With the recent headlines of layoffs and hiring freezes, there is growing economic uncertainty and anxiety about a potential recession. In a recession, job layoffs and hiring freezes are routine as inflation rises as budgets vanish.

Employers prioritize keeping high-performing representatives with track records of considerable achievements, especially those with prior history of high performance in difficult times. This leaves lower performing or newer candidates as the first representatives to go. 

Although much of these circumstances are outside of your control and depend greatly on luck and politics, there are still a few things that you can do to best prepare and position yourself for the upcoming downturn. Here are a few:

1. Cultivate the Right MindsetSaaS startups are getting especially hard with the current inflation levels, rising interest rates, and geopolitical issues. Valuations, particularly at the late stage, have started to dip, and startups say it’s more difficult to raise new funding in this environment. Investors are less willing to get involved with new businesses that have not consistently turned a profit, which leaves most startups in a less favorable position. This may sound overwhelming but it is important that you do not let this bad news consume your thoughts. You have a choice whether you do or do not to dwell on things that are out of your control. You must act with a survivor mentality. A survivor mindset helps you focus on everything that you can take action upon and in turn stay positive. Rather than listening to the radio while you’re cruising into work, listen to something motivational like Dr. Eric Thomas or Kobe Bryant – The Mindset of a Winner! 

2. Play OffenseIt’s not the time to hunker down. If you get on the defensive, you’re dead in the water. Instead, use the time to reevaluate your goals and position yourself to be in the best possible place as layoffs come around. As a survivor, you must pay attention to any possible potential pivots or opportunities that can put you on the best side of your boss or clients. Seek out ways to create more value for your business or personal brand. While others are hoping to keep their job, you’re setting the goal to become irreplaceable and valuable as possible. 

3. Focus on the Right OpportunitiesA challenging economy tends to shake up the job landscape. We have seen that first hand with all of the layoffs via our LinkedIn feed. Anytime your feed goes off, you’re likely wondering if more jobs are getting cut. But let’s not forget how it could be used for our benefit. Focus on leveraging your intent data to find companies interested in your product. Don’t just throw your prospects in sequences. Instead, be mindful, intentional, and seek to truly understand their daily challenges. Paint a picture of how your solution will help them create additional efficiencies internally and become a master storyteller. 

4. Edit your resumeEven if you do everything right, there’s still a chance you will be laid off. I hate to even put that out in the universe, but you can’t be oblivious to reality. Founders and investors are preparing for what looks like an economic downturn – and perhaps even a recession. So, you have to plan and prepare for the worst. This preparation will ease any strain in quickly transitioning to job-hunt mode. This is a great time to focus on networking through LinkedIn with recruiters, career coaches, and catching up with former coworkers.  


Tips for discussing being laid off:

✅ Mention it in your cover letter: Future employers should be made aware of your reason for searching or hoping to transition to another job. Your cover letter serves as the best place to break down your history and the circumstances of your layoff. Providing this information up-front may also help you stand out from other applicants with similar experience levels. 

✅ Speak positively about the organization: Do not mention anything negative about your prior workplace. It is alright to mention vaguely that it “was not a great fit.” Anything beyond that is not professional and can leave a bad taste in others’ mouths. 

✅ Highlight what you’ve done since:  Highlight your resilience and everything you have done to push through tough times. These accomplishments represent a great work ethic, positive outlook, and motivation to overcome any obstacles thrown your way. 

5. Uplevel your skills with communityA recession provides a great time to head back to school, learn new marketable skills, start side gigs, join industry communities, or pivot into a new career. A community that assists and supports you through this process is Tenbound Plus. 

Tenbound Plus is a VIP Membership Community 100% committed to your success. If you’re one of the folks that have been affected by a layoff and are concerned about finding another job, do not hesitate to book a consultation with David Dember of Tenbound. He will assess your situation, identify alternate paths, and walk you step-by-step through the process of finding a new job. To aid in supporting you through this process, Tenbound provides an insightful community forum. The community forum provides a great place to assess the current atmospheres of different realms of the Sales Development Space. Last quarter we helped 57 SDRs find new work and it is our top priority to help and support you through this uncomfortable process in any way possible. 

