The GTM Podcast

GTM 84: Outbound Isn’t Dead: This is How to Reach the Inbox with Stephen Hakami


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Stephen Hakami is the Founder and CEO of Wiza - the most accurate way to find verified contact information for B2B prospects. Stephen started the company in 2019 after a sales career of being frustrated with bad data, and set out to build a prospecting tool that's powered by live LinkedIn data.

Discussed in this Episode:

  • The frustration with bad data and the inspiration behind building Wiza.
  • The importance of email deliverability and strategies for improving it.
  • The recent acquisition of Drift by Salesloft and the topic of consolidation in the sales tech stack.
  • Stephen's journey from sales to CEO, highlighting the value of creative prospecting. 
  • The hardest lesson Stephen learned in sales.
  • Effective tactics of cold email and deliverability.

Highlights:
(3:27) Strategies for email deliverability.

(08:01) The journey from sales to entrepreneurship.

(11:06) Sales technology and the consolidation.

(20:41) Strategies for effective cold emails.

(25:49) Understanding your competitors.

(27:38) The importance of being a true consultant.

(28:32) Redefining your competitors.

(31:55) One thing revenue leaders believe to be true that Stephen thinks is bull$***.

(34:26) One thing that is working for Stephen/Wiza in go-to-market right now.

Guest Speaker Links (Stephen Hakami):
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-hakami-5babb21b0/
Website: www.wiza.co/

Host Speaker Links (Scott Barker):
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ssbarker/
Newsletter: thegtmnewsletter.substack.com/

Sponsor:
Today’s episode is sponsored by The ELG Conference, presented by Crossbeam and The ELG Alliance. The smartest companies are embracing Ecosystem-Led Growth, or ELG.

Join us at the gorgeous Proper Hotel in Austin on May 15-16 and hear how the top SaaS companies are leveraging partner ecosystems in their GTM motions aka Ecosystem-Led Growth. Early-bird tickets expire next week.

What you'll get at ELG Con:

  • Case studies from companies like Datadog, Cloudera, and more.
  • A chance to tour (and maybe even race on?) Austin's F1 track.
  • Candid, off-the-record conversations — no recordings here.
  • A highly curated group of 200 GTM leaders, 85% director level and above across Sales, Marketing, and Partnerships.

Claim your tickets today, including a limited number of special two-for-the-price-of-one tickets.

The GTM Podcast
The GTM Podcast is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with the top 1% GTM executives, VCs, and founders. Conversations reveal the unshared details behind how they have grown companies, and the go-to-market strategies responsible for shaping that growth.

Visit gtmnow.com for more episodes and other interesting content.

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