Nick Viau

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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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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SDR Dashboards - what do you want to see? Gimme your top 3 stats/charts/reports you like to see on YOUR dashboard for pipeline gen. There's the obvious activity levels and SQL/SAL volumes but what else do you like to see.....

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Public PSA to sales reps with EOY: If you’ve already offered your prospect a discount to sign by X date once or twice… and they haven’t… don’t do it again. Your “promotion” lacks all credibility. Value sell, value sell, value sell. Understand your clients timeline from the very first call you have with them. Micro close them every single interaction you have + then hold contract value because you’re actually aligned on the buying cycle and priorities. 😘🚀 #discounts #eoy #sales #accountexecutives #valueselling

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If you’re an SDR leader your job is to develop reps into better sellers. However, too many leaders like to use their dashboard as the best source of truth for coaching. You need to do real call review and you should be setting blocks in your schedule to have the data to pull from. KPIs are great but they rarely tell the full story. Do you have call review in your schedule? #sales #coldcalls #SDR

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Many SDR managers fall into the trap of making 1:1s all about the numbers: - Chasing activity targets - Tracking how many leads were added to sequences - Focusing on quota progress - Pushing solely for more activity But the real impact of a 1:1 comes from shifting the focus to what genuinely drives success: - Clearing roadblocks - Coaching for skill development - Genuinely checking in on their wellbeing - Understanding their personal ambitions - Recognising achievements—big or small 1:1s should be about people, not just numbers. Fixate solely on metrics, and you risk losing trust and connection with your reps.

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Have you ever tried leaning back on your cold calls? 📞 No, I'm not talking about physically leaning back (you might fall out of your chair) I mean using a more casual and humorful tone with your prospects. Almost every new SDR/BDR thinks they need to be 1000% serious when talking to exec-level prospects and I'm here to say that's just not the case. In fact, I began seeing more success when I first started cold calling the moment I let my funny bone flex a little. Taking cold calling too seriously is just going to burn you out and bore your prospects. You got to have a little fun with it. Not to mention, your prospects are humans just like you! Sure they may have a big fancy title and wear a suit on their LinkedIn pic but I guarantee you they are human beings (most of them anyway). If you're going to be cold calling today and still don't believe me this is a real quote from a VP of Sales I spoke to last week. ⬇ Me: So what do you have planned for the 4th, any illegal firework action or taking it easy? Prospect: "Nothing too illegal just going to rip a slip n' slide with a pack of Coors light and hope to god my wife doesn't see..." 🤷‍♂️ Your prospects are humans Don't be too serious Happy Dialing ☎ #coldcalling

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Executives need to stop blaming salespeople. Are they missing ramp targets? Did they fail to hit quota? It's time leaders take responsibility for their outdated sales training playbook. Here's why training is broken (and what to do about it): We are not teaching sellers what "good" looks like. Standard sales training teaches the skills and tactics to win. Best questions to ask, best objection handling scripts, closing tactics, etc. But Buyers don't want to be "won". The top 1% of sellers are those who develop true empathy for the buyer. Not who master a script and a rigid sales process. The best sellers make it their job to understand the buyer's world. That will always beat asking another “proven” disco question. So how do you teach sellers to truly understand their buyers? It starts with talking to them. Earlier this year, Aligned interviewed 100s of buyers to hear their side. Here are the 4 main things that stood out: 1. First impressions make or break deals. In the first 5 minutes, buyers will disengage and disqualify a vendor based on the interaction with the seller. Solution:  - Teach sellers how to read the room and build rapport - What buyers expect when they come to you vs you come to them - Why agendas and solid call opening structure matter - How just being a human vs a sales zombie beats any methodology 2. When sellers truly add value, buyers love bringing them into their world to support their process. Otherwise, they'll just be a source of information. Solution:  - Teach sellers why they are really getting ghosted - It is not because their prospects are bad people - It is because they didn’t feel they have a partner who works WITH them - But one who tries selling TO them 3. Everyone is still buying now, releasing big budgets, even if they're bleeding. Why? Problems still need to be solved and can't all be solved alone. Solution:  - Teach sellers how companies buy, how budget decisions are made - About business cases and business planning - How budget is (almost) always available if you can solve critical problems 4. Executives at large companies don't want to lead buying projects. They suck at it. They're not familiar with the details and don't have time for it. Solution:  - Train sellers how executives think - How they spend most of their time delegating - And what level of detail is too much for them - Help them understand how VPs/Directors exist to be in the details - How executives trust their teams to execute plans and priorities TAKEAWAY Bad companies train sellers on generic scripts. Good companies train sellers on buyer pain points. Great companies train sellers on how Buyers Buy.

