Bold Calling

In this episode of Bold Calling, Adam Sockel is joined by Leslie Venetz to dive deep into sales development strategies for 2025, backed by insights from Orum's second annual State of Sales Development report. Leslie, with her years of expertise in sales, shares actionable advice on improving outbound strategies, reducing customer acquisition costs (CAC), and shortening sales cycles.

Leslie stresses the importance of an omnichannel approach to outbound sales, explaining how a multi-touch, multi-channel, and multi-media strategy is essential to meeting prospects where they are. The episode also breaks down some of the key findings from the report, including the rising use of social channels and video in sales outreach.

Throughout the conversation, Leslie challenges outdated sales norms, such as spending excessive time researching individual prospects, and offers a fresh perspective on AI's role in the future of sales development. She advocates for AI as a tool to assist, not replace, salespeople, urging organizations to leverage AI for automating low-value tasks while keeping the human touch at the forefront.

This episode is a goldmine for sales leaders looking to optimize their teams for the challenges of 2025, from balancing the roles of sales, marketing, and customer success, to creating more personalized and effective outbound strategies.

Key Discussion Points:

• [02:06] The shift toward an omnichannel outbound strategy: Leslie explains the need for a multi-touch, multi-channel approach.
• [03:16] The myth of "quality vs. quantity" in outbound sales: Leslie challenges the notion that you must choose between personalization and scale.
• [05:55] Understanding your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile): Why aligning your strategy to your buyer's behavior is crucial for outbound success.
• [06:15] How voicemails still play a powerful role in outbound efforts: Leslie outlines how a voicemail strategy can improve overall engagement.
• [10:03] Looking ahead to 2025: How organizations should rethink their approach to sales and customer retention to reduce churn and grow.
• [13:20] Collaborating with customer success (CS) for long-term sales success: Leslie discusses how outbound teams can better partner with CS to drive referrals and upsell opportunities.
• [17:07] Crafting effective sales messaging: Leslie shares why most outbound messages miss the mark and how to fix them.
• [33:14] AI's role in sales development: Leslie emphasizes AI as an assistive tool that should help sales reps focus on higher-value tasks.
• [37:57] Leslie's top 3 outbound channels: The non-negotiables for any sales development team going forward.

Quotes:

• "To optimize outbound, you need to take a multi-touch, multi-channel, multi-media approach... The more diverse your outreach, the more likely you'll reach your prospects where they want to be communicated with." – Leslie Venetz
• "Most of your messaging sucks because it's not customer-centric. Audit your copy to remove 'I' and 'we' language and replace it with customer benefits." – Leslie Venetz
• "AI is assistive, not replaceive. Use it to automate low-risk, low-value tasks and free up time for building relationships." – Leslie Venetz

Resources Mentioned:

• Orum's Second Annual State of Sales Development Report
• Sales Led GTM Agency

Connect with Leslie Venetz:

• LinkedIn: Leslie Venetz

Connect with Orum:

• Website: Orum

In this episode of Bold Calling, presented by Orum, we sit down with Charles Needham, Manager of Revenue Operations and Business Development at Fetch. Charles shares his fascinating journey from Wall Street and private equity to leading sales development teams. He explains how his background in economics gives him a unique lens through which he approaches sales, helping his teams become more efficient and strategic in their outreach efforts.

Charles breaks down the role of risk in sales development, challenging the traditional focus on relationship-building. He argues that reducing uncertainty is key in today's high-interest, high-risk environment. Charles also dives into how sales strategies must adapt to larger economic cycles, particularly focusing on efficiency and profitability over sheer volume-based tactics.

Join us as we explore the future of sales development, the importance of channel-validated outreach, and how tools like Orum are helping sales teams scale while improving outcomes. Whether in sales, operations, or leadership, this episode is packed with valuable insights to help you rethink your approach to modern sales.

In this episode of Bold Calling, Adam Sockel is joined by Michael Pedone, founder of SalesBuzz, to discuss his incredible journey from being a commission-only sales rep to building a seven-figure business.

Michael shares his insights into the importance of self-investment, overcoming cold calling reluctance, and why most salespeople don't invest in their own development. Whether you're new to sales or a seasoned professional, this conversation offers valuable takeaways on mastering the fundamentals and scaling your sales success.

Key Takeaways:

• Michael's Sales Journey: From growing up poor with no college education to selling his first company for seven figures, Michael's story is a testament to how dedication and continual learning can lead to success in sales.

• Overcoming Call Reluctance: Michael offers practical tips for conquering the fear of cold calling, emphasizing the importance of following a simple process. As he explains, "You just need to learn what to say, how to say it, and when to say it."

