Metrics, organization, and workflow are all incredibly important for competentcy. All of these are used simultaneously to aid you in hitting your quota consistently. Consistently is the key word here. Anyone can hit quota on any given month. What is challenging is hitting quota every month and every quarter. If you are able to do that you, will be invaluable as an SDR.
Metrics, organization, and workflow are there to help you become consistent.
So...master them!
strive to be the best
If there is something that is often lacking in the sales development world, I would say it’s passion. There are, of course, people who are passionate about helping sales development reps achieve success and advance their careers. Unfortunately, there are not that many sales development reps who are passionate about the role itself. For most people, the SDR role is the path to achieve more success in their careers. It’s a launchpad for better things to come. Because of this most reps are pushing themselves as hard as they can to get out of the role as fast as possible.
Is that a good thing? I will admit, I’m not sure. On one hand, the motivation to make it to the next chapter in one’s career can be exactly the motivator necessary to do a killer job as a sales development rep. On the other, a lack of passion actually hinders one’s ability to master a skill that will provide value to them throughout their career, regardless if it’s in sales or not.
I know phenomenal salespeople who were unbelievably gifted SDRs. They made statements so loud that their previous companies still talk about them. I also know phenomenal salespeople who did a lackluster jobs as an SDR, but got promoted because it was a small company that needed someone to sell for them. They were in the right place at the right time.
I’m sure great salespeople come from a wide range of backgrounds. I’m not sure what kind of background would have served me the best, because I can’t go back and change my background to see the result. This causes me to resort back to my default philosophy—do what has the highest chance of a successful result, even if there is another potential way to achieve it with less effort. I guess that’s just a complicated way of saying...
Always play full out!
The journey you are on is a sacred one, because its yours. You choose how to navigate the maze that is life. A big portion of that maze is your career—your work life. Will you experience failure? Of course. Will you find yourself in a position where success looks impossible? Absolutely.
The solutions to these events won’t come easy in many cases, but they all require the same thing to solve—You.
The reason why I advocate for playing full out is because I believe that’s what it takes to prevail in times of difficulty. Odds are, if you are reading this book and made it this far, you play full out. This will serve you well, because with that mentality, you will empower yourself to make decisions clearly and without having to settle for wherever you might land.
Often times, through the experience of failure, people end up settling for something undesirable. If you get knocked off a ledge and it was a far drop, what happens? Well, you’re hurt; you probably can’t move at first. All your energy is channeled into standing back up.
Once you do stand and get comfortable, it’s very easy to stay where you landed, metaphorically speaking.
There’s a huge benefit to pushing past that initial desire to stay comfortable, because as a successful SDR, you can go on to achieve a lot. Often when we think of someone in the SDR role, we think of someone who has a desire to be in sales. In practice, the progression of a sales development representative is much more diverse than one might think.
More and more companies are having the sales development team report to the marketing department. In some cases this has resulted in a marketing focus for many SDR teams, working inbound leads and following up on trade show leads etc. This relationship has opened doors for SDR reps to move into more of a marketing function. In addition, we are seeing more and more former SDRs leading customer success teams because of their knowledge of the end user and their ability to communicate effectively over the phone—both valuable in ensuring a positive experience for any organization’s customers.
With the rise of UX design as a field, we are starting to see SDRs move from their development positions into UX design research roles and this opens up an entirely new career path for those individuals.
The ability to effectively communicate the value of a product or service transcends sales, but sales is still a strong progressive path for an SDR and by far, the most “paved.”
Sales isn’t for everyone, but everyone is for sales. What I mean by that is regardless of your role, you are involved in articulating value. No one articulates value better than salespeople. It’s their job; it’s what they work to master. This is why the role of an SDR is such a valuable one. It builds a strong foundation in the articulation of value.
This foundation will serve you well as you learn and grow as a professional.
I love the SDR role. I love working with people early in their careers or those who are transitioning to another industry. They are all starting a new chapter in their careers as an SDR. It’s a time of growth. Facilitating that growth is something I’m incredibly passionate about. I’ve put a lot of effort into this book, completely rewriting the first version.
The reason is because I want to have a positive impact on as many people as possible. Some will read this book and feel that they know a better way. They might even be right! My only claim is to have a way that has worked for me and the SDRs I have trained.
The role of a sales development rep is challenging and a lot of people quit. Unfortunately, not all SDRs have good guidance from mentors to help them succeed.
I hope that, by reading this book, you are able to find success. If you do, pay it forward and support others on their own journey. Regardless of where you are in your life remember...
You’re just getting started!
