Carsen Miller

Be honest with why you need experience for your SDR/BDR role? You could be saving yourself huge amounts of money for the same results by going with an entry level hire. Legit reasons for needing experience - Complex sell with a tough buyer profile (CISO, CTO, CRO etc) - You don't have an outbound process or manager who can train. Non legit reasons - You're too lazy to train - You think hiring with experience improves your retention (it's the opposite) Analyse your SDR culture, could you be going with no experience?? #sdrjobs #sdrteam #salesjobs

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HIRING NOW: ENTERPRISE & COMMERCIAL AE - SaaS - Automation - $ALES & MARKETING account signals and insights SaaS tool 💸 Commercial Account Executive: $125k base 50/50 split - $1m quota 💸 Enterprise Account Executive: $150k base 50/50 split- $1.2m quota Actual inbound leads - $20k - $500k deal sizes - 6 months sales cycle You keep account in your book of business for upsells while CSMs are responsible for renewal #seriesbstartup, working under one of our longer term #vpofsales who JUST started - you must have experience - at an earlier stage org of less than 200 employees - selling a complex solution - ideal experience selling into #gtm #salesleaders or desire to Selling into other SaaS orgs! work with clients like GitLab Notion MongoDB and MORE - providing insights on how their #gtm can do more with less, and make more $$ In a world of tech, where everything is connected it is more possible than ever before to build connections between your current clients, and your ideal prospects This solution combines Sales, Marketing, Community and Operations and uses AI to enrich, score and analyze intent - $ignals are one of the most important aspects of monitoring what is working, and the best way to target, support and optimize every account. An ideal rep understands sales strategies including #productledgrowth and #productledsales MUST BE HUNGRY, LOVE BUILDING PROCESSES and have experience working in a startup get on my schedule! 206 747 9724 #accountexecutive #commercialaccountexecutive #enterpriseaccountexecutive #gtmsaas #gtmsales #salesjobs #salescareers #bestfootforward #softwaresales #saassales #salesdevelopment

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SDRs don't work for AEs.... In fact, AEs should work for SDRs. If you're in a position to have an SDR helping you crack meetings you need to point them in the right direction with the right messaging and use cases. SDRs aren't your assistants. They're the tip of the spear. Cole Praver 🙌 #sales

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i’ve run marathons that were less exhausting than some of the demos i’ve sat thru lately. here’s 6 sure fire ways to lose your prospect in 30 minutes or less: 1. do ZERO research know nothing about your prospect, their product or their business BONUS if you had an SDR qualify them first AND you completely disregard those notes #winning 2. make sure the deck is loooong i mean, make that bad boy 20+ slides, all text, 10pt font (pro tip, use a ridiculous font like papyrus to really keep them engaged) 3. call them by the wrong name people love it when you have no idea who you’re talking to or why you’re there or why they’re there or what the hell we are doing in the first place it’s the best 4. feature dump only no benefits, just show me the bells and whistles. i want zero context for how it solves my problem- tell me WHAT only, and never explain WHY now we are getting somewhere ;) 5. talk for 29/30 mins i don’t have anything to add. there is nothing for you to learn from me. you don’t require context or need to know what i’m thinking so far. keep going! never stop. i promise i am retaining 100% of everything you’re saying 6. don’t disclose pricing ESPECIALLY if i ask about it keep it vague. i dont need to budget. just suprise me at the end of the sales cycle. i LOVE a good jump scare. 👻 in all seriousness, so many of these things are honest mistakes or even trained behaviors. (lordt knows i did half of these when i was a rep 🫠) my seller friends, this is not a dig on you, just a silly reminder of some of the silly mistakes we all make in sales. it’s an opportunity to learn. but if you can avoid these pitfalls i can almost guarantee you’re halfway to a good demo, my friends shout out to Kyle Coleman & Annie Ng for giving two of the BEST demos i’ve seen in the past few months (fun fact, they’re marketers yall). crazy what happens when you’re not shoving people thru a sales cycle 🤷🏻‍♀️ (actual footage of my last braincell dying during my 4th demo of Q2 for a tool that, yet again, doesn’t do the one thing i need it to do even though i was assured it does prior to showing up to the meeting) buying is hard.

