David Dulany - tenbound.com
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Leveraging the Sales Development Team to Convert your Campaigns

2/24/2017

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Click here to view a webinar I did with BrightTalk on how to best leverage your SDR team!
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How to Not Write Crappy Cold Emails

2/11/2017

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I recently joined an esteemed group of experts to add commentary to this ebook. If you're trying to book new business appointments, check it out. Click on the picture.
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2017: The Year of the SDR Manager

2/11/2017

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I’m officially declaring 2017 The Year of the SDR Manager.

​Ah, the SDR Manager, that beleaguered soul who doesn’t get nearly enough credit for the contribution they make the health of your business. Beat down from so many angles; Sales VPs, their own SDRs, Senior Execs, Marketers, HR, Vendors… the list goes on and on.

In some companies, scant respect and little recognition, unless of course things start going wrong. No clear career path. Not making as much money or getting as much stock as other managers...

It’s a tough, and at times, thankless job.

And yet, their function is vital to connecting marketing spend to real sales results. To creating predictable revenue. To preparing your next generation of Sales leaders. So, what’s going on?

Let’s look at the day in life of the SDR Manager. On any given day they are a career counselor, psychiatrist, sales trainer, analytics guru, firefighter, and interdepartmental translator.

They have to become an expert on managing Millennials. They’re scouting out top talent in a war against all the other companies and competitors. They’re organizing the training and preparation of your next generation of Sales reps.

They’re helping you find high quality meetings, pipeline and revenue for your Sales team. They coaching, hiring and firing. They’re keeping you out of trouble with HR.

They do a lot. And most of them are damn good at it. So where’s the love? Assuming they’re doing a good job, you want them to stick around, right?

OK then, here are a few ways you can take care of them:

Ask how you can help – SDR Managers are constantly being beat up for reports, justification, reasoning. At most companies they have about 5 different bosses; Sales VPs, Marketing Directors, C-Execs, Product, HR...
It would be refreshing if somebody asked them if they needed help occasionally, and followed up. As simple as, “what can I do to help?” works wonders. They need help and are probably too busy to ask. Simple questions; do you need more resources, team training, analytics, coordination? Or more generally; how are you doing?

Recognize their contribution – Nothing beats a good pat on the back. Look at some metrics beyond pipeline and closed/won. How many people have they hired, how are those people doing? What new logos has their team brought in, and how does that benefit your brand? How’s the attrition rate on their team; do people want to work for them?
This stuff is important too, beyond the usual numbers. Give them a platform to show off at Town Hall or the weekly staff meeting. It’s doesn’t always have to be a weekly beat down. They must be doing something right or they wouldn't be around, right?

Offer them management training and mentorship. – Many SDR Managers receive no management training at all, and yet are expected to be Bill Walsh or Bill Belichick right out of the gate. They may have just clawed up from SDR and now have no clue about what management is all about.
This is why a lot of SDR Managers drop-out of management after a few years and return to individual contributor. Teach them how to coach, how to mentor, how to delegate, how to give performance reviews. It builds loyalty and you’ll get better performance from them and their team.

Send them to a conference – Some great ones coming up this year that would very valuable; Revenue Summit, Topo Sales Summit, Rainmakers 2017. Send them to a Topo Sales Development Roundtable. Give them a few days to connect with peers, talk shop and come back with some fresh strategies to help your company.

Be proactive, ask them which conferences they want to go to, and then send ‘em. Ask for a presentation on what they learned.

So there are some ideas, and hopefully this will give you a little push to think about the SDR Manager and what contributions they’re making.

Let’s make 2017 the Year of the SDR Manager!

What are your thoughts?

How does your company take care of SDR Managers? SDR Managers; what does your company do to support you? Would love to hear about it.

​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 turnaround Sales Development programs. More info at tenbound.com

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Sales Development Podcast - Show Notes - Sean Sheppard

2/8/2017

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Connect with Sean Sheppard: Linkedin Twitter
Show notes:
  • Sales should be treated as other professionals and it should be treated as such
  • Sales professionals can be incredibly valuable in business, and deserve respect 
  • Be proud of what you do, and treat it with professionalism and pride 
  • If you can manage your mindset you can manage your success
  • 50% of US grads go into Sales, with no training.... ???
  • Traditional universities very rarely offer Sales majors ... creating a huge skill gap 
  • Modern Sales is a uniquely American phenomenon, after the industrial revolution, we have to use influence to move people, not force. Our education system needs to catch up. 
  • In a tech company, “Be close to the code or be close to the cash” Engineering or Sales is where you can make your mark. 
  • Everything starts with business and marketing acumen, so know your market first  
  • Train your mind and mindset to be able to quickly size up a company.
  • GX Academy Sales and Biz Dev Syllabus available here, Sean goes in to detail:
  • http://gxacademy.com/request-a-syllabus/
  • How do you apply the Sales funnel to your career?
  • Most problems you run into business can be solved with more Sales. Learn Sales and conquer!
  • Mindset #1: Customers don’t care about YOUR problems, they care about themselves
  • As a Salesperson you have to do your Market research and make sure you’re picking the right company before moving forward, same goes with your career
  • Make sure the product you’re getting involved with will sell.  Be curious about it. Don’t be desperate for a job. You have to qualify them too. 
  • Use a Decision framework map. Set yourself up for success. (available at GrowthX)
  • You can have a greater impact on an early stage company, but it’s also chaos.
  • Employment branding is the same as Marketing. Make sure it’s not a too-good-to-be true situation.
  • Try to reach Product Market fit
  • There are 26,000 companies in the Bay Area that can hire you.
  • Online recruiters are buried in resumes. You don’t try to sell like that, why look for a job like that?
  • Seek fit Qualify. 90 day funnell plan with all prospecting plan
  • Look at the hunt as a prospecting plan- drive to the numbers!
  • Get out, meet people, get involved in the community.
  • Examples: Sales Tech Facebook Group
  • https://www.facebook.com/groups/techsalesleaders/?hc_ref=SEARCH
  • Sales Development Leadership Forum:
  • https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4546488
  • Sales Hacker Linkedin Group
  • https://www.linkedin.com/groups/6932016

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