Guido de Vries

I connected with two cold calls yesterday Both said: "Now is not a good time because we just finalize a project" Me: “When is the right time for you to pick up the topic again?” Them: "After summer. You can call me in 3 months - mid September" Me: "How about we book already a meeting in? Is easier for both so that we do not have to remember." Them: "Yes sure - 12th September in the morning?" Me: "I sent you the invite. Did you get it?" Them: "Yes, I just accepted" Works almost every single time Don’t hoard tasks - hoard meetings It is easier to handle PS: Some may say that they might not show up now. I say: still better to have a meeting in the calendar they need to cancel rather than a task that you call them again in 3 months

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Outbound: 2020 vs 2024 Gone are the days of throwing headcount at the problem of scale. Hiring more SDRs is not the most efficient way of reaching more prospects. The first thing you should do is build an outbound stack that maximises output per rep (without compromising on quality). Only then should you consider adding headcount. #salestech StackOptimise

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10 Best Tools to streamline SDRs Sales Process. 1. Cognism:   ↳ A sales intelligence platform.  ↳ Offers a globally compliant database for company and contact searches.     2. Salesforce:   ↳ The CRM giant provides a suite of tools that ↳ Analyze sales data.  ↳ Manage the Sales pipeline.  ↳ Track customer interactions. 3. Outreach:   ↳ A sales engagement platform that helps SDRs to   ↳ Automate and prioritize their sales activities.    4. Chili Piper:   ↳An automated scheduling tool that helps SDRs   ↳Book meetings without the back-and-forth emails.    5. LinkedIn Sales Navigator:   ↳ A tool that uses LinkedIn’s vast network to help SDRs   ↳ Find and connect with potential leads.    6. Aircall:   ↳ A cloud-based call center and phone system that integrates with productivity and helpdesk tools.    7. Hunter:   ↳ It helps find verified email addresses quickly.    8. RocketReach:   ↳ Connect with prospects through emails and direct dials.  ↳ Boast a large and accurate database.    9. Snov.io:   ↳ Offers a free email verification tool to help SDRs   ↳ Spend less time finding leads and more on converting them.    10. HubSpot:   ↳ A top-level CRM that ↳ Connects data between teams and departments.  ↳ Offer various hubs for marketing, sales, and operations. Remember, These tools can help SDRs to be more efficient in their roles by  ↳ Providing valuable insights.  ↳ Automating repetitive tasks.  ↳ Facilitating better communication with prospects.  It’s important for SDRs to choose tools that integrate well with their existing tech stack and align with their sales strategies. P.S. Which Tool do you like the most and why? 🔔 Follow Zain Arif for Daily Sales Tips 📌 Book a 30 Minutes Sales Consultation with Munzai Solutions! Link in the Comment below 👇 #Sales #SalesTools #SDRs  

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"Should my company still do outbound with SDRs?" Here is the first question I would ask you: ⬇ What is your deal size? All the noise on LinkedIn about outbound being dead... It is just that outbound is not profitable the way VC backed SaaS companies do it. If your deal size is 2,5k, 5k, 10k etc. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do the maths. In what year would you make a return of investment? (considering life-time-value) (given real, current conversions) Most companies have not done the maths until recently. Why? Because it was like the wild west. Growth at all cost. We pump in as much money as we want - to grow. These times are over. Jason Lemkin (famous software investor) has said this 5-10 years ago: If you are below 20k deal value, then don't do outbound. And if you are below 20k deal value, do everything you can to get up to 20k deal value. 🤣 Mind you, considering inflation too, I would rather make sure to get to more than 20k on average. The thing is, the way how most SaaS companies approached outbound was never rational. There were no efficiency or profitability calculations behind it. It was crazy 5 years ago and it is still crazy now. By the way, this is also why the quality of outbound has been so low...

