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Sales Models, Metrics, and Motions Blog

SDR, AE, and CSM analysis

Sales Models, Metrics, and Motions Blog

Inside Sales Experts Blog

by

Trish Bertuzzi

Author Jonathan Franzen said "one-half of a passion is obsession, the other half is love." With that in mind, ask anyone who's met Trish and they'll tell you - she is passionate about Inside Sales. Trish often remarks on how lucky she is to work with an amazing team at The Bridge Group, helping Sales & Marketing leaders make the big decisions: on implementation strategy, process to improve performance, supporting technology, metrics & measurement. Over the last two decades, Trish has promoted Inside Sales as a community, profession and engine for revenue growth. In the process, The Bridge Group has worked with over 220 B2B technology clients to build, expand and optimize their inside sales efforts.

Recent Posts

Account-Based Lessons Learned: 2016-Today

Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Thu, Apr 04, 2019

 
Account-based revenue is a concept as old as outbound sales. The names have varied—whale hunting, selling to big companies, target account sales, and so on—but the desire has always been the same:

Get strategic on big accounts.
Win the opportunities that matter.
And once we’ve landed, grow the account.

2016 was the year that strategic outbound and account-based approaches stepped out from behind the inbound shadow. Over the last 3+ years, the thinking, the tools, and the tactics have continued to evolve.

Account-Based Interest over time

I thought I’d share what I’ve seen change over that time both in our client work and in our experience as a consulting firm selling to named accounts. It just so happens that my friends over at Engagio recently published a revised second edition of their ABM ebook. I’ve included snippets below to emphasis my points.

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How One Company Integrates SDRs into their Account-Based Strategies

Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Fri, Mar 09, 2018

We all know account-based (ABx) strategies are hot.

Search for “account-based technology” on Google, and before you know it, targeted display ads will fill your browser, vendor branded socks will arrive in your mailbox, and dozens of new SDR cadences will flood your inbox. 

No doubt, the technology behind ABx is amazing. But what gets less attention is how the SDR role needs to evolve to support it. I want to share one company’s journey. Meet Zignal Labs.

Zignal Labs, Inc. provides a cloud-based platform that analyzes social and digital media in real-time and delivers data-driven insights. By way of orientation, their average deal is six figures and the sales cycles run 6–8 months. Jamie Varley, Director of Account Development at Zignal, shared how his group integrates into the company’s account-based approach.

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Be Greedy When Others Are Fearful: One VP's Perspective on the Phone

Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Fri, May 12, 2017

Call avoidance. It was a problem in 1997, 2007, and most assuredly is still a problem in 2017.

Today, sales leaders are battling rep reluctance, generational preference, and vendor “thought leadership” blasting the phone as antiquated. This is both an easy sell and entirely wrongheaded. Great SDRs, great AEs, and great leaders have grit. Cultivating grit requires embracing tension, encountering pushback, and experiencing confrontation.

That’s why I’m happy to share this tongue-in-cheek post from Matt Amundson, VP of Sales Development and Field Marketing at Everstring. Mastering the phone is an out-of-the-box skill of exactly no one. Which is why it is so important that leaders help their teams develop these skills. Without further ado, here’s Matt.
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You know when you read something and it really sets you off? Something you disagree with so deeply that you can’t help not responding? That happened to me when I ran across Emails Only Please - 10 Reasons Why Phone Calls Are a Waste of Time shared on LinkedIn as a reason to not make sales calls.

Let me save you a click and offer my rebuttal.

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Does Sales Development Have a Glass Ceiling?

Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Tue, Feb 28, 2017

I've started and stopped writing this post half a dozen times over the last few months. I hesitated as I didn't want to upset anyone or look like I am casting shade on some amazing and successful people. But the more I've thought about it, the more I've come to understand that this is a topic that needs to be discussed.

I'm talking about the glass ceiling in Sales Development. And no, I don't mean the glass ceiling faced by many women and minorities. I mean this:

Once you have risen to the rank of VP of Sales Development, how do you crack into the C-suite?
Where do you go next?

Some of the best and brightest our industry has to offer are sitting in an SDR leadership role right now. They run global teams, report to the CEO, and are instrumental in revenue growth. But have their careers hit a glass ceiling? I chatted with three (current and former) Sales Development Leaders that I have immense respect for and posed the question to them. Here's what they had to say.

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