Kamran

Mortgage Broker

Never felt so shit at a job

Recently started 2 weeks ago an ENT SDR role for a Saas company that shows good potential.

Problem is I haven't booked a single meeting after 2 weeks of nonestop calling while my co worker who started at the same time as me is at quota already...(8 meetings)

I know not to compare myself to other but damn I feel I got my open and pitch down but after that I got nothing, my questions seem pointless, low-key don't even understand our value prop or what problem we are truly fixing.

Any resources or anything I can do to get better at this?

So far I'm shadowing the top SDR today

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32 comments

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CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

1) being an SDR is a grind, try to look at it long term - you may not have booked a meeting today but did you learn something new?
2) sales is 96% luck, they may have just been assigned to a “hotter” patch than you
3) shadow some of the more experienced reps on your team, there may be some tricks you can pick up
4) you are two weeks in. It takes me longer than two weeks to get ahold of accounts that spend 7 figures with us lol. Just keep doing the right things, keep the motion up, and eventually people will get back to you

AnchorPoint

Politicker

Business Coach

96% luck??

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

Yes. And I will die on this hill. I’ve seen the best reps I’ve ever worked with get dealt an impossible territory and get put on a PIP, and seen reps that barely qualify as a wet sponge somehow luck into a territory that wants to buy everything with no objections.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

🧽

bandabanda

Tycoon

Senior AE Mid Market

Haha so true

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

wow TONS of good feedback in this thread. here are my 2 cents;

1. this is totally normal. many SDRs struggle to really grasp the product. its probably not even your fault, many companies dont do a good job ensuring their teams really GETS it.

2. Its easy to fix!
sounds like you have a good understanding of what pieces your missing. This is huge. many ppl say "i dont get it!" but dont do the work to understand what they dont know.

talk to the other guy who hit quota, and talk to your manager or other team members you trust. (i would go to your manager at least)

Id share your story and how you are determined to be successful but you are missing some pieces and just need some help filling those gaps (it is your managers job to make sure you are successful so hopefully they will help you)

Keep us posted on how this goes!

Kamran

Opinionated

Mortgage Broker

Couldn't agree more! Just spoke to my manager who pointed me to some internal resources to try out on product training so hopefully it helps!

Thank you for your help!!

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Good - shadow that top rep and take notes on the value points of what you're selling. It's likely that he or she is communicating that clearly in order to get those meetings. You're very new at the role, and the other rep might have experience or simply grasped some nuance a bit more quickly than you did. No issue. Good for you for taking steps to address this. Do not give up.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

First off - nothing wrong with feeling like you suck at a job. Happens. And I think you recognize the 'why' - you don't understand your product and its value to the marketplace.

2 weeks is still VERY new IMO. Too new to be putting you on the phones full time and expecting any real results.

Your co-worker who is killing his quota probably came in with a deeper/better understanding of the product and marketplace. Don't compare yourself to him at this point. Although he does kinda make you look bad. It is what it is.

Glad to see you shadowing the top SDR - that's the right move. Learn from that person and try to understand your product and why people may want it.

Talk to the Sales people - ask them about the value the product brings to the market and WHY people actually buy it. They should be doing this proactively with you, but it sounds like its a sink or swim environment.

If at the end of the day you still don't get it - don't sweat it. Doesnt mean sales isnt for you, it just means selling that product isn't for you.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

What is the other noob doing different from you?
What is your "script"?

It takes time, be patient.

Kamran

Opinionated

Mortgage Broker

Honestly nothing, I listened to his calls he seems to be able to get the right DM or prospects more easily?

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

How is he specifically doing that? Listen to what he says exactly and compare with your approach.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Good points. As others have said too, there is a lot of luck in outbound.

Keep increasing product knowledge and keep steady on output.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Does your company have a formal sales training? At two weeks, under my programs that I run, you’d still be incubating.

If you feel that the other SDR isn’t doing anything drastically different, but is finding DMs faster, then it’s time to switch your discovery tactics. Build better LinkedIn searches based on your ICP and personas. Find Director+ people to reach out to and get after it.

Kamran

Opinionated

Mortgage Broker

Yeah the formal sales training was about a week and few days, ok makes sense I will try that thank you!

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

What would make you (as the client) book an appointment with you (company)?

Kamran

Opinionated

Mortgage Broker

The only thing I understood is that we streamline and automate the companies supply chain...yet I don't see the real problem we're fixing

Notmyrealname

Politicker

In that case your value is in adding agility and reducing waste. A lot of orgs, like pepsico, are spending big money to make their supply chains more responsive to consumer behaviour. Reducing costs and improving sustainability are your business impacts. You probably have a few different ICPs with different pains so you should probably ask for more info on that internally.

