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Erik started his career in the marketing department at Gatorade as part of the ‘Mission Control’ team. As he spoke to more salespeople though, sales seemed more appealing and he changed paths. He hasn’t looked back since and today heads up Sales Development at SocialChorus. He shared his thoughts with the Tenbound team on implementing change, making the most of your tech, and picking the right Sales Development strategy.
Managing change in your Sales Development team Erik attributes his success as an SDR to the strategies he builds through structure, process, and personalization at scale. However, when Erik started his current role, there wasn't much structure or process, and personalization was an unknown term. Additionally, the team was completely focused on quantity over quality, believing the best way to hit quota was more calls, more meetings, and more opportunities. As a result, he ended up reversing everything the team was doing. Within the first couple of weeks, he replaced their hybrid lead model — a structure in which marketing-generated leads are distributed to SDRs who are also expected to simultaneously reach out to cold contacts and accounts —with two distinct processes and strategies for inbound and outbound prospecting. This enabled a focus of expertise with linear visibility into two separate funnels of sales opportunities. He also encouraged the reps to be more targeted by splitting up territories and creating a top 50-100 accounts for each rep (vs. the 1-2k accounts per rep), enabling them to focus on companies that would see the most value from partnering with SocialChorusul — ultimately shortening deal cycles and extending the partnership terms. Top Tech Tools SocialChorus has every known Sales Development tool out there, from ABM to cold calling tech. Their number one tool is 6sense, which aggregates data from different sources to let you know who you should be reaching out to. They’re also big fans of Chorus.ai for recording and learning from their sales calls. With all those tools though, the real challenge is learning how to use them effectively. It’s one thing to record all your calls, but you need the focus and time to listen, train and coach on them. In some cases, being effective means letting go of some tools. The team no longer uses Outreach or Seamless.ai, as they no longer worked well for the team. Using the right Sales Development strategy SocialChorus focuses on account-based selling, with demand gen used as support. As they mainly sell into large enterprises, there are usually a lot of different stakeholders they can talk to. In addition, there are different channels, methods, styles, and strategies they can use, not just to get a meeting, but to create a sales experience for the prospect. With all the different potential permutations they can use, SocialChorus think in terms of multi-channel, multi-threaded campaigns that leverage all the different departments and people, both for their prospects and the team at SocialChorus. The future for SocialChorus Erik wants the SocialChorus team to be known for being the hardest working and most knowledgeable team, while also having the most fun. Looking back on their success in 2019, he believes they have a fantastic opportunity to help the people on the team take that next step in their career and go on to more significant revenue-driving roles, whether that’s as an account executive, in customer success, or management. By the end of 2020, Erik hopes that many team members will have moved on and are successful in their next role. Conclusion Change is always a challenge, especially for an established Sales Development team. However, by using technology effectively and picking the right strategy, it’s possible to turn things around and create a strong Sales Development team with long-term potential. If you’re looking for ways to improve your Sales Development program and overcome those challenges, contact us at Tenbound today for a no-obligation exploratory call.
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When it comes to Sales Development, Faith has seen it all. From her first sales position while still in high school to working for a stockbroker where she had to make 300 dials a day (all without the aid of a dialer), she knows exactly what it takes to succeed.
