Outbound Sales Lift

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Streamlining the Hiring Process (0:23)

Sales recruiting is extremely critical to any organization and necessary to get this right because your sales reps are at the forefront of your entire organization. 

People forget that the interview process is a two-way street: having your elevator pitch down is necessary for an interviewee; as an interviewer, a quick, detailed, and efficient interview process.

Being empathetic, kind, and diligent with feedback goes the extra mile when closing a candidate. For a lot of the junior candidates, it's about tonality and making them comfortable.

Questioning Strategies (5:45)

Pull from behavioral questions and situational questions.

Behavioral questions revolve around the candidate's accomplishments and their storytelling ability. For example, many companies will ask the question, "tell me about a time that you have seen success."

Situational questions are good because they assess how the candidate can think on their feet and use critical thinking.

Doing your best to try to make the candidate feel comfortable is key. You don't want them so bogged up with nerves they can't answer it.

Stick to more professional examples, but if you have a great personal story that makes you who you are, make sure you keep it relevant.

"Tell me about yourself" questions are critical. You have to be able to entice that interviewer in the first 30 to 45 seconds, just like you would a prospect, and this question is often one of the first ones you're asked.

The majority of the process comes down to whether or not they can do the job. But a good 30-40% of it also assesses if a candidate can work alongside the team. 

Common Mistakes (10:47)

Don't miss out on a candidate because you have FOMO. If they're a good candidate, they're going to get swooped up, so you better schedule next steps to keep them warm and engaged in the process. 

Companies should always provide feedback whether they move forward or reject a candidate. This helps them in the future while allowing you to assess their coachability skills. 

When an offer is made, and the manager doesn't reach out to congratulate the candidate, it doesn't feel like the offer is real since those team members aren't sharing excitement or encouragement. 

Some companies only have a one-step interview process. It's rare, but an individual needs to meet at least two to three folks on the team to understand if they can work there. So ensure you have more than just a single process is key.

Role of the Recruiter (14:19)

The recruiter is the strategic matchmaker and works with candidates to figure out what they are looking for in their new professional home.

They also work with companies to determine what they want in an ideal hire, soft skills, technical skills background, etc.

Recruiters want managers to interview three to five candidates and hire one of them. So they work closely with the companies before setting up interviews to figure out their ideal candidate and process. 

Trust your gut as a hiring manager and run with it. Set viable expectations and just be open to young junior people who don't have prior SDR experience because that's what the whole business model is.

Gabriella's Bio:

Director of Strategic Accounts at Vendition 

I have been recruiting SDRs for the past 3.5 years 

Placed over 100s of SDRs

Important Links:

Gabriella's LinkedIn Profile

#71: Listen as Bryan Mueller, HubSpot Channel Account Manager, discusses how to build a sales team. He and Tyler cover the process of building a modern sales team, hiring new sales reps, and thinking about that process on a high level.

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Getting Started with Hiring (0:23)

You don’t need an absolute all-star sales rep for your first hire, but you need someone with the business acumen and presence of mind to give you a feedback loop.

Before you even go looking for someone, take what you’re currently doing and put it down on paper. 

Get it into a process in a repeatable way of having conversations.

​​Hardcore prospecting that maybe you’re probably not doing your referring referrals, but you need leverage to get more people. 

Enabling Your New Hires (7:51)

Enabling your new hire depends on what your hope is for the organization. 

Bryan has worked with companies with a lifestyle-type business, and they want to grow it a little bit versus the companies who want to scale. 

Often the ones who want to scale, no matter how good they are at sales, can’t get out of their own way. Acceleration is what they need. 

Identify what you’re doing and document the main pain points you need hires to solve. It doesn’t matter where you are in the process. You need to ask good questions. 

Ideally, you’re bringing on people who are raising the bar each time.

It is hard to retain good sales talents, especially today, so you have to give them a reason to stay.

It’s a commitment to your organization’s vision and actual mission that gets someone so passionate. So it’s key to make sure you have that right person.

Once a hire gets their groove, focus on the knowledge and information they need to enable why you hired them.

Bryan recommends the book Working Backwards.

Measuring Success (17:02)

The core of it is to measure inputs, track outputs, and then start to see what you can do to change those outputs.

You’ve got to take that part seriously because if you hire sales reps and put them in the system, they may or may succeed over a long period without that consistent feedback and consistent outreach.

You’re not only making them productive for you, but you’re keeping them happy because they feel like they’re still growing and learning.

Sales is a tough industry, and most top sales reps leave because they get tired of the conversation. Of course, they’re good at conversation, but nothing is challenging. 

That’s why companies need to innovate, give them a new product line to sell you a new service, and have them figure out new problems.

#70: Listen as Collin Mitchell, Co-Founder and CRO of Salescast, discusses the benefits of selling with a podcast. He and Tyler cover what goes into podcast hosting, the best ways to get started, and how podcasting can make you into a better seller.

