Episode Details

Here’s a question that’ll expose one of the most common productivity killers in sales: How much research should you do before making a cold call?

That’s the challenge Michael Bricker from West Monroe, Louisiana, brought to a recent Ask Jeb episode. Five months into his role at Cantara Networks, a fiber-backed internet provider, Michael was supposed to spend three minutes researching each prospect. Instead, he found himself spending 15 to 30 minutes per call, terrified he’d miss the one critical insight that would unlock the door.

Sound familiar? If you’re nodding right now, you’re not alone. This “research paralysis” is one of the most insidious productivity traps in modern sales, and it’s killing your pipeline velocity.

The Big Lie Your Brain Tells You

Let’s get one thing straight: Research is not prospecting. Research is research.

Every minute you spend digging through a prospect’s LinkedIn profile, reading their latest press release, or analyzing their org chart is a minute you’re not actually doing any prospecting activity. You’re not talking to anyone. You’re not having conversations. You’re not moving deals forward.

But here’s where it gets dangerous. When you add in the basic human fear that comes with making cold calls, research becomes an emotional crutch. Your brain lies to you and whispers, “If I just know all this information, it’ll be so much better.”

So you spend 15 minutes researching, make the call, and it goes to voicemail. You make 12 calls a day. Everyone goes to voicemail. All that research, and you didn’t get anywhere.

How Much Do You Actually Need to Know?

Michael had a breakthrough realization that changed everything: “I’m not looking to make a sale on that initial cold call. I’m looking to make a connection.”

That’s the insight that separates efficient prospectors from research addicts.

On your first cold call, you’re not selling them anything. You’re trying to set an appointment so you can ask questions and figure out whether it makes sense to keep talking. That’s it.

So how much do you really need to know to set that appointment? The answer is not a lot.

Think about it this way: The more you get to know your customers, your business, and your industry, the more business acumen you gain. Over time, you’ll talk to ten businesses just like the one you’re about to call. You’ll recognize patterns. You’ll see that companies in a certain sector or geographic area all face the same three challenges.

You don’t need 15 minutes of research to recognize those patterns. You just need to build a message around them.

When Research Actually Matters

Now, before you throw all research out the window, let me be clear about when it does matter.

If you’re sending a prospecting email, do some research. You’re putting something in writing, so you better have some insight that’s not AI-generated garbage.

If you make a call, get a hard no from the CEO, and want to try again with a different message, do the research before you call back. You’ve hit a wall. Now you need ammunition.

If you’ve had a first meeting and you’re going into discovery, absolutely do deep research. You’re walking in armed because you know they’ll be there waiting. All that effort will pay off.

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