes, a little bit.

27:08Dominka: Where did my pitch go? Pitch, pitch, where are you?

27:14Marijana: Yes, that was a bit silly. That was still at the beginning, when I was still a bit unsure, and I could have done it better. Which I eventually did later, but the first call was a bit …

27:27Dominka: And I also think you can only learn from your own mistakes. I've never learned from someone else's mistake. Never in my life.

27:43Marijana: Unless that person is aware of it and kind of warns you about it.

Dominka: No, then especially not.

27:52Marijana: Yes, when someone says: hey, I did this and that wrong, watch out for it when you do it, then you do think to yourself …

27:58Dominka: I just think to myself: you complete idiot, I would never have done it like that. And then I do it anyway.

Marijana: Yes, see?

28:07Dominka: I have to learn from my own mistakes. I have to make the mistake myself so that I learn from it. I've never learned from a mistake of another person or animal.

28:21Marijana: Although your animal is very smart, very clever.

28:32Dominka: She doesn't learn from her own mistakes anymore. The poor little dog.

28:36Dominka: Good, I'll keep going, I've got something else. This is what I would tell my January self … from January 2025.

Marijana: 2025, exactly.

29:09Marijana: The year is long. Yes: Stay motivated, the year is long, but it will be exciting, and it was exciting, too.

Dominka: Solid answer.

Marijana: Spontaneous answer.

29:28Dominka: Solid. And here we go: next year in sales I absolutely want to … I know: get the thousandth meeting again, you mean?

29:35Marijana: No, I'll make myself unpopular, I'm not allowed to.

29:37Dominka: Go for the two-thousandth.

Marijana: Yes, that's my next goal now.

Dominka: Yes, get it there.

29:50Marijana: Yes, I hope so. But as I said, the thing with the 1000 … I'd like to be a role model for you, Franjo, so you shouldn't be the one next year either.

Dominka: Very good.

29:59Marijana: An appeal to all colleagues: we sabotage him. Just like I was sabotaged. I won't name here who sabotaged me.

30:10Dominka: Hey, hey, Marijana, I think that's it. We don't necessarily have to tell secrets about what happens behind the scenes, at the team buildings. We've got another one tonight.

30:29Marijana: So negative and skeptical.

30:33Dominka: What? No, I'm not at all. I'm looking forward to the nonsense we'll get up to tonight. But that stays in the background, the whole of YouTube doesn't need to know. Good year … I actually wanted to say: it was a good year.

Marijana: Same to you.

31:00Dominka: Thank you for being here. Not only in this episode, but the whole year. You made it through the whole year again, right? Is it your first year after giving birth that you went all the way through?

31:23Marijana: When did I start? Last year, 2024, in May.

31:29Dominka: But back then you didn't go all the way through. 2025 is the full year. Without getting pregnant again.

31:40Marijana: Without maternity protection, without parental leave, yes.

31:43Dominka: Very nice. Here's to another one like it.

Marijana: As you like.

31:49Dominka: That's it for this episode of Dialing Out, the OB2B Podcast, dear viewers and listeners. It was a pleasure to be your host this year, and I'll probably have to do it again next year. I hope the episodes we've recorded so far weren't a flop and that every now and then someone learned something from them. If not, then at least we had a bit of fun. From next year I'd like us to have a Sechsflasche every time … did I just say "Sechsflasche"? (Sechs = six, Sekt = sparkling wine)

Marijana: Yes, you said "Sechsflasche".

32:29Dominka: A Sektflasche (bottle of sparkling wine) or something alcoholic to drink on this table.

Marijana: After 2 pm.

32:38Dominka: After 2 pm, fine by me, yes. It's 2 pm somewhere in the world. That's it. Thank you very much, Marijana. Comment, subscribe, we're on LinkedIn, you can find us there. Ciao.

Marijana: Bye-bye.