Kelsey Cowher

SDRs / AEs: Account Selection is king right now when prospecting. Use these 5 filters on Sales Nav (LinkedIn Sales Solutions) to uncover healthy & growing companies: 1. Buyer intent 2. Recent leadership hires  3. Recent funding (last 9 months is good) 4. Headcount growth in the last 6-months 5. Recent hiring in the org / persona segment you target 6. % distribution of personas that makeup the total employee headcount There are still companies out there who are growing and investing.. You just need to find them. Don't cast a wide net right now, you're likely wasting a ton of time. Instead, go deeper on fewer accounts.

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Hey SDRs and SDR Leaders. important update of skills you must have Software Defined Radio Sustainability Disclosure Requirement keep an eye here for more tounge and cheek hints.

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SDRs - struggling with prospecting? Here are 5 ACTIONABLE tips to create a great list: 1. List the industries that your company has success in. 2. List titles you've booked meetings with that have progressed to SQO. 3. List the problems those titles and industries face. 4. Create problem-based messaging for calls, emails and LI 5. Set a high volume of calls/emails/videos to go out to your ICP and refine from there. BONUS: A/B test as you have live conversations to refine your targeting

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The decision to use ZoomInfo has never been easier. 🚀 But just in case you're still on the fence, hear it straight from the source! Check out the customer testimonials at the link below.

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I’ve helped 12+ AEs and SDRs transition into SE/SC roles. There’s no doubt that you can earn a lot as an AE. AEs can make $1,000,000+ in a good year - a very lucrative career path. But the reality is most AEs don’t get there. It takes an exceptional AE to earn consistently at high levels, year in and year out. (I personally would be a terrible AE 😅) A big reason why folks pivot to Sales Engineering is because the earning potential is solid and much more consistent. That’s what the data in the image shows: 36% avg quota attainment for AEs vs... 74% for SE from this same company, with similar OTE’s As an SE, you don’t always have the extreme upside* that your AE counterpart will, but your income is more stable. (*there are some companies that pay SEs similar to AEs, with SEs able to clear $1M+ in a great year, though this is more of the exception than the rule) As an SE, there’s also less pressure to hit quota, quarter after quarter. The roles are different, with different responsibilities and varying degrees of risk (and upside). Both paths can provide tremendous opportunities depending on your strengths and the type of work you enjoy. Hope this provides some perspective for those who are considering SE or AE career paths. #sales #presales #compensation (source: RepVue)

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If you’re an SDR/BDR there’s a good chance you are about to see massive changes with your role. Here’s why: The title has always been transactional and supplemental in the sales process - both things that the buying market doesn’t give a sh*t about. And no leader wants to admit that 👆🏻 The reason it has survived so long is because it does the dirty work for the salespeople that aren’t willing to prospect or don’t like prospecting. And no salesperson wants to admit that 👆🏻 It’s a role that’s been tormented by leadership Looked down upon as “little” or “unimportant” And in general, has become a whirlwind of doing the same damn thing and expecting a different result… Not to mention my favorite thing Watching SDRs get hired and 30 days later they are being fired because their “results are lacking” LOL… It’s comical. It’s why we need a Rebellion. If you’re an SDR/BDR you should consider becoming a Rebel and doing it different like your colleagues in our programs. More results, more passion, more purpose, more desire, better outcomes. Creating your own job security not just at the org you represent, but because you can now go replicate those results anywhere else. Our free Rebel Slack community is always open. #ChangeTheGame #BDR #SDR

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How much AEs make is crazy. (Just for hitting 100%) 𝗔𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: 1. SMB = $140k 2. MM = $165k 3. ENT = $255k And if you get really good the numbers are much much higher. So if you have that feeling deep down that you want to bet on yourself, take some risk and see what your potential is. My advice is to do it. Life's too short not to go for it. - Mike G 👉 Join 8,000+ sellers getting my (free) sales newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/gwQVvVBK

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Engaging the right buyers at the right time is critical to sales success. ZoomInfo Copilot's Target Account Digests alert you when your most promising suspects are showing the right buying signals. 🔔 Get personalized daily digests — delivered via Slack or email — with AI-powered recommendations for next steps. Never miss a sales opportunity with ZoomInfo Copilot: bit.ly/3yxBNes #ZoomInfoCopilot

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Ashi from Gong is fast (😮‍💨10k) But not as fast as Gong Engage users when they use Lavender. Access to your Gong calls in our personalization assistant ✅ Access to our coach & "Ashi fast" personalization in Gong ✅ Better 🤝 Faster 3.0 (and so much more) coming soon

