From January to April 2026, I spent my internship implementing websites, ERP systems, and collaborating with employees and interns alike—experiences that made me reflect on how I approach work and interpersonal communication.
I
always dread doing sales work. The spontaneity of having conversations
with customers puts me off. And the metrics? They can pressure you. "We
need X amount of leads" or "We need you to close this deal with Y customer today". I recognize that to be successful, you first need to
know your business. And that can be difficult as an intern.
Back in February, my company's CEO, John, presented a new task. It was simple: given a list of phone numbers, call each one, and ask if they are open to work with the company. Obviously, that's considered cold calling and I was hesitant to decline.
Cold calls are intrusive. 9 times out of 10, the person at the end of the line will expect a direct answer. They won't let themselves be convinced easily to work with your company. Unless you're very persuasive, the failure rate for cold calling tends to be high.
But then I thought, since I'm an intern, there wouldn't be much consequence to try and log calls. The company doesn't have a rigid sales team. Hence I would provide value if I were to help reach out prospects and list them down as potential customers.
So I convinced myself to accept the task and, on the first day, called 7 phone numbers. The statistics: 6 phone calls ignored and 1 rejection. The first rejection was particularly interesting. The callee kept asking the purpose of my call which I stated more than three times. I guess they didn't understood at first and, after clarification, gave me a direct "no".
The rejection didn't affect me much, surprisingly. I simply gave my thanks and ended the call right there. John gave me a script to follow and do the calls which helped alleviate the anxiety. He assured me that rejections don't count as failures for that context. After the first 7 calls, I continued the next week and made another 3 calls. I got my second rejection in the process but it was better since I made sure to clarify my purpose.
Ultimately, those 10 calls were a deep dive into the sales process. It taught me firsthand just how difficult cold calling is. It's not for everyone. It requires a resilient mindset that refuses to take a "no" personally. It also made me realize that success in sales means being willing to putting yourself out there and actively advocate for your company.
Far from scaring me off, this brief dive into the process actually left me eager to learn more.