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How can you be more strategic in RevOps? - Move from report jockey to strategic advisor? Here’s a tangible example: - Suppose we’re running a Pipeline Council meeting... - We start showing CQ pipeline and forecast are on target Then, we show the pipe gen for the next quarter is not on track. Here’s how we could tackle the conversation: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴? - This slide shows our pipeline for next quarter. - Current progress is $1M against a target of $3M - We’re behind pace to hit that $3M target on time. 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗞𝗣𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼? - This will impact one of our major KPIs… - New business bookings for next quarter.” 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱? - We have about 40 more days here - To increase our pipeline generation - In order to close the gap we have today 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁? - If we stay at the same pace - We’ll likely only reach $2.2M in pipeline. - We would likely miss next quarter’s revenue targets. 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺: - We can see the issue is in the enterprise segment. - We’re creating about 1/3rd the opportunities we need 𝗦𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: - We’d suggest having a 2nd meeting - Looping in marketing and field sales - To brainstorm a one-off campaign here - And how we can close this gap together 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽: - Other ideas to beef up pipe gen in the next 40 days? This is the fundamental difference in being strategic - We’re identifying a root issue and a potential solution - We’re making it easy for leadership to respond to this data - Not asking them to analyze data and make conclusions alone But what do you think? What would you add here? 🤔 More on this in in yesterday’s 📰 𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙊𝙥𝙨 𝙒𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙡𝙮 📰 Get it here: https://bit.ly/4cDUcVO ��️

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Why do companies keep buying forecasting tools to fix forecasting problems? What challenge is being solved? Are sellers and sales leaders unable to forecast their deals? The consequences of missing forecasts are not to be underestimated. Shockingly, as reported by RevOps Co-op, a staggering “80% of companies fail to meet their forecasts/plans by 25% or more.” This begs the question, why does poor forecasting persist despite the negative financial implications? To help create perspective, I recently asked a CFO to describe the impacts of missing forecasts; his list of negatives was lengthy. Examples include: 1). Sales & Marketing: Inefficient spending to fill short-term gaps-to-goal. 2). Capital Expense: Underutilized CAPEX spend; investments in capacity are not needed. 3). Operational Expense: Staffing for growth that did not materialize. 4). One-Time Costs: Reductions in force and layoffs. 5). Financing Costs: Covenant costs, waiver fees, and higher borrowing costs. 6). Negative customer goodwill. 7). Reputational loss. Some excellent forecasting tools are available–no doubt. (I've licensed some of them.) However, to meet and exceed plans on a long-term horizon, companies need to deploy predictive tools and methods—tools and methods that forecast outcomes on a 12-plus-month horizon. Tools and methods should not be indexed solely on opportunities; opportunity-based analysis alone will not build a long-term view. Predictions should be made based on many data points, beginning at the earliest Top-of-Funnel entrance point. If you can’t see at least 12 months into the future, you cannot efficiently deploy sales and marketing dollars. Filling unexpected, near-term gaps-to-goal is inefficient and expensive. Sales leaders, in particular, need to stop focusing energies nearly 100% on the current month/quarter and think longer-term. Now is the time to ask the entire business to help fix a 4Q pipeline challenge. October is way too late. Building predictability and visibility long-term is critical to building a successful SaaS business. Creating predictability is why we built Outset.

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Dear RevOps, we need to talk. Basically your whole job is about revenue: existing, coming, predicted, planned, forecasted. But how come, that you build all your reports pretty much just on the sales reps gut feeling? How come, you don't use proper data? Exactly, because you don't have access to this data.  We get it. How should you help companies move forward when not having the means to it? That's why we built bont:  Giving you visibility into where value is planned, where it's hiding and where it's dropping. Trust us, this will change your job. Just try it yourself https://www.bont.ai #sales #revenue #revops #saas #customerintelligence