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SDRs: When you set a meeting for your AE, it’s like setting up a blind date for your prospect. So get your prospect excited to meet with your AE! Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes. You get a call from someone you don’t know, from a company you haven’t heard of. They do a decent job in the call and you’re intrigued. And then… They set you up for a call with someone else. This process feels like a nurse handing you off to a doctor. Who will then ask you the same exact questions the nurse did. Not a great experience. Let's do better. Here’s how to pull this off: ✅ Tell the prospect what they’ll learn First, ask your AE what prospects learn from their first conversation. This excludes any language about platforms or dashboards. I’m talking education around “why change?” Second, watch a recorded disco/demo from your AE. Or ride shotgun in a few sales calls if your company doesn’t record them. Here’s an example of what this might sound like at the end of a cold call: “I’m really excited for you to meet with __________. You mentioned that staffing welders and figuring out how to automate high mix/low volume parts are top priorities. My Account Executive will walk you through how other manufacturers are solving these two problems so that you’re not having to push back orders. You’ll also walk away with a plan for how you can tackle traditionally tough to automate products.” Don’t mention “demo” at all. ✅ Humanize your AE Talk about your AE’s experience. Hype them up. After you tell the prospect what they’ll take away from the call with your AE, you could end with: “Oh, and ____________ has about 7 years of experience walking the plant floor. Not to mention, he’s had dozens of conversations with Operations leaders in the last 6 months. There are some really big trends we’re seeing and everyone’s dealing with the labor shortage right now. You should get a few ideas you can bring back to your team." --- Lesson here: Take that extra step at the end to talk up your AE and get the prospect excited about them as a HUMAN + what they can learn in that first call. ~~~ This is a great way to improve show rates. Have you tried something like this? #sales #outbound #prospecting

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How 99% of AEs operate: - They wait for their SDRs to book meetings - They complain they don't have enough leads - They reject SDR opportunities without "BANT" - They attach to a few deals with commission breath - They keep themselves busy with forecasting & Co. How the best 1% operate: - They prospect every day like their life depends on it - They consider any SDR-sourced pipeline a bonus - They jump on every SDR opportunity with joy - They disqualify prospects who are not a fit - They spend 80% of their time on selling The best AEs remember: ↳ they have been SDRs earlier in their career. The best AEs know: ↳ the SDR skillset is the fundamental skillset. You cannot close if you cannot open. This is not a chicken & egg problem. Repost ♻ this to remind some AEs to be SDRs again. What else would you add?👇 PS: Free prospecting course → https://lnkd.in/gTbPiShP

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67 Comments

2🔑-- Alignment + Customer Obsessed The full SalesIntel.io podcast drops tomorrow but here's a sneak preview.... 🗝 Alignment You must get aligned on your metrics. If you're not all working toward the same goal, how can you expect success. 🗝 Customer Obsessed There are a lot of companies who talk about being customer-centric but do your action speak louder than your words. Can your customers articulate how you've delighted or exceeded their expectations? This will lead to referrals and help with partnerships! What is your favorite tip to unlock growth? #randispeaks #sales #GTM

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Is your team not hitting quota? Hiring more sellers won't fix it. You need the data on why, And a solution in place. Maybe you can't figure out the right hires -You need to test for - Will, Beliefs, and Skill Maybe people don't know what to do -You then need to create the right onboarding process Maybe folks are struggling with how to do it -You then need to figure out exactly where and focus there Maybe, just maybe, you have the wrong quota -Have you done the backward quota math to see if quota = your systems? Fact is: Tossing more people into bad systems doesn't work Sales = systems. Not just something you can "throw headcount at." Remember, a single bad hire pays for the investment in ALL systems A bad hire costs that much. Use data to figure out the real problem. Fix the problem. /end rant David out ✌️ 🚨 PS - If you want killer cheat sheets on quota math, process audit, or questions for better hiring, drop a note in chat and I'll send them to you. 👋 If you liked this, give me a follow ♻️ Repost if this landed with you.

