Recruiting A-Players in Sales Development |
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Over the summer, Tenbound Research Labs organized the different sectors specific to the Sales Development landscape into this map to make it a bit easier to get an overview.
When we released the map and announced it at The Sales Development Conference, over 50 companies involved in Sales Development reached out to get on the map.
It seems we have more support than we ever dreamed of to score that next appointment and build more pipeline.
And of course, leave a comment below with what we missed, misclassified, forgot, etc.
Tenbound Research Labs stands ready to begin work on Version 3.
When we released the map and announced it at The Sales Development Conference, over 50 companies involved in Sales Development reached out to get on the map.
It seems we have more support than we ever dreamed of to score that next appointment and build more pipeline.
And of course, leave a comment below with what we missed, misclassified, forgot, etc.
Tenbound Research Labs stands ready to begin work on Version 3.
Click on image to hear the podcast.
Feel like you’re getting lost in the noise?
Not sure how to create better engagement in your current playbook?
Involve your SDR team. SDR’s are often your first point of contact with prospects and can be the make or break in your sales cycle.
Whether it’s uncovering needs that your sales team can then help meet, or just creating an authentic connection, SDR’s are invaluable to your entire process.
Our guest today on The Sales Engagement Podcast was David Dulany, CEO of Tenbound. He chats with Mark about how your sales development team is indispensable when it comes to the effectiveness of your engagement, especially when it comes to connecting on an authentic level with your prospects.
Here are the highlights of David’s interview.
The Importance of Sales Development
Sales development ultimately impacts your revenue and when you reverse engineer what it takes to create revenue, that’s when you see the SD value.
What does it take to create revenue? It takes a pipeline.
What does it take to get a pipeline? It starts with a conversation.
What does it take to have a conversation? It takes all the things that your SDR’s do and coordinate on a daily basis–research, cold calls, networking, etc.
Does that mean salespeople are off the hook for prospecting?
Obviously not. Sellers still need to keep hunting and building those vital relationships, all the time. It’s naive to think that SDR’s will solve all your lead problems.
However, there are always times when you literally can’t be looking–maybe you’re closing a deal or on a plane, so it’s critical to have someone who’s helping to fill your pipeline.
It’s a partnership, with both sides having an equal need of each other.
If you’re relying on yourself 100%, you can get yourself in trouble. If you’re relying on someone else 100%, they can get you in trouble.
Keep Having Authentic Conversations
Sales Development is all about conversations, whether that’s through cold calls, social platforms, or going to events.
David Dulany: Growing Engagement Through Sales Development
At the same time, there’s a lot of noise that can make it difficult to get in front of new prospects.
More and more SDR teams are relying on the same systems and generating the same emails–it’s all starting to be white noise, which is why having authentic conversations are the key to breaking through the noise.
What does that look like?
Start with the buyer–who are you actually going after?
Get a good idea of what they are dealing with day to day. What’s the persona of who you’re talking to?
Immerse yourself in the marketplace you are getting into by reading blogs or going to trade shows and conferences.
People want you to solve their problems–they don’t want you to start your conversation by leading with your product. It’s a dead end.
A lot of people are selfish and worried about getting the sale, rather than being empathetic and listening and responding to what the buyer really needs.
Many salespeople get caught in the trap of feeling too much pressure to perform, or else they’re stuck in an industry they don’t understand (or care about) and end up only going through the motions.
You have to actually care about who you’re trying to sell to.
From a macro perspective, the market is increasing, so it’s only going to get more and more competitive. SDR’s need to think and create conversations more strategically to perform better.
This post is based on a podcast interview with David Dulany from Tenbound. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to The Sales Engagement Podcast.
Feel like you’re getting lost in the noise?
Not sure how to create better engagement in your current playbook?
Involve your SDR team. SDR’s are often your first point of contact with prospects and can be the make or break in your sales cycle.
Whether it’s uncovering needs that your sales team can then help meet, or just creating an authentic connection, SDR’s are invaluable to your entire process.
Our guest today on The Sales Engagement Podcast was David Dulany, CEO of Tenbound. He chats with Mark about how your sales development team is indispensable when it comes to the effectiveness of your engagement, especially when it comes to connecting on an authentic level with your prospects.
Here are the highlights of David’s interview.
The Importance of Sales Development
Sales development ultimately impacts your revenue and when you reverse engineer what it takes to create revenue, that’s when you see the SD value.
What does it take to create revenue? It takes a pipeline.
What does it take to get a pipeline? It starts with a conversation.
What does it take to have a conversation? It takes all the things that your SDR’s do and coordinate on a daily basis–research, cold calls, networking, etc.
Does that mean salespeople are off the hook for prospecting?
