Mark Walker

Here's the stark facts in sales today. - 31% of reps are making quota - Nearly half (44%) of deals slip - Sales cycles are double digits longer, win rates are double digits down - Inbound leads are down - Salesforce recognised the need to increase pipeline coverage to by 50% (from x2 to x3) Most of those we speak to recognise all these challenges. But they are stuck. "Do more with less" is the message. They have cut teams and fought for those remaining. Their organisations are stuck with blind hope and knives sharpening. The only solution they know is to fire and replace. Because the real problems aren't acknowledged. The market has changed and it's harder. But are teams are not more skilled. The same teams, that could achieve in the old world are failing in this one. And the last message anyone wants, is we need to spend some money to solve that. "That's your job isn't it?" cries the leadership to time-starved managers and leaders. Anyone want to guess what's going to happen to sales manager average tenure (already at an all-time low of 18 months)????

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Calling all B2B sales professionals. With our friends at Aircall, we need your help with our State of Sales Coaching survey 2024. 3-5 minutes of your time could win you amazing prizes - the latest AirPods, Sonos speaker, Nespresso machine, and of course MySalesCoach scholarships. Sales coaching is widely considered the most critical function of a frontline sales leader. Previous studies demonstrate that it significantly boosts win rates and quota attainment. However, many sales organisations find it challenging to establish and execute an effective sales coaching culture and strategy. Our survey seeks to identify the key trends, best practices, and impacts of sales coaching in 2024. You'll be first to get the study published in October packed with insight, data and trends. Leaders and Individual Contributors should complete the survey - with scholarship places up for grabs for each. Your voice really matters, complete today for a chance of these amazing prizes and to be first with the report. Link here to complete - https://lnkd.in/eKRcTPXV

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5 outbound rules every SDR & sales rep should Live by: 1. Play to your strengths: E.g. call more if you’re best at calling. Lean into what you’re naturally good at and build on it. 2. Focus on quality over quantity: 50 personalised emails will always outperform 500 generic ones. Every touchpoint should add value. 3. Always follow up: Once you’ve had a conversation, don’t just dump them into an automated cadence. Keep it personal and intentional. 4. Use all your tools: Outbound is multi-channel: phone, email, LinkedIn. 5. Learn from every “no”: Every rejection is a lesson. Adapt, refine, and keep pushing forward. Working smarter = results. Stick to these principles, and you’ll start to see the needle move.

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The #1 way to motivate SDRs... (And it costs nothing) Prove you g͟e͟n͟u͟i͟n͟e͟l͟y͟ care about them. It’s pretty damn easy: - Prioritise your 1:1s - Sunshine great work - Say ''thanks'' every week - Give them honest feedback, nicely - Appreciate their effort even if they failed - Message MORE when they are struggling Most SDRs just want to 'feel' like you care. It's not difficult. Do you agree? ♻️ Share this to show sales leaders the way. ---- 📌 The SDR Leader Bootcamp closes Friday for enrollment.

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Inbound leads should be rewarded 👊👊 Speaking to a CEO yesterday who's SD team are keen to exhaust the inbound leads and not have a focus on outbound. For me, inbound leads are a huge investment, spend and hopefully ideal clients based on great marketing work ✅✅. Why give them out to everyone? Surely the salespeople who are top performing, working hard and are earning these leads should take them. Thoughts?

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VPs Sales, STOP managing your SDRs | Here's why... 👀 Here's the sh*t you should be doing: 💵 Focus on supporting your AE team/s close deals 🧬 Prioritise strategic collaboration with other functions 📊 Review data to set strategic direction 👔 Spend time hiring A-Grade Leaders & AEs 🤝 Give attention to customers to optimise renewals & upsells ⚙️ Implementing & driving adoption of core sales processes Here's the sh*t you either should NOT be doing or worse... MISSING: 🗣️ Coaching the most inexperienced/junior reps in the org 🔁 Hiring & promoting in an ever-changing team dynamic 👥 Providing daily support for people still finding their way as an adult 🧑‍🏫 Teaching the BASICS of how cold-call, email, qualify, etc. 🔬 Study current prospecting trends & ideas 💪 Keeping impatient and hungry young professionals motivated Be honest with yourself... 🧠 Think about where you're burning your calories 🧠 Think about whether you have the time to manage this stakeholder group 🧠 Think about whether your prospecting knowledge is as sharp as it should be 🧠 Think about whether your SDR team is delivering the results you want 🧠 Think about where you are going to have the biggest business impact ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ 👋 Hi I'm Andy, Founder of RevRocket. I specialise in building, optimising and growing your SDR function so you don't have to. Considering getting support for your PipeGen Team? Shoot me a DM ✉️

