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Cole Ackerman is good at what he does because he chases relationships, not transactions. It has served him well in an industry that Abstrakt nearly waved off a few years ago. Several hundred collection customers later, nobody is second-guessing the decision to dive in. Read on to learn more about Cole, what he thinks is still holding this industry back, and why his toughest critic can’t read or write.
Name: Cole Ackerman
Job Title: Director of Sales and Biz Dev
Company: Abstrakt
Length of time at current company: 4 years
Length of time in industry: 2.5 years
How did you get your start in the industry?
Just as everyone we ask this question to says “you aren’t a kid aspiring to be in the debt collections industry”, the same goes for me. I was brought on to help build out our outbound sales motion in 2022 when we were primarily focused on selling to other software companies as a coaching tool for rep’s cold calls. Long story short, we started getting quite a few inbound inquiries from agencies in late 2023. I don’t want to say we discarded them initially…but we definitely didn’t take them seriously. We quickly realized the fit for the product was growing in this industry so we decided to dive head first into it. Several hundred collections specific customers later we haven’t looked back.
What is your career highlight so far?
Getting to build an eight-figure annual sales funnel with the team at Abstrakt from ground zero.
When or how are you most productive?
Unfortunately or fortunately I’m most productive in high pressure environments. When the stakes are high is when I perform the best. Not sure why exactly!
Which industry professional do you admire most?
I have to go with my brother Chris Walcher. Chris and I met via me cold calling him several years ago. We immediately hit it off and he has been a mentor for me in many aspects of my life, not just collections.
What is one thing you do better than everyone else?
I don’t know that I do it better, but I love building relationships/friendships. The Chris one is a prime example of that. I did cold call him with the intention of booking a demo, but came to find out he was the head of sales and not ops like I thought so I had nothing to sell him. I did know quickly that he was a guy I wanted to be friends with so I pivoted to “let’s be buddies” and the rest is history!
What do you like most about this industry?
The problem solvers that we work with are what gets me most excited about the industry. I truly have not met a group of people as curious and driven to solve problems than the folks in this industry.
What is one thing you wish you could change about this industry?
Being more receptive to technology. The industry as a whole is much more educated on tech and has certainly embraced it more over the last 3 years but there are are still a lot of people that stand firm on the “why fix it if it ain’t totally broken” hill.
If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?
Fishing. Or a charter boat captain.
Describe a typical work day.
Wake up at 6, eat breakfast and head to the gym. Get back in time to cook “second breakfast” for our two year old daughter. Demos, internal calls and building our pipeline most of the work day. Last 45-60 minutes of my work day is ALWAYS getting prepped for the next work day. I learned early in my career (the hard way) that sales is really project management and organization so I have to give myself some time to prep my day to come in order to be successful.
What is your guilty pleasure?
Bad tv shows like Jersey Shore. Actually, mostly Jersey Shore. And Below Deck.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
Make decisions based on the premise of “short-term hard, long-term easy” not “short-term easy.”
What are you currently reading?
Never Split…Just kidding. “Drop The Rock.”
What is one fact you’d like everyone in the industry to know about you?
My real boss’s name is Lucy and she’s my two-year-old daughter. She is already proficient at running software demos.
Who would you like to see answer these questions?
Chris Walcher, Bryce Payne