Obviously not. Sellers still need to keep hunting and building those vital relationships, all the time. It’s naive to think that SDR’s will solve all your lead problems.
However, there are always times when you literally can’t be looking–maybe you’re closing a deal or on a plane, so it’s critical to have someone who’s helping to fill your pipeline.
It’s a partnership, with both sides having an equal need of each other.
If you’re relying on yourself 100%, you can get yourself in trouble. If you’re relying on someone else 100%, they can get you in trouble.
Keep Having Authentic Conversations
Sales Development is all about conversations, whether that’s through cold calls, social platforms, or going to events.
David Dulany: Growing Engagement Through Sales Development
At the same time, there’s a lot of noise that can make it difficult to get in front of new prospects.
More and more SDR teams are relying on the same systems and generating the same emails–it’s all starting to be white noise, which is why having authentic conversations are the key to breaking through the noise.
What does that look like?
Start with the buyer–who are you actually going after?
Get a good idea of what they are dealing with day to day. What’s the persona of who you’re talking to?
Immerse yourself in the marketplace you are getting into by reading blogs or going to trade shows and conferences.
People want you to solve their problems–they don’t want you to start your conversation by leading with your product. It’s a dead end.
A lot of people are selfish and worried about getting the sale, rather than being empathetic and listening and responding to what the buyer really needs.
Many salespeople get caught in the trap of feeling too much pressure to perform, or else they’re stuck in an industry they don’t understand (or care about) and end up only going through the motions.
You have to actually care about who you’re trying to sell to.
From a macro perspective, the market is increasing, so it’s only going to get more and more competitive. SDR’s need to think and create conversations more strategically to perform better.
This post is based on a podcast interview with David Dulany from Tenbound. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to The Sales Engagement Podcast.
There's a hunger in the market for high quality information about Sales Development.
However, why does a one sentence brain f#rt on Linkedin get 100,000 views and a well researched article which took hours to write get 34 views?
These are mysteries only known to God and the Algorithms.
In the meantime, we were curious about what you're most interested in on the Tenbound Youtube channel, and have collected the most viewed video/audios right here for your enjoyment and education.
1. Sales Development Leadership Today, Andrew Berger, Square
2. From CEO to SDR Astronomical Growth Through Maniacal Focus on Sales Development, Henry Schuck, Discoverorg
3. From $0 to $10MM in 2 Years Through Sales Development, Manny Medina, Outreach
4. SDR Messaging Break N' Build #1 - Ryan Reisert, The Sales Developers and David Dulany, Tenbound
5. STOP hatin' on SDRs and listen to this please! Sales Development Podcast, Trish Bertuzzi, The Bridge Group
6. How Sales Development is Evolving, with Kristina McMillan, TOPO Inc
7. Key Strategy or Functional Irrelevance: Which is YOUR SDR Team?, John Barrows, JBarrows
8. Discover your Prospects' Pain Points Sales Development Podcast, Scott Leese, Qualia / Surfandsales.com
9. Using Data and Analysis to Run Sales Development, Russ Hearl, Hire by Google
10. Doing Whatever It Takes to Succeed in Sales Development, The Sales Development Podcast, Brandon Bornancin, Seamless.ai
Which one did you like the best?
Coming up next, the Top 10 most underviewed and underappreciated videos on the Tenbound Youtube Channel! Stay tuned for that.
Which one should we feature in the next round up? Subscribe here for all the vids
David Dulany has built high-performance Sales Development programs for Glassdoor, OpenDNS, Infer and Act-On Software. At Tenbound, he helps companies start, optimize and turn around Sales Development programs. For more information, visit daviddulany.com and tenbound.com.
However, why does a one sentence brain f#rt on Linkedin get 100,000 views and a well researched article which took hours to write get 34 views?
These are mysteries only known to God and the Algorithms.
In the meantime, we were curious about what you're most interested in on the Tenbound Youtube channel, and have collected the most viewed video/audios right here for your enjoyment and education.
1. Sales Development Leadership Today, Andrew Berger, Square
2. From CEO to SDR Astronomical Growth Through Maniacal Focus on Sales Development, Henry Schuck, Discoverorg
3. From $0 to $10MM in 2 Years Through Sales Development, Manny Medina, Outreach
4. SDR Messaging Break N' Build #1 - Ryan Reisert, The Sales Developers and David Dulany, Tenbound
5. STOP hatin' on SDRs and listen to this please! Sales Development Podcast, Trish Bertuzzi, The Bridge Group
6. How Sales Development is Evolving, with Kristina McMillan, TOPO Inc
7. Key Strategy or Functional Irrelevance: Which is YOUR SDR Team?, John Barrows, JBarrows
8. Discover your Prospects' Pain Points Sales Development Podcast, Scott Leese, Qualia / Surfandsales.com
9. Using Data and Analysis to Run Sales Development, Russ Hearl, Hire by Google
10. Doing Whatever It Takes to Succeed in Sales Development, The Sales Development Podcast, Brandon Bornancin, Seamless.ai
Which one did you like the best?