She took time out of her busy schedule to talk with the Tenbound team about having the right attitude, the sales challenges startups face, and what the future of Sales Development looks like. Having the right attitude For Faith’s first staff position she had to get three sales in each shift—one sale every hour. Faith quickly realized your attitude and energy had to show through in a phone call. Her manager made everyone put mirrors next to their phones and she would walk around saying “let them see you smiling.” Faith has held many different sales positions since then, but the key theme has been that she loves interacting with people. She loves getting to know them, understanding their story and how she can provide real value. Humility is also key, a lesson Faith learned from her father and the way he ran his multiple businesses. We shouldn’t be afraid to admit when we mess up. Pride gets in the way, but when you can admit you’re not perfect, you can work on making things right. We all like to say that we have humility, but when push comes to shove, is it really there? Sales challenges for startups As a startup, lead generation is a big challenge for KeyNode Solutions. They work closely with a Salesforce account executive and are getting leads that way, but it’s wise not to rely on just once source. One of the other solutions has been using LinkedIn, especially with some of its new features (such as being able to leave a voicemail message). From a CRM standpoint, they ‘live, breathe, eat, and sleep’ Salesforce, specifically Salesforce Lightning. It’s vital that nothing falls through the cracks, and Salesforce is robust enough to do that. For Faith, it’s like building a house—you've got to get the foundation built correctly. For any sales department, that foundation is your platform. When it comes to bottom-line revenue, reporting, and forecasting, choosing the right tool and creating that strong foundation is going to allow you to scale effectively. The future of Sales Development To be successful in 2020, you’ll need to consider the total customer journey from start to finish. This will likely mean leveraging an all-in-one platform—somewhere every part of the customer journey can be tracked. That’s why every company is recruiting for customer experience positions. We want happy, satisfied customers who are going to stay with us long term. That means a continual assessment of what we’re providing and how we’re providing it. Do we make it easy for them to buy from us? Do they love our product? If not, how can we improve? We need to focus on that full customer journey, from the time they find you through to becoming happy, satisfied customers. The trend has already started, but there’s a lot of room for improvement. Conclusion When you’re working with a startup, you’ll face a whole new set of challenges, but it’s possible to overcome them. Bring the right energy to your sales calls, and always stay humble. Reliable lead generation from multiple sources and having a good platform as a foundation is critical. But to stand out and succeed, you’ll need to consider the complete customer journey, from start to finish, to keep your customers coming back for more. If you’re looking for ways to improve your Sales Development program and overcome those challenges, contact us at Tenbound today for a no-obligation exploratory call. Rob Morris is a man with Sales Development in his veins. Currently the Director of Inside Sales at Simplus, he’s been working in Sales from day one. That’s why we were so excited when he agreed to share his insights with the Tenbound team. Read on to learn how Rob got his start in Sales Development, the main challenges teams can expect in 2020, and the future of Sales Development.
Starting with door-to-door salesRob started his career in sales doing door-to-door sales years ago, a job that he loved. When his mom got sick though, he realized he couldn’t do 12-13 hours days anymore. He learned about an SDR role at an appointment setting company and decided to give it a shot. In three months, he was promoted three times. Later, he got an offer at another company to do Sales Development, and he’s loved it ever since. Now at Simplus, he’s built their process from scratch—a process that is continually evolving. As a result, they've hit or exceeded quota for 26 months in a row. Sales Development challenges in 2020 Most of the challenges Sales Development teams have faced in the past will continue to be a challenge in 2020. For example, reaching the right person at a company and getting them on the phone has never been easy. Just figuring out the right person in the first place can be hard enough. For the consulting services Simplus offers, there could be hundreds of potential personas to reach out to at any one company. Hiring is a constant challenge in the SDR role, especially when you're looking for experienced people. What Simplus does is very complex, so Rob isn’t looking for people that need to be trained from scratch. It’s hard to find someone with two years of SDR experience when most people don't even want to be in an SDR role for two years. The Future of Sales Development When you're dealing with anyone, their favorite topic of conversation is themselves. Pseudo personalization is quite easy, for example looking up where a prospect went to school and mentioning their team mascot. But genuine personalization, where you’re able to explore their interests and personalize in a relevant way, is much harder to do at scale. Like it or not, the name of the game is still volume, and tailoring a stack of pitches so they’re truly personalized takes time. When someone finds a way to make it possible to send 200+ truly personalized emails every day, that’ll change the industry forever. QUICKFIRE ROUND Rob’s Sales Development stack
The tech tools that didn’t deliver
Conclusion Working his way up from door-to-door sales to Director of Inside Sales has given Rob a comprehensive overview of the Sales Development world. Some challenges, such as finding the right prospect and hiring experienced SDRs never change. However, focusing on personalization and finding ways to scale that is the key to future success. If you’re looking for ways to improve your Sales Development program and overcome those challenges, contact us at Tenbound today for a no-obligation exploratory call. Having managed Sales Development teams from a young age, Emmy Johnson is a recognized expert in turning around underperforming teams. She graciously agreed to talk to Tenbound about creating a positive culture for your Sales Development team, the future of Sales Development, and more.