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How to Protect Your Job in a Recession

​Guest Post by Sales Development and Project Management Pro Daniil Krets

Knowing how to run a good process has unquestionably been helpful as a manager, and it was also a force multiplier when I was an individual contributor. Before focusing on building a career in Sales Development, I’ve been super passionate about Project Management. I ran complex projects in fintech for years before moving to the US and making a transition to sales. I even secured a PMP certification back in 2016 which I’ve been finding extremely valuable ever since.  For example, as an SDR, whenever you have a slow week and ask your manager how to bounce back you’re most likely going to get a similar answer every time: trust the process. 

This is why the process is so important in Sales Development. The essence of Sales Development is building a repeatable, measurable, and predictable process that scales with the business. In this blog post, I will dive into the key knowledge areas of Project Management and how they align with Sales Development. I will provide examples to highlight some of the key components of a successful sales development strategy and what SDR Leaders need to focus on to build a good process. 

 What does Project Management have to do with Sales Development? 

Actually a whole lot. If you run a basic search on key knowledge areas the waterfall Project Management methodology focuses on, the list is going to look like this:

1. Project Integration Management
2. Project Scope Management
3. Project Time Management
4. Project Cost Management
5. Project Quality Management
6. Project Resource Management
7. Project Communications Management
8. Project Risk Management
9. Project Procurement Management
10. Project Stakeholder Management

Let’s see how each one aligns with Sales Development. By doing this, we will unpack the similarities and see how project management skills are relevant in sales development and identify the top 3-5 most important “project management components” of sales development an SDR Manager should polish to be successful.

Let’s dive into each individual component:

• Project Integration Management:  Without getting into too much detail, this knowledge area focuses on assigning a project manager, identifying key project components, and fundamental plans of the project. “Integration management takes various processes, systems, and methodologies and brings them together to form a cohesive strategy.” 

I’d say from my experience, that this piece is something a lot of new SDR managers struggle with. Defining the tasks/processes that hold your “project” together is the easy part. What’s quite complicated is prioritizing these processes and identifying what exactly and at what stage is key to supporting the SDR function to move the needle on performance. 

Another component that stands out when I think about this knowledge area is integrating and defining the scope of Sales Development within the organization. As an SDR Leader, you have to be a bit more involved in sales and marketing than you’d like to because you’re sandwiched between the two parts of the funnel and the state of both heavily influences your performance and what ultimately your “project” needs to look like. 

• Project Scope Management is super important as an SDR Leader – what is the scope of the function at this particular stage of the organization? Within this area, I see 2 components: 
  • Making sure you’re fully aligned as an SDR Leader before you take the job and fully understand what you’re signing up for. 
  • Making sure there’s an ongoing process of defining and confirming the goals and objectives you need to deliver on with your stakeholders. If you are building the function at a startup from scratch there will be a lot of pivots in the strategy and goals. Make sure you not only know what and when needs to change so you’re being a good partner to other teams and the business but also know that in advance enough to have time and resources to pivot.

• Project Time Management: The most successful SDRs I’ve seen manage their time well and make the most out of their time executing. They also structure their activities well and break down their day into time blocks for focus. On a manager level, time management is extremely important when it comes to individual projects you’re running. I’d say one of the most important questions you should ask yourself and the leadership is “What’s my timeline to complete this?”. There are always a few types of projects you’ll run consistently as an SDR Manager that need to have a really well-thought-out structure and time frames – recruiting and onboarding come to mind in particular. 

• Project Cost Management: As much as Sales Development is considered top of the funnel, one of the things I realized over the course of my career is that in a performance-based role you’re always measured on revenue. Most of the time the performance for SDR function is measured in meetings held and ops/pipeline created but at the end of the day, revenue is key. The more revenue the fewer cost-associated questions you’ll get as a leader. Ultimately, there’s a myriad of situations where there’s no/not enough budget and you need to get creative to get the job done. 

• Project Quality Management: This one is so important and is so closely aligned with Sales Development I don’t even know where to start. In a world where quality matters so much and spraying and praying doesn’t work anymore, measuring the quality of the outreach and all of its components becomes key. From email personalization to quality of calls – there’re so many things that can be “winged” that you as a leader need to pay attention to. A few components that come to mind are sequence copy quality and performance, meeting quality and show rates, call quality and connection to meeting rates, activity quality and ROI on it, and much much more. 