Kamran

Opinionated

Mortgage Broker

Yeah that's something that was mentioned to us during training, thanks I'll look into that more!

bandabanda

Tycoon

Senior AE Mid Market

Lots of great advice here, I won’t add to the noise with the practical stuff.

Just wanted to encourage you that sales is a G.R.I.N.D. You will have shitty days and awesome days…every sales person has to learn how to stay steady or else you will burn out. Sales is a long-game.

For me, it was redefining how I view success. Success = consistency and growth; ie. 1% better every day. Do I see myself doing everything I can? Am I slowly but surely getting better?

Hope this helps. You’ve got this young savage!

Thatsalesdude

Politicker

Account Executive

Learn about the company and what solutions you have in your pocket and target that area in companies you call.

Smilesndialz

Politicker

SDR

First off, two weeks is a little too soon to be on the phones IMO. Second, I think shadowing the top rep is a good idea, you can learn a lot from them. I’d also try to look in your company’s enablement folder to see if you can find cold call scripts, competitor battle cards, and any customer stories.

0PercentCloseRate

Politicker

Oh boy

Been doing ENT SDR for two years. There are some accounts that I've been calling the whole time and I STILL don't have an inroad.

Be patient. It takes a long time. If you're concerned about performance, keep an open dialogue with your manager about missing quota and what you're doing to change that. It's what I do when things are looking slim.

Kamran

Opinionated

Mortgage Broker

Damn that's reassuring thank you!

SADNES5

Politicker

down voters are marketing spies

Ask to listen in on one of your co-workers calls, take notes.

Ask to listen to some other high performers calls, good SDRs will be open to share, if they push back ask your boss if you can listen in.

See what method aligns with how you sell. Re work your pitch.

First stop in solving a problem is identifying the problem. Like CoorsKing said - maybe they have non-marketing assigned leads.

NotCreativeEnough

Big Shot

Professional Day Ruiner

if you 2 are using the same script exactly - listen to his tonality. This is HUGE.

Also, could be territory. Some territories are just better than others.

Biggest thing though is that you need to really understand your value prop, what problems you fix, and what an ideal customer looks like. Being confident in those will make you sound significantly more knowledgable on the phone and like the person they should be speaking to.

CorporateStiff

Executive

Account Executive

Coorsking is right.
Shadowing top reps is my number one advice to all newbs.
Number two is to keep your mind right- whatever it takes….your mindset is uphill from everything else that you do in life so literally do whatever it takes to keep your mind right. You need a therapist - go get one using your company’s EAP benefits. You need a piece of chocolate after each appointment you book? Do it. You need to wear non-creased sneaks while braiding your pubic hair, keep that shot low-key, but do it. Your mindset affects everything else you do in your life so the best thing you can learn is how to choose a mindset that empowers you to be successful.

From your post it seems like your mindset is in the lower rungs of the emotional ladder right now (e.g. frustrated, blaming, comparing, depressed, angry…these are all, “lower rung” type feelings) and you need to pick yourself up. Get your swagger back (which is why you were hired), and know you can do it, if you stay curious (curiousoty is the middle rung of the emotional ladder - google this shit if you havent seen it), keep exploring to find tips and tricks and word tracks that work, and find a way to reset your mindset quickly if things aren’t going your way.

This took me years to learn and a couple less than successful stints at other companies but now that we are past it, I crush consistently. Every so often i have a bummer of a month but i always bounce back now that I know how.

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

My man, ENT SDR and 2 weeks in, you're lucky if you get something that sticks 2 months in. warm em up and trust that what you are doing now will pay off the long game is almost more important than the short one.

AnchorPoint

Politicker

Business Coach

Shadowing is a great start. Don't give up... keep refining and staying positive.

ZEnabler

Good Citizen

CEO of Sales

It's totally normal OP. Most important is that you take the appropriate actions to continuously improve.

Best thing I'd recommend is to reach out to someone other than your manager for coaching & mentorship.

ChickenDinner

Politicker

Account Executive

It's helpful to do call reviews with your manager, for him to hear your call recordings and give feedback. But I found it even more helpful to just share my screen with him and he basically just followed me around for 2 hours, got to see how I took notes, how I researched, not just the calls, but the in between calls stuff, and I was able to think out loud with him. Get your sales manager to follow you for 2 hours and I bet he will find at least a couple areas to improve on! Also, push through it for at least 3 months before making any conclusions and there will be a light at the end of the tunnel

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

Officer of ♥️

I'd say get to understand your calue prop and what problem you are fixing. I'd youtube the video 'start with why'.

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Kamran

Never felt so shit at a job

32 comments

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