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Have you ever tried leaning back on your cold calls? 📞 No, I'm not talking about physically leaning back (you might fall out of your chair) I mean using a more casual and humorful tone with your prospects. Almost every new SDR/BDR thinks they need to be 1000% serious when talking to exec-level prospects and I'm here to say that's just not the case. In fact, I began seeing more success when I first started cold calling the moment I let my funny bone flex a little. Taking cold calling too seriously is just going to burn you out and bore your prospects. You got to have a little fun with it. Not to mention, your prospects are humans just like you! Sure they may have a big fancy title and wear a suit on their LinkedIn pic but I guarantee you they are human beings (most of them anyway). If you're going to be cold calling today and still don't believe me this is a real quote from a VP of Sales I spoke to last week. ⬇ Me: So what do you have planned for the 4th, any illegal firework action or taking it easy? Prospect: "Nothing too illegal just going to rip a slip n' slide with a pack of Coors light and hope to god my wife doesn't see..." 🤷‍♂️ Your prospects are humans Don't be too serious Happy Dialing ☎ #coldcalling

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SDR Leaders: “I statements” are killing your reps! Are your SDRs inadvertently making conversations about themselves? It's time to shift the focus. 🚫 "I think it would be a good idea for you to speak with one of my AEs..." 🚫 "I would love to show you our platform..." These "I" statements put your company and SDR first. They scream, "This is how I get paid!" Let's flip the script. The Golden Rule of SDR Conversations: -It's never about the SDR. -It's never about your company. -It's always about the prospect and their pain points. Action Steps for SDR Leaders: -Stomp out "I" statements during role-plays -Train SDRs to disconnect from the outcome (h/t Josh Braun ) -Emphasize: Not every prospect is a fit, and that's OK Remember, there are plenty of fish in the sea. Coach your SDRs to focus on understanding the prospect's needs first. If there's no fit, move on gracefully. By making this shift, your SDRs will build better relationships, have more meaningful conversations, and ultimately, drive better results. But I could be wrong 😑

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The average SDR is making $85,000 The average SMB AE is making $130,000 a year. The average MM AE is making $165,000 a year. If you crush it as an SDR, are at a company that actually promotes top talent, and continue to perform as an AE you can literally double your income in just a few years. How cool is that? I teamed up with RepVue and put together a few resources with some more details on salaries based on roles... check it out. SDR salaries & a list of high paying SDR Roles: https://lnkd.in/gqfUbnqR SMB AE salaries & a list of high paying SMB Roles: https://lnkd.in/gcpnQ_Xt Mid-Market AE salaries & a list of high paying MM Roles: https://lnkd.in/gPd-RHCb Ent AE salaries & a list of high paying Ent Roles: https://lnkd.in/gibqD9Gv

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3 mindset shifts to become a higher-performing SDR today: 1. 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲: Need to send that email? Get to it. Need to call a prospect? Pick up the phone. Running low on accounts? Prospect for more. Zero delays. Sounds simple but difficult to execute consistently. 2. 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲: Maximize your focus in everything you do. Commit to pushing through distractions. 3. 𝐇𝐢𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐗: There's a specific effort (your X) required for success. Unique to each rep. Work with your leader to identify your X. Failing to hit your X leads to an inevitable negative outcome. Key takeaways: 1. Every task must be met with a sense of immediacy. 2. Bringing full focus and energy to your outreach drives better-quality conversations and conversions. 3. The X doesn't care about work-life balance. It waits for you every single day. As you continue to level up in skill, the X will naturally decline.

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Genuine Question - When are B2B reps that are LinkedIn prospecting going to learn that people are not going to read their multiple paragraphs of "value selling?" Who is teaching people to do this? It's nothing like normal human communication. If you are doing this, please stop and remember you are a human being trying to talk to another human being. Start with a question specific to that person's potential goals and go from there. Write the question, stop, breathe, drink some water, and send the question. The sales industry is labeled as fake and manipulative because 80% of the industry are sales robots. Be Human.

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Sellers, you should be running closed/lost reports at least twice a year to see who you can re-engage. Here’s 3 easy way’s to create re-engage messages with the mindset of “what’s changed since we last spoke?” 1) what’s changed since we last spoke - prospects business “When we last spoke in January, your team was working on XYZ initiative. Below is a summary of what you shared with me then (provide summary of calls/discovery you had). Curious, were you able to execute on (positive business outcome they had mentioned)? If not I’d welcome a call to hear about progress and I can share what others org are doing right now in this situation” 2) what’s changed since we last spoke - industry insights “When we last spoke in January, your team was working on XYZ initiative. Below is a summary of what you shared with me then (provide summary of calls/discovery you had). There have been some interesting things taking place in (reference customer industry/segment. Drop in anything you’re seeing with similar companies, news articles, regulations, initiatives, themes etc) Happy to jump on a call to chat through what we’re seeing across our prospect and customer base with how they’re addressing this.” 3) what’s changed since we last spoke - your company's product Note: this is my least favorite since it’s about your product and not them, the best way to do it is if the update relates to something important to them “When we last spoke in January, your team was working on XYZ initiative. Below is a summary of what you shared with me then (provide summary of calls/discovery you had). At the time, you had asked for the ability to accomplish (name feature/function). We now have that and I wanted to set time with you walk through how you could use it?” #karpediem

