Bailey Marshall

So much gold in here!! The #1 most common question I get from Founders looking to make that 1st GTM hire is about comp. Setting up a killer comp plan is an art and a science, but it also is the most important deciding factor in attracting top talent. Top sales people want top earning potential. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for when it comes to sales people.

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Hard truths- 1) Getting to 3X or 4X pipeline doesn't mean you will make your number. 2) Getting to 5X or 6X pipeline won't get you there either. I was in the cohort that helped create the 3-4X metric more than 20 years ago. It was wrong then and we just didn't know it. It is very wrong today. It didn't solve the most fundamental problem which is how we sell. If you are using BANT, ANUM or MEDDIC to qualify a deal, stop. Now. None of these tell if you the deal is qualified. They will create waste and poorly forecasted deals. If you are not training and scripting on discovery and then doing it as a distinct step in your sales process, AFTER you qualify your opportunity, you should start that now. Imagine sales as a manufacturing process. If we presume the need for 3-4X revenue in our pipeline, we are accepting 67%-80% waste of the raw material ( leads ). If we move to 5X, our waste is now 80%. That is unacceptable. AI won't fix this. Spending thousands on your tech stack won't fix this. Human leaders have to fix it. We have to examine every step and stage of your process. Optimize every action and interaction to reduce or remove waste and to maximize the yield of the raw material to get better finished goods with less. It can be done. My teams have done it. We exceeded our delivered pipeline consistently. Want to know how? You can DM me for a meeting or just schedule it via the link in my profile at no cost. ( Hint: if you have been following my posts, it starts with the ICP vs IOP and the "4 W's" ) Good selling!

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Multi-threading... A skill that's fast becoming the most critical in a sales reps arsenal. Why? 🤔 The market is tough at the moment. 🤔 Buyers are more budget conscious. 🤔 CFOs are asking teams to reduce spend and cut back on investment. 🤔 Prospects that once had buying power and sign off capability now have to get approval from C-Suite. It sounds like an uphill battle 🏃‍♂️‍➡️⛰️ but the truth is, multi-threading is not as daunting as you might think. ⭐️ Here's some tips that have worked well for me in the last 6 months ⭐️ 🗺 Map out your accounts. Org charts are critical for multi-threading. You need to understand who your prospects are, who they report to, and who holds decision making power. Tip - LinkedIn SalesNav let's you build drag and drop org charts! 🗣️ Check with your your champion. Confirm your org chart is correct. Ask them what the process is for bringing on a new vendor. If they don't know, 🆘 they are not a true champion. 📧 Share content early. Begin introducing yourself to key stakeholders quickly. Tip - Connect on LinkedIn with a short and sweet connection request, something like "Wanted to put a face to a name following some great conversations I've been having with (champion name) re (challenge). I'll send over some content via email shortly. I look forward to hearing your thoughts." 🎺 Make sure your content is personalised, engaging, and stands out. TOP TIP - Using a tool like trumpet 🎺 (digital sales room) is a sure fire way to encourage stakeholder engagement. Upload clear and concise value props, how you can solve their businesses challenges, client case studies and more. Ask these contacts to bookmark the page as you will regular update it with content as the deal progresses. And, track their engagement, so you can meet them in the moment. So far, my prospects have been LOVING it! 📞 Pick up the phone. Once you've connected on LinkedIn and sent content, call prospects to ensure that they have seen it. Ask what questions they have and tell them about next steps. By doing the above, when it comes to negotiation these stakeholders will be informed and aware of the entire process to date, and you and your product will be top of mind 🧠 Tenured AE's in my network (I know there are a lot of you), what do you do to successfully multi-thread? P.S. You can guess what I'll be doing in the office today :😉 #multithreading #sales #digitalsalesrooms #dsr #aestrategies

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"Your fees are some of the lowest I've ever seen" - James Kernan, SMB Community Podcast Curious about how our low fees can boost your bottom line? Check out our pricing page or schedule a no-pressure chat with me. Let's explore how we can help keep more money in your pocket. Links in the comments!! #ManagedServices #PaymentSolutions #Transparency #MSPGrowth

