Operator Sessions

Ben Lister
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Entrepreneurship

Operator Sessions is the podcast for agency owners and service business operators who want to know what's working right now in client acquisition, offer building, paid ads and scaling. Each week Ben Lister sits down with a guest doing something interesting in the online business space and asks the one question that matters most. What's your big idea and why does it work.

Episodes

  1. Jul 2

    The Truth About Appointment Setting in 2026 - Aidan Kalinski - 003

    Most people think appointment setting is one bad update away from being replaced by AI. Aidan Kalinski has been doing it for three years, built it into a six figure coaching business, and says the people panicking are looking at the wrong half of the industry entirely. In this episode Aidan breaks down his accidental path from a retail job to running appointment setting himself, why he still books calls for clients today instead of just teaching it, and the real reason DM setting is dying while phone based setting is quietly becoming more valuable than ever. He gets into what actually separates a good setter from someone who will burn out in three months, how to vet an offer before it wastes your time, and what a realistic six month to two year timeline looks like for someone starting from zero in 2026. Aidan Kalinski is an appointment setting coach and consultant who scaled his own coaching business to six figures in its first year and still works as a setter himself while running it. What we cover: 0:00 Introduction 0:37 From retail job to six figures by accident 9:27 Why he still sets calls for clients today 13:13 Is AI about to replace appointment setting 19:10 Why DM setting is dying but calling isn't 25:02 What actually makes a good setter 29:31 Beating the fear of cold calling 35:22 Setting cold leads versus warm ad leads 42:13 A realistic timeline for beginners in 2026 45:01 Setting as a career versus a stepping stone 47:57 How to vet an offer before taking it Connect with Aidan: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aidanksocial/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aidankbiz Book a free call with BTJ Labs: https://go.btjlabs.com/ Connect with Ben: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benlisterbiz YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ben.lister?sub_confirmation=1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-lister-btj/ Operator Sessions is the podcast for agency owners and service business operators who want to know what's actually working right now in client acquisition, paid ads, offer building and scaling. New episodes every Thursday.

  2. Jun 25

    How I Quadrupled Our Close Rate By Changing One Thing - Tom Beatty - 002

    Tom Beatty spent four years failing before one fix changed everything: stop targeting real estate salespeople and start targeting business owners. That single shift took his agency's conversion rate from 5% to over 20%, built almost entirely on cold calling, a channel everyone insists is dead. In this episode Tom breaks down how he and his business partner went from roofing to real estate to getting scammed out of thousands, before accidentally discovering the database reactivation angle that became their core service and exposed their real ideal client. He walks through the exact metrics behind a profitable cold calling operation (pickup rate, pitch rate, resonation rate, booking rate), how AI now helps him prioritize phone numbers and is about to analyze years of sales calls for a repeatable closing framework, why DM setting is dying while cold calling still works, the ceiling every niche-specific product eventually hits, and the hiring hacks that made building his first sales team painless. Tom Beatty runs Productive Agent AI, a real estate lead generation agency he co-founded with his business partner Ben, helping agents, teams, and brokerages across America generate consistent, qualified appointments through cold calling and database reactivation campaigns 0:00 Introduction 1:31 The four-year grind before any real success 2:30 Getting steered away from real estate, then crashing and burning twice 3:28 Hitting the first $10k month after years of failed pivots 5:53 The targeting mistake that was killing conversion rates 7:41 Finding the real ICP: business mindset vs. salesperson mindset 9:39 How database reactivation accidentally became the core service 11:21 Using AI to analyze sales call transcripts and build a script for closers 13:45 Why cold calling still works in 2026 when everyone says it's dead 16:04 The exact funnel metrics: pickup, pitch, resonation, and booking rates 18:33 Setter pay structure and cost to acquire a client 21:11 Looking back at the DM setting era with Charlie Morgan 22:19 Why DM setting is dying and AI is replacing setters 23:40 Finding the ceiling of a niche-specific product 26:19 How to recognize when you've hit that ceiling 28:16 What to do when your agency isn't producing results 32:43 Why personal brand hasn't been a priority yet 34:17 The "sales call before the sales call" effect of content 39:14 Turning sales call education into content ideas 40:22 When cold calling stops scaling and paid ads come in 42:43 Hiring lessons: Facebook groups, setter mentors, and hiring ads Connect with Tom: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tombeatty_/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TomBeatty Book a free call with BTJ Labs: https://go.btjlabs.com/  Connect with Ben: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benlisterbiz  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ben.lister?sub_confirmation=1  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-lister-btj/ Operator Sessions is the podcast for agency owners and service business operators who want to know what's actually working right now in client acquisition, paid ads, offer building and scaling. New episodes every Thursday.

  3. Jun 18

    Cold Email Still Works. Here's Why Yours Doesn't - Tycho Moolenaar - 001

    12:37 Most agency owners blame cold email when it stops working. Tycho Moolenaar built three agencies, hit $83k in a single month, and watched a partnership collapse. Every time, the real problem wasn't the channel. It was deliverability, lead quality, and the fact that nobody told them they need 150 inboxes, not 15. In this episode Tycho walks through four years of building and shutting down agencies, makes the case for why cold email beats every other acquisition channel on ROI, and breaks down exactly why most campaigns fail and what it actually takes to fix them. Tycho Moolenaar is a Dutch entrepreneur who has built multiple marketing agencies to over $1M in combined revenue and now coaches agency owners on cold email acquisition. 12:19   Claude responded: 0:00 Introduction0:00 Introduction 1:07 "Building a business nearly broke me" 3:35 Dropping out of college and betting tuition money on a coaching programme 7:53 The niche nobody was targeting — $10k/month in 4 months 10:30 Why cold email stopped working overnight 12:30 Joining a partner's agency and scaling to $83k/month 14:00 The problem with charging $18k when you have no case studies 15:30 Faked metrics, client complaints, and the decision to shut it down 18:20 Starting over — what Tycho is building now 20:07 "Cold email beats every other channel. Here's why." 23:56 30-to-1 ROI — the actual numbers behind cold email vs everything else 26:56 Why ads have a terrible show rate and cold email doesn't 28:33 The real reason your cold email isn't working 31:00 The sending limit most people blow past without knowing it 33:00 The spam words killing your deliverability and how to find them 34:23 Is Google trying to kill cold email? 37:27 AI-personalised emails are everywhere — are they actually working? 40:19 "I ran a campaign with zero personalisation and it crushed" 42:58 What your cold email copy actually needs to do 46:37 The #1 mistake Tycho sees every agency owner make Connect with Tycho: Instagram: instagram.com/tycho.biz  YouTube: youtube.com/@tychomoolenaar  Connect with Ben: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benlisterbiz  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ben.lister?sub_confirmation=1  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-lister-btj/  Operator Sessions is the podcast for agency owners and service business operators who want to know what's actually working right now in client acquisition, paid ads, offer building and scaling. New episodes every Thursday.

  • 3 Episodes

About

Operator Sessions is the podcast for agency owners and service business operators who want to know what's working right now in client acquisition, offer building, paid ads and scaling. Each week Ben Lister sits down with a guest doing something interesting in the online business space and asks the one question that matters most. What's your big idea and why does it work.

Information

  • Creator
    Ben Lister
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    3
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Ben Lister