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Dear Sales Leaders, Your incentive programs suck. Amazon Gift cards, AirPods, or Yeti Coolers mean nothing. They aren't inspiring the behaviors you're envisioning: - Consistently exceeding outbound KPIs  - Consistently hitting stretch goals for C/W revenue Cheap gifts for business critical outcomes always fall flat. Whether they're handed out at President's Club or a weekly all hands. I've learned this the hard way over-and-over. After 20 years in tech sales as an IC, manager, director, and now VP. I've seen that you can't expect your reps to climb a mountain. Then reward their blood, sweat, and tears with the bare minimum. There's a better way. The highest performing revenue orgs know this. So they honor exceptional effort + achievement differently. Here’s what I mean. In 2010, I was the #1 global sales rep for Forrester Research (NYSE: FORR). At President's Club in Aruba. Guess what my Global Sales VP recognized my performance with... A coconut monkey holding a phone. That he probably bought at the airport for $5. My other corporate trophies for outstanding contributions to "the business"? Long gone. I've kept the coconut monkey though. Because it’s a hilarious reminder. Of how most leaders think about their sales incentive programs. The saddest part is. I know I'm not alone. There are thousands of top performing sales reps who say the same thing. They've secured millions of dollars of new revenue for their orgs. And have laughable trinkets for their herculean efforts. Why am I not hearing different stories? Why aren't top global reps showing me prized possessions? Like a custom engraved Omega or Cartier watch. My points is. It’s time for sales leaders and their execs assigning them the budget to step up. Reward high achievers with more thought and creativity. You’ll be shocked how much this impacts individual behavior. And sends the right kind of message across your entire sales function. Drop a comment on the BEST piece of recognition you’ve earned. 

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HIRING HOT TAKE 🔥 (I think saying "hot take" is super cringe but it gets people's attention and people know what it means so here we go) Do any other folks in the SaaS + Sales world predict that adaptiveness will increasingly be more valuable than experience alone to recruiters looking to fill AE seats? I'm seeing more and more companies posting for full cycle roles, expecting you to fill your own pipeline. But I suspect for people who have been in the game for a while and are not used to self-sourcing, it could be a change they are reluctant to make. Would love to know your thoughts. (I know, it was kind of a lukewarm take...) #sales #saas #recruiting

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Why is 60-70% of SDRs missing quota? It's because their leadership is failing them. I had the pleasure of interviewing Sara Storm on the SDR Hire Podcast - a tenured SDR and Revenue leader with multiple successful teams behind her, countless lectures and trainings delivered. Sara has a very unique, no BS approach to sales and SDR leadership. In this episode she shared: • What's the current state of the SDR/BDR role • Why sales leaders are failing their sales teams AND their customers • How can SDRs take ownership of their careers?! • Should you even be in an SDR role? • How she used to close 7/10 cold calls she'd make Here's the full episode: https://lnkd.in/eCANhKGu Sara thank you for sharing your expertise and holding sales leaders everywhere accountable! Hope you all enjoy and subscribe! #sdr #bdr #salesdevelopment #techsales #career

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I get it... AEs are busy. Some rapid thoughts on getting AEs to prospect more effectively: 1) Better Time Management Set expectations for time management X hours per day to prospect X # of activities X # of outcomes Show them how this time pairs w/ working their existing opportunities. 2) Better Tools Give them tools to succeed. We want AEs to prospect... but we don't give them the prospecting tools? Lavender CERTAINLY helps But... SEPs, like our partners at Outreach, do make organizing follow ups WAY easier. I hear AEs say it's a little over the top to use a SEP. That likely means they're not prospecting enough. If the tooling is set up well for them, and they're enabled to use it, there's no reason your AEs shouldn't be working from a Outreach, SalesLoft, Gong Engage, etc. 3) Territory segmentation AE prospecting should *not* equal "automate it" because they're too busy. You're just burning their territory and stripping smart people of autonomy. Tier 1 is manual. Tier 2 is automated for BTL buyers. Tier 3 you can start to run more automated plays. Further narrow their view by aligning marketing and SDR resources. 80-100% of pipeline is going to come from that top 20% of accounts. Focus their efforts. 4) Deeper coaching A lot of AEs just don't prospect well, so they don't spend time there. (We're inclined to do what we're good at) Yes, Lavender helps... BUT tech budget is no excuse for enabling sellers. On my profile I have a set of decks (prospecting tips, writing exercises, etc) that will help any seller level up. Use it... it's literally free. Happy to send if folks need it. PS. One of the big problems I've seen is data visibility. AEs love to hop between SEP and Inbox. Creates a tracking nightmare. Lavender has a clean view of this activity (byproduct of creating an email intelligence layer). You can also create activity reporting in SFDC (People AI is great here). I digress... you can't hold people to what you're failing to measure. If you don't set AEs up to do the work... it won't work. PPS. Huge congrats to the Outreach team on their 2024 Revenue Data Analysis! Great stuff here.

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