Hannah Ajikawo

Here are a few of the questions submitted ahead of the webinar on 'SDR Team of the Future' with David Wilkins Shabri Lakhani and Nicola Anderson Are sales cadence tools harming or helping? Is SDR outreach really the best way to grow your business? Best operating model for SDR teams ? How to manage tenured SDR's and ensure continued performance? Team structure, process, KPIs, all the good stuff What makes an SDR Team successful? From my experience to date, AI can get you 90% there at best, but you still need a human to check and make it 100%. How long do you think it will take for us to get to 100%/fully automated and in the meantime, who should be responsible for checking the AI output (SDRs, AEs or leaders)? Is the SDR function (for humans) dead ? How do I integrate AI successfully into our outbound motion? And what tools should we be looking at, apart from chatGPT Best practice for creating smooth marketing and sales teams focused on solely conversion What does a ‘best practice’ SDR team look like today and what are thoughts on overcoming the remaining challenges most effectively in the future - ie what next? Why are so many SDRs missing target? How should we comp SDRs to facilitate the creation of good quality pipeline, whilst simultaneously allowing them to maintain control over their compensation? If we don't invest in SDRs, what happens to our talent pipeline of the future? ****** There's a lot going on in the world of SDRs right now! If you want to hear the answers to your questions, you should join us 13.00-14.00 this Thu, May 9th! Link below. #sdr #pipeline #bdr #outbound #prospecting

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Revenue Leaders - More than 58% of sellers are missing their quota targets in 2024. (Forrester) The average salesperson only spends 36% of their time actually selling. (CSO Insights) < 50% of B2B SaaS companies have a defined ICP (GrowthMentor) 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐀𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀 𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐆...this is problematic! There are many reasons for the above statistics - but it's critical you look ahead at solving them vs looking behind to figure out where you went wrong. We're finding with genAI that there are so many optics within the sales process that can be automated and contextualized. In the revenue world, that takes the form of a Virtual SDR. 👀 These automations offer deep analysis of your historical data, ICP, behavioral trends, wins/losses, and real-time analysis of buying signals that your sales people need to convert 1:1 conversations. We're halfway through the year - so if you're behind your revenue targets, something needs to drastically change. Otherwise, you can't expect different results in H2. Need help knowing what buyers are in market for your services? Looking for an ICP analysis? Let us know. Our Virtual SDR can 😉 #gtm #gtmstrategy #autonomousgtm

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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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Curious why some sales teams consistently outperform others? The answer often lies not just in the talent they hire, but in how they hire. Here's how leveraging data and analytics can revamp your sales hiring process, giving you a definitive competitive edge: Analyse Top Performer Traits: Use data to dissect the common characteristics and performance metrics of your best salespeople. What skills, background, and behavioural traits do they share? Implement these insights to refine your candidate profiles. Streamline Sourcing with Analytics: Employ analytics to evaluate the effectiveness of various sourcing channels. Are your top talents coming more from LinkedIn, job boards, or referrals? Allocate resources accordingly to maximise quality hires. Optimise Interview Processes: Collect and analyse data on interview outcomes. Which interview stages are most predictive of job success? Adjust your process to focus on these key assessments to enhance decision-making. Predictive Performance Modeling: Develop predictive models using historical data to forecast how well a candidate might perform in your specific sales environment. This can significantly reduce the risk of costly mis-hires. Post-Hire Analytics: Don’t stop at the hire. Track the onboarding success and ongoing performance of new hires against the data-driven criteria you’ve established. This continuous loop of feedback will refine your hiring process over time. Think of data not just as numbers, but as a roadmap to better hiring decisions. Ready to turn insights into action and build a powerhouse sales team? Dive deeper with SalesHQ. Let us help you unlock the power of data in your hiring strategy. https://lnkd.in/gjXT-YMy #SalesExcellence #DataDrivenHiring #SalesHQ #AnalyticsInRecruitment #ModernHiring #TalentAnalytics

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Selling on cloud marketplaces is a game-changer for your sales strategy. What does this actually mean for AEs and how can you take advantage of these benefits? Take a look at this blog for more tips for unlocking co-selling success, written firsthand by Invisory’s AE, Javier Melo. Read it today: https://lnkd.in/ghRH5C98

