TennisandSales

Head Of Sales

Politicker

Acclaimed Answer

Executive

Would you still do cold out reach?

Here is the situation team:

team of 2 AEs 1 SDR.

0 marketing support or collateral to send to prospects.

TCV: $150K - $500K

I am trying to still get cold outreach going. ive been working on messaging, making dials, sending emails trying to get something going.

the other AE does not believe this is even a good idea because we have nothing to send ppl who ask us questions. This feeling has rubbed off on the SDR who has stopped out reach and just waiting for inbound leads.

Does the lack of resources make you want to stop doing out reach? or am I right in still trying to make it work???

EDIT: the other AE wants to pause all out reach until we get more support from marketing, which is suppose to happen. This is suppose to drive more leads inbound and provide us with more material

🔎 Prospecting

💌 Cold Emailing

📞 Cold Calling

65 comments

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CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Yes. The pipeline ain't gonna build itself. 🤷‍♀️

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

I think you should always be trying to do SOMETHING.

Really unfortunate and kinda wild though that you have nothing to send off

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

it is wild! iv never seen anything like it before

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

At least you'll look even better when you make shit happen though...

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

yeah thats what i keep telling my self! im struggling to get results my self but I HAVE to believe my approach will win out

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

If you just sit around and wait nothing is going to happen. If someone has a question you set up a meeting to answer? Just b/c you don't have a marketing produced PDF doesn't mean you can't sell.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

ok that is what im saying! also the other AEs point is that we WILL be getting more marketing support and that we should just wait until that happens so we dont look like we dont know what we are doing.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Bias for action always prevails

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

oooo that is poetic i like that

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Its part of the job that no one likes, but its part of it for a reason. You need to be doing some form of outreach in order to hit quota in 99% of sales roles

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

im really confused on why the other AE doesnt get this...seems super basic but 🤷‍♂️

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

Enterprise AE

First SaaS company I worked for didn't have a website for 6 months and we sold over $2m ARR - it works, if they have a question get them on the phone. No one reads collateral anymore IMO, unless it's from a direct competitor.

Keep hunting, tell the other AE to kick rocks - if someone on my AE team discouraged an SDR from reaching out they'd get bodied. The SDR should be reaching out and look at inbounds as a bonus.

How are you getting inbounds with 0 marketing support or collateral anyways?

also my $0.02, with that TCV and that small of a team, the SDR shouldn't talk to an inbound lead. They should focus on outbound and the inbounds should be round-robin to the AEs for qualification. As an AE you can take the 30 mins to qualify / set next steps and not have the awkward SDR "hand off" after they don't get the answers you want anyways.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

I agree with everyting you said haha. the only way we have been getting inbound leads is because we have some a little name recognition through the parent company, or through companies that have looked at us in the past and coming back again.

I also agree with the SDR approach. I have talked to leadership about this. But almost all of the inbounds recently have been much smaller opportunities so I dont get to worried about it.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I wouldn't wait either. I'd be doing outreach rather than sitting around waiting for something to happen.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

yeah i dont see the "do nothing" strategy working out very well.. 😂

LordOfWar

Tycoon

Blow it up

Let us not forget the most important psalm in the sales bible: S.A.D.N.E.S.S. If you ain't got the script then you can't get in shit for going off it.

One should always cold call. Let they prospects be just and true lest ye suffer the faith of 1,000 hang-ups.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

Amen!

YoursTruly

Politicker

Account Executive (SaaS)

Pdfs from marketing don’t win you deals. Have a good value prop, ask good questions, book a demo.

You have the chance now to crush your peer. He doesn’t want to sell? Great!!!! Go win all of the deals. Blow him out of the water.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

thank you for validating how im feeling. I was starting to wonder if im insane!!

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

ALWAYS PROSPECT!

HappyGilmore

Politicker

Account Executive

100% think you should still do cold outreach in this scenario.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

🙌🙌💰

Thatsalesdude

Politicker

Account Executive

Keep ripping dials. 1 meeting is better than none

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

yeah im trying to keep that mindset for sure

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Make your own or get out. Nobody is going to care about your complaints about lack of support when you don’t make your quota.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

fore sure!!

