I recently took part in an online Twitter chat regarding the topic of discovery calls. To perhaps start to distinguish how to run effective discovery calls, it would make sense to firstly define what the actual objective of doing discovery is. I stipulated that that purpose of the discovery call is - ‘to identify areas... Continue Reading →
If you are looking to break into tech, launch a startup, or accelerate your sales career, it is essential that you find great mentors that can share direct and actionable feedback to help you grow throughout your career . Techstars is the perfect example of why mentorship is so important and how it is done... Continue Reading →
As a manager of a SDR team and a former SDR myself, I am quite familiar with the question, “What do you want to do next?” It’s an inquiry often asked of SDRs but rarely asked of account executives, pre-sales consultants, or even SDR managers. It’s a question people interviewing for an SDR role feel... Continue Reading →
A rule of thumb for being successful is to find a mentor who is successful and learn from them. Success leaves crumb trails. But, it seems as if anyone can label themselves an expert in anything. (I just updated my tagline to expert blog writer, yes, it’s that easy). But how do you find a... Continue Reading →
The hardest thing about sales is never giving up. Always staying positive. So many people talk about having 'thick skin', 'grit', and being able to bounce back from failure, but few can actually follow through with it. In baseball, if you win 30% of the time you are an all-star. In business, if you win... Continue Reading →
SDR? AE? BDM? SVP? Hustler...? Safe to say, I hadn’t had much exposure to the world of Inside Sales prior to Refract. I’d worked in field and event sales before this role, but entering the world of SaaS was a totally different ball game; I knew from the get go I was in for a... Continue Reading →
Fun fact: I did a quick search on LinkedIn to see how many SDRs there are right now, and between Sales Development Representative and Business Development Representative, I found 74.1k reps, just in the US. I’d estimate there are well over 100k reps out there, right now, grinding their way through a sea of prospects... Continue Reading →
This article is not about qualification (BANT, ANUM, or the new "right" way of qualification), nor justifying your team is at X% on completion. This is about how to improve your completion rate; even if it is 1%. If your completion rate as a team went up 1% overall for 12 months would that lead... Continue Reading →
So, here it goes. I'd like to share in my experience to date in the SDR role. I don't think I'm "green". Not really sure if I was what you might call "green" when I walked in the doors. New to this role absolutely, but to come to find out tactically; it's made for me. For me,... Continue Reading →
While sales isn’t the easiest career out there, it is definitely one of the most rewarding. The only way you can expect one of your accounts to close is by first having prospected it. But you’ll soon learn that not all prospects are the same- and no, I don’t mean just their titles or the... Continue Reading →
Sales Development never ends… Remember when you were in High School sitting in Earth Science class and you thought,“Why am I learning this?..I will never use this in real life!”. Well it was true. Personally, I haven’t needed to know the difference between sedimentary and metamorphic rocks at all in my lifetime! The skill of... Continue Reading →
I’ve been thinking about what makes salespeople successful a lot lately. One thing has been made very clear to me: Confidence is key. Think about the last time you accomplished something critical to your job. Maybe it was a project, speech, sales call, or business trip. What was your mindset prior to executing the task?... Continue Reading →
What, exactly, is customer success? You are certain to find conflicting answers to this question. While some write it off as SaaS jargon, the latest buzzword, or another Bay Area euphemism, others are quietly seeing the power and effectiveness of a sound customer experience strategy. Why should an SDR care? Customer success can provide a... Continue Reading →
How many of you remember being stood up for a date at the movie theater in high school? If you are under the age of 30, as I assume many of you are, this took the form of a last-minute “emergency” text message. In B2B sales, however, “no shows” more closely resemble how your parents... Continue Reading →
I started out as an SDR for a well-known, award-winning SaaS platform. My boss was the creator of this blog, Brian Vital - a great mentor and leader. He gave me all of the tools I needed and he believed in my abilities. At best, I was a middle-of-the-road rep. I knew how to... Continue Reading →