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AEs aren’t supposed to just bring revenue into the company. We are tasked to bring great revenue into the company. The type of revenue that will last. The type of customers who are excited about changing their process because they truly believe a change will improve their processes and increase their results. The types of customers that can grow with your platform/services. The types of customers that can help with referrals and testimonials. As sellers, we are tempted to close a deal, even if we notice hesitation, because we have quota. But these hesitant customers may churn, or may provide a lot of headaches to your CS and Support team. Do good to your prospects and don’t push a sale on them. If you notice you are not a good fit, or they are not a good fit… It’s ok to walk away. Tell them why you don’t think there is a fit and recommend them a different solution. If there are still blockers, questions to be answered and things to validate… It’s ok to push the deal and ensure when they sign it’s a win-win. I did this last month. A prospect was ready to sign but needed to validate some features before being 100% sure of their commitment. I could of closed them last month, but instead I extended their trial and told them there is no need to hurry, we can sign next month when we are both ready. I reached 97% quota last quarter, this deal would have put me at 110%. But I truly believe if I pushed the sale regardless of the confidence level I would have brought risky revenue into the company. Do good to your prospects… It will pay off! #sales #salesenablement

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I’ve seen 200 + SDR teams. One of the most common reasons why SDR teams fail? They’re spending time doing the wrong things.   1) Companies are hindering their team with non pipeline generating activities. 2) Complicated or lack of process... CRMs that are like a maze and have 15+ fields to fill in just to change a lead status. 3) Activities that aren’t linked to quota. What have I missed? 💡

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Not all leads deserve a VIP pass. Here are 3 ways AEs can gatekeep their pipeline like a bouncer at a nightclub. 1/ Initial Screening Before you let a lead in, ensure they meet the basic criteria. Do they have the influence, incentive and/or information needed to make a deal happen? 2/ Assessing Fit Just because they’re in your ICP and are genuinely interested isn’t enough, make sure you uncover a potential problem (or opportunity) that you can sell to. 3/ Manage Capacity Just because your sales leaders expect a 3x pipeline multiple, doesn’t mean you should commit to deals that are Dead on Arrival. Focus on quality over quantity to avoid being overwhelmed with poor leads. It's not about how much pipeline you have, it's about the pipeline that you commit to. Rather than focus on pipeline multiples, you can still hit your number by focusing increasing your win rate and ACV. 4/ Maintain Pipeline Integrity I've seen AE's qualify pipeline from an SDR they like just to help the SDR get paid. While I can appreciate this from a team culture standpoint, it doesn't help either of you in the long-run. Remove emotion when qualifying leads and give your SDR honest feedback so that they can improve. The analogies here are endless, what are some others?

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The secret to SDR success? Stop acting like an employee and start running your business like a small business owner💡 After 7+ years leading SDR organizations, I've observed a clear pattern: The most successful representatives operate like small business owners, while those who struggle remain stuck in an employee mindset. Consider this perspective: As an SDR, you're essentially running a franchise within your organization. The company provides the foundation—brand recognition, proven products, and essential tools—but your success depends entirely on how you leverage these resources. Your territory isn't just a list of accounts; it's your business district. The company has invested significantly in providing you with the infrastructure, but I've watched too many SDRs squander this opportunity by simply going through the motions. The correlation is undeniable: Those who approach their role as "just another job" inevitably plateau, while those who operate with an owner's mentality consistently achieve exceptional results. To elevate your performance, implement these business owner practices: - Conduct daily performance reviews and strategy sessions - Protect your revenue-generating hours like a business owner guards peak sales time - Develop your professional brand within your market - Approach coaching as strategic planning sessions Transform your sales trajectory by shifting from counting activities to building a thriving business within your organization.

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If you are an SDR manager, you can help your team get meetings by responding to the outbound you're receiving from other vendors. Ask the SDR who is emailing you if they use anything for revenue intelligence [obviously insert your category] and go from there. Find out the information, and then give it to the lowest performing rep on your team for an easy win. Here's the email you can draft for your SDR: "Hey VP of Sales, I spoke with my manager who mentioned you were using XYZ already, she talked to John (one of your SDRs) who gave us the tip. Would you be willing to have someone on your team evaluate us as an alternative?" ^^ It sets. Try it! #sdrlife #sales

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How can DealHub.io accelerate your strategic GTM plan? Here is what Moran Laufer, CFO at Factorial has to say about their approach…. * Generate company-wide operational efficiency * Manage the entire Quote-to-Revenue lifecycle around one source of truth * Standardize execution across every GTM line-of-business Kudos to Jonathan Angel for creating an exciting partnership with our customer – resulting in outstanding success. #GTM #finance #strategy

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Taking a page from the HockeyStack playbook: While reflecting on our quarter at Arcade, I realized we haven’t highlighted some of our own big wins. In the last quarter alone, we signed up 10 Enterprise Organizations with a combined market value of over $450B. David Yockelson, it’s exciting to see the Enterprise market embracing interactive demos with Arcade. While start-ups have quickly adapted, I believe the largest organizations might actually stand to gain the most value from this shift. What’s your take?