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Its important we drink our own champagne, we practise what we preach and we use Jointflows to enable it. So what are the outcomes when we adopt a fully buyer-led approach? - Consistent positive feedback from prospects - Accelerated sales cycles - More exposure to the buying committee - Significantly increased conversion rates #buyerled #increasedconversion #revenue

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A Sales Enablement PRO report stated that 41% of enablers are not confident in their ability to prove business impact. We think there is a difference between being confident and actually proving business impact. In fact, the number of enablers not actually proving business impact is far higher. And this is the challenge we’re on a mission to solve. Sign up to the waiting list for the Strategic Enablement Blueprint course to create your path to revenue impact and: 🔺 Get out of reactive enablement 🔺 Deliver strategic business value 🔺 Enhance and differentiate your profile 🔺 Elevate your career 🔺 Increase your compensation 🔺 Justify further investment into enablement 🔺 Increase job security 👉 Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/ee6HW6yf #ROIWarrior #SalesEnablement #RevenueEnablement

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'It's easier to blame BDRs and SDRs just like it's easier to blame marketing!' I had a fantastic conversation with Richard Harris™ on the Rev-Up Podcast where we talked about what people are getting wrong with prospecting. Richard is a sales expert, consultant and recently wrote a book - 'the Seller's Journey'. Connect with Richard, read his book and tune into the episode, link in comments.

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Today’s show is a fricking masterclass in sales & hiring. Larry Shurtz has been a go-to-market OG for 3 decades. 👥 Salesforce: Led a 1,300 team to $2.1BN revenue 💰 Genesys Cloud: Record growth to $1.4BN ARR 📈 Confluent: Led them to record $600M ARR My 6 key takeaways 👇 1. Why Verticalization Requires More Than an AE Industry Nerd You can’t truly verticalize & deliver value to customers with only an AE. There cannot be a disconnect between them and the technical team. Every single person that touches the account has to be involved. 2. Those That Say They Do Not Have CS Is BS A lot of companies say they don’t need CS. Someone is playing that role under a different title. They are responsible for correcting architecture & aligning use cases. 3. What it Means If You Cannot Forecast Well You don’t truly understand your business. You’re not doing the right amount of diligence with customers & opportunities. We might not be asking the right questions & talking to the right people. 4. Why I Hate Panel Interviews When Hiring I prefer one-on-one interviews. The relationship between the leader and employee matters  It’s hard to get that out of a 5-person panel. 5. Why I Don’t Do Case Studies The real value is to understand their mindset & thought process. It gets to the what & the how. I could easily get that out of a 45 minute chat. 6. One Question I Ask Every Interview I would ask which culture did you prefer out of all their previous companies. The range of answers I’ve gotten have been shocking. Understanding their culture is important to value alignment. (links in comments) #founder #funding #business #investing #vc #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup #seed #funding #hiring #sales #B2B

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Customer satisfaction is essential for growing businesses efficiently 👉 BUT we can’t drive up that customer happiness without investing in the teams interacting with them every day On Tuesday 4th June 2-3pm GTM Leaders & Aircall are coming together for a virtual webinar to reveal actionable advice on how busy customer support and sales teams can deploy coaching strategies that boost both customer and employee satisfaction 🙌 Joined by Shabri Lakhani, GTM Advisor, Chris Haddow, Regional Sales Director at Planhat, James Mensforth, Sales Director at Aircall & Lisa Kirkwood-Jones, Commercial Leader from Reward Gateway 💥 🚀 What are the key ingredients of customer and employee satisfaction? 🤝 Where does coaching come into play? 🔥 How can you start being a better coach today? This webinar is free to attend 🙌 Register here: https://lnkd.in/eKh_upjc #coachingstrategies #customersatisfaction #virtualwebinar

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Why Critical Thinking is so important in Sales? And why salespeople should learn how to master it? These are just a few of the questions I asked Bob Apollo, Founder & Chief Outcomes Officer of Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners, a leading wordlwide B2B Sales Consultancy & Training firm. Bob's name is often associated with Outcome-Centric Selling and Value Selling: after more than 25 years spent in the corporate world leading successful organizations, Bob founded his own firm to support companies' Sales Forces. You can find the podcast and other useful links in the comments below. As you imagine, the answers were straight to point and I bet they'll lead you to question the way you work.

