r/sales by u/VirtualMacaroon64t 11mo ago Can anyone recommend a course I can take for cold-calling? Single founder here. I HATE cold-calling, because I spend hours looking for leads and entering them into my CRM, then I call them all, which leads to 20% dead lines, 50% no answers, 20% not interested, and 10% interested. Hardest part is getting a good list to call (whether I compile it myself manually or have someone else do it)...but then I have call reluctance, and hang out on Reddit a bit too much...
I took Grant Cardone's selling course a few years ago and that turned me into a powerhouse, but if I took it again I'm sure I'd find it a bit boring, because I already know the material...
So I'm thinking that taking a different course would help keep things new and exciting for me.
P.S. "door #3" is to just hire a salesperson or put more money into ads...lol.
Open on Reddit r/SaaS by u/koustubh18 1mo ago 1 month of launching my SaaS solo - honest numbers and what actually worked After 1 month of launching firsteyes AI solo - here's the completely honest picture:
What worked:
→ Reddit - by far the best channel. Genuine conversations converted better than anything else.
→ Direct DMs with personalised messages - not templates
→ Building in public on X - people root for solo founders
What didn't work:
→ Generic promotional posts - zero traction every time
→ Cold email - response rate was painfully low
→ LinkedIn posts about features - nobody cared
Biggest lesson:
I spent the first 2 weeks talking about what my product does.
The moment I started talking about the problem it solves - everything shifted. People don't care about your product. They care about their problem.
Numbers till now:
→ 800+ visitors
→ 90+ signups
→ 220+ audits run
→ Small $$ revenue generated
→ Zero paid ads
Happy to answer any questions.
Open on Reddit r/SaaS by u/Sofia1_Rose 1y ago Just hit $5k with my SaaS in 8 weeks what worked and what didnt Built a tool that helps founders automate and personalize outreach across email linkedin twitter even whatsapp
8 weeks in just passed 5k revenue and wanted to share some lessons from the early grind
**what actually worked**
*building in public*
Posted updates almost daily on twitter shared wins fails ugly UI bugs all of it
Didn’t have a big following but being consistent helped ppl trust the journey
Got me early users who felt like they were part of it
*multi channel outreach with personalization*
Instead of copy paste cold messages I let users upload csvs and generate custom messages per lead using AI
Also sends across diff platforms in one flow
Helped a lot with replies and made cold outreach way less painful
*limited time lifetime deal*
Early users got a launch deal and I capped it at like 30 spots
Sold out in 2 days
People like knowing its limited even if the product is still basic
*simple dashboard with reply tracking*
Letting users see reply rates and what worked in each campaign was more valuable than I expected
Some literally signed up just for that
*people talking about it*
Around 20 to 25 percent of users came from word of mouth
Didn’t hav
Open on Reddit r/SaaS by u/AdCrazy2912 2mo ago I spent 4 hours a day on Reddit to get my first 50 customers. Here's exactly what I learned (and what I'd do differently). Marketing as a solo founder feels like yelling into a void.
I tried the "standard" playbook first:
$500 on Google Ads (burned in 48 hours with 0 conversions)
100+ Cold DMs on Twitter (mostly blocked or ignored)
LinkedIn "Feature Updates" (absolute crickets)
Then I tried something different. I stopped "marketing" and started "answering." In 30 days, I landed my first 20 paying customers without spending a single dollar.
Here is the "Value-First" framework I used to turn Reddit into a customer machine.
The Problem: The "Pitch" is the Poison
Reddit hates being sold to. If you drop a link in the first comment, you’re dead.
The strategy that actually worked was simple but exhausting: I’d search for keywords like "anyone know a tool for..." or "struggling with \[problem\]..." across 15 different subreddits.
When I found someone in pain, I didn’t pitch. I helped.
If they were asking for a way to track X, I’d explain how to do it manually in a spreadsheet first. I’d give them the formula. I’d save them two hours of work.
