David Dulany's Blog

​There’s an old axiom in business that says “nothing happens until somebody sells something.”


No customer success can happen until there’s a customer. No money can be counted and no invoices sent without a transaction. No trade shows are funded, no salary payments made, no catered lunches. Until there’s a signed contract and next sales transaction is done, nothing happens.


Each day we read about companies with massive funding and a great idea that quietly fold or are purchased for a hugely discounted price in what’s described in a myriad of ways but what it comes down is one thing: they didn’t sell enough. 


In an office somewhere around the globe there sits someone with an amazing product that can definitely change lives for the better that is slowly wilting under the hot glow of time. The product may be great and the team may be amazing but if nobody is selling anything the company is slowly dying.

The Board wants to see an increase in revenue, fast. Your Sales team needs more pipeline. Your in-house Sales Development program seems to be going around in circles. 

Even if you wanted to make changes, you don't have time to hire, train, equip and manage a group of all new SDRs. 
What should you do?

These are the questions we hear a lot as we work with clients here at Tenbound. 

Companies need qualified Sales appointments and pipeline today in order to hit their aggressive revenue targets. 

However, simply relying on the production of marketing or the rolodex of current your Sales team doesn’t seem to be producing enough pipeline. ​

​A typical question seen when a company is contemplating a Sales Development program is basic, but very important… Why?
 
The answer to this varies in every scenario, but it really becomes a discussion of scaling, efficiency, growth and optimization.
 
First… Should You Even Bother?
 
There’s a standard reaction to dismiss the value of integrating Sales Development as an unnecessary layer in your organization. We get it… a fully ramped and producing sales team is a thing of beauty. When someone expresses an interest in your products/solution, your team is knowledgeable, helpful and motivated to turn that inquiry into a deal as soon as possible. Those same reps are also hitting the phones, networking and creatively getting in front of new prospects as well to generate pipeline and bust through their targets.
 
If this is your situation, congratulations! Your team is firing on all ends, and hopefully being compensated accordingly.

By Jeff Garon, Senior Researcher, Tenbound
 
​Erin serves as the Senior Director of Revenue Operations for Lean Data (LeanData provides the Revenue Ops platform to manage all go-to-market motions to increase speed-to-revenue, improve the buyer experience, and better align sales and marketing ROI), and shared her insights to the growing field of Revenue Operations, crafted by her vast experience spanning sales development, management, operations and beyond.
 
Interesting takeaways from our conversation:
 

1. Erin describes revenue operations as a customer focused, holistic approach to a company’s systems, data and processes that align to your entire customer journey and experience, merging and aligning the marketing, sales and customer success functions.
   
   
2. Sales and marketing operations may be overlapping on various functions when siloed. By merging into Revenue Operations, efficiencies and savings can be realized, such as not having separate contracts with similar or the same vendors for different teams.
   
   
3. Erin found success by building out the revenue operations function based on the go to market strategy of the organization. If your sales team is focused on accounts, build out your systems, processes and workflows accordingly with that top of mind instead of constantly tweaking a system intended for a different GTM plan.

 
For more information on Erin & Lean Data, please visit her LinkedIn profile or visit leandatainc.com.
 
Podcast epidsode https://www.spreaker.com/user/9196584/episode-106-special-done
And here https://tenbound.com/resources/

​by Jeff Garon & Melanie Sovann

Want to get the best candidate pool possible to build your Sales Development team? Of course you do… unfortunately, so does every other company out there, meaning you’ll have to compete for their time, attention and interest just as you would in a bake-off against competing products and services with a potential buyer.

You could get lucky finding great talent through a basic job listing, recruiters, referrals and other methods, but it’s a safe bet to assume you’ll need a compelling job description to capture interest from the best potential talent out there.

This leaves you with essentially two options:

1. Put out a basic, boring job description to save yourself some time and effort, and filter through whatever resumes come your way.

​2. Treat this as your sales pitch to your future team, getting them excited about your company and their potential career trajectory.
So, ask yourself who do you really want on your team… whoever you can get, or the best you can get.

Assuming you want the best, read on for some tips and tricks to craft your job description like a shiny lure to catch the best fish (talent):