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Focus on pipeline generation as your number one priority • Jacob Karp: Without the pipeline you have nothing. → https://buff.ly/3Vwfq1O • Chris Ritson: I met the no.1 SDR in the UK... → https://buff.ly/3X6xn8B • Ben Gobbitt: On track to beat our AE self-sourced pipeline goal this quarter → https://buff.ly/4bLLjZX • Nick Bontrager: I got 3 prospects to respond who were ghosting for MONTHS → https://buff.ly/4bMLc0t • 👋Ashleigh Early: 3 pipeline ideas worth checking out → https://buff.ly/3Xb5fBi • Gavin Kowalski: The ultimate guide as to why prospects buy!  → https://buff.ly/3XfiYXF • Chris Lu: "Pipeline cures all" → https://buff.ly/4bLDELv • Josh Roth: You need more pipeline coverage right now → https://buff.ly/4bK95Wk • Phillip Kousz: Our job remains unchanged: generating, moving, and closing pipeline → https://buff.ly/4bNjRer • Tim McCarrey: 80% of sales take 5–12 contacts. → https://buff.ly/3VtdCqx • Dom Odoguardi: Cold calling doesn't need to be boring so spice things up! → https://buff.ly/3XdPzxe • Morgan J Ingram: Why you need to gamify it. → https://buff.ly/3VwqJYa • Ian Barker 👨‍🍳: Here is how I identify ICP → https://buff.ly/4bL3CPe • Sam Lopez ☁️: A big part of the SDR role is getting really good at asking questions and listening → https://buff.ly/3XaSqGT • Tyler Hickey: Cold calling is a zero-risk activity. → https://buff.ly/4c383Fj • Tom Bertrand 🎁: Selling SaaS is the hardest it's ever been → https://buff.ly/3XdPtpm • Alan Ruchtein: If you're booking 0 meetings through cold emails → https://buff.ly/4bL1Ptf • Stuart Taylor: This email has over a 60% responce rate when prospects have gone silent → https://buff.ly/3yPODor • Benjamin D. How do you create a great 30-second cold call pitch? → https://buff.ly/4bPh9Fg • Troy Munson: Here is every channel I use for prospecting and how I use them → https://buff.ly/3VwfpLi • Nick Cegelski: Get your prospect talking about problems → https://buff.ly/3X7FVw1 • Cipriano Martins: Have a reason for the call → https://buff.ly/3VtLbbT • Kyle Kemp 🎯: Sales calls are the lifeblood of your business → https://buff.ly/4bMLbtr • Charles Muhlbauer: 80% of sales take 5–12 contacts. → https://buff.ly/3VwfpuM • Leslie Venetz: 7 ways you can make cold calling suck less → https://buff.ly/3X5nbgC • Armand Farrokh: "I love my territory and I do not need more accounts" → https://buff.ly/4bTEWEk • Salman Mohiuddin: Pain resonates more than the gain → https://buff.ly/4bNyjmS • Amanda Long ⚡️: Want to personalize emails quickly? → https://buff.ly/4bOAG8L P.S. Join 2,215+ sellers who read my newsletter: https://buff.ly/4cctfZ3 + get direct access to all lists, cheatsheets and templates

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30% Sales Growth: How James Achieved It (Read on to get the same results) 📚 In February 2024, James was struggling in his B2B SaaS sales job. He found himself constrained by common pain points in his role. → Difficulty converting prospective leads → Frustration with back-to-back pointless emails  → Inconsistent system to close deals That’s when he reached out to me and tried Keyzii. Through Keyzii, he was able to: → Reduce friction points between initial contact and final close with clients → Enhance the relevance of his communications and emails  → Personalize every interaction with clients Within a week of using Keyzii, he increased his sales growth by 30% and ended up outselling his entire department. James wasn’t lucky or just in the right place at the right time. Instead, he was consistent with Keyzii and utilized every tool Keyzii offered to its fullest. “Yeah, but our current system works for us” That’s a valid point, but let’s think about it. James also had a system that “worked” for him, but it wasn't until he made the switch to Keyzii that he saw transformative results. → Are you achieving your sales goals consistently? → Is your follow-up process as streamlined and effective as it could be? → Is your conversion rate what you want it to be for your inbound leads? Keyzii doesn’t just work; it optimizes your existing processes and turns potential into performance. Sometimes, a mediocre system can prevent you from seeing how much better it could be. James took the leap, and it paid off—30% sales growth in just a week. Imagine what it could do for you. Don’t let “good enough” keep you from your goals. Try Keyzii today and transform your sales strategy. ___ Check Out Keyzii Today Connect faster, sell smarter  🔽 Get a Free Demo at Keyzii.com 🔽 ___ I'm Sergio Fernandez I help B2B SaaS companies capture potential leads and close more deals Click my name + connect with me! 