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Founders often do not know how to set targets for salespeople They open their financial plan (the plan that was created to impress investors) In that plan it says: "3 Mio. New ARR in the first year" They hire 3 sales reps and set their target at 1 Mio. for the first year After that year, none of them achieved their targets They fire all of them and blame the reps A recipe for disaster There is no faster way to demotivate salespeople than targets that cannot be reached -- In a startup, you cannot set targets top-down only like in the example above There is too much uncertainty, too many unknowns Here is how we approached it in the past 5 years: We checked that the financial plan first We found the number "3 Mio" as well We hired as many reps as were needed according to the following calculation: 3 x salary 1 = target rep 1 3 x salary 2 = target rep 2 ... target rep 1 + target rep 2 + target.... = 3 Mio Rule of thumb: The revenue a sales rep should generate is at least 3 times their salary. Ideally, this number will increase to 5x over time. We communicated to the team that we want to achieve 3 Mio That was our north star But then we approached goal-setting quarterly We sat together with the whole team at the end of each quarter and agreed on a target for two numbers: 1️⃣ Revenue next quarter 2️⃣ Funnel value with the close date in the next 3 quarters (to make sure we are on track) If we were far from what we expected, we agreed on something we could really believe in and that was ambitious at the same time In case we were behind, we worked hard on creating more funnel value that specific quarter The revenue target for the quarter was also the number that was relevant for the commission payment We did not actually have yearly targets Too much can change too quickly in the first 2 years you move from founder-led to sales-led sales

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SDRs/BDRs are the lifeblood of your sales pipeline. So, how do you build an SDR function primed for growth? 🚀 Bessemer's latest guide shares 33 tactics from high-performing sales orgs in our portfolio on building SDR / BDR teams: ✅ Defining the SDR role & ideal candidate profile 📈 Ramping & managing SDRs to hit targets 📊 Key SDR metrics to track ⬆️ Creating SDR career paths Setting the right culture, hiring practices, and processes are critical to building a scalable SDR program. Dive into the guide today: https://lnkd.in/grQNreEM

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The GTM strategy of SaaS companies have been changing with the opportunities AI brings to the table. - Sales teams are getting smaller, but a lot more efficient - Some teams are moving back to full cycle sales reps instead of having different teams - Sales teams have more data than ever available - Outbound sales is not as efficient as it used to be, because there is now too much noise I think if data and AI is used right, it can make your GTM org a lot more efficient and successful. But it's really important that you still keep a human touch. At the end of the day people buy from people they like and trust.

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Transitioning a new customer from the sales process to onboarding can be a bumpy road if not handled properly. 😖 Fortunately, HubSpot's Deal Level Automation feature smooths out this journey, ensuring no customer is left behind. Here's why Deal Level Automation rocks: 1️⃣Automated Ticket Creation: When a deal is marked as closed-won in Sales Hub, 🎉 an automated trigger creates a corresponding ticket in Service Hub. 2️⃣Data Transfer Magic: Crucial data like customer details, notes, and requirements are seamlessly transferred from the deal to the newly created ticket. 📊 3️⃣No More Lost Context: Say goodbye to manual data entry or context lost in translation. Your service team has all the necessary information from day one to hit the ground running with a personalized onboarding experience. 🚀 But wait, there's more! 🌟 💡Customizable Triggers and Actions: The beauty of this feature lies in its customizability. You can set up additional triggers or actions to occur when a ticket is created, such as sending a welcome email or scheduling an initial onboarding call. 📧📞 By leveraging Deal Level Automation, you can ensure a smooth and efficient handoff from sales to service, setting the stage for a successful onboarding journey. Excited to learn more about streamlining your onboarding process with HubSpot? Check out our comprehensive guide: 🔗 https://hubs.ly/Q02vLCqQ0

