Lewis Fowler

Hello SDRs - a good old hokeyism that I enjoy is "you can bring a horse to water, but you can't make him drink". What this saying is missing is how you choose to drink is up to you, but you need to drink. Own your process. Want to know more about the product/market, (yes i think this helps sdrs), go to your Sales engineering team. Want to learn more about top SDRs across all industries, find a mentor. So many of us are all to willing to help, as we've been in your shoes before. Lastly, own your persona learning. GPT tools make what use to be an exhausting and drawn out, possibly innacurate process, and turns it into minutes not hours. It's Wednesday, time to make the rest of the week awesome. #sdr #hokeyism

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Sales Leaders - Avoid this Mistake! Please don’t give your SDRs access to Smartlead/Instantly and ask them to manage multichannel workflows like LinkedIn touchpoints and cold calling. It doesn’t integrate well with your CRM, dialler or data provider meaning it will make a simple workflow very complex. You might actually be better off with a traditional sales engagement platform like Outreach, SalesLoft, or even Lemlist (even though you're hearing something else from Linkedin.) Instead you should think of SmartLead/Instantly as an additional SDR on your team that can send emails at such a high volume and low cost. Use it to reach out to your Tier 3 and some Tier 2 prospects where the average deal size doesn't justify having a dedicated SDR. ----------------------------- Hi, I am Leo, former head of sales now agency founder of the The Playbook Agency

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Managing more than 10 BDRs spread out across different countries… How do you adapt prospecting sequences for each market? How do you make sure each rep ramps up properly if you can’t coach them because you can’t understand German or Hebrew? And how do you set up the right KPIs to track performance fair and square for every one? Those are the questions Rachel Fay Martin, Senior Manager Business Development EMEA at Zoom, answers in today’s episode of International Corner 🎙. One of the learnings she shares with us are the 3 tips she applies to adapt guidelines for each region: 1️⃣ Creating a buddy system She pairs each new rep with another BDR or AE speaking the same language to role play. 2️⃣ Fostering each rep to create an ecosystem with the wider team She pushes them to talk to marketing, finance people etc… that are speaking the same language as them within the organization to have coffee and get more understanding and support internally 3️⃣ Feedback loops with Enablement She created a group of BDR delegates. 1 Senior BDR from each region joins a bi-weekly call with the enablement team to provide feedback and get help to adapt sequences and create scripts. That.. is only part of the tips she shared. If you want to find out more, click on the links beloooow #internationalexpansion #globalbusiness

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When RevOps is really just SalesOps (And the CRO is really just the VP of Sales) 𝗦𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗦 𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗘 - Closing deals should work - Clear pipeline management process - Forecasting is as accurate as possible - But everything before & after is an issue 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗞𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 - Has different goals - Maybe the target is MQLs - Has their definition of MQLs - And their definition of SALs, SQOs - Has systems with different metrics - Their reports don't match sales' reports - Leads routed from one system to the next - With lots of things falling through the cracks - Classic case of marketing/sales misalignment 𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 - Do SDRs report to marketing? - If so, we're misaligned there too - The goal may be meetings booked - So AEs have lots of leads and meetings - But maybe not the ones they really need - The ones that convert to pipeline/revenue - We have more misalignment & finger pointing - Do SDRs report to sales? - What content do they have? - What events and assets do they share? - What visibility do they have into engagement? - How does marketing align with their outreach? 𝗢𝗡𝗕𝗢𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 - Sales is paid to close deals - How do they hand off customers? - What is the onboarding process? - Who builds/maintains that process? - What is done if sales drops the ball? - What is done if sales overpromises? - How are incentives and comp aligned? 𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 & 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗔𝗡𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 - Which customers are easiest to retain? - Which customers are most likely to churn? - Which customers are the easiest to expand? - How is this data used to improve sales targeting? - How do we maximize NRR if sales is in their own silo? For me RevOps drives value by getting into the weeds and finding ways to generate more revenue with the resources available. That includes SalesOps and optimizing the sales process to close more deals. However, if we stop there we end up with an expensive and inefficient revenue engine with high CAC, high Churn and low LTV. We end up with different departments chasing different goals in different systems with different reports and different definitions of success. What would you add to this? Anything I missed? ✌️

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🤔 What sales role should you hire, when and why? (Inbound) SDRs, (Outbound) BDRs, Full-Cycle Reps, AEs, CSM, Account Managers - so many roles, even more implications. It's confusing, I get it. Especially since there has been lots of talk on the SDR model being dead and full-cycle being the "new" holy grail (which is simply not true since it all depends on context). Working with Startups and Scale-ups on their sales hiring, we often find ourselves helping them clarify their roles and corresponding expectations. Very often. So often, that we consolidated all our learnings into one blog post. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/dV6cXmxr Spoiler: It depends on the phase you are in, your company environment, deal complexity, sales cycle and ACV and overall sales strategy. No short answer on a topic this complex. Read the short and to the point article, it's worth it. What's your take on specialization (SDR/AE) vs. full-cycle? Thanks Alvaro Rojas for authoring and Manuel Hartmann for chiming in. The result is a guidance for all growing (tech) companies out there with our learnings at hyrise and SalesPlaybook.