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A great Discovery call does 3 things: 1️⃣ It teaches The simplest way to assess the effectiveness of your Discovery calls is to ask who learned more about the prospect's business.  Far too often, the sales rep does most or all of the learning. A strong Discovery changes how the prospect thinks about the problem(s) you address, and to do that effectively, they need to learn new things about their business and situation. 2️⃣ It creates a clear & impactful dissonance between the present and the prospect’s desired future The real power of a strong Discovery call is its ability to build the basis for change. Doing that requires creating structural tension in the prospect’s mind. While this may surprise some, most buyers haven’t paused to think meaningfully about the outcomes they desire. I’ve conducted many powerful Discovery calls that simply defined success and clarified the difference between that vision and their current situation. 3️⃣ It lays out a clear path for what the rest of the sales process will look like An effective Discovery always outlines a specific next step and ensures commitment from all involved parties. You earn extra points for clarifying the overall process and identifying key milestones. Confusion is the #1 cause of decision reluctance, which kills deals. Use your Discovery to get things off to a robust start. What did I miss? What are your keys to a successful Discovery?

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There's 1 thing I am hearing every single day from SDRs and AEs. They want more pipeline, yet they don't have a process to build it. Try this non-complicated 7 step process to build more pipeline: FIRST THING: learn from the top performers in YOUR org first and foremost and then steal things from the below that can fit into your process. Step 1: Pick X number accounts per week based on your segment Step 2: Pick 3-5 prospects per account to sequence Step 3: Create persona-specific messaging anchored on problem statements Step 4: Use the triple touch (LI, Phone, Email) on Day 1 and Day 3 Step 5: Monitor prospect engagement. IE: Don't wait until the next step of the sequence if you're prospect is opening your emails. Pick up the phone. Step 6: Front-load personalization with a pattern interrupt Step 7: Re-use messaging if prospects don't ever open your email *MAKE SURE YOU ACTUALLY PROSPECT & TAKE ACTION* Bonus tip 1: Use video strategically and with tier 1 accounts and prospects Bonus tip 2: Emails should be ~50 words Bonus tip 3: Keep subject lines informal & eye-catching Bonus tip 4: Change cold call openers based on prospect engagement Bonus tip 5: Niche down your time blocks. Not every day will look the same. IE: "Make 25 dials" instead of "Prospect for 30 min" Bonus tip 6: Write a list of all the "triggers" that make it relevant for you to be reaching out.. (IE: 10ks, hiring, past opportunities, old customers, signals, etc) Bonus tip 7: use AI to streamline your research, make more calls if that's your thing, etc-- so many tools out there That's a wrap. -Natoli's Nuggets

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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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If you want to get promoted to AE, You need to have AE skills. And, unfortunately, most SDRs don't have them. Why? Because the SDR role and the AE role are very very different. If you just focus on developing your skills as an SDR and expect to get promoted to AE, You're kidding yourself. You'll get better as an SDR (which is table stakes for promotion), But you won't show you're ready for the next step. So how do you develop AE skills? By doing AE work. This means running calls. And it doesn't have to be customer calls right off the bat. Here's a strategy that worked for me: Schedule a mock call with a different person internally every week. There are 3 big advantages of this: 1️⃣ You get experience running calls and then get quick feedback on where you can improve 2️⃣ You get to work with different personalities and get different perspectives on how to best run a call 3️⃣ Word will get around internally that you're working on your AE skills, which will improve your internal personal brand This is how you take control of your own development. There are a lot of competition for these spots, So you need to make your promotion a no-brainer. There's no better way to do that than to do the job before you actually get it. #sdr #bdr #ae #sales #growth

