William Phillips

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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SDR vs High Performing SDR 3 key differences that will get you promoted 👇 High Performing = Stays consistent & disciplined SDR = Process changes everyday High Performing = Extremely coachable SDR = Tries to do it all alone High Performing = Taking ownership of targets & weekly meetings with AE SDR = Let's AE run meetings & check in on target What are the other key differences that are important? #sales #sdr #bdr #ae

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SDRs and AE's - There's always a next Q. Here's what I'm doing to set myself up for success moving into a new Q after a couple of weeks away: 1/Auditing outbound blockers - I take a look at my current outbound blockers and decide what worked and what didn't. Simple, I keep what worked and rejig what didn't. 2/Edit and adapt scripts - I'm a big fan of A/B testing so I take time to edit and adjust my scripts to test a new concept I've found or cut out something that wasn't effective. These aren't wholesale changes just simple tweaks. 3/ Find my outbound channels - I take a look at my outbound channels and choose which to focus on. My favourites tend to be Lost opps, past customers (LI sales nav), Event attendees and customer lookalikes. 4/Cut any non-essential internal meetings - time is of the essence as a rep, so making sure you're ruthless with your time and spending it on pipe building or closing activities is essential. 5/Reflect on small wins - Even though the scoreboard has reset. It's essential to stop and smell the roses from last Q, and revel in your wins - even just for a little while. Use it as fuel that you have the ability succeed but still so much to learn. 6/Self-development goals - Each Q I set myself a self-development goal, last Q was Salman's discovery course (highly recommend) and this Q I'm targetting MEDDPICC. As well as big self-dev goals for the Q I also have regular 30min blockers at the end of my day, to make sure I'm sharpening my skillset. Anything I've missed?

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As an SDR, staying focused during a call block can be a challenge with frequent distractions. Taking breaks every 45 minutes might sound counterproductive, but it's a game-changer! It's the perfect time to refocus and chat with other SDRs about what's working and what we can do better. Trust me, if you do nothing but call for 2 hours straight, the quality drops off massively. Pace yourself and stay sharp! What productivity hacks have helped you get your numbers up? Share below. #productivityhacks #SDRtips #sales #salesdevelopment #stayfocused

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3 actions that lead to success as an AE 1. Learn to build your own pipeline 2. Know how to work with Marketing 3. Leverage your SDR resource properly Step 1 = Control the controllable. Your prospecting ability determines your success. More pipeline = more shots at your goal. Step 2 = Build a relationship with Marketing. Match their campaigns to your account list. Use their budget to get more pipeline. Step 3 = The average SDR works 45 hours a week. That's 45 hours to get YOU pipeline. Meet weekly. Speak daily. Win more.

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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.

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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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What the heck do Account Managers actually do? SDR’s ask me this question at least once a week. Most people think Account Managers: 1. Deal with customer support inquiries 2. Run all the customer trainings 3. Have a lot of admin work 4. Answer questions all day 5. Get easy renewals I will say this. The Account Manager role is very different at each company. However, typically the customer support team handles technical questions. Customer trainings are ran by the customer success team. Renewals are not as easy as they seem all the time. In my opinion, there is a good amount of admin work, but I feel like it’s the same amount I was doing as an AE. What Account Managers actually do: 1. Strategically find upsells/cross sells 2. A lot of relationship development 3. Delegating questions to the right resources 4. Handling renewals Account Managers, what else would you add?

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Early on as an AE, I made a lot of mistakes: The LARGEST one was wasting time on the wrong opportunities. Here's what happened: 👇 When I first became an AE: - I left no stone unturned - I worked with every single prospect. - I worked on every single opportunity regardless of fit. - I forced opportunities that were not a good fit, into the sales process This hurt my chances of success early on. It SOUNDS good in theory to work everything, but it spread you too thin. - Diminished buying experience. - Decreased focus and efficiency.  - Etc... I focused on opportunities that didn't make sense, and in turn... I took time AWAY from prospects that were a GOOD fit. There's a finite amount of selling hours in the day. Invest your time where it matters. You'll be better off for it. ▶ How do you setup your time, and prioritize prospects? Like, follow, and comment below ⬇

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Such a valuable list of “cheat codes”! Some I wish I learned earlier on in my career, but happy to have learned them at some point and able to act on them!

