Alican Tilkidagi

“SDRs get stuck in the same call, day after day, slipping into a pattern that drains their energy.” Coaching SDRs is more than just teaching call scripts- it’s about shaking things up! In our latest I Used to Be Crap at Sales episode, Mark Ackers chats with Chris Dawson on how important it is to step back, reset, and add a bit of variety to keep the team energised. Leaders, are you keeping your SDRs fresh or letting them run on empty? Tune in to learn: • How to help SDRs break free from repetitive habits. • Why taking breaks and resetting is key. • Simple ways to refresh an SDR’s mindset. Full episode available now - link in the comments! #SDRLife #SalesCoaching #SalesLeadership

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The SDR function is dying. Heard this plenty of times on here. But like many other departments it isn’t dying it’s changing. We have to be focussed on showing how we deliver revenue, not just top of funnel activities. Booking lots of meetings, even creating lots of new ‘opportunities’ for AEs to work is great but if none of them turn into revenue then we are at risk. And this isn’t just for the SDR team to work out; it must run through the company. From marketing to CS, all focussed on revenue. And this month I got to celebrate my contribution with my first couple of closed won sourced deals. Darn Enterprise sales cycles making me wait this long. 😂 And appreciate the gift to celebrate Tom. As an SDR do you track your closed won sourced deals?

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The #1 way to motivate SDRs... (And it costs nothing) Prove you g͟e͟n͟u͟i͟n͟e͟l͟y͟ care about them. It’s pretty damn easy: - Prioritise your 1:1s - Sunshine great work - Say ''thanks'' every week - Give them honest feedback, nicely - Appreciate their effort even if they failed - Message MORE when they are struggling Most SDRs just want to 'feel' like you care. It's not difficult. Do you agree? ♻️ Share this to show sales leaders the way. ---- 📌 The SDR Leader Bootcamp closes Friday for enrollment.

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This is how you can make presidents club as an SDR. In 2024 it is TOUGH. Constant rejection whilst calling Seeing your emails get opened with no responses. Sending a sequence only to be greeted with "unsubscribe" Even all these "leaders" saying the SDR role is dead. But there's one thing that can make your life easier. And this is the reason I hit 150% consistently as an SDR. Frameworks. To get consistent meetings you need a consistent input. Having a process is what will separate you from having one good month. To getting on that plane to go to presidents club. SDR's I know it's tough so I want to make your life easier. So I made a notion page of the cold calling & cold email frameworks I used to never missed quota. If you want them like this post & comment "PC" Let's crush the rest of this Q 💪

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‘We need an SDR who has at least 12 months SDR/BDR experience at a SaaS company’. This is a common hiring trend I still see right now and whilst indeed, someone with that experience may work out for you and I understand the logic, there are a few potential flaws I wanted to share about that expectation/requirement that may be preventing you from hiring your next superstar... 1. A great SDR will generally be promoted after 12-18 months in the role 📈 2. More experience = more expensive 💰 3. Many of the best performing SDR’s we see are those with as little as 6-12 months sales experience from sectors such as customer service, retail & hospitality 👊 4. Motivation > Experience. A poorly motivated SDR with a high skill level rarely works out 🤔 Confident in your leadership, enablement and product? Hire someone on motivation. Use the interview process to qualify their basic skill set, appetite to put in the work required and aptitude for learning and developing over and above their current skill level as an SDR ✅ Hiring someone with 12 months SDR experience may work for you and I’m not trying to communicate that they are bad candidates, but when you actually consider what makes an excellent SDR, this requirement may be holding you back from hiring your next pipeline building king or queen 🙌 Always curious to learn from SDR leaders. What are some of the experiences of the best SDR’s you’ve hired?