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JULY START: SELL A MUST HAVE - FEDERALLY MANDATED PRODUCT! AE & SDR REMOTE I am open to talking to ANYONE with a #saas sales background who has the BEST number$$ and wants to be apart of a #gtm team (less than 5 sellers) #seedstage #healthcare #healthaccesability 7M+funding as seed stage, they are very exec and tech tool lean. They hire from within (your boss was the first sales hire, taking the co $100k to $5m, and the head of marketing, was a founder at a company in a VERY similar space) Seed stage start ups take work! Helping to refine & increase average deal size, build predictable revenue. Fight for funding. build a book, reduce customer churn total forecasted headcount in the next 60 days 4 headcount: Account Executives (w/csm and am work) no renewal quota 2 headcount: Sales Development Representatives 1 to 1 AE to SDR ratio Deal size: $25k-$30k Sales Cycle: 2 weeks - 1 month Tools: HubSpot Apollo.io Orum verticals: #homehealth #nonprofits willing to interview people with #hr #healthcare or even people selling into small biz at #yelp you can sell into: 💲 ANY industry 20-500 employees - no territory, segments or verticals 💲 TPAS 💲 HCM companies 💲 Brokers this solution is a MUST have product, solves real problems based on #federalmandate with this direct to primary care, mental health saas tool, requires high volume #physical exams they can be done here AE salary $75k base - $150k OTE $85k base- $170k OTE $95k base- $190k OTE monthly quota = your salary (for example closing $75k/month) SDR: $55-$60k base Quota: 25-30 qualified, attended meetings offering $200++ attended w/ hr & c suite SDR growth: head of sdr AE growth: head of csm/am/enablement/rev ops Decision makers: HR managers, CEO/SVP ops 75-100 dials per day AEs work closely with small CSM team to help onboard, keep clients to their success measurements, and reduce churn (no expansion, retention quota) they really appreciate reps with top of funnel and post sale exp hired in 3-4 interviews (after meeting me!) 1) meet with your boss, VP of sales - 30 min via zoom 2) meet with the head of marketing/head of engineering, who has built sales programs internally/ been at earlier stage orgs (series b) or potentially panel - 45 3) exercise: cold calling with your direct boss (first call) for #sdrs and #discovery call #accountexecutives- 30 very phone heavy, leaders like to solve problems via email with colors, emojis and visuals - they have sequences that work, after you set meetings at scale, you can start bringing ideas to be creative since this solution is sold to #hr teams and companies 20-500 employees, they are open to someone coming from #hr solution like #adp or any earlier stage startup startup experience is NOT req and this is a great chance to grow your skill set and be apart of a "no brainer" solution and company INTERVIWING ASAP! call me beep me if you wanna reach me

9

JULY START: SELL A MUST HAVE - FEDERALLY MANDATED PRODUCT! AE & SDR REMOTE I am open to talking to ANYONE with a #saas sales background who has the BEST number$$ and wants to be apart of a #gtm team (less than 5 sellers) #seedstage #healthcare #healthaccesability 7M+funding as seed stage, they are very exec and tech tool lean. They hire from within (your boss was the first sales hire, taking the co $100k to $5m, and the head of marketing, was a founder at a company in a VERY similar space) Seed stage start ups take work! Helping to refine & increase average deal size, build predictable revenue. Fight for funding. build a book, reduce customer churn total forecasted headcount in the next 60 days 4 headcount: Account Executives (w/csm and am work) no renewal quota 2 headcount: Sales Development Representatives 1 to 1 AE to SDR ratio Deal size: $25k-$30k Sales Cycle: 2 weeks - 1 month Tools: HubSpot Apollo.io Orum verticals: #homehealth #nonprofits willing to interview people with #hr #healthcare or even people selling into small biz at #yelp you can sell into: 💲 ANY industry 20-500 employees - no territory, segments or verticals 💲 TPAS 💲 HCM companies 💲 Brokers this solution is a MUST have product, solves real problems based on #federalmandate with this direct to primary care, mental health saas tool, requires high volume #physical exams they can be done here AE salary $75k base - $150k OTE $85k base- $170k OTE $95k base- $190k OTE monthly quota = your salary (for example closing $75k/month) SDR: $55-$60k base Quota: 25-30 qualified, attended meetings offering $200++ attended w/ hr & c suite SDR growth: head of sdr AE growth: head of csm/am/enablement/rev ops Decision makers: HR managers, CEO/SVP ops 75-100 dials per day AEs work closely with small CSM team to help onboard, keep clients to their success measurements, and reduce churn (no expansion, retention quota) they really appreciate reps with top of funnel and post sale exp hired in 3-4 interviews (after meeting me!) 1) meet with your boss, VP of sales - 30 min via zoom 2) meet with the head of marketing/head of engineering, who has built sales programs internally/ been at earlier stage orgs (series b) or potentially panel - 45 3) exercise: cold calling with your direct boss (first call) for #sdrs and #discovery call #accountexecutives- 30 very phone heavy, leaders like to solve problems via email with colors, emojis and visuals - they have sequences that work, after you set meetings at scale, you can start bringing ideas to be creative since this solution is sold to #hr teams and companies 20-500 employees, they are open to someone coming from #hr solution like #adp or any earlier stage startup startup experience is NOT req and this is a great chance to grow your skill set and be apart of a "no brainer" solution and company INTERVIWING ASAP! call me beep me if you wanna reach me