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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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𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐲-𝐭𝐨-𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐂 🚀 If you're in sales, you've likely heard about MEDDIC – the method that transforms how you qualify and close deals. But how do you apply MEDDIC practically every day? Here’s how MEDDIC can drive results when embedded into your routine 👇 𝟭. 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 – 𝗔𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗕𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 📊 Metrics are the foundation. When you understand how your solution impacts a prospect’s bottom line, you make your value clear. 🔺Ask questions: “What KPIs does this solution impact for your business?” 🔺Consistently tie back to metrics in follow-ups, presentations, and proposals. Frame your solution around helping achieve their target metrics. 𝟮. 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗕𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿 – 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 👔 Finding the Economic Buyer is crucial. Engage with them to avoid delays: 🔺Identify early. Map out the buying team and determine who makes final decisions. 🔺Craft specific messages that highlight ROI and impact to grab their attention and keep deals moving. 𝟯. 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮 – 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 🏆 Every prospect has unique decision criteria. Aligning with their priorities helps you stand out. 🔺Ask about criteria upfront: What’s essential for their solution? Speed, cost, integrations? 🔺Tailor your pitch to meet their specific needs. Don’t waste time emphasizing features that don’t align with their top goals. 𝟰. 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 – 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀 🛠 Knowing the decision process keeps your deal on track. 🔺Map the steps: Who signs off, and what’s the timeline? 🔺Anticipate delays: Confirm if procurement or legal processes could cause roadblocks. 𝟱. 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗻 – 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 💥 Without understanding your prospect’s pain points, even the best pitch can fall flat. 🔺Ask open-ended questions: Get to the root cause of their challenges. 🔺Establish urgency by asking, “What happens if this problem isn’t solved soon?” Use this to create urgency. 𝟲. 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻 – 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 🦸‍♂️ A strong champion can make or break a deal. 🔺Identify and enable a champion within the account who can advocate for you. 🔺Equip them with data and insights to make your case internally, so they can champion your solution effectively. 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗗𝗜𝗖 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲: 🔺 Use MEDDIC as a checklist: Regularly assess each deal by these metrics. 🔺 Collaborate and iterate: Share insights with your team, and continually refine your approach to align with evolving deal dynamics. MEDDIC is more than just a framework – it’s a way to build genuine connections and provide tailored solutions. Integrate these steps, and watch your qualification, closing speed, and deal size grow. #Sales #MEDDIC #SalesSuccess #SaaS #SalesStrategy #PipelineManagement #AccountManagement

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Hey Sales Leaders - your sales reps don't want to be automated... they want to be coached. The data has shown time and time again... the majority of your replies come from the minority of the emails you send. It's the +80% personalized emails. It's the 1 offs. NOT the "scaled" attempts Teach your reps so they can thoughtfully grow in the role.

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In 3 months, we’ve seen a 20% increase of pipeline in validation stage or greater. And here’s why… ✅ We’re aggressively training all SDRs on exactly what the full sales cycle looks like for our prospects. 👉 Driving stronger alignment with AEs. 👉 Supporting the team's development into closing roles. 👉 Allowing us to compensate our SDRs for activity further down the funnel. If you’re looking to improve the retention rate of your team, remove the disconnect, and build better pipeline, don’t cut SDR enablement at just the initial meeting. This approach will have a strong impact on pipeline - yes. But more importantly, it’ll have a huge impact on the development of SDRs 🏆

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Most SDR managers waste their 1:1s by focusing on the wrong things: - Activity count - How many prospects were added to cadence - Quota attainment - Pushing for even more activity But real growth happens when you shift your focus to what actually drives performance: - Removing roadblocks - Coaching for improvement - Checking in on how they’re really doing - Understanding their personal goals - Celebrating wins, big or small 1:1s aren’t about the numbers—they’re about people. Focus only on metrics, and your reps will hate you for it and doesn’t build trust. To help your team succeed long-term, give them the tools, guidance, and support they need to really grow!

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SDRs – before you cold call, remember: → Prospects are humans just like you → They have problems you can solve → Your next call could be your best call → You’ve got absolutely nothing to lose → A “no” now could turn into a “yes” later → Every call could unlock $$ commission → Win/lose every call is a chance to learn → Each dial gets you 1 step closer to quota → You’ll likely never meet them face-to-face Happy hunting this week.

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There was once an SDR manager that was told they should put an SDR on a PIP. The manager didn’t think they deserved it. There were some challenges happening and over time standards weren’t met. The manager inherited this person from another leader who had left the business. An SDR managers worst nightmare. After a few conversations with the SDR, the manager saw that it wasn’t a performance issue, but a focus issue. What does that mean? They were focusing on the wrong things and were beat down by the circumstances. After seeing that they were willing to put in the work and were coachable, the manager saw they had a ton of future potential. With constant focus, reminders, and highlighting positive behaviors the SDR was off to the races. They proceeded to hit 200% plus quota the next two months and 120%+ for two months after that. They went on to the next step and became an account executive. The SDR just needed someone to invest in them. They were willing to put in the work and had a ton of future potential. If the will is there, get to the root cause and coach your people.

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