Articles
I am sure we are all familiar with the concept of goal setting both in our personal lives and in business. Indeed, we hear a lot about the importance of creating goals at the beginning of the year (and if you’d like to know why it is really important to set goals as SDRs and BDRs specifically then start with: WHY SDRs NEED TO WRITE GOALS (coming soon). Yes, we hear a lot about why, but no one really tells us how. So right now, we look at how to create goals to achieve SDR (or BDR) success in 2023, step by step.
December is a tough month in sales and business development, I am not going to sugarcoat it. But as any SDR or BDR knows, every month in business and sales development is tough. You guys are the hardest working people in the company and you were built for this. Instead of worrying about what is to come this month, let’s talk about How to make the most of December.
Pausing is a lot more important than you might think and the mastering the skill of pausing is more difficult than you might expect but there are 3 very important reasons why you need to master it.
Being an SDR or BDR is not easy. But it is simple. Too often, as SDRs/BDRs we overcomplicate a job that is at its core truly simplistic. We are not selling software, products or anything else. We do not need to understand every aspect of the product or of the industry we are working in. In truth, as SDRs the very best thing that we can do is lean into skills that we have already developed simply by virtue of being human beings and being alive for more than 20 years. Today I am sharing 3 simple tips that anyone can do to become a better SDR.
Today we are going to discuss 3 reasons you need to master the skill of pausing. Who’d have thought that not saying anything would be a difficult skill to master. But it is.
Pausing is a lot more important than you might think and the mastering the skill of pausing is more difficult than you might expect but there are 3 very important reasons why you need to master it.
If you’ve ever wondered how to personalise (in 2023) to stand out and book more meetings, you’ve come to the right place. When it comes to prospecting, all SDRs and BDRs know the importance of personalisation. This is not news, I know. In the beginning, simply personalising our message made us stand out, because most of our peers were not doing it. The challenge we face now is that almost everyone has caught onto the idea of personalisation. Therefore merely doing it, doesn’t help us to stand out anymore. The bar has been raised. Today, I want to talk about small tweaks we can make to ensure our personalisation is still good enough to get replies in 2023.
“What should I do if I lose motivation?” As an SDR or BDR, staying motivated is probably one of the biggest challenges. It is a really tough job full of rejection. There are ups and downs, inevitably there will be times when we do not feel as motivated as we’d like to.
This is normal. The good news is I’ve learned how to maintain motivation as a sales development rep and I am here to share it with you including a five step plan that you can start right now to get your mojo back!
Cold Calling always divides the room these days. Some people claim that cold calling is dead. For me, having the confidence to pick up the phone and create something out of nothing is an invaluable skill. And every SDR should master it. Having made thousands of cold calls as an SDR, I’m outlining how to structure your cold call to book more meetings.
Firstly, success within cold calling is a 10% conversion. That means if we call 100 people and 10 of them book a meeting, we are successful. There will never ever be a scenario where 100% of the people we cold call will say yes. And that is okay.
If you want to be guaranteed success as an SDR then learn to ask great questions. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what is an SDRs greatest asset. And it is great questions. I’ve come up with 4 Reasons Questions are an SDRs greatest asset.
Very often as SDRs, if we cannot get the information we want from a prospect, we think they are being rude and difficult. In reality, we may not be asking our questions in the best way. It is astonishing that by asking a question in a slightly different way can uncover very different and often more valuable information
As SDRs and BDRs, we all want to know how to book more meetings. In my current role, I receive quite a few prospecting emails from Sales and Business Development reps.
Like most of the people we prospect, I rarely book a meeting (however I do often reply and politely decline). Last Friday was different though. I was on the receiving end of a prospecting effort and I booked a meeting. Here are 4 reasons I said yes:
People buy for their reasons, not ours. Many average sales people with many years of experience miss this point early in sales conversations. And we don’t have to focus on SaaS companies in the tech industry to see examples of this. Consider any sales person you ever encountered in your life. So many of them start telling you why their product is the market leader, the biggest and the best or some version of that. They are pitching reasons that they would buy the item in question. A really simple way to engage our prospects is to simply ask them what they are interested in.