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5 Comments

4+ OPENING$$ 💸 Commercial AE - #accountexecutive $125k base 50/50 split - $1m quota 💸 Enterprise AE $150k base 50/50 split- $1.2m quota Average Deals- $20k - $500k deal sizes - 6 months sales cycle You keep account in your book of business for upsells while CSMs do renewal - goal is to get them onboarded, and expand immediately #seriesbstartup, working under one of our longer term #vpofsales who JUST started - you must have experience - at an earlier stage org - selling a complex solution - ideal experience selling into #gtm #salesleaders or deep desire to - #salesledgrowth expert - you will have #sdr support (ideally 1/1) but do not depend on this for now $ignals are one of the most important aspects of monitoring what is working, and the best way to target, support and optimize every account. they use: Outreach Apollo.io Hubspot Clay #accountexecutive #enterpriseaccountexecutive #commercialaccountexecutive #gtmsales #gtmaccountexecutive

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98% of sales leaders think their AEs need to get better at closing. IMO, they're dead wrong. The next generation of top-performing sales teams will focus on improving discovery over everything else. Here's 7 reasons why discovery will be the #1 sought out sales skill: 1. Closing Skills Aren't the Bottleneck Many AEs already know how to close, but they don't have enough information from the discovery phase. Without knowing what the prospect really needs, even the best closers have a hard time. 2. Personalized Solutions Win Deals: Thorough conversational-discovery helps AEs tailor their calls and demos to address specific pain points, making the solutions offered far more relevant and compelling to prospects. 3. Builds Trust and Credibility When AEs invest time in understanding their prospects, it builds trust - ESEPCIALLY when they've done preliminary research. Prospects feel heard and valued, which lays the foundation for a stronger / transparent relationship. 4. Identifies the Right Fit: Effective discovery helps in qualifying prospects better. AEs can focus their efforts on leads that are more likely to convert, rather than wasting time on poor-fit opportunities (something SMB, MM, and ENT deal with all the time). 5. Shortens the Sales Cycle: When AEs ask good questions early, they can fix problems quickly. This helps prospects decide faster, and deals get done sooner. 6. Enhances Forecast Accuracy: With a deeper understanding of each deal's nuances, sales leaders and AEs can more accurately predict outcomes and set realistic forecasts (and 1:1s don't have to be about information chasing). 7. Increases Win Rates / Reduce Churn: Deals rooted in thorough discovery have higher win rates (and lower churn) because they are based on a clear alignment between the prospect's needs and the solution offered. TL;DR It’s almost 2025. The traditional focus on closing skills is outdated. The next great sales teams will prioritize improving discovery (and help close deals). Not only is it what our prospects want from us, but... It will create accurate sales pipelines and happier clients that trust salespeople This is shaping up to be the future of sales strategy I'm calling it “Discovery-Driven Sales”

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SDRs don't ask much of their leader. Most just want someone who: - Cares for their wellbeing - Tries to understand them - Recognizes their good work - Respects and listens to them - Invests in them with coaching - Is honest and direct with them - Picks them up when they're down None of this is the sales part of SDR leadership. It's the people (and most important) part. Get it right and they will respect you. Work hard and grow under you. And be far more engaged. Which is what you want (and need). Because happy people → happy pipeline. So be intentional about developing your people leadership skills. It's by far the biggest impact area you can develop. - - - P.S. Want help engaging your SDR team? We cover this and more in The SDR Leader Bootcamp. Next cohort starting June 3 – 13 seats left. Sign up below. https://lnkd.in/etdUeNP3