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Sales teams are getting smaller. If your an AE this can be a good thing for YOU personally. less reps = more opps coming your way = more money (we all know it) This can also be a bad thing if you don't know how to manage your time accordingly. One thing I would do is stop wasting time on tire kickers. Use data to determine the accounts you should spend most of your time on. Here is an example: After I have a first demo with a prospect I share my interactive demo center (built with Tourial) filled with self-guided demos, videos, slides, pdf's, examples basically everything they need to go get other stakeholder buy in for my solution. Before sharing the demo center I create a customer share link so I can easily see how that account is engaging with my resource. Every morning when I start my day I look at all my active opportunities then look at their engagement data in Tourial, Website visits via Warmly, Email opens / clicks via Salesloft, and of course if they've messaged me anything. The Tourial Data is my personal favorite (yes I am biased). Check out these 3 Account's Demo Center engagement data that I looked at this morning. Which Account would you invest more time in to bring to close? Spoiler Alert: I choose Account 3 with the 9 unique visitors checking out my demo center 👀. Happy Hunting Y'all ✌🏽 #sdr #ae #salesleader BONUS: I can also click into these links and see exactly where each visitor is spending their time inside the experience. Basically, which demos and other material they care about most. I use that to send them more nurture material that is similar to what they are already engaging with. *All of this is based on my own personal experience and other sellers who I have taught how to use our tool who have had success. Don't take anything you see on here as a silver bullet for you. Test things out for yourself and see what works best for YOU*

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🎙️‘We don’t have budget to pay an agency to help us hire SDRs’🎙️ But how important should SDR hiring be to your business? 💛Here is a message from an Account Executive who’s company recently hired a number of new BDRs through Venatrix💛 Here are 4 reasons why you should invest in your SDR hiring strategy to ensure you’re getting the best talent: 🎤They are going to be on the front line of your business, reaching out to prospects & representing you. If you want your prospects to have a great / creative / exciting first impression of your business, doesn’t that start with an SDR? 🏆Succession planning - this SDR could end up being your next top performing Account Executive. 🩵AE retention - having a strong SDR team working alongside your AE team is going to make the AE team perform more successfully 🚀The potential for increased sales. If your SDRs are prospecting effectively, your AE’s can spend time closing deals = higher conversion rates & revenue growth Hiring SDRs? Drop me a message to find out how we can help!

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Stop letting junior SDRs reach out to your C-Suites. Buyers don’t want to talk to salespeople anymore. They want trusted advisors. Domain experts.  Yet, for some reason, 99% of sales teams completely ignore this fact and let their junior SDRs reach out to C-suites — then they sit back and wonder why their outbound doesn’t work. The WHO factor is more important today than ever before. Here’s what it means moving forward: 1. Trusted Advisors vs. SDRs: Would you take medical advice from a first-year med student? Probably not. In the same vein, expecting a junior SDR to convince a C-suite executive is a flawed strategy. Buyers today want insights from those seeped in the industry, not those reading off a script. 2. The New-Age SDR: These SDRs have authority in their field and are the ultimate subject matter experts. They possess a highly relevant audience of ICP and excel in content creation and audience engagement. They understand the nuances and pains of the prospects and create value-driven conversations, not just touchpoints. 3. Team-Selling is a Necessity: If a CFO checked your website, why in the world would you let your SDR reach out? Facilitate outbound requests to your CFO and ask them to personally connect with the prospect from their profile. It’s about leveraging the right person at the right time to build trust and relevance. 4. Signal-Based Selling: Your outreach should be driven by real-time data and intent signals. Spot the triggers: website visits, content downloads, recent funding, etc. Engage with the right person, when the timing is perfect, with the right message from the right person. This isn’t about volume; it’s about precision. TAKEAWAY: In this new era, it's not about how many emails you send, but WHO is sending them and WHY. In 2024, the most successful companies will have GTM teams that look more like consulting firms than old-school sales orgs. The next-gen of successful sales orgs will be the ones that evolve beyond the old playbooks and focus on trust, relevance, and the power of human connection. The future isn’t just lean. It’s personal.

