Controversial Sales Topics

Hi all, I've been recently engaged on some topics that are highly opinionated/debated. Here are a few so far:


  • Is the SDR/AE model dead?
  • Building diverse teams - It's up to white men to turn this ship around
  • Why do companies require SaaS experience for sales reps?
  • Removing sales commissions...and even quotas?
  • Why is marketing a great department (kidding, that one was for @GeneralCorp)
  • Words/phrases I use that annoy people (at the end of the day, drill down, circle back, etc)


I'm curious, what other debates are out there? Since we live in a society where it seems everyone is offended, I want to dig into some other topics as well.


PS - Cold calling is dead is another one, but I think that's been exhausted for the past 3 or 4 years.

3
JC10X
Politicker
4
Senior Sales Manager
full cycle sales is the future
BlueChipEd
1
CRO
Definitely think it's possible. I want to start seeing startups embrace this model and start to see the series A, B, etc rounds being funded. I think the VC world for startups is still set on this go to market/scale philosophy.
wahmsales
WR Officer
1
SDR
I agree with this. As an SDR I was about to book a demo with a prospect, but when I told him my colleague would be calling him, he was no longer interested. The prospect said that I was hired just to do the dirty work for the AEs.
0
An SDR is there to qualify prospects... that goes both ways, yes to provide AE with SQL ready for action but also to help companies with quick answers to see if your company has what they want!
The SDR role is SO INCREADIBLY IMPORTANT, you set the rapport and are responsible for "closing potential customers" on starting the sales cycle or dismissing the company as no-good!!
The process is there for a reason, and it's OK to directly challenge your leads:

- Yes Mr Prospect, my job is to do the dirty work for the AE's, their job is to spend time only with people we can truly help, if you don't feel our solution can help why would you want to waist time speaking with our AE's?

👉 Engage them for a real response to find the true objection.
But most importantly, know why you do what you do!!!!!
SalesPharaoh
Big Shot
1
Senior Account Executive
I'm from Egypt so i'm across the pond and some. But i consume a lot of US media and something I noticed is that comedy and sense of humor changed a lot. What remained fun is Key and Peele and a movie like Tropic Thunder would be super offensive if it was produced today.

Back to your controversial topics:

I'm frustrated when companies need people with experience for a position that doesn't need it. Why not invest or train resources?

I think a better question, is how relevant customer success?

How cold calling evolved? 
BlueChipEd
1
CRO
Ah, interesting feedback on comedy and sense of humor. I wonder if it's changed because everything is "sensitive" and people are offended easily. 

Regarding experience, I like building diverse teams, some with experience and some without. I think there are great amount of perspectives available when hiring people outside of an industry. 

Customer success...a topic near and dear to me! Quite frankly there are many companies who get this wrong, very wrong. This isn't a dumping ground nor is it just support. There are a huge amount of gains to be realized from an effective customer success team, regardless of industry/product/service. When done right, this can be a big differentiator in accelerating profitable growth. 

Cold calling evolution - That's a great one too! 
SalesPharaoh
Big Shot
1
Senior Account Executive
Actually glad you brought customer success up. I'm one of those people who will get it wrong because on one hand I feel that their role should be taking over the account post deal closure. On another I see them as someone who is acting like governance checking into the accounts, onboarding them etc but not managing them. Im absolutely confused about that one there hope to know how you guys dealt with that dept.
BlueChipEd
2
CRO
So that's a great example of customer success done wrong! Ownership of accounts? I think that depends on the relationship between company and customer. Sometimes that's absolutely necessary. Other times it winds up being a bit of a problem based on turnover, lack of engagement, etc. When done right, "ownership" of an account is the company and the company should always align it's teams to the customer. 
Trinity
WR Officer
1
BusDev
Why are sales trainers not training SDRs/BDRs/AEs to learn how to read statements of public companies when they're supposed to prospect C-suite/VP.
BlueChipEd
1
CRO
Ah, great callout. I think the role of "sales trainer" is very few and far between these days. Most of the training is done by the direct manager in tandem with other cross functional teams (marketing, product, customer success, ops, etc). Training is definitely needed on this topic, especially since the 10-K has a ton of info it in. 
Trinity
WR Officer
0
BusDev
Email Personalisation vs Relevance
BlueChipEd
1
CRO
Yes, another great one! I see personalization all over the place and it's often misused. Personalization doesn't mean, "Hey I noticed you went to Ohio State...go Bucks" and then go right into pitch. So on one hand, personalization needs defined. Secondly, is it fully necessary during every step of the outreach? I like to personalize to the persona (relevance) to find out if that person is experiencing any of the problems that my solution solves. Great topic!
5

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