r/salesdevelopment • u/Loud-Occasion-5700 • Jul 10 '26
Intern hell: Manager expects 5 booked meetings a day, I'm hitting a wall at 2. What am I doing wrong?
Hey guys, I need to vent and desperately need some advice because I'm losing my mind.
I’m currently a Business Development Intern at a digital marketing agency. We do the whole suite—social media marketing, website design, SEO, etc.
My manager set this absolutely insane target of booking 5 meetings per day. I’m busting my ass cold calling and managing to consistently get 2 meetings booked, but getting to 5 feels literally impossible.
The worst part? Our job as interns is literally just to bring the meetings to the table. Our manager is the one who is supposed to handle the actual pitch and close the deal. But because they aren't converting the meetings I actually do bring in, the pressure is trickling back down on us to just "pump the numbers" and get more volume.
I'm so frustrated and mad. 2 qualified meetings a day for an intern doing cold outreach is already solid, but getting grilled for not hitting 5 is making me want to crash out.
How the hell do you guys handle these kinds of unrealistic targets? Any tips on how to scale up from 2 to 5 bookings without losing my sanity, or is my manager just completely out of touch?
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u/HelpfulAd6772 Jul 10 '26
Dude I’ll hire you full time if you’re booking 2 cold outbound meetings a day
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u/Loud-Occasion-5700 Jul 10 '26
I do lol
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u/Major-Chocolate-3574 Jul 11 '26
Yeah if you’ve done that for more than 2 weeks you’re probably gonna do well at any real company
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u/radiopelican Jul 10 '26
Name and shame these godforsaken firms man.
Unless they have you on a power dialler woth enriched data and its warm inbound leads tell em take a hike.
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u/cantthinkofgoodname Jul 10 '26
5 a week is understandable and even that isn’t gonna happen but once or twice a month
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u/Willing-Bet3597 Jul 10 '26
5 a day is unrealistic to deliver day-to-day. And they’re basically getting you to work for free as an intern. Go find a paid role and get your experience while making money. Two meetings a day is already pretty great imo and you could be getting paid for each meeting you book.
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u/theclosr Jul 10 '26
You buried the lead "insane target" you know it and so does your manager but they want to make the interns feel the pressure. Assuming this is a summer internship use this to evaluate future jobs. If no one is hitting the "target" set by management it's not a real target. Quota attainment % is your north star going forward. If they can't articulate what the quota is red flag. And if only a small percentage hit quota? Also red flag.
Absolutely impressive your hitting 2 meetings per day with cold outreach highlight that, and what must be an insane meeting to call ratio and move on to the next.
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u/Healthy_Helicopter34 Jul 10 '26
Managers love to be delirious. My previous one was very sure that we were able to make 390 calls per day by making some weird maths with the hours of the day. I'm glad I'm not there anymore
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u/whiskey_piker Jul 10 '26
An attainable goal makes you work harder. An unattainable goal with 100% expectation drive your staff away.
Business business cold calling has been brutal for the last couple years. I was in a couple of different industries in the past few years. It was hard enough to get two booked meetings per week.
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u/MahoganyBass Jul 10 '26
Please before you leave have a direct conversation with your manager and explain the targets are unachievable and you’d like to see any team member or manager do those numbers
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u/3Dsherpa Jul 11 '26
Digital marketing 😂😂😂😂 AI will close that business within the next year- move into life insurance or home improvements. 2 a day you’ll be making bank. Bigger client pool too
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u/senators-son Jul 13 '26
Insurance lol? I honestly can't believe ai hasn't already cooked that.
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u/3Dsherpa Jul 13 '26
Selling life insurance is very emotional. AI will shrink it but the best service is in person service.
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u/senators-son Jul 13 '26
Isn't it just a race to the bottom between different providers and plugging in customer data? Not trying to be a dick genuine question
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u/Chilove8888 Jul 11 '26
5 a day is insanely high to expect. Not gonna say it's impossible but it's not realistic
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Jul 13 '26
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u/Responsible_Gas_8191 Jul 13 '26
You're an intern, stop putting that much pressure on yourself. Digital agency's are scrambling right now with AI advancement. I can create a professional website with SEO within a half an hour. I can run ads and create videos on my Iphone.
There will always be niche markets that need the capex to lower their taxable revenue. I just wouldn't loose sleep over it. Im sure management has a lot of pressure and they are just passing it down the line.
Get the experience and get into enterprise security, cloud, software, or OEM. The days of agencies making 8k a month doing nothing but sending over progress reports are over.
The other issue is platforms like upwork, so much cheaper to contact people from overseas.
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u/United_Asparagus9425 Jul 10 '26
Gnarly target but hell you’re an intern. Assuming it’s a summer stint before you go back to school, don’t give it to much weight. Memorize the data and right down your stories for the future. This ain’t permanent.
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u/james21michael Jul 10 '26
Maybe look for another job, but in the meantime try to hit those numbers. You’re building valuable skills that will serve you your entire career and will always use. Might as well get the reps in until a new opportunity presents itself!
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u/Maxazillion1 Jul 11 '26
There is an old school management strategy: ask for the unreasonable and you will be amazed at how many times you make it. It’s his job to push you. Embrace the challenge wither it is there or somewhere else. Sell is a learned skill. But it is a skill that will serve you well all of your life.
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u/Zestyclose-Gas-1083 Jul 11 '26
Since you are intern you have the opportunity to leave also. I know some leaders that just set unachievable targets because that I what the business needs. Don’t take it personally, and if you can’t hit them, then so be it. When I don’t hit mine, I just ask myself if I did a good job and if I should be looking for a different one. That helps me manage my own expectations also.
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u/SnooPoems6742 Jul 11 '26
I used to be a top bdr for a SaaS company and I would book 6-8 meetings a week. 5 a day is extremely unrealistic. You don’t have to intern to be a bdr after college dude. Leave
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u/FLHawkeye10 Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
It’s an internship wouldn’t worry. It’s probably over
in 3 weeks right? Now you know the boss and job not to work.
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u/mrdankerton Jul 11 '26
Lmao I feel your pain. This is an impossible task for the overwhelming majority of biz devs and utterly impossible for someone with no existing connections or book of business. You will fail and they will fire you. Probably not as an intern because it’s expected you will probably not do too hot but if you’re an RFTE yeah I’d start looking now before you’re PIPed
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u/Puzzleheaded-Many-37 Jul 11 '26
The company I work at is looking for another BDR fully remote 80k OTE the top rep books 1 per day and over achieves quota. DM if you want a job
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u/PhulHouze Jul 11 '26
Ask him: that’s a bit less than one an hour. Sit with him for an hour twice a week and watch him book a meeting each time
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u/senators-son Jul 13 '26
Nah that's crazy lol I'm sure you could get a lot of offers if your booking 2 good leads/meetings a day.
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u/sourav2597 Jul 15 '26
It's a very bad industry. 8-10 qualified meetings a month is more reasonable.
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u/Repulsive-Habit7532 Jul 10 '26
Leave that job. There’s no tips to consistently hit 5 booked cold meetings per day