Only then would I add: "By the way, I got tired of doing this manually, so I built a small tool that does it for me. Happy to share if it he
Open on Reddit r/SaaS by u/mr-onlinemarketer 5mo ago Share your product and I'll find you 5 potential clients for free! Hey everyone,
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately refining my lead-gen workflows and I’ve realized that the hardest part for most founders isn't building the product it’s finding the right people to talk to.
I want to spend my afternoon helping some of you out.
The Deal: Drop a comment below with:
1. What your product/service does.
2. Who your ideal customer is (e.g., "SaaS founders," "Marketing agency owners," "Local dental offices").
Why am I doing this? Mostly for the karma, but also to show how easy it is to find "ready-to-buy" leads when you have the right tools. I’m doing the manual heavy lifting for the first few people here to prove the quality.
Want to grab the leads yourself? If the thread gets too busy or you want to generate hundreds more on your own, I’m using the tech behind [LeadSnipe.io](https://leadsnipe.io). You can actually go there right now and grab 5 leads for free to test it out yourself.
Let's see what you guys are building! 👇
Open on Reddit r/SaaS by u/Leading-Visual-4939 5mo ago GummySearch is shutting down, so I tested a few alternatives. Here’s what actually worked for me I used GummySearch for a while to monitor Reddit conversations and pain points.
Unfortunately, recently it got discontinued, I had to rebuild my setup, so I tried a bunch of alternatives.
Here’s what actually worked for me:
# F5Bot – totally free !!
F5Bot is the simplest replacement I found. You add keywords and it emails you when they show up on Reddit or Hacker News.
It’s limited, but for zero cost it’s solid if your goal is just “don’t miss relevant mentions.”
What made it way more useful for me was plugging it into **n8n**:
* I forward F5Bot emails into n8n
* Parse the content
* Push matches into Slack / Notion
* Add tags based on keywords
I have a more complex tool, just with emails. (But it took me some time to do it on n8n)
# Redreach – good for monitoring competitions
Redreach is less about generic keyword monitoring and more about *following competitor activity and related conversations* on Reddit.
Instead of setting up long keyword lists, you can track competitors (or similar products) and see where they’re being discussed. From there, it surfaces Reddit threads where people are already comparing tools, asking for alternatives, or describing problems your p
Open on Reddit r/JanitorAI_Official by u/JanitorAI-Mod 11mo ago The Ultimate Proxy Guide Hello! Welcome. You've heard people talking about "proxies" and "new models" and want to see what all the fuss is about. The good news is that it's surprisingly simple.
This guide will walk you through it, step-by-step. We'll get you from zero to chatting with a powerful new AI model in just a few minutes.
## Our Plan:
Part 1: The "Why?" - We'll quickly explain what a proxy is and why you want one. (No technical jargon, promise!)
Part 2: The "How?" - A step-by-step walkthrough to get your very first proxy running for free.
Part 3: The "What's Next?" - Now that you're a pro, we'll explore other models and options.
Part 4: The "Oh No!" - A simple guide to fixing things if they go wrong.
## Part 1: The "Why?" - Understanding the Basics
> So, what is Janitor.AI's default model?
JanitorAI has its own, free AI model called JanitorLLM (or JLLM). Think of it as the "brain" that powers the characters you chat with. It's good, but there are many other, very different brains out there.
> And what is a "Model"?
A "Model" (or Large Language Model/LLM) is just that: the AI brain. Different models have different personalities. Some are better at creative writing, some are smarter, some h
Open on Reddit r/SaaS by u/Loschcode 3mo ago Reddit became a fucking nightmare In less than a year, 99% of the posts I see anywhere on Reddit are shitty AI slopes making up numbers and promoting their bullshit SaaS lead gen or some similar horseshit.
Worse than that, people replying. You can see kilometers away the big paragraph bots replying their vomit and then talking about their own solution too.
Like... What the fuck?
Am I the only one in here that is still human? Where should I go to talk to real people? Does anyone have a Slack community or something like that I could join?