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🤯Buying a house rn 🤯Hiring for SDRs rn Are either getting easier any time soon?? For home buyers, it can be exciting and rewarding to buy a home But also incredibly stressful if the buyer isn’t prepared to loosen their expectations or fight heavy competition For companies looking to grow their sales development team, it’s singing to the same tune Candidates are applying for many companies so it’s a delicate balance between speed and quality of talent But much like the house that fits the home buyer’s bill, often the preferred candidates are pegging offers against each other Then they reject, or worse accept and then renege before the start date When buying a home, we know we’re ready to buy now but it’s a long-term decision for us and our future family Same goes for hiring. We want someone in seat performing, but the person we hire as our SDR will ultimately be our manager and regional sales leader for years to come Maybe a home buyer engages a buyers agent to cut through competition and access off-market houses to get what they want in a quicker time frame But how are companies managing this in today's market?

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"Should we outsource SDRs?" No, with rare exceptions. There's a reason why customer churn is high at most of the outsourced SDR shops. Outbound isn't as easy as paying $3-5k / month for a part-time SDR. And then expecting to see high-quality opportunities in 30-60 days. I've NEVER worked with a client that was happy with their SDR agency. - Poor show rates to meetings - Terrible expectation setting with handoff - Low-quality meetings with non-decision makers - Few, if any, closed/won deals But to be fair—it isn't always the SDR agency's fault. Many of their clients expect them to be miracle workers. An outbound-led sales motion is very different from an inbound-led sales motion. If your AEs are used to meeting with inbound leads, they must be taught how to close outbound leads. Prospects will likely not be problem-aware, there isn't a budget in place, and they probably won't have brand awareness. Do not hire an SDR agency if: ⛔️ You've never done outbound before as an org. ⛔️ You sell enterprise ⛔️ You're breaking into new industries ⛔️ You haven't figured out your messaging or value drivers ⛔️ Your AEs aren't self-sourcing and doing their own outbound No outsider will ever understand your customers as well as you do. And it's only a bandaid to build a sales culture that doesn't understand how to excel at outbound. It might make sense to work with an agency if: ✅ You know outbound works, but need help scaling it ✅ You've mastered messaging and value drivers ✅ Your AEs know how to close outbound deals ~~~ Agree or disagree? #sales

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With the amount of information available, final pre-call research used to take me hours the night before important meetings. It was a guaranteed way to cut through the noise and stand out against 15 other seller calls an exec had that day. Over-prepare, deliver with confidence, and the results will follow. It worked. Lately, I've been using ChatGPT to inform outreach and quickly make messaging more impactful -- building custom models for each account. This takes time to set up, but it's a no brainer for strategic customers or top prospects to cut down research time while improving relevancy. I'm evolving the strategy, but phase one looked like this: 1. Collect important investor materials → 10K, 10Q, Earnings transcripts, Investor Summit PDFs, Leadership bios, top news articles. 2. Create GPT → Upload docs and ask to familiarize with materials, your role, and mutual goals you're working towards with the customer 3. Draft a series of prompts → Provide clarity around your market, platform, and typical customer value points. Start simple:   • I work in sales for [x company] and we provide [x service]. Customers usually see value in these areas: [driver 1], [driver 2], [driver 3].  • Typically, our customers are most interested in solving [pain point 1], [pain point 2], or [pain point 3].  • Our website can be found at [website]. (helps to include individual product pages where applicable) • Based on the information shared, will plan to ask a series of follow up questions to validate how our solutions can benefit [x company]. Does this sound ok? 4. Save as [Customer Name] GPT Model  → Repeat for each customer and save in personal ChatGPT environment for future promoting. You now have unique GPT models, each with advanced knowledge of your top customers or prospects -- contextualized around your offerings. Let's test it out. Ask a few questions: • Knowing that I work in sales for [your company name], what opportunities should I focus on when talking with [customer/prospect company name]? • Given your knowledge of [your company name], what strategic initiatives could we most likely impact at [customer/prospect company name]? • What are some of the top risk factors challenging [customer/prospect company name] this year? Next time you have an EB or Go-No-Go call and need to understand positive business outcomes leadership could be evaluating them on... boom! Want to make sure your POV is targeted, based on C-Level strategic initiatives... here you go! Care to see if they were featured in any podcast, video, or interview... and what points may be useful... ask GPT! AI + Automation is changing the way we work, and sales is no exception. Sure beats my old method of CTRL + F searches on SeekingAlpha transcripts. 🔍 Give this a try and let me know what you think. Any other GPT tips for sales?