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Most sales leaders focus on their top performers. But your best reps will crush quota whether you help them or not. Here's the uncomfortable truth about scaling revenue... Your top 10% will succeed despite you. They'll figure out how to sell your product and close deals even if you give them zero support, no collateral, and an undefined ICP. But you can't build a scalable revenue engine on top 10% talent alone. It's just math. Even with a rigorous interview process and strong recruiting brand, our 12-month retention rate at Levelset was around 55%. And that was GOOD. The key to scaling isn't finding more unicorns. It's raising the floor for everyone else. That means writing down exactly what success looks like. Not just hoping good people will "figure it out." I learned this the hard way. For the first 4 years (or so), we closed deals almost in spite of ourselves. No real sales playbook. No defined process. Just talented people working hard. When we finally documented our exact process - from first touch to close - our ramp time plummeted and consistency shot up. The uncomfortable truth? Most founders spend way more time recruiting than preparing to train and support their hires. Your playbook doesn't need to be fancy. Start with one document: "How to Run a Demo." Make it painfully detailed. Your top reps will hate it. Your new reps will love you for it.

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Had the pleasure of joining 👨‍🍳 Elric Legloire on the SDR Game podcast! I absolutely LOVED sharing my tips & tricks in hopes it helps others who are just getting started in the sales world or want to level up their game. Find out how I lead with a quality > quantity approach and prioritize my accounts for the month (based on my "oh shit" moments 😉). Give it a listen to learn more! #sales #sdr #bdr #salesleaders #saas #techsales #outbound #prospecting #salestrategy #outboundstrategy

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Most leaders have forgotten what it's like to be starting out in your career. Last week, someone on this platform posted that he believes we're about to see the "career SDR" become a thing. He said it won't be long before SDRs or BDRs start earning $200,000+, and we should encourage it. His intent was pure. I do not doubt that. But the reality is flawed. Here's why: 1) SDRs can't get mortgages on an SDR or BDR salary. 2) SDRs are not children; they're adults, and some have growing families. 3) Most do a job that others are not willing to do, and it's exhausting. Coaching people as if money is the primary driver only gets you so far. Leaning on the commission aspects of the job is a short-term view of success and doesn't consider what they need outside of the workplace. I would have been disappointed to see that if I had been on this person's team. Unless you're prepared to increase the salary of a BDR to that of the leaders, there is no career SDR/BDR. I don't believe they want it, and we shouldn't want it for them, either.

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Here is why outbound isn't dead 🪦 The BDR team at Reachdesk has been on a momentum of change over the past few months supported by Andy Laws and their new leader 🤖 Brandon Ray 🤖! In October we set a hefty goal and although outbound pipeline has been improving was still a big number. For context, we needed to double it. Here are some actions we've taken to improve and 2X our pipeline. 1. ICP with a heavy focus on technographic data from key partners using Crossbeam. Went all in on our core accounts and made sure time was heavily prioritized here. 🎯 2. Alignment on account plans with the AEs and improved 1-1's, goal setting, and building actual relationships. Win it together is the key theme. Target the right accounts at the right time. 🙌 3. Event and digital support BDRs and AE self gen - we don't use an MQL model instead everyone is invested in generating pipeline in our key accounts and converting them sooner with outbound. 🏎 4. Increase contacts reached and accounts worked with more activity - this doesn't mean spray and pray but better efficiencies to give people more of a chance of connecting with the right person and right account using tools like Nooks 📞 5. Creativity to stand out. We've launched impactful campaigns, and seasonal gifting campaigns, run some unique events and ultimately worked on our presence to be seen. Shout out Daniela Ferreira who is often the unsung hero creating the amazing design work you see! 💜 What am I happy to celebrate? 100% of the BDRs hit their October target and many exceeded Sean Ryan and Joe Kay got promoted to Snr BDRs (deserves a post on it's own) Marketing achieved their third quarter of hitting target! Well done 💜 Sofia Alexandra Silva, Sara Sa, Kinga Kusak, Sam Collins Outbound is a team effort and that's why we invest in Allbound! Cheers to all of the GTM team for a huge Q3! Let's build on it for Q4 and smash some new records!