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‘We need an SDR who has at least 12 months SDR/BDR experience at a SaaS company’. This is a common hiring trend I still see right now and whilst indeed, someone with that experience may work out for you and I understand the logic, there are a few potential flaws I wanted to share about that expectation/requirement that may be preventing you from hiring your next superstar... 1. A great SDR will generally be promoted after 12-18 months in the role 📈 2. More experience = more expensive💰 3. Many of the best performing SDR’s we see are those with as little as 6-12 months sales experience from sectors such as customer service, retail & hospitality 👊 4. Motivation > Experience. A poorly motivated SDR with a high skill level rarely works out 🤔 Confident in your leadership, enablement and product? Hire someone on motivation. Use the interview process to qualify their basic skill set, appetite to put in the work required and aptitude for learning and developing over and above their current skill level as an SDR ✅ Hiring someone with 12 months SDR experience may work for you and I’m not trying to communicate that they are bad candidates, but when you actually consider what makes an excellent SDR, this requirement may be holding you back from hiring your next pipeline building king or queen 🙌 Always curious to learn from SDR leaders. What are some of the experiences of the best SDR’s you’ve hired?

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‘We need an SDR who has at least 12 months SDR/BDR experience at a SaaS company’. This is a common hiring trend I still see right now and whilst indeed, someone with that experience may work out for you and I understand the logic, there are a few potential flaws I wanted to share about that expectation/requirement that may be preventing you from hiring your next superstar... 1. A great SDR will generally be promoted after 12-18 months in the role 📈 2. More experience = more expensive💰 3. Many of the best performing SDR’s we see are those with as little as 6-12 months sales experience from sectors such as customer service, retail & hospitality 👊 4. Motivation > Experience. A poorly motivated SDR with a high skill level rarely works out 🤔 Confident in your leadership, enablement and product? Hire someone on motivation. Use the interview process to qualify their basic skill set, appetite to put in the work required and aptitude for learning and developing over and above their current skill level as an SDR ✅ Hiring someone with 12 months SDR experience may work for you and I’m not trying to communicate that they are bad candidates, but when you actually consider what makes an excellent SDR, this requirement may be holding you back from hiring your next pipeline building king or queen 🙌 Always curious to learn from SDR leaders. What are some of the experiences of the best SDR’s you’ve hired?

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‘We need an SDR who has at least 12 months SDR/BDR experience at a SaaS company’. This is a common hiring trend I see right now and whilst indeed, someone with that experience may work out for you and I understand the logic, there are a few potential flaws I wanted to share about that expectation/requirement that may be preventing you from hiring your next superstar... 1. A great SDR will generally be promoted after 12-18 months in the role. 2. More experience = more expensive. 3. Many of the best performing SDR’s we see are those with as little as 6-12 months sales experience from sectors such as customer service, retail & hospitality. 4. Motivation > Experience. A poorly motivated SDR with a high skill level rarely works out. Confident in your leadership, enablement and product? Hire someone on motivation and attitude. Use the interview process to qualify their basic skill set, appetite to put in the work required and aptitude for learning and developing over and above their current skill level as an SDR. Hiring someone with 12 months SDR experience may work for you and I’m not trying to communicate that they are bad candidates, but when you actually consider what makes an excellent SDR, this requirement may be holding you back from hiring your next pipeline building king or queen. Always curious to learn from SDR leaders. What are some of the experiences of the best SDR’s you’ve hired? David Wilkins curious on your thoughts along with the SDR Leaders of EMEA!

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It's a tough market out there for candidates without tech sales experience right now... All of the peeps I've seen secure an SDR role from outside the industry - here's what they have in common👇 👉 They reach out to their potential future colleagues for advice/insight. 👉 They message their interviewer the day before. 👉 They follow up with short bullet-pointed takeaways afterwards. 👉 They come prepared with a tangible plan of how they're going to onboard/better themselves in their own time. For all my network trying to make the move into tech sales - introduce this into your process and keep pushing 🫡 #SDR #TechSales #Interviewing #Sales #SalesHiring