AnchorPoint

Politicker

Business Coach

The top of that funnel ain't gonna fill itself! Get busy.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

as much as I wish it would@

IYNFYL

Politicker

Enterprise SaaS AE

Dialing for dollars bro

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

lets get it!

Werkzeug

Politicker

Account Executive

IDK man...if you do get the materials they say they need, I have a suspicion there will just be another roadblock they will come up with to avoid outbound efforts.

Most of the time "send me some material to review" is BS anyway. I try to set up a 10-15 min zoom call for the harbor tour rather than sending an email with collateral or a deck (that they likely won't look at or if they do - now what?). This ensures that they are present with you, actively looking at your solution, and gives them the chance to ask questions. After 10-15 mins, if you're having a good conversation, you cut it short and book the longer, more in depth discovery call, ideally with multiple stakeholders.

I've been "waiting" for marketing resources to generate more inbound for two years. I'm at the point now where when it comes up in meetings that "we're working on some really exciting new marketing initiatives to drive more inbound traffic for you guys", it just sounds hollow, and I go right back to prospecting.

We have a team of 2 SDRs and 5 AEs. The SDRs generate about 3-4 meetings per week, round robin. So that's not very reliable either.

At the end of the month/quarter/year, no matter what happens or how much of it is within your control, you'll be evaluated on revenue generated. No matter how supportive your leadership proclaims to be, you'll get the "did not meet expectations" rating and possibly PIPd. Fuck that noise.

Good luck, Tennis! You = MVP

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

i totally agree!!! i guess i need ppl to validate my thought process because I was starting feel like im the crazy one.

but i 100% agree! there will always be something else!

When i was a full time SDR i NEVER not ONE TIME sent a piece of collateral and then had someone go "you know what, that one pager really spoke to me"

😂😂😂

Werkzeug

Politicker

Account Executive

LOL same here...not a single time. Must be because after six months of meetings on the matter, marketing chose the wrong shade of blue.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

they call it "start up Blue" for a reason! everyone uses it😂

RomyJax2020

Valued Contributor

Enterprise Sales Dev

Ok wow, never ever should you stop outbounding. With that said, are there any stats you can share with prospects, like % of increased Rev?

If no marketing materials, try and write or say things that are more creative- send a scenario of how it would feel to use your service, or how a specific role has a better day to day experience and less manual work with your service.

Or just ask- are you in the market for x? I see you're using y, would love to speak when it's time to evaluate a new vendor.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

yeah thats the other problem i have I dont have any stats. I cant tell a prospect (at least with 100% confidence) that we can do x or Y. i can make assumptions and stretch the truth a bit but we have never looked at the data and figured it out.

id do that part my self but the VP of CS keeps everything under lock and key

RomyJax2020

Valued Contributor

Enterprise Sales Dev

That’s wild! I mean honestly HOW are you supposed to sell anything without info? Just say “buy this”? Lol maybe look for a new company?

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

"buy this!! others have bought it! they love it! i promise! buy it!"

RomyJax2020

Valued Contributor

Enterprise Sales Dev

Other people have bought it and they love it but I can’t tell you who and I don’t know why they like it… but trust me 😂

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

TRUST ME IM A SALES PERSON! 😂 people love to hear that

RomyJax2020

Valued Contributor

Enterprise Sales Dev

PS- you can build relationships w/out marketing or a SDR. I rarely use anything from marketing cause it's so salesy, being good at sales is being natural and friendly.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

100% agree.

salezkween

Opinionated

Enterprise Account Executive

Hold up, you hiring? This sounds like a real opportunity to come in and crush it 😅

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

hahah thats the mind set I am in right now! gotta set these people straight and show what I can do! lets gooo!

salezkween

Opinionated

Enterprise Account Executive

And yes, outbound because marketing leads aren’t going to be good anyways

salezkween

Opinionated

Enterprise Account Executive

okay also just create a snippets library in outreach of common responses to FAQ to insert into emails in absence of marketing shiny one paper. or make your own one pagers

salezkween

Opinionated

Enterprise Account Executive

if TCV is that high, AEs should not be amateurs at outbounding

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

I told them this! I told them as soon as we start investing in any sort of "seo" (Which is what everyone keeps calling it but its not SEO its paid Google ads but thats a different post)

we will get s few leads, and they will be MUCH smaller ACV opportunities than we want.....and when they did that for a bit....thats EXACTLY what happened.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

id love to have Outreach.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

yeah probably true.