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Want to 10x your revenue? It's time to talk about Revenue Operations!   Imagine if your sales, marketing, and customer success teams were perfectly synchronised hitting targets, delighting customers, and driving growth like never before. That's the power of Revenue Operations (RevOps) in action!   Rev Ops isn't just another buzzword, it's the strategic glue that binds your revenue-generating functions together. By breaking down barriers, streamlining processes, and harnessing the power of data-driven insights, RevOps finds the potential and boosts your revenue generation.   Ready to revolutionise your revenue strategy?   Book a Demo with Us - https://shorter.me/PsdO4   #revenue #sales #marketing #b2b #business #database #data #operations #infynd

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“Outbound is dead” 🎣 In an oversaturated B2B sales environment, it’s getting harder to get in the door. BDR managers raise KPI’s and the introduction of AI has made “pitch slapping,” far too common and sales channels are more noisy than ever. If this is your approach to outbound, no wonder it’s dying… Try this instead: 1: Better research 📚 Focus on your ideal customer profile. Personalise and make messaging super relavant. Take time to understand their goals and major pains. 2: Go outside and see people 🚗 No better way to cut through digital noise by meeting people face to face at conferences, events, or hosting learning sessions. 3: Partnerships 🤝 Use the network effect of partners and resellers. Leverage existing relationships with businesses that fit your ideal customer profile.

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'The Role of the BDR in 2024 & Revolutionising Sales Strategies' In 2024, the Business Development Representative (BDR) plays a crucial role in reshaping sales strategies. Their ability to identify opportunities, nurture leads, and drive revenue growth is more vital than ever. The BDR's strategic approach and understanding of market dynamics are key in adapting to the evolving sales landscape. Embracing technology and data-driven insights will be instrumental in achieving success. Click here to watch the full episode: https://buff.ly/3HZGgbc Learn more about the Bearded Sales Guy and how to Walk Digital Corridors - A Better Future For Sales, subscribe to my newsletter here: https://buff.ly/4aFFoFL #WalkingDigitalCorridors #SocialSelling #MentalHealthMatters #PersonalBrand #SocialNetworking #SalesTransformation #PersonalChange #DigitalSelling

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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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Renewals in B2B are a sales motion (four-figure deal sized and up). Smaller deals (and B2C renewals) are a marketing motion. Putting your data to work in the right motion is critical when trying to scale renewal and expansion.

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15 quick valuable next steps (5 is my favourite)  1. Trial Kick Off       2. Commercial conversation       3. Mid trial Q&A       4. How to use the ROI calculator       5. Meeting your CSM       6. After trial Feedback       7. Building the mutual action plan (MAP)       8. Referral call       9. Meeting your company leader / executive      10. Walkthrough of the executive summary      11. Product Roadmap        12. Onboarding / Implementation plan     (can be combined with Meeting CSM)      13. Legal Review      14. Security review      15. Technical deep dive with solution engineer. Which one is your favourite?

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The 3 biggest mistakes sales leaders can make this summer: 1️⃣ Allowing errors in payslips of their teams 2️⃣ Not giving reps real-time access to earnings 3️⃣ Making their team recalculate commissions manually Why it’s crucial to address these now: 🔥 Errors in Payslips: Salespeople thrive on commissions. Errors will make them feel undervalued and lose trust in you - impacting morale instantly! 🔥 Shaky market: Selling in 2024 is not easy. We must think outside of the box to keep morale high - some of our clients decided to advance X% of commissions to boost motivation! 🔥 Focus on Selling: Reps should sell, sell, sell - not do admin. Every minute spent on admin work is a minute lost from selling. When 30 reps are checking their earnings weekly, sales suffers. 🌟 That said --> to boost your teams' performance, start by automating compensations to ensure accurate, on-time payouts. This eliminates errors that demoralize reps. Next, keep your team motivated with commission transparency and partial commission advances. Don't worry about clawbacks - Dolfin has you covered. Then consider equipping your reps with the right tools so they focus on revenue-generating tasks. Your sales team is working harder than ever. They really deserve control over what matters most to them: 📣 Their Sales Commissions 📣

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