I sent 1100 cold messaged to business owners and here’s what happened: I have been cold DM’ing business owners through instagram for a little over a month to get my agency off the ground and I’m sharing the real numbers. From 1100 cold outreaches, I received 57 positive replies. From those 57 positive replies, I sent out 11 calendar booking links From 11 calendar links I was able to book 6 sales calls. From those sales calls: - 1 did not show up - 1 needed to think about it - 1 could not afford it - 1 requested a proposal - 2 are in the future These numbers translate to: ~ 5% positive reply rate from my cold messages ~ 0.1% calendar send rate ~ 0.05% sales call booking rate from my cold messages ~ 55% calendar link send -> call booking!!! 0% conversion to sales (so far!) These numbers aren’t pretty but they’re the real deal. I just started building out this agency around mid January, and started reaching out to potential clients at the end of December. Although I didn’t reach my goal of signing my first client in Jan, I’ve gathered a ton of great data. The metrics I am aiming for in my instagram outreach system are: 6% positive reply rate 3% calendar send rate 2% appointment booking rate The fun thing about data is that it reveals exactly where the problem is. People have an obvious gap in their current lead handling approach - enough so that they respond to my initial outreach. However, the way I'm presenting my offer isn’t resonating, hence they’re not interested in continuing to the next step (accounts for the low calendar send rate). BUT when they are interested, they follow through (~55% of the time I send a calendar link, they end up booking a meeting). The next step is tweaking my offer presentation and marking materials to match. January brought immense learning and building from the ground up. So excited to see what February brings!

Hello my people, after sending close to 1000 cold messages I just conducted my FIRST sales call of my life for the agency I'm building from scratch. I went through a sales training last year, I probably spent 3 hours on mock calls in the past couple days to practice, and probably another 3-4 building my sales script.... all of that to just absolutely mumble and stumble through the whole call. Unfortunately wasn't able to close this client on the call BUT she was super interested, was happy with the price, and expressed she wanted to move forward after aligning with her cofounder. I'll be following up and hoping to close her this week as my first client. In the mean time, back to sending more cold messages 🫠

Hello hello, thank you so much for visiting! My name is Laura Cohen and I am building an agency from scratch in the evenings and weekends in hope of escaping corporate hell. I've never launched a successful business (yet), I have no agency experience, I've never taken a sales call, and tbh I sometimes have no idea wtf is going on. I'm making this group as a place for anyone and everyone to come build with me! I'll be posting real raw wins and losses, tips, resources, and some good ol' banter. I often find myself feeling hugely disjointed between my goals and my social group - wanting to build something bigger, but not always having people around me who are in that same “builder” phase. Think of The Messy Middle as a lowkey space to vibe out with other builders, learners, and hustlers. No IGesque influencer fluff, no highlight reels, just real day-to-day progress. If that sounds like your vibe, welcome!!!!! 🤝Let’s build.