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My goal this year: Hire zero new sales reps. If you are below 3 Mio. ARR and go after >50k deals, you do not need more than five people who are selling. The calculation is rather simple: Every sales rep should make min. 3x their salary. That is what you need to have a viable business model. And salespeople can realistically make 5x their salary as a max. If you have 5 sales reps at 180k per year, every rep should generate 540k of ARR per year as a minimum. With 5 reps, that is 675k per quarter, and 2.7 Mio. per year. At their lowest productivity. This should go up to 4.5 Mio. ARR per year with 5x the sales rep's salary. Unless you want to go from 3 Mio. to 9 Mio., you likely have enough sales reps to reach your yearly target below 3 Mio. ARR. If your sales reps are not at 3x their salary yet, you have no PMF, and no feasible business model yet. So work on that first. Don't hire new sales reps. Before you reach the 3x mark.

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Half the outbound prospecting tips I see on LI are RevOps tips in disguise. Things salespeople had to do to hit quota that RevOps should have, but didn't, do for them. Here are just two examples. 𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 There's no bigger waste of time than calling suboptimal prospects outside of your ICP and Personas. The first step here is a data science exercise. You take your ICP and Personas definition and run it against all available internal and external data. Then you map out the capacity of each rep to determine how many accounts they can handle. How long does it take to complete each step in the sales process? How many accounts can they do that with before they run out of time and skip steps? Then you take that number of accounts and use your data to identify the absolute best accounts for each rep. Does any of this sound like a "sales activity?" Is this really what you hired expensive salespeople to do? To fumble through something RevOps could do 10X better and 10X faster? 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 What salespeople should be doing is research on that carefully curated list of accounts and contacts. RevOps can give them a BIG headstart by aggregating data into a single place so that they can quickly see things like: - Contact Info - Website URL - LinkedIn URL - Firmographic Metrics - Technographic Metrics - Marketing Engagement - External Intent Signals As an AE, I spent 30% - 70% of my time on all this stuff. As AE #1 in a small startup this took up most of my time, as I had to start from zero. But even at Salesforce, working inside their well-oiled machine, I still had to do a lot of this on my own. Most companies will give reps thousands of accounts when they can only handle a couple hundred or so and expect them to do the data science instead of spending their time actually selling. Don't waste money on AEs. Set them up to use their time more effectively. If you want to read more, we wrote up an article on this a while back in 📰 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙊𝙥𝙨 𝙒𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙡𝙮 📰 https://bit.ly/43lFOxQ ✌️

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Revenue blindness is a condition that a 2/3 people in sales suffer from. When undiagnosed it can lead to... - Constant Peaks and Valleys - Scaling Suck - a 'Just do more' mindset - Hives - Dispair and Misery What is revenue blindess? When all that is looked at in terms of success is the revenue number. If you hit = Things must be good. If you miss = The team/individual/leader suck It's actually far more dangerous on the 'hit' side, and I see it all the time. A rep is hitting their number, but tearing down the culture, but it's allowed because of... Revenue blindess A team of 10 hits the number, but off the back of the manager or or 1 top rep, so the decision is made to scale to 30 even tho they have nothing proven in place... Revenue blindess It works the other way too. A team is hitting their marks, hitting the activity, working the deals, using strong messaging, and yet miss the number, because the number was unhittable. The number doesn't get changed, the people do. Revenue blindess. A rep IS crushing their number, but because of that they don't get the recognition, attention and support they want/need because well.. they are hitting the number Revenue blindess I talk about this with my leaders all the time, we can't fall into revenue blindness. We have to stay below the number to drive results. Behaviors. Issue Diagnosis/Inspection. Process. Skills. You - This is where BIPSY comes in. We have seen some amazing results over the last 6 months. We're talking some 2-3x type results. BUT We stay obsessed over what's causing them, not just the end result. This is the key. Revenue blindness is curable. If you know someone that suffers from revenue blindness ... Send them to the Sales Leadership Accelerator - it will take time.. but we can save them. https://lnkd.in/ejPDhZw4

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Too many marketers think automated #email #marketing works this way. Why? Because they start with the software, then focus on content – but it should be the other way around. When starting a #B2B email campaign, test manually first. Identify what works, then automate. The goal is to automate hyperpersonalization – sending tailored messages that speak directly to each prospect’s needs. This increases engagement and drives better results, all while keeping it personal.