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Don’t feel like listening? Read the Episode Cliff Notes instead below:

Why Podcast Selling? (0:23)

If you had a podcast where you interview the types of people that you want to build relationships with, it’s not with the idea you’ll never have to pick up the phone again; podcasts won’t solve all of your prospecting problems. 

But they are a great way to build high-quality relationships by adding value from day one.

Many sellers struggle with posting original content on social media, and a podcast can easily solve that. 

Inviting people you want to do business with or partner with in some way can drive revenue for you in your role. 

Then you can create pieces that are lifting them, and most of your prospects out there would be willing to hop on a podcast interview.

The more conversations you have, especially the more high-quality conversations, not every person that you have on a podcast is not going to become a prospect.

Podcasts as Skill Builders (5:46)

People always tell you to learn your prospects, understand their language, know how they talk, what makes them tick, what they care about, and all these things. You have to be very curious, and you have to ask great questions. 

All of those skills transfer to every other sales conversation that you have with your prospects. And you’re going to be a much more skilled seller by practicing through podcasting.

One thing people get nervous about is nobody is going to listen to the podcast. Does it even matter? 

But they’re skills you can build, and you’re getting a masterclass in how to be a better seller. So it isn’t a failure if you’re getting all these other benefits. 

Getting Started (9:08)

A host is a platform where you post your episodes and push them out to all podcast platforms. If you’re a new seller, free might sound good. 

Names should somewhat tell people what the show is about, especially if you want to build listenership over time. For example, if it’s a sales show, it should have sales in the title or something like that. 

If you don’t enjoy it, you’re not going to do it, so make sure you have passion driving you. 

Many new podcasters think nobody will want to be on a show that doesn’t even exist yet. 

However, there are so many people accustomed to being invited on shows that don’t exist yet because it’s very common for many people to start their show and record their first four or five before they actually launch that way.

Start with maybe four or five friendlies people you know that be on the show, who would give you feedback. 

Listen Notes is a platform that has the most accurate data source for podcasting to help you get started on improving your metrics and targeting your ideal listeners.

The Benefits of Podcast Selling (17:12) 

There is no outside to the conversation: it can’t be farmed out to someone else, or it wouldn’t be authentic.

Starting a podcast sounds nuts. So, guesting on shows might be a good, comfortable place to start. 

You should be guesting on podcasts regularly as part of your strategy because you’re going to be investing in your brand. You’re going to be elevating your thought leadership and getting your message out there.

The key is to ensure that you get on the right shows with the type of people you want to get your message in front.

Remember, it’s just a big sales pitch. Show up and provide some value and education for the listeners. That’s why podcast hosts do this.

Collin’s Bio:

Collin Mitchell is a 4x Founder passionate about Sales, Entrepreneurship, and Podcasting! Collin is the Co-Founder of Salescast and Host of Sales Transformation. Collin lives in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife, three kids, and a new puppy!

#67: Listen as Ben Rubin, Senior Business Development Strategist at Remotive, discusses commission versus commission-less sales models. Ben and Tyler examine harnessing motivation, where companies go wrong, and how fostering happiness impacts job performance and recruitment.

Click here to view the full show notes, transcript, and more for this episode!

Check out the Cliff Notes below:

The Role of Motivation (:28)

It's interesting to think of commission as extrinsic motivation to get you to achieve an objective.

People are setting higher quotas so that the company grows, but then you still have this missing alignment between what people are hitting and where they're getting to that point.

You have to find this intrinsic approach to motivate somebody, to get to a point where they're earning an income that satisfies their needs.

So we're looking at it from an approach, instead of trying to put a quote on you that's higher than what you can probably achieve. 

Where the Companies Go Wrong (4:39)

This is all tons of research and time trying to identify what's this good blend of setting a salary point in a quota and then how do you then continue driving on top of that quota.

There are a ton of variables involved in each of the companies. Then there's the scalability of setting quotas higher in different spaces, industries, and services. 

That's where the tricky part lies because you can find tons of articles and research about there with commission people in the SAS space, but not necessarily service. 

So, it comes down to figuring out a problem inside our space that everyone might not be going through the same kind. The best approach is a consultative, strategic selling process. 

Quotas and commissions exist because that's just how it's always been, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's the best model or the most motivating model for sales reps.

Balancing Stress (8:28)

We naturally think if we push harder, we can make more, but that doesn't always mean you hit quota. Sometimes, that means burning out and making less, which is a vicious cycle. It's why mental health and sales it's a hot topic.

Then there's the part about your customer suffering because you're stressed out now, and you're coming to these calls with stress.  

Ben is trying to challenge the status quo in a way that does make sense and does fit. They are trying to be the place where people want to work and enjoy working there. 

