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Dear Quota Team

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I recently started a new job as an SDR. As you can imagine, it involves a lot of cold calling. All the calls are logged and every rep on the team has daily call quotas. The sales manager has a dashboard where he can see if people are making the calls or not, and he does ride people if they don't hit the number. I feel like this approach is kind of a waste of time. I'd rather spend more time researching accounts and focus on quality of quantity; this is how I was able to succeed in my last job. I talked to some of the other reps on the team about the quotas, and everyone generally agrees that it's kind of a waste of time. I found out some of the other reps have lists of numbers they know won't pick up and they just call them at the end of the day to pad their numbers. I'm thinking I want to start doing this too so I don't have to worry about a call quota and focus on my actual selling quota. Is this wrong? I'd still be focused on the job they actually hired me to do, which is to bring in customers. I just don't feel like the volume game is going to get me results.

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Unsure in the Southeast  

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Dear Unsure,

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This isn't an uncommon problem. A lot of reps fudge their call numbers. It's up to you what you ultimately do, but we will say this: You're doing yourself a disservice if you're spending your time making fake phone calls instead of calling actual leads that might convert. You're making the calls anyway, so trust yourself and your ability to sell. Getting more real prospects on the phone will only help you get better and help you get closer to hitting your quota. Use your time wisely. Good luck!