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🚀 Sales Confidence 2.0: Get SDRs Who Hit the Ground Running! 🚀 Tired of spending weeks onboarding new SDRs, only to realise they aren’t a fit for your fast-paced team? I know the challenges of hiring SDRs—getting the right person who’s not just great on paper but ready to sell from day one can be tough. Let’s face it, traditional CVs don’t tell you if someone has the grit to go out there to the market and have conversations. We provide pre-trained and pre-screened SDR candidates, ensuring your next hire can deliver results immediately, without the lengthy training process. Our Sales Confidence 2.0 ranking system highlights the most proactive, self-taught talent, so you can skip the guesswork and bring on SDRs who are proven to thrive in sales. 🌟 Meet Our Top Talent of today🌟 Jalil- an experienced B2C sales professional with entrepreneurial passion, showcased resilience and bravery in handling tough objections during his role play. Enrike -A charismatic listener who builds trust with strong questions, creating powerful, results-driven conversations. Zuhair- An adaptable professional with retail experience, skilled at handling tough conversations and solving problems creatively. Ali - An aspiring sales professional who thrives on the thrill of winning deals, bringing energy and enthusiasm to every prospecting challenge. Jiya - A versatile professional with a strong background in events, her energy and bubbly character from the role play can allow her to use humour to establish trust. Avishai- A future leader with a background in music, is a well-spoken and articulate professional who excels at getting to the point and handling objections with ease. If you are hiring reach out, remember 50% reduction fee.

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Leading sales teams remotely isn't easy Neither for the leaders nor for salespeople One important thing I learned leading > 30 salespeople all over Europe over the last 2 years: You should schedule time together rather often Here are a few regular sessions I usually put in our calendars: 1️⃣ Cold Calling Day (once a month): The whole team (SDRs, AEs, Operations) meets to call for one full day. Set a target for the day and see what the team can achieve together We often booked > 25 meetings on one day. Also helped us getting closer to the revenue target 2️⃣ Outreach / Cold Calling Sessions (2-3 hours, two times a week): The whole team focuses on outreach. These blockers are important for all salespeople so as to not lose focus on pipeline creation You might as well be doing it with the whole team? At the beginning of the session, we usually do a warmup with some mock calls 3️⃣ Weekly Sales Team Meeting (1-1.5 hours): Everybody shares what they achieved last week (most important advancements and new pipeline) There is usually a list of topics that needs to be discussed And knowledge should be shared (especially in early-stage companies) Everybody contributes 4️⃣ Weekly Call Coachings (1 hour): A sales rep is sharing a recorded call with everyone beforehand And the whole team is giving feedback on that call By showing parts of the recording 5️⃣ Weekly or Bi-weekly 1on1s wither every sales rep (30 min) Agenda: 1. How are you doing? 2. What is going well / where do we have room for improvement? 3. What do you need help with? 4. Career & personal development 5. Other topics? 6️⃣ Weekly 5-Ps coaching with the whole sales team (60 min): Someone prepares a late-stage deal by answering the questions below 👇🏻 The team asks questions Result: 2-3 immediate action items that help mitigate the risk to lose the deal Any other regular meetings you deemed useful with the sales team?

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SDRs, if you're struggling to access Snr decision-makers in your outreach, try this... 1. Create a low-lift ask Too many SDRs ask for time with CXOs, especially when outbounding. Instead ask something like "𝘎𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩?" 2. Exec outreach Matching titles with your target prospect is a great way of sourcing meetings. Ghost write an email for your CRO, CXO and have them send it with you in CC. 3. Speak to SENIOR value Avoid getting into the bells and whistles of your solution or service. Speak to the bigger picture of ROI, revenue growth, bottom-line savings. --------- For more help, consider RevRocket's coaching options Send me a DM to learn more.