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What's the State of AI & Automation in B2B Sales? Simple insights you can’t miss. In our session yesterday, we presented the initial findings of the Sales Efficiency Report. Here are the key highlights: 🚀 Manuel presented on Inbound-led Outbound VS Traditional Approaches: He took the stage, tackling the age-old debate. The verdict? A balanced blend of inbound and outbound is key. Our survey (n = 132) also revealed: 📈 Lead Engagement: Trade shows & conferences remain vital for industry presence. Personalised emails are still king for staying in touch with leads. 💡 I had the pleasure of showcasing the 2️⃣ most popular AI use cases that increase value for B2B companies (n = 130): 1️⃣ Practical examples of CRM enrichment (CRM regularly synchronises with AI data providers for up-to-date insights) 2️⃣ and Follow-up Automation (AI continuously evaluates feedback and personalises follow-ups), demonstrating how these processes can be streamlined using AI. 👏 Many thanks to our speakers Manuel, Florian, and Valentine for sharing their expertise and insights. If you missed it, don't worry, here's the ungated recording https://lnkd.in/eN9Zd7jW and we are sharing the full report soon. 🔍 What was your favourite takeaway from the webinar? #B2BSales #AI #Automation #SalesWebinar #LeadGeneration #MarketingAutomation #SalesEfficiency

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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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Almost 2 years ago, I abandoned the SDR model But that does not mean that SDRs have no more place They certainly have in some environments Here are the criteria I would use to evaluate whether the SDR model makes sense for you 1️⃣ Customer Acquisition Costs: I would not use SDRs for low ARR contracts. Here is my rule of thumb: < $5'000 ARR 👉🏻 Product-led & marketing $5'000 - $20'000 ARR 👉🏻 Full-cycle sales roles $20'000 - $100'000 ARR 👉🏻 AE/SDR model with a 2:1 ratio 2️⃣ Complexity of the sale: If sales are really complex and SDRs face a lot of technical, complex questions early on and need industry knowledge, the full-cycle model might make more sense. This typically means: > $100'000 ARR 👉🏻 Full-cycle sales roles However, you can always hire SDRs for a specific product that is much easier to sell than the rest. If you sell several products 3️⃣ Availability of salespeople: AEs who can and want to do outbound are a rarity. You might not find anyone, or it takes months. Hiring hungry SDRs you can develop to AEs later can bridge that gap. And you teach them your philosophy of "always be prospecting" from the start. Additionally: If you personally know a really good person for either role, prioritise hiring that person no matter the environment. Hiring salespeople is a costly, high-risk game. 4️⃣ Availability of knowledge: Do you have the capacity and capability to train new salespeople? What exactly can you train them really well? If you can provide a great environment for coaching and development, the SDR model is still interesting, given the other points above You can train them, test your ICP and give them more and more responsibility If you have no sales skills yourself or in the company, go for an experienced full-cycle AE and add SDRs later Bonus: Always hire two people at the same time so that you can benchmark them

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Investing in RevOps can improve productivity up to 20%.... As companies mature, the role of #RevOps evolves. Not every early-stage company needs a cross-functional RevOps team. But for companies selling multiple products across many segments and markets (e.g. Platform-Market fit) and still relying on siloed sales ops and marketing ops, they are missing out on key revenue insights and opportunities. Why? Data is vital – but let’s face it -- there is SO MUCH DATA… the big opportunity is how to best USE the data to inform strategy and next steps. 📊 Sound familiar? ….every department has its own tech stacks, its own platforms, its own metrics. 🖥 …too many KPIs and dashboards create confusion, not clarity. 📈 …when leaders don’t have a holistic view, they have issues and questions around the data. ❓ Two key strategies to get ahead of this: 1️⃣ Integrating various data sources, such as CRM, conversational intelligence platforms, marketing automation tools, and even unstructured data; organizations can unlock valuable insights and drive more informed decision-making. 2️⃣ Focusing on a few key performance indicators (KPIs) and ensuring alignment across the organization; companies can avoid information overload and drive greater focus and accountability. Smaller companies can apply the ideas with integrated data sources and streamlined KPIs. Read the summary and full information by GTM Partners of the latest leadership summit on RevOps, plus the latest GTM news, events, and more: https://lnkd.in/ezxKBba2 #marketingstrategy #GTMstrategy Sarah Allen-Short Sangram Vajre Bryan Brown