• Project Resource Management: One of the key components of an SDR Manager role is managing people. As much as we don’t want to think of people as resources, resource planning is one of the most important “projects” as an SDR Leader. Headcount planning, recruiting, and forecasting – all take a lot of your time as a manager and are key to your success and the success of the team. It’s also what influences the success of your stakeholders a lot, like the sales team and how much pipeline your team is delivering. Or marketing and how fast you can recruit, hire, and onboard when your inbound lead volume grows rapidly. 

• Project Communication Management: The more senior you become as an SDR Leader in the org, the more you communicate. Lots of components to unpack here. It’s communicating with the team, communicating with your stakeholders such as marketing and sales, and communicating with your peers – Enablement, HR, RevOps, Product Marketing, and other teams you’re working with daily to achieve your goals. Communicating well, on time, and having agendas, timelines, and deliverables for all the conversations you have with your team and other parts of the business becomes a big part of your job as your SDR org scales. 

• Project Risk Management: As you’ve been reading about the above areas, I’m sure the thought “there’s a ton of risks to manage here” crossed your mind. And yes, the role is so complex there are always a number of projects running concurrently, processes running consistently, and changes happening based on the results of pretty much every project. All of this involves a ton of risks. The ability to manage the risk and pivot fast is how you learn and adapt to changing requirements and internal/external environments. 

• Project Procurement Management: Not a lot of overlap here if you take this area literally but when you think about it – you’re hiring “contractors” as an SDR Leader all the time. The scope of the role is huge. Delegating well means getting things done and at times surviving. You naturally seek help within your team and within/outside of your organization to complete certain projects faster and better. A few examples:
  • Recruiting – you hire someone internally or externally to help you scale the team when needed. It becomes its own project, and frankly, it’s a separate job that involves managing timelines, costs, and expectations.
  • Delegating something to an SDR on your team becomes a series of small projects that need to be managed – things like reviewing sequences, helping onboard new SDRs, working on the playbook, and documenting processes – all of that essentially means “controlling a procurement process by managing and monitoring, and then closing the contracts once the work has been done to everyone’s satisfaction”

• Project Stakeholder Management: We’ve seen this come up a lot in Integration, Scope, Risk, Communication, and Resource management where all of these areas when applied to Sales Development involve managing stakeholders – Senior Executives, Sales, Operations, and Marketing leadership and others involved in the GTM strategy within your organization. This area is about identifying the key stakeholders, addressing stakeholder needs and concerns, managing expectations (sometimes adjusting them as well) at all stages of the “project”, and over-communicating when it comes to the status and results of your work. 

I’m sure by now you see how much alignment there is between Project Management and Sales development. 

What does this mean? 

The SDR Manager job is increasingly becoming more about running a good scalable and measurable process, rather than about getting the messaging out there and making sure the results are good enough. The job is becoming more and more complex as the function matures in the business world and becomes a key component of the GTM strategy for a lot of organizations. I’d argue that at this point, the job is probably done best by a group of people, rather than one person. 

Some “projects” are very different jobs by design and it’s difficult to find a unicorn SDR Manager that does all of them well. Some are better people leaders (or cheerleaders) than others, some are focusing on strategy, tools, and process more than anything else. Both are good options but for different stages of Sales Development function maturity and the type/stage of the organization. 

Right now, we’re seeing SDR Enablement and Operations emerging as new, separate functions within SDR organizations and this is a sign of the function evolving and becoming more complex. This proves my point about the fact that this part of the funnel, being run by one person with no support and resources, the way it used to years ago (but still being the case quite a bit today), is unscalable or impossible. 

The areas to master will be different for each individual SDR manager but being self-aware and identifying the key areas of growth is extremely important for career development and growth. Communities and resources like Tenbound help accelerate this growth and learn from past mistakes and experiences. Networking and having mentors are key drivers that helped me grow as a professional and a leader faster which I’d highly recommend to any new SDR Manager. 
​
To sum things up, the most important project management areas to master as an SDR Leader from my perspective are Risk, Resource, Communication, Quality, and Stakeholder management. Coupled with an ability to run a good process, mastery within these areas guarantees a long and successful Sales Development Leadership career.