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What a way to enter Q3 with a bang 🙌 42 G2 badges including... 👉 #1 Digital Sales Room in the UK 👉 #1 tool delivering the best ROI for sellers 👉 #1 Easiest tool to setup and get started Plus, just to toot our own trumpet a little more We've been rated as a High Performer across EMEA and for Enterprise customers 🚀 So much love to our customers who left some standout reviews 👇 --- "Hands down one of the best sales tools I've utilised in the past few years as a seller - Trumpet is game-changing. The UI is night & day compared with any similar tool on the market, it's easy to use, modern, hyper-personalised and customisable." --- "Back and forth emails. Lost PDF's. Endless threads with key information hidden in every mail. Emails bouncing when you want to send rich media. I've had it all. Trumpet has changed the way I interact with customers, and makes sure my daily touches with customers are all tracked in one place." --- "I love that clients only need to remember one link that contains all they'll need to have the internal conversations. Selling in 2024 is as much about the calls you're on than it is arming your champions with an easy-to-digest business case for internal meetings you're not on." --- And a huge shoutout to our incredible team who give our customers the best possible experience every single day 🎺 Humble brag over. Back to building 🚀

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If you're an Enterprise SDR, here's 10 bits of information you need to understand ahead of outreaching an Account: 1. How does the account make money? 2. Do they operate across differing markets, products & business models? 3. What's the organisation's financial performance? 4. What relevant quotes/soundbites can you find in their annual report? 5. Who are their competitors? Do you work with any? What's the market-share split? 6. What key industry trends are there? 7. Are they using competitor technology or services? 8. Can you build a SWOT Analysis? 9. How will the account's business be transformed if they worked with you? 10. What social proof/evidence do you have to support showing your value? Answering these questions saw me source over $1,000,000 in Closed Won Enterprise Logos from some of the world's most famous brands. Want to be more successful in your enterprise prospecting? You can download my Enterprise Research Framework as part of my SDR Playbook: https://lnkd.in/exkzVan9

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It’s almost here! After two years in the making my first book “How to build Sales Confidence” is almost here! The book shares the three pillars of Sales Confidence: Mindset, Wellbeing and Performance Provides insights on manifestation, visualisation , goal setting and gratitude. Covers everything from my first door-to-door sales role and challenges managing my bipolar and hospitalisation experiences. And teaches you the power of confidence on communication, persuasion and building relationships. >>>>> Register on for the waitlist in the comments <<<<<<

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SDRs who deserve to be AEs... ✅ Help coach other SDRs ❌ Are in it for themselves ✅ Hit quota every month ❌ Sometimes smash it ✅ Build amazing internal relationships ❌ Moan about their AE and Manager ✅ Prioritise the team winning ❌ Think they're an individual contributor ✅ Train every single day ❌ Believe they know it all ✅ Compete against themselves ❌ Compete against others in the team ✅ Are genuinely happy when others win ❌ Get bitter when others are successful 99% of success is in WHO you are. And HOW you do things. Embrace being different. Embrace being better. What am I missing? ---- PS. My SDR to AE bootcamp closes tomorrow. 5 seats left; https://lnkd.in/ejFQERRF

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The most common untapped potential we see in CS & AM Teams @ B2B Software companies Mid-Market+... is how to maximise the value of long-tail customers / unmanaged tiers. With a bit of extra love these customers can frequently add several NRR% points to a company's growth - because they are: 🎯 resilient due to diverse range of vertical, geo's and business models 🎯 rarely using the full range of available products 🎯 not maximising the value of the ones they already use 🎯 likely to never have had a business discussion with an AM or CS Rep 🎯 the MOST likely to be churning due to entirely preventable reasons 🎯 the MOST likely to have been poorly onboarded and activated But there are a combination of factors that actually make it tricky for Mid Market and Enterprise Companies to cater for these lower segments (efficiently): 🔺 It's tricky to deliver dynamic, cross-system insight on each account 🔺 the CS & AM Team rarely have the capacity to address every one 🔺 or the account isn't spending enough to warrant attention (ouch!) 🔺 It can be hard to predict the impact LT initiatives will realise 🔺 responsibility lies across both product and the CS/AM team When I was at Nexmo (now Vonage) in the early days, accounts like Airbnb and (Line) LY Corporation were in these cohorts and graduated to spend millions of dollars EACH month on our APIs. 😱 And today, we talk to other market leaders (Public, Series C+ Orgs) and not one we've spoken to is truly nailing this... In the age of efficient growth, it's vital companies rectify this and get closer to these customers. With Median NRR in Public Saas at 108% the potential is meaningful. ❗ While Saas category saturation means its highly likely that one of your competitors is currently cherry-picking your high-potential long-tail customers and is actively helping them move off your product...