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SDRs - Struggling with your ramp? Here are 5 tips to immediately improve your results and beat your ramp 1. Meet with 3 top performing BDRs, pick their brains on everything from Prospecting, Research, Sequences, calls, emails, Linkedin DM's etc. Once you have a good pool of knowledge on strategies that are working in the current market you can adapt it and make it your own. 2. Problem enablement: The most important thing to know is WHO you help and HOW you help them. Speak to your AE's who've closed business, CSMs and your own internal personas. The goal is to be able to crisply articulate how you can help a target persona in a target account get to their desired state. No one cares about WHAT you do, they care about how you can help them. 3. Volume: Practice makes perfect, you're not going to get good without the reps so get out there and prepare to fail. 4. Double down: If you find one medium is yielding more meetings then double down on that one, e.g if you're booking 5 meetings a month through call and 1 via email, try changing to a call only sequence for a while to see if it ups your results. 5. Feedback loops: Regularly ask your top-performing peers, AEs and your manager in your 121 for SPECIFIC advice. This means you'll always be growing your skillset. Make sure you're not getting advice from everyone though as this will dilute your focus P.S I'll do a part 2 of this next week but anything you'd add? For now, enjoy a picture of Emre Ceyhan and me at our recent Spike Week!

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SDRs of Germany got new masterclasses 🔥🔥🔥 We hear a lot that there is not enough sales content in German or for the DACH market 🤓 Well, that used to be true until this community was built 🚀 You can find any sales topic in there: - Prospecting via email - Cold Calling - Video - Discovery - Demos - Negotiation - Career advice - How to leverage AI - and much much more! Alles auf Deutsch 😉 #sdrsofgermany #learning #sales #dach #upskilling #mafaldanotthecartoon

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Some great advice here for those in the Biz Dev world! Let's go!!!

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Are you actively prospecting, and not getting as many sales meetings booked as you would want? 2 things that you need to take action on, as it is likely that this is what is killing your results: 1. Review the list of prospects you are working on, and ensure it is laser-focused on your ICP or IPP (Ideal prospecting profile). 2. Work on your follow-up game - Are you updating leads stages properly? Are you making sure that you are doing at least 7-10 "touch points" if not even 20 if you are trying to reach c-levels at enterprise companies? Are you sending that 2nd message on LinkedIn to the ones that ghosted you? I guarantee an uplift in your results if you take measures now on that above. And if you want my help/advise further, feel free to send me a message. In the picture: A pigeon, who is focusing on the wrong ICP.

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Amen to this. Senior leaders need to get involved in the details and understand the structural and operational issues in their organizations that lead to customer churn. You hold the power to improve the quality of your product and the value of your service - you're customer facing Sales and CSM teams do not.

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4 tips for running better discovery calls +1 bonus tip +1 one give-away [last line] Discovery isn’t just a stage in the sales process. We've all heard this. Yet, too many reps walk away without truly understanding the pain or the cost of doing nothing. Here’s how to fix that: 1. Start with curiosity. Don’t dive in with generic questions. Instead, open with something thoughtful: → “What made you take this call?” → “When did this challenge first show up for you?” Simple, yet effective. 2. Go deeper. Surface problems aren’t enough. Your job is to dig into the why. → “What’s causing this issue?” → “Who else is impacted?” → “What happens if it doesn’t get fixed?” Get them talking about the ripple effects. 3. Tie pain to metrics. No impacted metrics = no urgency. Find out what matters most to their business: → “Is this impacting win rates, pipeline coverage, or forecast accuracy?” → “What’s the cost of missing those targets?” You’re not just finding pain. You’re quantifying it. 4. Call out the cost of inaction. Paint the picture of staying as is. → “If this isn’t fixed in 6 months, what does that mean for your team?” → “How does this impact hitting revenue goals for the year?” They need to feel the pain now. Bonus tip... 5. Know when to walk away. Not every problem is urgent. If the impact isn’t big enough, qualify out. Save your time. And theirs. Great discovery isn’t about pitching. It’s about listening, digging, and connecting the dots. Get it right, and you’ll build urgency without ever needing to offer a discount. Which number could you be doing more of? ------------------------------------------------------- 🔔 Follow me for more on sales James Bissell ♻️ Repost and I'll send you a Discovery Call talk track.

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When is RevOps just glorified Sales Ops? - Usually, when they report to a VP of Sales So, who should RevOps report to? - CRO, COO, CFO, CEO? RevOps needs to be: - Unbiased - In a position of authority - Aligned with all revenue functions If not, it devolves into something else. So, who should RevOps report to? - The CRO is the strong default - The COO is unbiased and runs ops - The CFO is also unbiased and data-driven - The CEO can make the role extremely strategic But there are drawbacks to each of these as well. What do you think? 🤔 We’ll break each case down in tomorrow’s 📰𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙊𝙥𝙨 𝙒𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙡𝙮 📰 Subscribe here to get it: https://bit.ly/49RCm0h ✌️

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