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🌟 Unlocking Sales & Marketing Success with Apollo.io! 🚀 Are you looking to supercharge⚡️your sales and marketing efforts? Look no further! 👀 ------------> 👇 Apollo.io is your one-stop solution for driving unprecedented growth and achieving remarkable results. Here's why: 🤷‍♂️ 1️⃣ Comprehensive Lead Generation: With Apollo, you gain access to powerful tools for prospecting and lead generation. Identify and reach out to your ideal prospects effortlessly, thanks to advanced search capabilities and accurate contact information. 2️⃣ Streamlined Sales Process: Say goodbye👋 to manual tasks and hello to efficiency! Apollo helps you streamline your sales process from lead generation to deal closure. Track interactions, manage pipelines, and send personalized communications with ease, ensuring no opportunity slips through the cracks. 3️⃣ Optimized GTM Strategies: Elevate your Go-To-Market strategies with Apollo.io. Segment your audience, craft personalized messaging, and measure the effectiveness of your efforts with insightful analytics. Operationalize and improve your GTM strategies like never before! 🤩 4️⃣ Data Enrichment & Cleansing: Clean, accurate data is the foundation of successful sales and marketing initiatives. Apollo.io enriches and cleanses your data, ensuring that you have the most up-to-date and reliable information at your fingertips, empowering informed decision-making. Don't settle for mediocre results 😬 when you can achieve greatness 🥊 with Apollo! 🥇 Join the ranks of leading businesses that have transformed their sales and marketing operations with our cutting-edge platform. Give us a try ------ > unlock your path to success! 🤌 Ask Liam Goldfarb & Mutiny, as his BDR team increased open rates by 70% and drove outbound revenue 200%+ with personalized Apollo Sequences and Plays. 💸 https://lnkd.in/eiYSTTB6 #Sales #Marketing #LeadGeneration #Growth #Apollo 🚀

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Why your SDR shouldn't be on Clay... At first glance, Clay seems like a dream come true for any sales leader. The automation it offers promises to free up ample time, allowing for more personalized outreach. But the reality might not be as rosy as it appears. Fast forward to the end of the month, and you are faced with a dismal fact: your SDRs haven't booked 0️⃣ notable meetings. 1️⃣ The problem lies in Clay's steep learning curve and an overwhelming array of options for creating campaigns. It's easy to get lost in the proverbial woods and fall victim to analysis paralysis. 2️⃣ Not only that, the challenge of perfecting the AI prompts to achieve the desired output gets overlooked or underestimated. The effort to master Clay could easily consume 8 hours of your team's day, and still, the output might not meet your expectations. So before you jump on the Clay bandwagon, consider this: Is it worth your team's time and energy to climb this learning curve? 

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To all SDRs or anyone entering B2B sales, read this post to avoid falling into common traps. 1. The most successful AEs I have met were the best SDRs. 2. SDRs who didn’t excel in the role and are now AEs are still struggling to generate their own pipeline. 3. AEs who skipped the SDR role, often due to an MBA or strong interview skills, fear switching jobs and roles without inbound leads. They’ve never faced the grind of building a pipeline from scratch, filled with rejections. 4. AEs who have never been an SDR majorly rely on their SDRs or Inbound leads from marketing to help them build pipeline and if any Quarter they don't get inbound or enough meetings from SDRs they sh** in their pants. 5. When these AEs become managers, they often question their team—"Where are the numbers?" or "Why isn’t there a pipeline?"—instead of guiding them on building it. Lacking experience in pipeline generation, they fail to lead by example and eventually lose the respect of their team. Learn the art and science of being an SDR and excel at this job at any cost, you will never have to look back or depend on anyone for pipeline EVER. Prospecting and Generating Pipelines is fundamental to Sales whether you are an SDR, AE, Sr Manager, or VP if you don't know how to do OUTBOUND you will continuously live a sales life of fear and anxiety. So SDRs ask yourselves do you want to be such AE and Managers in the future who depend on others to determine their performance and faith or would you like to own your job? #sales #prospecting #outbound #pipeline #sdr #ae #b2b #saas

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