Inspiring Loyalty in your Sales Development Team When managing a Sales Development team, Emmy works hard to create a culture of loyalty in the team. Part of that means helping them understand the importance of their role. They’re the lifeblood of the sales organization and the company needs to let them know they’re appreciated. Emmy organizes surprise SDR appreciation days for the team; the previous one included a video from everybody—including the CEO, CRO, and all the sales reps—telling the SDRs how much they appreciated their hard work. That’s just one reason Emmy has been dubbed the Culture Queen. Being an SDR means facing a lot of rejection, so it’s important to try and make the experience as fun and as possible, as well as providing for their long-term goals. At ZeroFOX, the company looks to the Sales Development team first to fill any new roles, giving SDRs a career path within the company. Sales Development Challenges Every Sales Development team will face challenges, but some industries are harder to sell to than others. ZeroFOX’s primary buyer is in information security and, as a result, are especially hard to get hold of. They're skeptical by nature, that's their job, so they won't often take cold emails or calls. Operating in a newer space also brings its own challenges. Four years ago, ZeroFOX was having to explain to people that digital risk protection was even an issue. Now their most common objection is that it isn’t a priority, so a big part of their work is showing prospects that this is a real problem that they need to deal with now. One common challenge is getting the buy-in from your team. A lot of SDRs are young, maybe right out of school, so it’s important they trust you and trust the process—even if they don’t fully understand it. When you have that buy-in, then the whole team will get the results you want. Investing in Technology When Emmy came to ZeroFOX, they recognized the importance of providing the tools needed to be successful, even though they were still a startup. The current stack includes popular tools like Salesforce, Outreach, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator. One of their new favorite tools is Orum, a parallel dialer that makes up to ten calls at a time, dropping the others once you get a connection. Not everyone is allowed to use Orum as users have to be very prepared—they never know who it's going to connect with. However, experienced team members are now able to make more connections, have more conversations, and book more meetings. Sales Development in 2020 Emmy predicts that we’ll see more specialization in the near future. SDRs are often drawn in too many different directions. If you’re asking your SDRs to deal with cross-selling and upselling within the current customer base, that's much easier than cold calling. They're going to focus their time there and neglect their core work. By helping your SDRs specialize, they’ll have a laser focus and be able to do their best work. Conclusion Managing a Sales Development team has its challenges, especially in industries where people are more suspicious of cold calls or emails. However, by developing a positive culture and specializing your SDRs’ roles, you can still get great results. If you’re looking for ways to improve your Sales Development program and overcome those challenges, contact us at Tenbound today for a no-obligation exploratory call. David Gimbel knows Sales Development. He’s the Sales Manager at RigUp, the energy industry's largest marketplace for on-demand services and skilled labor. He has also headed up Sales and Sales Development teams at Trendalytics, Impact, and Yotpo. David graciously agreed to share his thoughts on outsourced sales, how to train your Sales Development team, and who your real competition is.