Index
3x3 research method, 105
A
A accounts, 22
Account, 14
Account journey, 95
Account organization, 26
Account grading, 21
Acronym, 60
Activity and priority blocks, 3
Adapting strategy, 4
Alarm, 5, 59–62, 119
Alarms, 59, 61–62, 126
Alaska, 133
Algorithm, 51
Alpha, 43
Analytics, 22, 99
Apollo.io, 117
Archived accounts, 27
B
B accounts, 22
Backstory, 75, 77
Bad data accounts, 27
Best contact, 20
Brush-off, overcoming the, 57
C
C accounts, 22
Callback, 41, 47, 127
Cold accounts, 130
Cold call character, 75
Attitude, 75
Backstory, 77
Character, 76
Experiences, 77
Cold call structure, 50
Ask for the meeting, 56
Close the gap, 55
Finding the gap, 54
Introduction, 51
Path, 53
Why?, 53
Cold call techniques, 56
Company type, 16
Contact, 14
Contacts, multiple, 103
Cracks, 2, 15, 102, 139
Creativity, 7
Crunchbase, 29
CS, 128
Cuban, 9, 75
D
Day organization, 121
Dead accounts, 14
Direct phone number, 31
Discipline and attitude, 5
Distractions, 125
E
Effective time management,
3
Email, 30
Body, 108
Sequence-related, 110
Emails, tailoring, 106
Enterprise accounts, 17
F
FFFF, feel, felt, found, follow-up, 62
Follow-up, 3, 61–62, 64, 100, 102, 114–115, 124, 129–131, 134
G
Gatekeeper, 37
College student, 38
Lifer, 38
Office manager, 38
Gatekeeper script, 39
Gatekeeper handling techniques, 40
Back pedal, 41
Interrupt, 40
Over the head talking, 42
Google, 16–17, 29, 32, 109
Grading, v, 13, 21, 23
H
Hiring spike, 33
Hostile, 91–93
I
Inbound accounts and contacts, 15
Industry knowledge, 7
J
Job change, 33
L
Lastname, 30
Leave a message, 43
Leaving voicemail, 45
Letting go, 42–43
LinkedIn direct message, 113
LinkedIn, using, 113
List buys, 15
List vocabulary, 14
Location, 18–19
M
Meetings, confirming, 135
Calendar invite, 136
Day before contact, 136
Final confirmation, 137
Meeting set email, 135
Rescheduling, 137
Metric, 99, 104, 120–121, 139
Metrics, v, 104, 119–121, 123, 139
Mid-market accounts, 17
Motivation, 10
MQLs, 16, 58–59
Multiple contacts, 103
Mysterious voicemail, 46
N
NDM, 128
Negativity, 126
Networking, 19
News, 32
Newsletters, 32, 50
N.W.A., need, wish, action, 60
O
Objections, overcoming, 87
Caring, 87
Confidence, 87
Patience, 88
On call alarms, 59
Open accounts, 26
Organization, 2
Owler, 32
P
Pain stories, 69
Pickpocket, 67
Pipe, 23
Pipeline, v, vii, viii, 10, 25–29, 33–34, 92, 119, 124, 129, 139
Pipeline, building a, 28
Pipeline tools, 28
Premature buying decisions, 83
Info dump, 83
Technical question, 83
Too late?, 83
Prequalified, 15
Priority notetaking, 126
Presence, 9
Prospect, 1
Prospect accounts, 26–27
Pushing, 89
Q
Qualifications, 18
Qualified Accounts, 15
R
ROI, 58–59, 64, 132, 134, 136–138
S
Salesforce, vii, 17, 27
Salesly, 115
SAO, 119–120
SDR, vii, viii, ix, 11, 35–37, 39–46, 49, 51, 53–58, 62–65, 67, 82–86, 89–90, 92, 95–97, 119, 121, 125, 127, 130–131, 133, 136, 138–139, 141–143
SDRs, 5, 13, 65, 81, 105, 113, 126, 137, 141–143
Second contact, 31
Sequence, account, 97
Reschedule meeting sequence, 101
Warm account sequence, 100
Sequence-related emails, 110
Break up, 112
Post call, 112
Reminder, 110
Second angle, 111
Wake up, 111
SMB, 16–18
Small and medium-sized business accounts, 16
Social stories, 68
Soft push, 89
Solution stories, 69
Spreadsheet, 92
Stage, vii, viii, 26–27, 29
Stakeholder, 17, 20–22, 30, 33, 37, 46, 98, 103, 115, 130–132
Stakeholders, viii, 14, 17, 20–21, 47
Stories, 36, 67–73, 75–79
Story, v, 11, 50, 67–75, 77–79, 84, 120, 137
Story construction 69
Characters, 70
Problem, 70
Question, 71
Situation, 70
Solution, 70
Story inspiration, 72
Case study, 72
From other salespeople, 72
Personal experience, 72
Story presentation Energy, 74
Tone, 73
Word choice, 74
Storyteller, 67
Strategy and efficiency, 4
T
Takeaway, 65
Techcrunch, 32
Testing, 8
Tip, 30, 36, 71, 73, 91–92, 110, 115
Tips, 30, 36, 71, 73, 91–92, 110, 115
Top to bottom, 20
Toxic people, 5
Trait, 8, 75
Traits, 2, 5, 10–11, 87
Trigger events, 32
Triple A, acknowledge, answer, ask, 57–59
U
Understanding objections, 85
Unqualified accounts, 27
Uptone, 73
UX, 142
V
VM, 129
Vocabulary, 14
Voicemail, 40, 45–47, 129
Voicemails, 45–47
W
W accounts, 23
Warm accounts, 132
Web-scraped accounts
Whale hunting, 23
Working accounts, 26
Working top to bottom, 20
X
XYZ, 51, 136
Cold to Committed Page 16