Coming up next, the Top 10 most underviewed and underappreciated videos on the Tenbound Youtube Channel! Stay tuned for that.
Which one should we feature in the next round up? Subscribe here for all the vids
David Dulany has built high-performance Sales Development programs for Glassdoor, OpenDNS, Infer and Act-On Software. At Tenbound, he helps companies start, optimize and turn around Sales Development programs. For more information, visit daviddulany.com and tenbound.com.
Leave a comment below if you would like to receive a PDF version of this map.
Making sense of the Sale Development landscape is becoming more complex all the time.
Here at Tenbound, we've worked hard to organize the different sectors specific to the Sales Development landscape into this map.
Going beyond just tools, we also look at bootcamps, recruiting firms, training and consulting firms, and others that specialize on Sales Development.
This is V1, and we stand ready to update. Leave a comment below on what we missed, misclassified, forgot, etc!
Thank you Ken Smith for your guidance putting this together.
Making sense of the Sale Development landscape is becoming more complex all the time.
Here at Tenbound, we've worked hard to organize the different sectors specific to the Sales Development landscape into this map.
Going beyond just tools, we also look at bootcamps, recruiting firms, training and consulting firms, and others that specialize on Sales Development.
This is V1, and we stand ready to update. Leave a comment below on what we missed, misclassified, forgot, etc!
Thank you Ken Smith for your guidance putting this together.
Guest post on the Operatix Website
Building an SDR / BDR team is a crucial step for companies looking to grow revenue and accelerate sales cycles. There are a few burning questions you should be asking if you’re serious about doing so: Is it best to own this function in-house, or outsource it? Who should look after the SDR team? What tools and technologies are needed? To help understand the challenges businesses come across, we had a chat with David Dulany from Tenbound who’s helped several companies to start, optimize and turn around Sales Development programs across North America and Europe.
Avoid hiring Sales Development Representatives before leadership is in place.
An all too common mistake when companies implement an SDR team is the lack of leadership and strategy. Often companies start hiring SDRs expecting them to deliver results straight away, without giving them the adequate training, data-set and tools to succeed. Product training in itself isn’t enough to make the rep successful, but a valuable message about the product benefits, not just the technical details, is extremely useful.
The first step a company should take in building a successful SDR team is to hire a Sales Development Leader. This person can look after the team (independent if it’s outsourced or internal) and outlay a clear strategy to make the team as effective and efficient as possible.
Who should the SDR Team report to?
The classic case scenario when it comes to the reporting duties of a Sales Development Leader usually boils down to two options: sales or marketing. According to David Dulany, the best possible answer to this question, however, is neither of these options. In the best-case scenario, the Sales Development Leader would report directly to the CEO. A direct channel of communication between the Sales Development leader and the CEO leaves that person with the required degree of autonomy to make the right decisions regarding the SDR team’s business direction. A Sales Development Leader must liaise with sales, marketing, operations, product marketing and various other departments; hence, a level of autonomy is key for them to execute their goals.
Failing a direct report system between the Sales Development Leader and the CEO, and if the choice absolutely has to be between the VP Sales and the CMO, Dulany believes it’s better to have the Sales Development Leader report to the CMO. In the recent research “The State of European Demand Generation” Sirius Decision found out that in 70% of companies the SDR/BDR team is lead by marketing, which proves Dulany’s point.
The sales department can often look at the SDR team as its little brother. SDRs often have ambitions to move into the sales team in the future, and it’s true that representatives between the two departments share similar qualities. It’s all a rather romantic concept, but sales leadership rarely have enough time to mentor an SDR department, as they’re far too busy closing deals and generally executing the nuances of their role.
When you look at a marketing department, their job is to drive the brand and awareness surrounding it, as well as pipeline for the company. As such, it makes better sense for the SDR team to sit as an extension of the marketing department. It will hugely benefit both the SDR and marketing teams if they’re working in tight coordination for field events, marketing campaigns, content and the like - all of which are typical aspects of a marketing team’s job.
Will technology solutions support the SDR team?
It’s inevitable that technology vendors will catch wind of your venture into building an SDR team. Once they do, the sales calls will start to roll in regarding fancy pieces of software. Software solutions can be an incredible tool to enhance the workflow of an SDR team, but without the right planning and thought - they can be a big hindrance to the operation. Think of a shiny new software solution like a toolbox; it can be the most incredibly toolbox in the world, but those complex tools are useless if not operated properly.