Outsourced Sales Development Sales Development is the first line of communication between your business and your potential clients. If you're relying on outsourced teams with random people dialing for dollars, rather than giving your prospects a top-class experience, that's a definite misstep. Sure, you might get some opportunities come in, but if that opportunity has been set up poorly and the handoff is poor, that’s not going to be a great experience for your client. If you're trying to sell something in this day and age, you need good communication. You have to be fully informed on what you offer and be able to answer questions intelligently. You never want to bring in a prospect who isn’t going to benefit from your solution. They’re just going to churn. That's not to say outsourced SDRs don’t have a market. However, if you're offering any kind of SaaS solution or partnership, you want to start that relationship off in the best way possible, which means having an in-house team. Training your Sales Development team Getting the right Sales Development Reps in the seat involves putting together an expansive training program—not something that only happens during onboarding. You should train your SDRs the entire time they're in that seat, with the long-term goal of helping them advance their career with your company, with your Sales Development team acting as a feeder system for your future Account Executives. What should your training involve? As a minimum, your SDRs need to understand your talk tracks, your value proposition, your total addressable market, and who your ideal customer is. Your SDRs need to be comfortable doing pre-call research and understand if your product is even viable to the person they’re reaching out to. Otherwise, they're just reading off a script. Your real competition The last thing you want to do is waste people's time. Our prospects are busy people, and time is a precious commodity. David tells his reps that they’re not competing with the company’s direct competitors—they’re competing with every other salesperson that wants the prospect's time. This affects your whole sales conversation. Your messaging needs to be on point and your product has to offer great value that’s worth the prospect’s time. If you realize they’re not a good fit, don’t keep dragging them along and wasting both your time. Ultimately, make sure you’re giving them the information they need to make the right decision. Quickfire round David’s 2020 Challenges:
Top 5 Tech Tools:
Conclusion Your SDRs have an important job and will be the first contact most prospects have with your company. By keeping your Sales Development team in-house, training them properly, and making sure they communicate effectively, you’ll be able to secure high-quality leads who get the most out of your product. If you’re looking for more ways to improve your Sales Development program, contact us at Tenbound today for a no-obligation exploratory call. This time in our Leaders in Sales Development series, we interview Nick Liemandt, Sales Development Manager at Instapage.
Tell us about your role at Instapage? I manage the Sales Development team here at Instapage. We’ve got a terrific group of SDRs who love to learn, hustle and genuinely want to help each other succeed. We were lucky to have a large flow of inbound demo requests and free trials when I started, so building out an outbound engine is my primary focus as we move up-market. At Instapage, you were promoted from Team Lead to Manager of the team. Tell us about that? My role as Team Lead started as a player-coach role, but quickly evolved into a focus on the leading. As we continued to grow the team from three to seven people, I was asked to focus all of my time on coaching, processes, and strategy as the manager. You won first place in a case study competition at St. John's University. Tell us more? Our school participates in the Society for the Advancement of Management (S.A.M.), where schools send a case study team to an international competition in Washington D.C. We were provided with a company, Target, then presented our research and recommendations to improve. We were able to win for our third year in a row. A three-peat! What’s been similar and different regarding Sales Development across the positions you’ve held at different companies? The biggest similarities have been the culture of testing new ideas, making sure you have processes and systems in place that scale and a place for leadership who motivates. I joke with my team: if I tell them a way to do something, they will find an article or thought-leader telling them the opposite. Each rep and company is going to be different, so you have to test new things to find out what works for you. It’s important to let that happen in sales dev. Being an SDR is one of the toughest jobs in the company and some days it outright sucks. So for any high-performing sales dev team, you need to a culture of motivation and leadership. As for differences, we’ve been at different stages in company and team development. That dictates how you approach the outcomes from the meetings set up by SDRs and career development. For outcomes, are we trying to figure out what works and get