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SDRs - Want to sound more confident on your cold calls? Here's a simple way... Remove phrases like "I think" or "I believe" These phrases are weak and make you sound less confident. before: "I think that we can help solve XYZ" after: "we solve XYZ" You're already giving your opinion, you don't need to say it again. Speak with power. People trust confident people. P.S. we share actionable and tactical tips each week in our newsletter. Super example-heavy. Check it out! Worst case scenario you simply unsubscribe :)

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Despite what you hear on Linkedin, the SDR role is NOT dead. By 2030, SDRs will be the most important team in any org. Here's what the future of the SDR role looks like: In the last two decades, Sales has shifted from in person sales to mostly virtual and online sales. When SaaS started, most revenue came from net new businesses. Most of the demand for SaaS already existed and all you had to do was capture it before your competitors did. To help with this, companies hired a large number of SDRs. A lot of the foundational salestech was built to accelerate the job of a SDR. But that was then... Now, we are seeing the market shift from net new to competitive displacements. Which means almost everybody that needs tech already has it. SDRs and the role needs to evolve. This means researching their prospects, identifying problems, proposing solutions and generating demand via actionable recommendations. Here's how this will change the SDR role: SDR Teams in 2020: - Young, inexperienced staff - Not very familiar with Product, customer accounts or the market fit - Not a thought leader in the space - Focus on brute force outreach - phone or email - Demand Capture (Tactical role) - Generalized Role - Only help top of the funnel SDR Teams in 2030 - Senior, experienced staff with Analyst, Product, Consulting or Sales background - Powerhouse of information. Intimately familiar with product & customer domains.  - Thought leader in the space and trusted by prospects - Signal and Trigger based outreach. Social, Events and Webinar channels to engage with prospects - Demand Creation via Problem Identification and Solutions Exploration  (Strategic role)  - Specialized Roles (Competitive Intel, Key Account Intel, Signals, Solutions and Business Case)   - Help throughout the funnel and deal cycle. SDR teams are not going away The way we identify opportunities will change. But if you are a SDR today, you have a bright future ahead. Play the long game. Choose a market and become an expert in that domain Ignore the naysayers on Linkedin. SDRs aren't going anywhere.

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SALES, SALES, SALES - Let's meet & work together for the rest of your sales career - Account Executive Opening$ 💘 Revenue Tool - SaaS Series B $125- $150k base $1m- $1.2m quota $7k- $500k deal size selling into #saas #sales #gtm teams actual inbound $$ growing their sales team from 5-12 SDR support (one on one for now) for #startup rep$ only 💘 Direct to Healthcare Tool - SaaS Series B $900k quota Some SDR support ideal candidate has worked with #insurance and has #saas background 💘 Manufacturing ERP Account Executive & Implementation Consulting org $95-$110k base. $200k++ OTE $200k+ deal size Must MUST MUST have sold #erp to manufacturing companies this is NOT a platform, or a RESELLER, this is a CONSULTING ORG that sources, refines fit and works with the customer throughout a very long up to 2 year implementation process - you will be the #csm #am NO COLD CALLING OR SALES EMAILS you will work DIRECT with JUST the founder open to seeing #sdrs who have sold #erp to manufacturers who want to get out of software, and into consulting - SDR Opening$$ 💘 Direct to Healthcare Tool - SaaS Series B 10+ qualified attended meeting a month selling into #hr mostly within #nonprofits and #homehealthcare $55-$65k base, up to $200+ per qualified, attended meeting do not contact me if you aren't going to take my coaching seriously :) cold call me 10x in a row text me send me a blind invite do what you got to do <3 #sales #salesrecruiter #gtmsales #founderledsales #saleshiring #salesjobs

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2 Comments