When it comes to cold calling, you’ll find plenty of books that seem to think it takes 200 pages to properly capture the art. But just like an actual cold call, brevity is the soul of success. That isn’t to say longer calls don’t provide ample opportunity for closing, but it does mean you need a plan in place to encourage a targeted dialogue before the close. And the best part? You don’t need 200 pages to learn how to do so.

Whether an account or marketing executive, cold calling in software sales is a necessary tool to truly stand out and be a top performer

To assist with that, we’ve compiled all of the best cold calling tips into one Definitive Guide to Cold Calling. So let’s kick it off by starting with:

Understanding the Cold Call Data

Across the years, sales books have gathered numerous statistics on the efficacy of cold calling. They have addressed its decline in popularity from the dot-com era but also acknowledged its necessary place in today’s world of selling.

As it stands, sale conversions from solid leads round out to about 18%, with leads from referrals around 50%.[1] Cold calling is left with a seemingly paltry 2%.[2] Does that mean it’s a strategy that should be left in the past? Definitely not. But it does mean that the methods for successful cold calls are far more refined than simply dialing numbers all day long – even if persistence is still key here.

Let’s take a deeper look at some stats. 

More calls always increase conversion and contact rates. 
The 6th cold call attempt often reaches 93% of converted leads, and 50% of buyers could use a follow-up call.[3] 
80% of sales generally require five follow-up calls.[4] 
When it comes to B2B sales, specifically, 57% of C-level executives prefer a phone call, as well as 51% of directors and 47% of managers.[5]
Right about half of all salespeople consider their phone to be their most effective tool, and cold calling continues to show its value as the most effective prospecting strategy – so much so that organizations who believed that cold calling is no longer effective experienced 42% less growth than those who did.[6]  It’s also important to note that 69% of modern shoppers accepted cold calls this past year, which, perhaps more than any other statistic mentioned, means it’s time to utilize[7]:
The Cold Call Cheat Sheet

With all the sales jargon out there, we can forget the fact that we're simply looking for a human connection in every cold call. Having a cheat sheet to remind you of the basic courtesies of conversation ensures the most bookings over the long term. This all starts with four basic rules:

1) Prepare & Prospect Before the Call

To convert a cold lead into a warm lead, you need to know everything you can about who you’re calling in the first place. Do I know their interests? What is my objective? What are ten questions or pieces of information I can readily offer on my product? Am I calling at the best time?

To answer the last, based on 25,000 sales calls, weekday afternoons were found to be the best time.[8] It’s also important to keep a few other averages in mind, such as:

22.5 dials bring about 1 meaningful conversation
30 dials bring about 1 meaningful conversation for the IT, marketing, and senior executive
3 meaningful conversations are needed for 1 appointment[9]
​
2) “How Have You Been?” & Voice Training

It’s easy to think because of that short window for a hook, you need to jump right into the pitch – but never underestimate the value of a friendly greeting. This particular question boasts a 10% success rate compared to a 1.5% baseline.[10] In that greeting, also avoid asking who you’re speaking to, whether it’s a good time to talk, and otherwise excusing yourself for the intrusion. Another thing to keep in mind here and throughout is voice training, or the three techniques to most be mindful of in conversation: pace, tone of voice, and volume.[11]

3) Start Proactively: Sell the Reason & Not the Exploration

After the pleasantries are exchanged, don’t be afraid to take charge. Know your pitch and why your product has an advantage, but also prepare for how to navigate the most common objections like:

  “Send me an email”
  “Can you call back later?”
  “I am going to have a meeting with our management on this; let’s talk next…”

Most prospects have a reason for taking a demo call. Often it's to learn something new, see how they compare to other executives in their industry or evaluate if your product can solve a problem they have now.

If you learn these fundamental reasons, you'll be able to sell the benefits of this instead of the exploration. 

4) Educate the Buyer & Lead the Conversation – Don’t Control It

84% of buyers complain about sellers who launch into a pitch too early without understanding what the prospect is actually looking for.[13] Also, if you jump the gun on the pitch without first understanding who you’re speaking to, you might get caught up with the gatekeeper rather than the decision-maker.