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Loads of salespeople think they have a champion in their deals. But dig deeper, and you'll find they don't. In a coaching session with a sales rep from a large SaaS company, we analysed one of their deals. "Do you have a champion?" "Yeah, a really solid one." "Great. Let's validate this. Did they disclose pain and the impact of not acting?" "Yes, they're 40% short of required lead flow, and if they don't fix it, their next investment round is at risk." "Have they shared information openly?" "Yeah, it's never felt difficult getting them to open up." "Do they follow through on commitments? Keep meetings, respond to your communications?" "By and large, yes." "Do they promote you internally to others?" "Hmmm, well, they still talk pretty positively about the competition. They haven't told us we are their preferred vendor." And that's when we knew they didn't have a champion. You can't have a champion if they aren't championing you. Just because someone shares their problems, is responsive, and seems interested doesn't mean they are flying your flag. I used to think every prospect who took a next step with me was a 'champion.' How wrong I was. Take a look at your deals today. Ask yourself if you REALLY have a champion.

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Is product knowledge important for SDRs to have? Absolutely it is, but only if it isn’t used to feature dump. Instead, reverse engineer the outcomes delivered by the product into sales messaging. For the last few years, I’ve used this 4-step framework to help SDRs turn product knowledge into a tool for better conversations. 🔽 After showing each feature, as a group we: 1: Identify who it impacts and how 2: Quantify the cost of the problem it solves 3: Write a 1-2 sentence opener / value statement 4: Write 3 relevant discovery questions to uncover pain Revenue leaders: give it a try and let me know how it works. #sales #salesdevelopment #sdr

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An SDR cold-called me... SDR: ''Is that Chris?'' Me: ''Yep, who's calling?'' SDR: ''It's James, here at XYZ we help companies like yours automate payroll, is this something you'd like to discuss more?'' Me: ''I don't have any employees for payroll but I'm happy to spend 5 mins with you now to help you improve your cold call opener, open to it?'' SDR: ''Erm...okay''. Me: ''So, here's 3 things you can try today... 1. Don't say ''is this Chris', if you don't know who you're calling they won't trust you. 2. Give me more about you in your intro. E.g. It's Chris, I'm an AE at XYZ. A touch more context = more trust. 3. Don't pitch straight up. Switch to a clear reason for the call. E.g. Calling as I know CEOs like you find [insert thing] time-consuming. Would love to chat more, got a minute now, or is later in the week better? - We practiced twice - They were immediately better, - I sent them my free cold call training - We parted ways If you're interested, here's the training: https://lnkd.in/e94K8936 Everything is a learning opportunity. Just gotta be open to it. PS. Follow me Chris Ritson for more cold call and SDR training content like this.

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We sell to revenue leaders. That means they are leading teams that are trying to do the exact same thing we do. Given that, some of the things my buyers do SHOCK ME. Here's what I mean: Some of my prospects: Lead me on Completely ghost me Are nice rather than direct Act like they have more power than they do Don't know or can't explain their buying process And the list goes on... Granted, for the prospects this happens to, IT'S ON ME for not doing a good enough job in the sales process. I take full responsibility for that. But it amazes me that sales leaders do the exact things they try to teach their reps to avoid. And they get mad at their own prospects for doing the same things they are doing. It demonstrates that all buyers all the same. And you have to create an amazing buying experience or you'll get trapped. But maybe for good sales karma, revenue leaders buyers could be better prospects :) I know I am.

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0.88 meetings from cold call an hour. Thats the stat from our SDR team attending the Power Hours we at MySalesCoach host, every day at 2pm - free for every seller that no longer needs to dial alone. Selling together works. I wish i could say we create 0.88 meetings every hour we cold call, but it's less than half of that. Why does it work for Joe Brennan, Noah London and Nia Woodhouse and all those that join us? First of all, time-blocks work. Focussed dedicated and uninterrupted burst. Second, the feel-good factor. Cold calling is hard. The tips and motivation from our coach/MC Neil Bhuiyan (with guest appearances from Csaba Balogh, Bryan Mulry and others) get everyone ready and prepared. Then finally is the wisdom of the crowd. Whether sharing tips, experiences or riding the ups and downs together. You'll not alone and the lows feel shared and the highs celebrated by those walking on the same path. Our meetings went up 18% in Q4 - and the only significant change was our power hours. And this is an open invite - for all of 2025, to every seller, to add to their calendar and drop-in any day they choose - absolutely free. Frankly, if prospecting is any part of your role, you would be mad to not add to your calendar. Add to your calendar here (and invite your team) - https://lnkd.in/eJjz3v8G

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