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Why cold calling doesn’t work 👇🏼 👉🏼 you’re calling a range of different job titles hoping something sticks with one of them 👉🏼👉🏼 look at the last 10 clients your company has sold to and which job title was the one to make it happen on their side 👉🏼 you’re talking about 4 different possible pain points and hoping one of them sticks 👉🏼👉🏼 look at the last 10 clients your company has sold to and identify the most common challenge you solved for the client 👉🏼 your calls only last 20 seconds because the prospect cuts you off straight away 👉🏼👉🏼 you need to try out a different permission based opener… could be “we’ve not spoken before but if you can give me 30 seconds you just might be glad I called” 👉🏼 you target companies across 10+ different industries and have no idea what they’re talking about when they go into details of their business 👉🏼👉🏼 look at the top 3 industries your company has sold to. Follow thought leaders in that space, subscribe to a newsletter in that space, become a mini expert in that industry 👉🏼 you hate cold calling because it terrifies you 👉🏼👉🏼 pull up a list of closed lost prospects, the call is warmer and less terrifying 👉🏼 you hate cold calling because you don’t book meetings from it 👉🏼👉🏼 use the tips above and see if that changes What am I missing?

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Here’s how you land an SDR role at Birdie… We recently welcomed Sam to the team. He was on the phone after his first week and has been booking meetings since. I haven’t come across an SDR who’s had such a fast start to a new role. The crazy part? He didn't come from a sales background 🤯 Despite this, he managed to demonstrate all the skills of a top-performing SDR throughout his interview process. We talked through it over a long walk & here's what he did: • Shortlisted companies that matched his criteria, Birdie being his no.1 choice • Strategised with his friend who’s a Senior AE in the space prior to applications • Created personalised cover letters for each - no AI here, just some serious graft (I guess being an English teacher for 5 years helped!) • Cold called hiring managers • Connected with different stakeholders within each prospective company • Overcame an initial rejection at Birdie and managed to land an interview • Leveraged the relationships he’d built with internal stakeholders (like myself and other sales reps) to prepare for each interview • Secured the role 🤝🏼 When I say I’m not surprised in the slightest that he's had such a fast start, I’m really not, though I didn’t expect it to be this fast 😅 Nor did I expect to learn as much as I have in the short time he’s been on the team. Sam, your willingness to experiment is refreshing and it’s been an absolute pleasure working with you so far! Watch this space 👀 Is this the new standard when it comes to breaking into Sales in 2024?

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No one should be ashamed of working in sales You rank pretty high compared to others Did you know... Average UK SDR Salary: £35,412 → UK - Top 26% → Global - Top 12% Average UK SDR OTE: £45,309 → UK - Top 20% → Global - Top 10% Average UK AE Salary: £55,000 → UK - Top 15% → Global - Top 8% Average UK AE OTE: £75,000 → UK - Top 10% → Global - Top 5% Sources: UK Talent, Jobted, PayScale, UK Tax Calculators Is it comfortable on your high horse? 🐴 Let me know in the comments #sdr #ae

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Here's the stark facts in sales today. - 31% of reps are making quota - Nearly half (44%) of deals slip - Sales cycles are double digits longer, win rates are double digits down - Inbound leads are down - Salesforce recognised the need to increase pipeline coverage to by 50% (from x2 to x3) Most of those we speak to recognise all these challenges. But they are stuck. "Do more with less" is the message. They have cut teams and fought for those remaining. Their organisations are stuck with blind hope and knives sharpening. The only solution they know is to fire and replace. Because the real problems aren't acknowledged. The market has changed and it's harder. But are teams are not more skilled. The same teams, that could achieve in the old world are failing in this one. And the last message anyone wants, is we need to spend some money to solve that. "That's your job isn't it?" cries the leadership to time-starved managers and leaders. Anyone want to guess what's going to happen to sales manager average tenure (already at an all-time low of 18 months)????