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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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Is manual dialling stopping you from scaling your sales pipeline? 😓 Not anymore! JustCall X Apollo.io have joined hands to help you — find leads, auto-dial, close deals in a matter of seconds. Here’s how this integration helps your sales team: SDRs & BDRs: 🤖 Auto dial qualified leads: Find perfect leads with Apollo, then dial them instantly with JustCall. 📝 Log calls & details automatically: Find time for what matters - selling! ✍🏻 Personalize your pitch: Use Apollo's rich data to tailor your pitches and connect with leads on a deeper level. 📅 Never miss a follow-up: Automate workflows to ensure timely follow-ups. Sales Ops & Rev Ops: 🔀 Unify your data: JustCall & Apollo sync seamlessly with your CRM, creating a single source of truth. 📊 Create smarter reports: Get a clear picture of your entire sales funnel with consolidated data from all platforms. 📺 Marketing and sales: Leverage data insights from Apollo.io & Sales Dialer analytics to personalize marketing campaigns and target high-quality leads. ⏳ Find time for strategic work: With automated workflows and minimal setup time, you get more time to focus. Managers & Business Owners: 🚀 Boost team efficiency: Streamline workflows to empower your reps to sell smarter, not harder. 👀 Get real-time visibility into sales: Track individual & team performance with clear, consolidated data. 🧑‍🏫 Easier coaching: Use call recordings & AI insights to give personalized feedback and improve your team's performance. ⛹🏻‍♂️ Reduce workload on your team: Let generate AI call summaries and free your to team for what they do best — selling. 🌱 Scale your pipeline with confidence: Be sharp in optimization, know what’s working and what’s not. If this excites you and you’re ready to crush your quota, click this link to get started: https://lnkd.in/g_pM7fAU

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Struggling with churn? Validate the value your customer receives. This is not a static metric/KPI - it needs to be nurtured, revisited, redefined, and reinforced throughout the customer lifecycle ♻ #customersuccess #sales #customervalue #value

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🚩 Time for a Reality Check in Sales Strategy It’s baffling and frankly disappointing to see how common it is for companies to set not just ambitious, but unrealistic sales targets for their GTM teams. This approach isn't just about high expectations; it's about setting teams up to fail from the get-go, which is a recipe for damaged morale, diluted culture, and inevitably, high turnover. 👀 The issue deepens with the so-called "amazing" OTEs that are dangled like carrots in front of reps—targets that are often total BS, crafted to entice but not to be reached. It's deceptive. Starting off relationships with your frontline warriors on a note of distrust? That’s the perfect way to build trust ... 🎯 We've seen a worrying disconnect where executives, removed from the day-to-day realities, continue to push for these lofty goals under the guise of motivation. However, motivation without support is just pressure. Many reps are left without the backing of a robust marketing strategy or an xDR team, expected to carry the weight of the entire sales cycle on their shoulders. It just doesn't work. 🔄 So now, bc effcieny and profitability is at the forefront, the buzz around Full Cycle AEs is growing. The buzz that the quality of sales folks is going down and quota attainment is at its lowest point ever. Yes, it’s an intriguing concept— but its all wrong. What is actually happening? Having AEs manage the entire sales process from prospecting to closing. It promises efficiency and control, but at what cost? Without significant changes in support structures and realistic goal-setting, this will just be another setup for stress and failure. Then the next fad will emerge. 🌟 What we need is a shift towards transparency and realism in how we set goals and communicate expectations. It’s about aligning executive strategies with the actual capabilities and support structures of the teams on the ground. Let’s champion for goals that inspire rather than deflate, supported by systems that truly empower our teams to succeed. Winning breads winning. It is super simple. Sales folks push for accelerators not just to get to an unachievable goal! The companies that figure this out will be the ones who see succes 💡

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