I'm losing hours scrolling because I want to be at the top of my game, building my SaaS too, but since I'm not selling a solution for SaaS founders, I'm fucked and can't even do the bot bullshit everyone does. I'm really tired of it, because I've the impression to lose my time to empty information, for months.
Reddit is going down for sure, at some point LLM will be recalibrated to avoid it because it's just spam land. Reddit is destroying itself and it's like no one cares.
Open on Reddit r/smallbusiness by u/kenji_endo10 2mo ago Best lead gen tools for small businesses with limited budget? Running a marketing agency with 4 full timers and watching our outreach costs eat up more of our margins every quarter. We're sending maybe 2000 cold emails a month plus some LinkedIn outreach.
Right now we're cobbling together free trials and manual research which is burning way too much time. Need proper lead generation software but everything seems priced for enterprise teams. Looking for something under $200/month that has fresh data.
Been researching and seriously looking at Prospeo.io since they charge per verified contact only (no credits wasted on bad data) and have direct dial numbers which we need. Apollo also came up in my search but seems more expensive for what we'd use.
What are other small teams using? Need decent email accuracy and ideally some intent data to know who's in market. Bonus if it integrates with HubSpot without breaking.
Open on Reddit r/smallbusiness by u/No-Profile1668 2mo ago Best lead gen tools for small businesses with limited budget? Running a marketing agency with 4 full timers and watching our outreach costs eat up more of our margins every quarter. We're sending maybe 2000 cold emails a month plus some LinkedIn outreach.
Right now we're cobbling together free trials and manual research which is burning way too much time. Need proper lead generation software but everything seems priced for enterprise teams. Looking for something under $200/month that has fresh data.
Been researching and seriously looking at [Prospeo.io](http://Prospeo.io) since they charge per verified contact only (no credits wasted on bad data) and have direct dial numbers which we need. Apollo also came up in my search but seems more expensive for what we'd use.
What are other small teams using? Need decent email accuracy and ideally some intent data to know who's in market. Bonus if it integrates with HubSpot without breaking.
Open on Reddit r/startup by u/Adventurous_Ebb7614 23d ago prospeo vs apollo for finding emails - anyone tried both? Set up Apollo for teh last month and the data feels stale. finding emails that bounce at like 15-20% which is killing my sender rep. heard good things about Prospeo from a buddy who switched recently.
main things i need: accurate emails (obviously), mobile numbers for multi-touch, and decent API speeds since we're doing 500+ enrichments daily. Apollo's mobile data is pretty sparse from what i've seen.
anyone whos used both - how do they actually compare on email data quality? Prospeo claims weekly updates vs Apollo which i think is monthly? also curious about pricing at scale. we're a team of 8 SDRs doing probaly 10k lookups a month. my manager is already on my ass about deliverability so i need to figure this out fast.
bonus points if you've tested thier catch-all handling. Apollo marks everything as "likely valid" on catch-all domains which is basically useless.
Open on Reddit r/SaaS by u/buildwithsimar 9mo ago What tools do you use to find B2B Leads? LinkedIn, Hunter, Apollo—or something else? Hey everyone,
I’m curious how businesses are currently finding B2B leads efficiently. There are so many tools out there—LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Hunter.io, Apollo.io, ZoomInfo… but I’d love to hear from the community:
* What tools are actually working for you?
* Do you rely more on automated tools, manual research, or a mix of both?
* How much it costs you per month?
I’m asking because I’m trying to understand the lead generation challenges businesses face these days and would love to get some real insights from people who do this day-to-day.
Appreciate any advice, tips, or stories you can share!
Open on Reddit r/smallbusiness by u/kaptainmirza 2mo ago Lead-gen techniques Apart from apollo.io, what are best techniques to generate leads for all sorts...?
Open on Reddit r/CustomerSuccess by u/gelxc 1mo ago new domains for cold outreach - how long for email warmup? I've been doing cold outreach for our sa͏as for about 6 months now and finaly bit the bullet on getting dedicated domains instead of using subdomains. Got 3 new domains registered yesterday and connected them to Inst͏antly.