at-bats? Or do they need to be fully-vetted qualified opportunities? And for career development, no one wants to be an SDR forever, so do we have set development plans for the next role and can we dedicate a lot of time towards training? Or is that something we have to build up with a primary focus on building pipeline? Tell us about your biggest Sales Development challenge and how you addressed it? Finding the right balance between quality and quantity in our outreach. As a rep, I hated the idea that sales dev was a volume game, but that’s what I heard a lot. I was definitely guilty of calling numbers I already knew didn’t work just to hit the dials metric. Spray and pray just didn’t sit well with me. On the other side, I would perfect emails and send them off where they would be unopened, read once or replied to with “great email, but not interested.” You get meetings with the hyper-personalized approach, but not at the scale needed to hit quota. I needed the middle ground that allowed me to deliver the right value at the right time, which meant doing enough activity to hopefully get the timing right, but still being thoughtful with outreach. A few things that worked for me was to start sending more good emails (5 minutes) vs. the perfect email (20 minutes), time-blocking my day (close Slack, Linkedin, etc.) and researching a prospect once, then keeping good bullet points in SFDC or Outreach. What’s the top thing Sales Development leaders should be thinking about in 2020? How to make sure we are still one human selling to another human. With the power of software, automation and AI, we need to go to extra lengths to make sure we are building relationships with someone on the other side of the screen. There’s a big debate whether AI will replace the SDR in years to come and that’s not something I believe will happen. It might replace the SDR who just sends templates or triggers for a sequence, but I don’t know how it will replace the trust we build when developing a relationship with a prospect. The tech should help make us more efficient in our prospecting efforts, but those emails, LinkedIn interactions, videos, etc. still need to start conversations with a human on the other side. On a more personal note, what’s your favorite basketball team and player? Minnesota Timberwolves and Kevin Garnett. We finally went to the playoffs for the first time (since fourth grade for me) in the past couple years and KG brings back memories of those winning seasons. David Cancel, CEO of Drift, is on a mission: to help a million people achieve their potential. I was lucky enough to get a chance to speak with him on the Sales Development podcast, where we spoke about how people’s low expectations fueled his success, staying humble, and the key to a successful business like Drift. Here are some of the highlights.
No expectations mean nothing to lose When David was growing up, he had no idea what was possible: “I didn’t even know it was possible to start a company.” No-one, not even his parents, expected him to achieve anything. However, David saw that as an advantage. With the freedom that came from zero expectations, he had nothing to lose. When people told him what he couldn’t do, he’d set out to prove them wrong. Rather than letting self-limiting beliefs hold him back, he was motivated to keep pushing forward. Now he wants to help a million people from having to learn the hard way what’s possible. Taking a beating from your customer What’s the difference between successful companies, like Drift, and the 99% of businesses that fail? For David, the key is humility. That means setting aside any personal pride in your work and listening to the customer, even when it’s hard. Sometimes, when the customer is telling you you’re wrong or laughing at your ideas, it can feel like you’re taking a beating. However, any kind of growth requires discomfort. Most people will shy away from that, but by leaning into the discomfort and taking that daily beating, you’ll have a strong advantage over your competitors. To succeed, don’t be a trend-setter Facebook replaced MySpace. Slack replaced HipChat. Why? They’re not different services. When you compare a screenshot of IRC from 20 years ago and Slack today, they’re the same. However, what has changed is human behavior. When these earlier services came out, the market wasn’t ready. Today, messaging is the default method of communication. When you’re thinking about starting a business or creating a product, David recommends looking for the trends and what’s becoming the new ‘normal.’ Then, look at your industry and ask yourself how it’s going to be impacted by these changes. You don’t want to start the trend—you want to use the shifts already happening. Creating a moat around your business Even when you’re riding that wave, you still need to stand out from your competitors—you need to build a moat around your business. For the first generation of SaaS, the moat was technology. When Salesforce came around with its cloud-based software, it was revolutionary. For the second generation, the moat was your ‘factory.’ Did you have inside sales versus field sales? Did you have BDRs, SDRs, and so on? Who had the better factory? Today, your technology and your factory aren’t enough. You need a third moat: emotion. At Drift, that includes the emotion in your brand, product, and service. The intersection of those three factors is what allows you to build a moat. Just one factor is no longer enough. Conclusion David didn’t have the easiest start, but he hasn’t let self-limiting beliefs hold him back. Keeping his focus on the customer, he’s been able to observe trends and create a business that truly stands out. For more valuable insights, check out the full interview and make sure to subscribe for future episodes. If you’re looking to achieve your business potential but are struggling with your Sales Development program, contact us at Tenbound today. This time in our Leaders in Sales Development series, we talk to Katherine Andruha,
GTM Sales Development & Strategy at Eightfold.ai. Tell us about your role at Eightfold.ai? Eightfold.ai is a talent intelligence platform that allows companies to place the right people in the right roles utilizing AI to find those candidates. Therefore, at Eightfold.ai my role is to grow the pipeline and company brand by equipping the SDR organization. You’ve held Sales Development leadership positions at multiple companies. What’s been similar and different regarding Sales Development across those roles? Each company has a different vision for their SDR organization. When I start a new role at any org, big or small, I think about scale, operational excellence and how can the SDRs bring value. I don’t care about metrics and their daily KPIs. I always measure an SDR org by pipeline. Pipeline brings a measurable, consistent value to every department. Sales teams measure pipeline to predict their revenue. Marketing teams measure pipeline as event or MQL ROI. Sales Operations uses pipeline to determine territory and commission plans. It’s a win-win: bring the value to the organization. What’s your biggest challenge in hiring SDR’s? It depends. Right now, my biggest challenge is finding SDRs that can sit in Mountain View, California. Utilizing my own Eightfold.ai platform, I can find a ton of qualified candidates. I’m hiring, so let me know if you are in the South Bay! At previous companies I struggled finding “vertical” SDRs. You will always have a challenge; it keeps us on our toes and allows us to get creative when it comes to sourcing. For cold outreach via email, what are effective ways to catch prospects’ attention? Be humble, stop referencing what college I went to, I remember I was there. Give me two one-liners to sum up your product and how it will help me. Focus on my persona. I do like it when the SDRs reference “oh we met at an event” simply because I forget how many people I meet. In fact, reminding me where we met even face to face is helpful! Tell us about your biggest Sales Development challenge and how you addressed it? One of the biggest challenges of being a SDR leader is keeping every SDR satisfied. Every SDR has a unique set of characteristics and motivations. Providing a clear career path and providing the SDRs with training seems to be a way to overcome the “quick-split” that is associated with this role. How will Sales Development be different in 2020? I am hopeful that in 2020, we can rise above and the SDR role can stand alone. With a strong leader, you do not need to report into Sales or Marketing. This department is the tip of the spear and SDRs support both departments well. When you report into one or the other, there is always a pull. Let’s stand alone, stand strong, and let’s hold Sales and Marketing accountable. You're Chapter President of AA-ISP's Silicon Valley Chapter. Tell us about that? The AA-ISP (Silicon Valley Chapter) has been “home“ for me since 2009. I was blessed to have an extraordinary leader when I started in Tech Sales at Aruba Networks. I came from a finance background and he took a chance on me. I soaked everything up that he taught me and introduced me to. I have attended numerous meetings and events locally for the AA-ISP and was a member, then a Chapter Board member, and then I was asked to be Co-President. Being a member of this organization has exposed me to different tactics in selling, introduced me to leaders and individual contributors across the Valley, and has been a foundation for me through the ups and downs of my career. I highly recommend finding an Association that facilitates your growth and ambition. Your LinkedIn profile notes that you enjoy flipping homes. Does your background in Sales Development help you in this activity? Probably! I hadn’t thought of this before! I have no problem asking for discounts at vendors, or asking for a free item. The real correlation lies in my motivation. I am always doing more, working harder and finding other ways to solve problems. I love seeing how a home starts off and what it can be, I guess that’s how a SDR is when they start my team; they are new to their careers and by the time they leave the nest, they have a solid foundation and their net worth is much higher. Have a great guest for the Leaders in Sales Development series? Hit us up at http://tenbound.com/contact The past year has seen an explosion of new products and services for Sales Development Leaders.