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SDRs & BDRs, this one is for you. Laura Shillibier recently placed an Enterprise SDR who booked 23 meetings in just 2.5 weeks. We’re looking for 2 more. Don't miss out. The role: Enterprise SDR x2 -Pure hunters with a strong track record -NYC-based (Office 2-3 days a week) Highlights: -Combining Cyber and Fintech with unbeatable product-market fit -5x ARR through numerous Fortune 500 partnerships -Backed by 3 tier 1 VCs This is the next big thing. We're also hiring 3 Sales Directors (NYC-based) for this vendor with founding stock. Every seller is currently over-target, I'm only just scratching the surface here. If you're ready to be part of this journey, you know what to do. #Cybersecurity #Fintech #Hiring #TechtonicTakeover

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After being an AE for 6 years, I’ve maybe worked with 40+ SDRs. Either in a 1:few alignment, or as a part of an AE pod. Here are some qualities of successful SDRs that I’ve noticed: 1. Focus on the long term Successful SDRs don’t try cliche sales tactics to try to set meetings now now now, at all costs. Yes, they objection handle. Yes, they will professionally challenge prospects. But they don’t burn relationships to the ground by being overly pushy. 2. Focus on quality -Successful SDRs set proper expectations with prospects for the first call. -They set the meeting, and they use EQ - if the prospect seems willing to talk more, the SDR will take the opening to knock out some basic qualifying questions before getting off the phone. They also do the little things right. -They don’t screw up time zones. -They don’t misspell the prospect’s name or the company’s name. -They send great handoff emails to intro the prospect to the AE, each and every time. 3. Hunger and desire to succeed and to win Some SDRs just flat out want it more. They want to be #1 on leaderboards. They want to learn and they want to improve. They proactively seek out knowledge and coaching. They seek to deeply understand buyer personas, common pain points, org charts, corporate politics, social capital, and all the business-y stuff you need to know to be successful as an SDR, let alone in Sales. Some SDRs… are clock watching and checking off boxes and collecting a salary every two weeks. They do the bare minimum. Sorry but not sorry. What would you add as qualities you see in successful SDRs, #salesfam ? . .

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This might be a hot take, but tenured SDRs/BDRs should actively participate in as many live disco/demo calls as they can handle. Yes, even us Gongsters who preach cutting down meeting time to boost revenue generating activities. There are 2 main reasons why I still attend live calls, IN SPITE of having Gong: 1. Bridge the Skill Gap: Participating in more parts of the sales cycle is the best way to improve discovery skills, product knowledge, and business acumen, all of which will help me prepare for my next role before stepping into it. 2. Document Growth: Actively participating in live calls gives me a library of examples that demonstrate how my knowledge and skills have evolved over time—essential ammo for when it comes time to interview for AE. NOTE: if you merely sit as a fly on the wall during these calls, your time is better spent continuing to prospect and watching the call recordings outside of golden hours. The point is to actively prepare for and participate in these calls as if you are the AE running it. What’s your take on how involved SDRs should be in the sales cycle?

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As an SDR, you should start diving into AE activities before you get promoted to the AE position. WHY? you would be running two steps ahead of your competitors. and your transition from SDR to AE would be smooth and burden-less. it's not just a move; it's a mindset. >> Here's why it's highly effective in accelerating your sales career if you aspire to become an AE: 1/ Future-proof your career: by jumping into AE tasks early, you're not just preparing for the future; you're shaping it. Stay ahead of the curve by mastering those skills before they're even required. 2/ Earn your stripes: actions speak louder than words. Taking on AE activities shows your leadership team that you're not just talk—you're ready to walk the walk. Build that trust, earn that respect. 3/ Push your limits, prove your grit: growth happens outside your comfort zone. Embrace those uncomfortable AE tasks as opportunities to test your mettle and show what you're made of. 4/ Passion as a power move: passion is contagious. When you dive into AE activities with enthusiasm, you're not just showing up; you're standing out. Let your passion be your secret weapon. 5/ Stay ahead of your competitors: don't just keep pace with the competition; leave them in the dust. By taking on AE tasks early, you're already miles ahead in the race to the top. 6/ Expand your skill set: consider it your boot camp for excellence. By getting hands-on with AE activities, you're adding valuable skills to your toolkit, setting yourself up for even greater success down the line. 7/ Network like a genuine connector: AE activities open doors to new connections and opportunities. Use this time to forge relationships, learn from the best and position yourself as a future leader in your industry. What did I miss?

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