First things first…

Next week I will announce the two cool speaking engagements I will be undertaking in Amsterdam in October! I hope that many of you can come to them too! More next Friday!

What am I seeing this week: 3 keys to SDR Org Sucess

When you want to build out a Sales development motion, its important to recognise that what worked in the past will not work now.

It's not about pounding the phone aimlessly, it's not about generic messaging to people up and down the decision-making tree, and it's not throwing SDRs without product training.

To set up your new SDR team for success, do these three things:
1️⃣ Identify your ICP and, most importantly, the 'why' for your customer, then enable your teams via a best-in-class enablement
2️⃣ ABM drives engagement into your ICP via awareness campaigns, creates product knowledge in the market
3️⃣ Create ICP-specific personas sequences that build on the ABM awareness campaigns and direct engagement via those sequences. Test your messaging and iterate. Personalise around 30%!!

So, to sum up, success won't come overnight if you are building a new SDR team, but the probabilities are more likely if you do these three things.

Anything else you'd add to the list? Drop them into the comments section below!

Five questions of the week

This week we have the incredible Emerald Maravilla of Snowflake joining Mastering Sales Development. Emerald will talk about second-line leadership, Basketball and mentorship!

Who are some of the leaders you admire, and whose leadership styles you replicated?

I’m a huge basketball fan, so when I think leaders, I think coaches first. Steve Kerr is huge for me. The way that he drives unity, focus, and joy in playing inspires me. We see excellence come to fruition with 6 Finals appearances since 2015 and 4 championships. Phil Jackson, Mike Kryzyzewski, and Pop (Gregg Popovich) in San Antonio perform at such high levels with longevity. I’ve had the good fortune of working with fantastic leaders at Box, Twilio, Sift, Plaid and now at Snowflake - too many to name. Innovative game changers from whom I always borrow techniques. Through them, I learned how to empower others, the power of radical candour, the importance of operational rigour and discipline, and to be unafraid to push boundaries.

When did you realise that leadership was the career path you wanted to follow, and how did you make it happen?

In some ways, I’ve always felt that leadership would make sense. I’m the eldest child and love leading the way. But when that came to my consciousness as a professional, I was an Enterprise Account Manager at Twilio. I had just transitioned from being a team lead, and I missed the excitement of that role. Deeply. It solidified that I am at my best when my time and talents help others. At the same time, Twilio’s BDR team was growing and needed a second manager. I was fortunate enough to have leaders who tapped me for the role. I’ll never forget what one said to me as he shared the decision - “When I asked around, everyone said you made sense. I didn’t make the decision. Leaders aren’t chosen by any one individual. Their peers and teammates choose them to lead the way”. That’s stuck with me.

What are the main challenges you face being a second-line leader? How did you overcome them?

Everything I say or do has to make sense for 250+ SDRs. As a front-line leader, I had more room to make decisions (and mistakes) for my team of 8, 10, and sometimes even 20 SDRs. But as one of 5 SDR directors here at Snowflake, it’s important that what one of us does is the right thing for SDRs globally. How do I overcome them? As a second line, we talk a lot and recognize the importance of sticking together.

What would you have done differently to maximise your growth if you could redesign your career ascension to where you are now?

I have had a career I am very thankful for, so I’m not sure there’s much I’d change about it. If I had to change one thing, I’d encourage my former self (and perhaps present!) to seek more mentors, to challenge myself to more vulnerability and the recognition that I didn’t always know what I didn’t know - and that it’s OK not to know things and it’s more than OK to ask for help.

How do you see the SDR role changing in the next two years?

I’ll take the easy way out and say AI will change the SDR landscape. It will change how earlier reach-out is formulated. However, it will put more responsibility on SDRs to know and understand their prospects better, especially in an enterprise-level motion. I’ve always loved that about the SDR role. The best SDRs recognize that their role is to empower others - both our customers and our AEs - and to be able to do so requires strong product knowledge and fluency to share that product with various stakeholders. That need will only become stronger.

Book of the week

And Finally!

As the Newsletter grows and creates more momentum, I wanted to put this offer out: I’m happy to spend some time reviewing your SDR questions with you. Just drop me a message on Linkedin, and let's schedule some time!