SouthernSlanger

Valued Contributor

Director of Sales

Step One: read any sales book that’s sold more than 5k copies. Find the chapter they all have about why outbound is necessary. Read it twice.

Step Two: stop waiting on someone (marketing or sdrs) to save you. No one is coming to save you. You must. Pick up. The phone.

Step 3: Retire early and think about that one dude on this app for sales people that told you to this

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

ill never forget the SouthernSlanger thats for DAMN sure!

TheOverTaker

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

I mean if you arent doing anything...are you doing anything?

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

best question of the day!

adrienmc

Good Citizen

Founder @LaGrowthMachine

“Because we have nothing to send ppl who ask us questions”

This is a bullshit excuse not to prospect…

Most young organizations do not have dedicated marketing teams creating ressources, yet they sell!

Yes, it takes more time because you have to write stuff yourself. But come on… don’t be lazy…

By the 10th prospect, you’ll all have your selection of verbatim that will replace the lack of materials to send

Plus honestly, nowadays, people don’t read collaterals. It’s much more effective to record a 3min video showcasing whatever the topic you need to explain to your prospect :
- much more personal
- much more tailored to their specific situation/problems
Than generic marketing material

Management should be ashamed for allowing such bad behavior…

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

i also suggested the short videos! i think this other AE has never had to source their own leads before so this whole thing is new to them

YoursTruly

Politicker

Account Executive (SaaS)

You have a sdr who refuses to do outbound?!

You own your number. I would never stop prospecting.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

never thought I would see i but YES. its not all his fault because leadership keeps giving this kid a bunch of random stuff to do and its distracting him from what he really NEEDs to do

GDO

Politicker

BDM

No what a horrible idea

AutoSmiler

Arsonist

Account Executive

SDR should be let go. Their whole purpose is to build awareness around your product/brand and get meetings on the calendar. The SDR is your marketer without the marketing. An inbound SDR who isn't conducting any cold outreach while he is the sole SDR at your org is futile and a waste of money. At that point, I would lay him off and allocate the salary towards the AE's and make them work full cycle. That SDR is doomed for failure with this mindset as is your AE colleague. I can certainly say I wouldn't want to work alongside or manage anyone with this thought process. This is sales. We are go-getters. If they want to patiently wait around all day, they should post up outside a DMV in Jersey.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

so I do agree that this SDR is not being utilized fully. But its not 100% their fault.

the CCO keeping asking him to do all this other work and keeps trying to "develop him". which the SDR thinks is great. he THINKS this will help him be a better AE but it will 100% not.

So im working on getting the CCO to understand this.

AutoSmiler

Arsonist

Account Executive

Good luck man. Outbound is the necessary evil in this world but that's for those who think it's evil, ha!

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

well it sure isnt my favorite thing thats for sure haha.

But, there isnt a better rush then setting a meeting off a cold call i will say that.

revenuegenerator

Praised Answer

Sales Management

Ughh.. that's the startup life. Competitive positioning, product positioning, all needs to be created by you. How you do that is by obtaining knowledge from having conversations with your ICPs (ideal customer profiles, which you are probably identifying now in this situation).

You guys clearly need content but at the end of the day, when is the last time you read a datasheet? NOBODY reads them.

I don't recommend doing this. But when someone has asked me to send information on a cold call/email, I haven't actually sent them anything in probably the last 5 years. I've only been called out on it twice.

"send me information" is just an objection. Sounds like this rep may be being lazy or doesn't know how to handle objections well. Maybe some training in that area would help.

Do you have any customers? Tell him to pick one, write up a paragraph on the biz value they gained from the product, copy and paste their logo in an email and voila! he has his content.

If I ever told my management I'm not going to prospect because I don't have the right content to send people I'd be in the unemployment line.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

Yep this is all true. I have a meeting next week with the boss and the other AE to talk about prospecting....i feel like its gunna get heated because im sure at the core of it, the other AE just DOESNT want to make dials. so, should be fun!

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TennisandSales

Would you still do cold out reach?

65 comments

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