When pitching, every sentence needs to lead the listener to the next. You are a problem-solver and a consultant at the same time. The prospect should be educated on a product sequentially based on their own understanding, not yours. Ask open-ended sales motivation questions as you would in everyday dialogue, not yes or no questions to stagnate the flow of conversation.

Your goal is to guide them through the conversation, not controlling it to make it to the close faster.  

Dealing with Phone Anxieties & Managing Time Effectively

Those tips can help during a cold call, but only continued practice can help us overcome the fear of rejection. Success in cold-calling is found at the intersection of quality in quantity.

In that way, it’s a numbers game that takes time to master. “Some will, some won’t, so what.” We don’t take rejection personally – we set our insight towards learning something new on every call. With this 

It can be daunting to pick up the phone from time to time, however, the best way to get over anxiety in cold calling is through conversion. It reaffirms to you that this method can work, and you can do this. To that end, leverage technological tools to remove tedious tasks so that you aren’t wasting time between calls. Prepare and research to create a prospect list with more opportunities, and don’t let yourself get bogged down in a routine of reading a script like a robot. Keep a schedule that emphasizes impact and practice voicemails that entice a prospect’s attention.

Pulling it all Together

As with any skill, cold calling necessitates knowledge and experience, by combining these tips and tools, you will see your cold calls begin to build conversions. Combining an in-depth understanding of your product, including any caveats and nuances, as well as the experience of how best to navigate objections and manage your time efficiently. With this guide, we’re confident you can do both.

We hope you found this article helpful, and we can’t wait to hear how you implement it on future calls. For all things Tenbound, keep an eye out for our newsletter and check out our channel for more tips!

[1] Jay, A. (2022, January 14). 64 cold calling statistics you must learn: 2021/2022 Challenges & Data Analysis. Financesonline.com. Retrieved May 3, 2022, from https://financesonline.com/cold-calling-statistics/
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] 05, J., 24, S., 11, M., & 22, F. (2022, March 4). 7 detailed cold calling tips, statistics, and ways to improve conversions. SalesIntel. Retrieved May 3, 2022, from https://salesintel.io/blog/7-detailed-cold-calling-tips-statistics-and-ways-to-improve-conversions/
[5] Ibid
[6] 64 Cold Calling Statistics - https://financesonline.com/cold-calling-statistics/
[7] Ibid
[8] 5 no-nonsense cold calling tips. Sales Assembly. (2022, February 11). Retrieved May 3, 2022, from https://www.salesassembly.com/cold-calling-tips/
[9] ZoomInfo. (n.d.). The B2B cold calling guide: The pipeline: ZoomInfo. Pipeline Blog. Retrieved May 3, 2022, from https://pipeline.zoominfo.com/sales/being-cool-to-cold-calling
[10] Gong.io/blog. (n.d.). Cold Call Guide. https://pages.gong.io/wp-content/uploads/Cold-Call-Guide.pdf?mkt_tok=MTg1LVZDUi02ODIAAAGD3fHm6fnDhjR98g3ZDNZvOkhlsEw5CF1VcCgObfxQuuVM6OJ2FiVBOQVk1nkQgF614wC_tEAgf2Fxnw4Rr76ImswKxvtBVjK-vkmgIEofOA
[11] Patel, S., Sujan Patel (2020, June 23). How to train a new salesperson on Cold calling. CloserIQ. Retrieved May 3, 2022, from https://www.closeriq.com/blog/2020/02/train-sales-reps-on-cold-calling/
[12] Holovnenko, A., Anastasiia Holovnenko - The Coolest Cold Calling Guide - Tips & Tricks That Work. Retrieved May 3, 2022, from https://www.cience.com/blog/cold-calling-guide
[13] 05, J., 24, S., 11, M., & 22, F. (2022, March 4). 7 detailed cold calling tips, statistics, and ways to improve conversions. SalesIntel. Retrieved May 3, 2022, from https://salesintel.io/blog/7-detailed-cold-calling-tips-statistics-and-ways-to-improve-conversions/