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Want to break into sales with a powerful LinkedIn profile and a CV that speaks volumes? Here’s how to stand out in the SDR world: LinkedIn Profile Tips: 1️⃣ Look the part – Your profile picture should reflect the role you want, not where you are now. 2️⃣ Highlight key SDR experience – Mention high-impact metrics, like making 90 calls daily or driving 30% of sales. 3️⃣ Show commitment – Talk about your involvement with Sales Confidence and share insights from courses you're taking. 4️⃣ Engage actively – Post your sales learnings, tag hiring managers in relevant posts, and connect directly. CV Tips: 1️⃣ One page, pure focus – Cut unrelated jobs. Showcase your SDR skills: cold calling, prospecting, and hitting quotas. 2️⃣ Quantify achievements – Use stats to prove impact and dedication. 3️⃣ Show passion – List steps you’re taking for growth, like the Sales Confidence program. With these tweaks, your LinkedIn and CV will do more than just look good—they’ll show hiring managers you're serious about making a mark in sales. If you want advice on how to improve your CV or Linkedin Comment - "Linkedin25" - I've give you access to my FREE LINKEDIN SUCCESS WHATSAPP GROUP Like and share to help more people. And Follow - James Ski

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SDRs who deserve to be AEs... ✅ Help coach other SDRs ❌ Are in it for themselves ✅ Hit quota every month ❌ Sometimes smash it ✅ Build amazing internal relationships ❌ Moan about their AE and Manager ✅ Prioritise the team winning ❌ Think they're an individual contributor ✅ Train every single day ❌ Believe they know it all ✅ Compete against themselves ❌ Compete against others in the team ✅ Are genuinely happy when others win ❌ Get bitter when others are successful 99% of success is in WHO you are. And HOW you do things. Embrace being different. Embrace being better. What am I missing? ---- PS. My SDR to AE bootcamp closes tomorrow. 5 seats left; https://lnkd.in/ejFQERRF

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Stop obsessing over OTE on its own. It's a vanity metric that doesn't really matter if loads of other factors aren't on point. I know a lot of AE's ''on €160k OTE'' who just earn their base salary. The achievability of the OTE and the impacting factors do matter: - Quality of leadership - Training & Coaching - Product Market Fit - % current team on target - Saturation of the sales team - Bonus Structure OTE is an important aspect of course, but all A players I speak with don't give much importance to the OTE figure on its own.

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Most sales managers waste their 1:1s. They focus on things like - Current activity metrics - How key deals are going - Current quota attainment - What else is in the pipeline As a result they turn their 1:1s into forecast meetings. Don't be that manager. Give your sales reps some room. - How are they doing? Mentally, emotionally? - Are they on track with their personal & career goals? - What are challenges this week where you can support? - In what areas do they need coaching to get to the next level? The point of 1:1s is to develop talent. Not to talk about day to day business. Repost ♻️ if you think 1:1s shouldn't be forecast meetings. What does your ideal 1:1 meeting look like?👇🏼 PS: Join 70+ members who receive weekly live coaching: https://lnkd.in/gTbPiShP

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No shows 👻 I'm sure every single person who either is, or has been an SDR has just had a shiver go down their spine. There is genuinely nothing worse as an SDR than putting in tonnes of work into booking a meeting, for them to not even show up. Here's how I've been keeping no-show rates under 20% for the past couple months: 1️⃣ - Send the calendar invite, and get your prospect to accept ON THE CALL. 2️⃣ - Call/message all meetings due to sit in a day in the morning, just to double check they're still all good for that time. Let's not forget, sometimes things genuinely do crop up. 3️⃣ - Try to book all meetings within a 10 day window - The further away the meeting is, the more likely they are to no-show. 4️⃣ - Qualify better on the call - make sure this is something your prospect wants to spend their time talking about. If not, another meeting will go straight on top of yours. Sometimes there are still times you can do all the above, and the prospect still doesn't show up 🤷‍♂️ Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments 👇 #sales #sdr #SaaS

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