​From his first job as a box office cashier, Stephan has always had a taste for sales. Drawn to the consultative approach, he took on many different sales roles before becoming the Sales Development Manager at SteelHouse. 

He spoke to Tenbound about the challenges his team face, how sending physical gifts helps them stand out, and much more. 

Sales Development challenges

For Stephan, the biggest challenge is getting in front of the right people. A lot of decision-makers today still don't want to take the phone call or reply to the email, even if they know it's something that they're looking for. 

Once you’re in front of the right person, how do you stand out? Just how much more creative can you be? While there’s plenty you can do in terms of research and personalization, sometimes that still isn’t enough to get a response. Finding new ways to make your message even more relevant is a constant struggle.

​First released in 2018, the Tenbound Sales Development Market Map is now in it’s fifth release, and continues to expand. 

This version is accompanied by The Tenbound Sales Development Directory, a handy tool for tracking all the companies on the Market Map.  Can’t find your company? Add it here. 

Meant as an overview of all the tools and services available to Sales Development Leaders and Reps, the Market Map can now be augmented with a full .csv of all the companies listed on the map available in the Tenbound Research Center.

OBSERVATIONS ON VERSION 5:

New quadrant alert: Communities 

We’ve noticed a phenomenon growing in the Sales Development world; new and established communities to support Sales Development Leaders and Reps. These communities help provide content, learning and events for Sales Dev pros to gather and grow. 

​​For Kelly Cabatuan, sales is her second career. Fresh out of college, she started a business with her husband-to-be, which they successfully ran for 10 years. However, with a family to look after, Kelly started looking for a job with more stability. This led to her first sales position. 

Now, as the Senior Manager of Sales Development at Alteryx, Kelly has drawn on her experiences to energize their sales team. She spoke to Tenbound about the challenges they face, the tech that powers the team, and how they use their SDRs to support existing customers.   

Sales Development challenges 

For Kelly, the biggest challenge is the ability to connect and have meaningful conversations. Getting accurate phone numbers is a lot harder than it used to be. The team has been able to use LinkedIn messaging to supplement those calls, but it’s not a perfect solution. For an SDR to grow, it’s essential that they’re connecting with prospects and having those meaningful conversations. Without that experience, it's difficult for them to improve. It’s also difficult for managers to properly coach them. 

​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. 

​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. 

​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.

​​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. 

​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.