I know you need to do email warm ͏up on new addresses before you can start sending volume but I'm seeing wildly diffrent advice online. Some people say 2 weeks, others say you need 6-8 weeks of warmin͏g before your safe to send.
Right now I'm planning to warm for 30 days with Lem͏warm while we build out our lists. We tried pulling data from Apo͏llo but the bounce rates were rough so we're looking at Pro͏speo for the contact data side since their mobile numbers would let us do multi-channel alongside email.
For those who've done this - whats the minimum inbox warmup period you'd recommend before starting to send 50-100 emails per day per inbox? And do you ramp up gradually after warming or just go straight to your target volume?
Open on Reddit r/startup by u/EmilianoLGU 9mo ago Stop paying for ‘AI prospecting tools. This is why actually works. **AI prospecting tools don’t have secret data.**
When I first started cold outreach, I was desperate for shortcuts. I didn’t know how to prospect. I didn’t know my ICP. So I did what most people do: I bought into the hype.
Every “AI prospecting tool” promised me magic. Perfect lead lists, flawless enrichment, and inboxes full of replies.
So I paid for them. Tested them. Burned money on them. And guess what? They were just shiny LinkedIn wrappers with worse UI and worse data.
There are two kinds of salespeople:
* People who build lists manually, *actually* learn their ICP, and close deals.
* People who pay for wrappers and pray the software does it for them.
Only one of those groups actually wins.
**1. Start on LinkedIn.**
LinkedIn is the *source of truth*. Every serious B2B buyer has a presence here. Period.
If your lead isn’t on LinkedIn, good luck enriching an accurate email or phone number. They probably aren’t buying through cold outreach anyway.
**2. Pay for sales navigator and** f**ilter like crazy.**
Don’t spray and pray. Use Sales Navigator to filter by job titles, company headcount, industry, geography. This is how you build a tight ICP. You’ll learn who actuall
Open on Reddit r/smallbusiness by u/DeliciousBanana1059 5mo ago Struggling to get my first client after 1.5 months - Need some advice Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some honest advice. This might sound like a basic question, but I’m genuinely stuck.
I run a digital agency (**fusiondigital.buzz**) where we build websites and implement AI agents to automate workflows for small businesses. I’ve put in the work: the agency looks credible, I have a solid portfolio, a professional website, and I’ve even hired a developer to ensure high-quality delivery.
In the past month and a half, I’ve tried several outreach methods:
* Creating content on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
* Posting on Facebook and LinkedIn.
* Prospecting on Reddit.
* Heavy cold outreach using [**Apollo.io**](http://Apollo.io) to find leads.
Despite all this, I still haven't landed my first paying client. I feel like I have everything ready to go, but the conversion just isn't happening.
For those of you running agencies or freelancing: what methods are actually working for you to land clients right now? Am I missing something in my approach or is it just a volume game?
Thanks for your help!
Open on Reddit r/smallbusiness by u/Terrible-Height3639 3mo ago How do you currently track leads and follow-ups? (genuine question) I run a small B2B service business and for a long time I tracked incoming leads in a Google Sheet. It worked at first, but one problem kept happening — the spreadsheet never reminded me to follow up.
A lead would come in, I’d add it to the sheet, and then a week later I’d realize I never followed up. Not because I didn’t want to — just because things got busy.
When I started talking to a few other small business owners, I realized a lot of them were dealing with the same thing:
Leads coming in from forms, calls, referrals, etc., but no simple system to consistently follow up.
Some people seem to manage this well though, so I’m curious how others here handle it.
* Do you track leads in a CRM, spreadsheet, or something else?
* Do you have a system that reminds you to follow up?
* How do you prevent leads from slipping through the cracks?
Would love to hear what systems or workflows have actually worked for people
**Updated**. Seems there are allot of people having this problem.
I have an idea for a simple tool to handle this and if I get up to 20 people join this waitlist , I will develop the tool and make it free for all who joins .
Join here. [https://waitle.io/trackflow]
Open on Reddit