To help you stay up-to-date with the software you need to excel, Tenbound—a research advisory firm focused 100% on the Sales Development industry—has released two different resources you’ll want to bookmark today. The Tenbound Sales Development Market Map First up is the latest version of our Market Map. This fourth version collects all the major players in the Sales Development products and services category, from sales engagement to data enrichment, and puts them together in one easy to understand visual map. We understand that Sales Development is not the same as Sales, Marketing or Account Management, and in turn needs its own map of the key industry players. Sales Development is the critical connection of those departments and more, and has very specialized needs requiring specialized tools and services. Now, you’ll be able to see all your options at a glance with our map, with a clear design and downloadable PDF making it easy to see what products are available in each category. Rather than wasting your valuable time researching what’s out there, we’ve done the hard work for you, so you can get on with doing your best work. The Tenbound Company Directory Once you’ve used the map to narrow down the top players, our new Company Directory will help you learn more about those companies, with details for all the active companies in the Sales Development industry all in one place. The Directory mirrors the formatting of the Market Map, including the major players in:
Using the Directory, you can quickly see summaries and contact details for all the top companies in the Sales Development industry. If you want to learn more, you can click through to discover even more details to help you make your decision, from when they were founded to their unique value propositions. You don’t have to rely on just what we say though. Companies can also include images of the software in action so you can see how they work for yourself. Tenbound Founder and CEO David Dulany says “putting together a high-performance Sales Development program strategy is becoming more complex than ever. With the Sales Development Market Map and Directory, we aim to help Sales Development Leaders have one place to gather and evaluate all the available products and services. They can then meet those key players at the upcoming Tenbound Sales Development Conferences in NYC and San Francisco.” Instead of just using more generalized websites, chat boards, or relying on friends’ recommendations, Sales Development Leaders can now easily evaluate the myriad of products and services available and make their own informed decisions. Showcase your company If you represent a Sales Development-related company and want to be seen by thousands of professionals, we’d love to include you in the Directory. By including as much information as possible, along with any screenshots in the photo section, you can help us provide Sales Development professionals with all the details they need to make the best decision You’ll have the opportunity to highlight your unique strengths by including your value proposition and competitive differentiators. You’ll also be able to showcase the benefits of using your product by including case studies and how you’ve helped others. Go ahead and register your details here for free. Make sure you bookmark the Market Map and Company Directory as we continue to regularly update this useful resource with the latest and greatest tools! You can usually spot Sam Nelson easily… he’s the guy with the blue dyed hair popping up at sales conferences and in your LinkedIn feeds, sharing his thought leadership with the community. His day job is the SDR Leader at Outreach (a Sales Enablement Platform)
Sam (SDR Leader @ Outreach.io) is a well known entity in the Sales Development world, and gave a great presentation on how he and his teams have integrated referrals into their outbound sequences with great results. We’ve compiled a few highlighted takeaways below for you, but you are going to want to take a look at the session recording to get the more granular advice. Don’t train for perfection, train for the majority Sam tasked himself with creating a comprehensive flowchart of all known objections and questions prospects would come up with, and the subsequent responses for his team. After creating this ‘nuclear bomb’ of a flowchart, he realized that spending so much effort for him and his team to train for those infrequent scenarios wouldn’t be as beneficial as putting their focus on the 80-90% of scenarios that they saw frequently. By not striving for perfection, his team improved overall. Referrals from prospects are definitely worth your time In his career, he’s had ⅓ of his opportunities come from prospect referrals! In addition, he found that those who were referred were significantly more likely to be engaged and close. Working referrals into cadences increased response rates In addition to the opportunities generated through the referrals, Sam also noted his teams saw increases from 1% up to 40% in reply rates when these referral techniques were integrated to their outreaches. Turn that wrong dial into the right one! Instead of saying thanks and ending the call when it’s been identified that you aren’t talking to the correct person, Sam teaches to use this as an opportunity to get info on who the right contact is. He warns to keep it simple though… your time is limited at this point so be strategic in your approach! Click play below to watch his presentation for yourself PS Tenbound just released a new Referral Training program specifically designed for SDRs... check it out here. Hit us in the Drift chat for more info or click here to set up a call. |
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