• The Reluctance to Invest in Personal Development: Michael touches on a frustrating reality—many sales professionals refuse to invest in their own growth. He believes the key to long-term success lies in a willingness to learn and invest in yourself.

We've previously discussed how sales is a mix of science and art with Dee Acosta, but it's also equal parts freestyle and structure. It's "Yes, and" with just a bit of A/B testing.

Shaheem Alam has big thoughts on why outbound sequence order doesn't matter and even bigger thoughts on why you need to pick up the phone. 

In this discussion, Shaheem and Adam get nerdy about relevance and curiosity while focusing on where sales leaders need to be more rigid and where they need to allow some flexibility within the sales process. 

Check out https://fiveringsmarketing.com/ to learn about their business and connect with Shaheem on LinkedIn. 

Chris Cicconi works with multiple organizations as a fractional sales leader, which has given him a nuanced understanding of revenue teams' minds. It takes a long time to earn trust, especially in a space where leaders and individual contributors are judged on their latest accomplishments and numbers. 

Contrary to popular belief on platforms like LinkedIn, process change in sales takes time. It takes a concerted effort and willingness to be bold, especially when working with founders and early-stage start-ups.

Chris and Adam discuss how creating that genuine change from a tactical standpoint and a 20,000-foot mindset shift.

"Too much can mean not doing as well."

Will Aitken shares this truth with host Adam Sockel when breaking down his biggest challenge- Taking on too many opportunities.

A talented sales professional who found a knack for creating video content that other sellers connected with, Will has spent this year branching out on his own. While this has created endless potential partnerships and opportunities to work with creative brands and people, the biggest struggle for Will is what happens when he says "Yes" too often.

The conversation blossoms out from there, diving into Will's career as a content creator and seller, Adam and Will going deep on the importance of building trust during the sales process, and Will's endless love of cold calling.

Looking for more information on Will's work? Check out https://willaitken.com/. And visit https://www.orum.com/podcasts to view every episode of the Bold Calling podcast.

Ali is the Founder of Simple Strat and hosts the wildly successful HubSpot Hacks YouTube show. She joined the latest episode of Bold Calling to discuss how she consults organizations to navigate AI to ensure scalability, and her heightened awareness about shifting marketing strategies as a founder. 

AI is constantly changing the tech stack sales and marketing teams are using, as well as the platforms where we traditionally learn more about customers and prospects, making it essential to find ways to stay in the know. 

Dee Acosta, Senior Director of Sales and Strategic Growth at Modigie, joins Adam Sockel on episode three of the Bold Calling podcast to discuss how cold calling technology has gone from "nice to have" to "need to have" in the last 18 months. 

They also discuss the role of positivity and fun in sales and the importance of building strong relationships between sales and marketing teams. They talk about the importance of giving positive feedback to build a cross-team culture, the impact of cold calling, the value of practical advice in content marketing, the essentiality of quality customer success, and Dee's ideal workday. 

This special episode of the Bold Calling podcast is an audio version of Orum's new State of AI in Sales Development report. 

AI has become a table-stakes aspect of the sales process, as 95% of organizations use AI in sales in some capacity (Salesloft). Sellers agree that it can sharpen their focus as 78% of sales professionals agree that AI can help them spend more time on the most critical aspects of their jobs (Hubspot).

The rise of AI in sales directly correlates with lengthening procurement procedures, with customer acquisition costs rising in the last 12 months (Orum). AI is designed not to replace seller but to optimize how they spend their time. Currently, sellers only spend 28% of their time selling (Salesforce), often spending 25-30 hours weekly on administrative tasks.

AI's power is dependent on sellers' data enrichment capabilities. It works best to keep humans involved in the sales process rather than eliminate them. This is especially true in more complicated sales processes, where buyers prefer to speak with a human seller when nuance is involved in purchasing.

The future of the seller is directly related to the future of AI. They are intertwined, and while AI will likely replace some sales roles, it will ultimately create a better experience for buyers and sellers alike.

Visit orum.com to see the full report

Jonathan Pogact, VP of Marketing at Seamless.AI, recognizes that the SaaS world moves quickly. Finding ways to ensure your prospects know who you are and what you do when they enter the sales cycle means being willing to take risks.

In this discussion, Jonathan and host Adam Sockel discuss how Seamless.AI carves out time for innovative thinking. They break down what data can inform marketing investment and how automation through AI empowers his team to spend more time on creative thought.

Experimentation can be the key to owning every situation your brand is in, partnerships can dramatically expand your audience, and inspiration can come from unlikely places.

The conversation ends with Jonathan sharing where that inspiration strikes him and how his TikTok FYP page brings him calm.