- Mastering Sales Development
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- Mastering Sales Development
First things first…
As I’m sure with many of you, our new FY planning is underway, and it’s an exciting time to be building out and refining strategies and preparing to execute against them.
Please message me if you want me to write more about this over the coming months!
Content of the week!
This week, we have some exciting content from Linkedin that we wanted to share!
What am I seeing this week: SDR & AE interlock is critical!
I’ve been thinking about improving SDR<>AE interlock; why? Because without this close alignment, you are leaving literal money on the table.
I came up with three examples of why $50bn org SDR<>AE's interlock are successful, more than their $10m counterparts.
You might wonder why $50bn v $10m….because it’s a mindset above all else. If you are about serious growth companies, you take advantage of all the possible levers around you. You don’t leave opportunities to grow to waste.
So here we go!:
🧊 $10m org: AE says, 'I don't have an account plan.'
🔥 $50bn org: AE says, 'Here are my accounts; they are tired and have clear vertical/persona/use case focus.'
🧊 $10m org: AE says, 'I'm only free 30mins every three weeks. Don't contact me.'
🔥 $50bn org: AE says, 'You are part of my internal sales team. We will have weekly alignment calls and a Slack/WhatsApp channel if we need to troubleshoot.'
🧊 $10m org: AE says, 'I won't do my prospecting; that's your job, SDR.''
🔥 $50bn org: AE says, 'I do a PG day once a week, and I want you involved in SDR so we can learn from each other's objections and wins.'
Are there any other examples you can think of? Let me know in the comments below!
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Five Questions of the Week: Raffi Lion
Today, we had the pleasure of meeting Raffi Lion, an up-and-coming Sales Development leader in the Netherlands! Raffi will be discussing his influences, How SDRs will evolve and the reason he set up SDR’s of The Netherlands!
Raffi Lion: Founder, SDR of The Netherlands
Who are some of the leaders that have influenced you?
For years, I invested lots of time following online mentors/content creators, sometimes feeling closer to them than my manager. Leaders I have been following for years include Patrick Bet David, Jordan Peterson & Alex/Leila Hormozi, And LinkedIn content creators like Anthony Natoli, Gabi Sayah and Christian Krause. Of course, leaders at companies I have worked for have influenced me and triggered my thinking: Thomas Dieste, during my time at Amberscript, was an awesome sparring mate and sales coach, and CEO Peter-Paul de Leeuw have challenged my thinking more than once. ;) During my time at Elastic, many people have influenced me, and I learned a great deal from the whole team, but naming someone in particular, would be Menzo de Reuver, as I think I spent most of my 1-1 sales coaching sessions with him.
As you move from individual contributor to leadership, what do you wish you'd known to be better prepared?
Everything takes time....and that's OK! This is my biggest takeaway this year: you can take your time with some things. For example, I believe leadership is not about you and all about the people you serve; at the same time, I believe in leading by example. Don't ask something from someone that you are not willing to do. While actively trying to do both things, striking a balance between them is a balancing act, and I now believe it just takes time to get right.....
What are you looking to achieve in your leadership pathway?
I have always identified as being "entrepreneurial", and because it has been part of my identity for so long and the extreme desire to have complete responsibility for my financial success/ security, I am trying to acquire the skillsets I believe are necessary for building a company from the ground up. After my experience trying this when I was a bit younger (21) and working with multiple leaders and different cultures and leadership styles, I believe it is time to develop and feel comfortable with my leadership style before making the Jump once again in trying to build a company/culture.
How do you see the SDR role evolve over the next two years?
The role (BDR/ISR/SDR) will develop earlier and further into the sales funnel simultaneously. I’ll try to explain: I believe part of the role will be to create more demand in various ways. XDR is Becoming an AI-powered marketing machine, with the primary metric being having one-to-one conversations with prospects (all channels). - Because of the changes in buyers’ journey, it is essential to establish trust and qualification before scheduling a 1-hour "demo". In short, having lots of 1-1 conversations on all channels powered by AI, creating lots of noise & and demand qualifying in/out earlier and only transferring contact to AE when leading of high quality! Key metrics: # 1-1 conversations (all channels) Closed won ACV on moved Oppy's.
What was the impetus to build SDRs of The Netherlands?
After reading IkiGai, it triggered me to map my passions and skills accordingly. Because of my volunteering work, where I have been teaching kids for multiple years, it is clear that Teaching is my passion. Hands down, it's the best hour of the week. My skills align with the sales profession, but I enjoy inspiring others even more than selling. Combined with my frustrations with the education system and a drive to contribute to solving that problem, I hope this community can be a way to connect others, inspire and do something with teaching about sales/prospecting. Because it is needed & a combination of these things is something I see myself doing for a long time :)
Book of the week
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And Finally!
Would you like to connect for 30 minutes to talk about SDR Strategy? Add some time at this link: https://calendly.com/daveewilkins/30min and I will be happy to meet you and chat through your plans!
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