Vendors will naturally promise great results with such solutions, but the reality is that they need to be implemented carefully and properly. It’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling as though these implementation processes can be autonomous in nature, but there needs to be a dedicated person left in charge of making them work for the SDR team.
Some final thoughts.
Outsourcing an SDR team adds another dimension to this conversation. The mental trap that companies quite often fall into is that an SDR team has to either be in-house or outsourced - one or the other. In reality, and on a case-by-case basis, it doesn’t have to be like this. Companies may often find that a hybrid mixture of in-house functions and outsourced help, to varying degrees, is the best solution for them.
David Dulany has built high-performance Sales Development programs for Glassdoor, OpenDNS, Infer and Act-On Software. At Tenbound, he helps companies start, optimize and turn around Sales Development programs. For more information, visit daviddulany.com and tenbound.com.
Building an SDR / BDR team is a crucial step for companies looking to grow revenue and accelerate sales cycles. There are a few burning questions you should be asking if you’re serious about doing so: Is it best to own this function in-house, or outsource it? Who should look after the SDR team? What tools and technologies are needed? To help understand the challenges businesses come across, we had a chat with David Dulany from Tenbound who’s helped several companies to start, optimize and turn around Sales Development programs across North America and Europe.
Avoid hiring Sales Development Representatives before leadership is in place.
An all too common mistake when companies implement an SDR team is the lack of leadership and strategy. Often companies start hiring SDRs expecting them to deliver results straight away, without giving them the adequate training, data-set and tools to succeed. Product training in itself isn’t enough to make the rep successful, but a valuable message about the product benefits, not just the technical details, is extremely useful.
The first step a company should take in building a successful SDR team is to hire a Sales Development Leader. This person can look after the team (independent if it’s outsourced or internal) and outlay a clear strategy to make the team as effective and efficient as possible.
Who should the SDR Team report to?
The classic case scenario when it comes to the reporting duties of a Sales Development Leader usually boils down to two options: sales or marketing. According to David Dulany, the best possible answer to this question, however, is neither of these options. In the best-case scenario, the Sales Development Leader would report directly to the CEO. A direct channel of communication between the Sales Development leader and the CEO leaves that person with the required degree of autonomy to make the right decisions regarding the SDR team’s business direction. A Sales Development Leader must liaise with sales, marketing, operations, product marketing and various other departments; hence, a level of autonomy is key for them to execute their goals.
Failing a direct report system between the Sales Development Leader and the CEO, and if the choice absolutely has to be between the VP Sales and the CMO, Dulany believes it’s better to have the Sales Development Leader report to the CMO. In the recent research “The State of European Demand Generation” Sirius Decision found out that in 70% of companies the SDR/BDR team is lead by marketing, which proves Dulany’s point.
The sales department can often look at the SDR team as its little brother. SDRs often have ambitions to move into the sales team in the future, and it’s true that representatives between the two departments share similar qualities. It’s all a rather romantic concept, but sales leadership rarely have enough time to mentor an SDR department, as they’re far too busy closing deals and generally executing the nuances of their role.
When you look at a marketing department, their job is to drive the brand and awareness surrounding it, as well as pipeline for the company. As such, it makes better sense for the SDR team to sit as an extension of the marketing department. It will hugely benefit both the SDR and marketing teams if they’re working in tight coordination for field events, marketing campaigns, content and the like - all of which are typical aspects of a marketing team’s job.
Will technology solutions support the SDR team?
It’s inevitable that technology vendors will catch wind of your venture into building an SDR team. Once they do, the sales calls will start to roll in regarding fancy pieces of software. Software solutions can be an incredible tool to enhance the workflow of an SDR team, but without the right planning and thought - they can be a big hindrance to the operation. Think of a shiny new software solution like a toolbox; it can be the most incredibly toolbox in the world, but those complex tools are useless if not operated properly.
Vendors will naturally promise great results with such solutions, but the reality is that they need to be implemented carefully and properly. It’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling as though these implementation processes can be autonomous in nature, but there needs to be a dedicated person left in charge of making them work for the SDR team.
Some final thoughts.
Outsourcing an SDR team adds another dimension to this conversation. The mental trap that companies quite often fall into is that an SDR team has to either be in-house or outsourced - one or the other. In reality, and on a case-by-case basis, it doesn’t have to be like this. Companies may often find that a hybrid mixture of in-house functions and outsourced help, to varying degrees, is the best solution for them.
David Dulany has built high-performance Sales Development programs for Glassdoor, OpenDNS, Infer and Act-On Software. At Tenbound, he helps companies start, optimize and turn around Sales Development programs. For more information, visit daviddulany.com and tenbound.com.
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