It is harder to sell in an economic downturn. SDRs and BDRs we are not selling anything but time. However getting people to commit to meetings and to even respond to cold outreach can be a lot more difficult. There is no doubt about that. Budgets are being slashed. Your prospects are under more stress and pressure in their jobs. Nice to haves get cut and everyone is focusing on must haves only.
Here are 5 things you need to know to help you survive and thrive..
One of the most important things you can do is learn how to manage your time as an SDR. The most successful, least stressed SDRs and BDRs that I have seen all have one thing in common. They have mastered time management and efficiency. They have a process and whether they are top of the leaderboard or bottom, whether it is the first day of the month or the last, they trust that process. They never let the day run them. New or struggling reps on the other hand are often, in reactive, panic mode. They are so desperate to find success that they can be pulled in many directions and they don’t really know where to spend their time. This leads to allowing the day to run them. The good news is, it is relatively easy to manage our time as an SDR if we follow 3 simple rules:
Congratulations! You have successfully passed the interview process and you are ready to start your career in sales. You have been offered a sales or business development role in the tech company of your dreams (hopefully).
It will feel like everything is important and you’ll wonder how you are going to remember it all. Fear not, I can tell you now, the only thing you should be prioritising is hitting your first months’ target. This will technically be your second month on the job. Anyway here are 4 reasons it is important to hit your first Month as SDR:
If I have learned anything during my time in sales and business development, it is that leading with value and focusing on emotional intelligence are the most important things you can do. If you do these two things, consistently, you are almost guaranteed to be successful. If you don’t know much about EQ, check out this recent post: What Is Emotional Intelligence And Why Does It Matter for SDRS. But first, let’s jump into the 5 reasons you should be leading with value as a BDR, so here they are:
Struggling SDR: How to help yourself
Sales Development is a tough gig, no doubt. A lot of the advice out there focuses on helping already top performing SDRs to be even better, but that is not the reality for so many of us. So I thought to myself, why is no one talking about how to help a struggling SDR? As an SDR who struggled in the beginning myself, dreams of being a “Top Performing SDR” Or “Crushing my SDR Target” were the furthest thing from my mind, I simply wanted to keep my head above water.
If you are struggling as an SDR, the first things to do are:
What is EQ & Why Does it Matter For SDRs
Emotional Intelligence or Emotional Quotient can be described as the ability to understand and manage your own emotions and influence the emotions of others. We are all born with varying degrees of emotional intelligence but the good news is we can absolutely improve our emotional intelligence. It is a key foundational skill that we can start to work on at any stage in our lives however if we are working as an SDR or BDR or early in our sales career, it is the perfect time to start focusing on our EQ. But why should we bother?
How Can I Be A successful SDR?
Being an SDR or BDR is one thing but cracking the code to become a successful SDR is something else entirely. And it is not easy. I know because I have lived through the trials and tribulations of navigating SDR/BDR Life, eventually finding success. These days I dedicate my time to providing training and enablement to up and coming SDRs who are learning the ropes so hopefully I can save you some of the effort and heartache I endured by sharing some tips on how you can be a successful SDR. Everything I am about to share with you is simple in theory and it is possible for every single person to make improvements but be warned..
how to start Your career in sales
So you think a career in sales is for you but you are not sure where to begin? Whether you are embarking on the very first step of your career or you are in the process of navigating a career change, the first step is always to review your options, understand what is required and do your research to ensure that it is something you are interested in. In this post we review what you will need and provide a step by step guide on what you should do to start your career in sales. Let’s jump in!
5 Reasons You Should Work In The Tech Industry
You’ve probably heard of ‘Sales’ as a career choice. And you may be familiar with ‘The Tech Industry’. And if you are a highly competitive and ambitious person who is driven by the idea of making lots of money, being really successful and living life without limitations then maybe a career in the Tech Industry within sales is for you – if so, firstly you’ll need to know what Sales development and business development are. Let’s take a look!
The first thing to note is that there are a lot of different names for what is essentially the same thing…
What is Sales Development?
You’ve probably heard of ‘Sales’ as a career choice. And you may be familiar with ‘The Tech Industry’. And if you are a highly competitive and ambitious person who is driven by the idea of making lots of money, being really successful and living life without limitations then maybe a career in the Tech Industry within sales is for you – if so, firstly you’ll need to know what Sales development and business development are. Let’s take a look!
The first thing to note is that there are a lot of different names for what is essentially the same thing…