They also have a reduced work program where you can get paid the same amount but have reduced working hours. It adds sustainability and reduces stress, which increases performance efficiency. 

Attracting Quality Talent (12:39)

It's crucial to hold to your vision. When you start doing that, though, it seems like it attracts more talent. 

It's all about being with yourself, the people you would want to work with, and bringing together a culture. 

There's also the Steve jobs approach of hiring people that are smarter than you.

Many people coming out of school have few job opportunities and choose the one that has the biggest salary. They don't pay much attention to opportunities that will make them the happiest or give them a good balance. That comes later. 

Culture will be way more impactful on life, the commission structure follows, and then flexibility. That's what's going to drive your happiness. 

#66: Listen as Amanda Sleger, Sales & Marketing Director at Lone Fir Creative, guest interviews The Sales Lift host, Tyler Lindley, about building a sales operating system. They discuss how having a system impacts the bottom line, how businesses can go about developing one, and best practices for getting started.

Click here for full episode show notes, transcript, and more!

Why Systems Matter (0:55)

The five things a sales operating system should focus on are process, method, message, technology, and training.

The process is the steps that your sales team should take from prospecting to closing. The method is those tactics, behaviors, and best practices to turn prospects into buyers. The message is your ideas, value prop, and anything else about what your brand is saying.

Next are the materials you have to support your sales team throughout the buyer's journey and how you use technology to gather actionable data for your team. Finally, training looks at how you identify skill gaps in the process and level up your team through onboarding, one-on-ones, and coaching. 

Having organization around your sales system and process allows everyone to grasp it easier from a growth and training perspective as you bring new people into the sales organization.

As salespeople, we are driven by closing revenue, relationships, and communication, but we are not perfect. We forget things, things drop off, and that's why having a tried-and-true system in place is so beneficial. 

Developing A Sales Process (5:06) 

The first thing that happens is that you have a tough time adding people to the sales team and then retaining those you walked in. So you want your first impression as a boss is that you have everything you need to have together. 

Hiring and maintaining good talent is critical because there is so much turnover in this industry. Anything you can do to alleviate the chaos of onboarding helps. 

Creating a playbook allows sales reps to take it with them and make it their own. Lastly, make sure your marketing and sales efforts are aligned. 

Without a sales system in place, your sales team likely goes rogue. Everyone across the revenue organization should be speaking the same language, or else all sides suffer. 

Where to Start (9:30)

It depends on what stage of growth you're in. If you've started your business already and you have at least one client, you have to audit what you've done to that point. 

If you don't have a team, you may not be doing a lot of training and onboarding. First, you have to audit to see what you are doing in the five areas? From there, it's about deciding how to add your next person. 

The next people to join should be SDRs, marketers, AEs, and success reps added as you scale. The more you give to brand new employees joining the revenue organization, the easier their onboarding is and the faster they impact your prospects and buyers.

Good communication, coachability, and curiosity are all very important. These are all things you can vet for during the application and interview process.  

#65: Listen as Alex Buckles, CEO of Forecastable discusses the differences between SMB and enterprise selling. He and Tyler cover the transition into enterprise selling, what effective team selling looks like, and how to navigate the closing process.

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Difficulties When Starting (0:28)

Typically, the transition starts with an SMB company, typically a series B, closing many SMB deals, and then they get an enterprise deal that falls in their laps.

The biggest change is the number of stakeholders involved.

SMB can be intimidating because you have many people involved in the decision-making in a lot of different roles, and some of them are senior leaders.

Each stakeholder has unique, usually self-centered interests as to why they want to purchase one solution over another. 

It's your job as the sales rep to figure out, stakeholder by stakeholder, what is important to each individual, and then hone in on that.

Have individual conversations with every stakeholder when possible and pay attention to each stakeholder. If you don't know what's important to this stakeholder over here, that could be a wrench in your gears.

If at all possible, you want to close it this year to make it a little bit more manageable and keep yourself sane. But remember, you're playing the long game. 

The Process Behind the Deal (4:16)

There are two very distinct cycles in a deal's decision process in the enterprise world: generating group consensus and the procurement paper process. 

The lion's share of the two processes happens separately. You try to get the paper process going as early as possible.

If you're outbounding into the account, there is no defined initiative and no defined pain. So there's no budget set aside for this, but you generate some interest and uncover some pain.

The status quo you're selling against is always your biggest competitor.

RFP do themselves a disservice by not engaging each vendor the way they should be engaged. So they're generally hit or miss.

Even if you weren't involved early in the RFP creation process, you have a very solid shot in the deal. But if you can get in at the RFP creation process- that's awesome.

Smaller SMB sales might involve one person, maybe two or three, but it seems like the further you go upmarket and enterprise deals, the more stakeholders you'll need.

Team Selling (9:01)

You can't be a lone-ranger when teams are selling; if you're going to lose, don't lose alone.  

You should be working with your SDR or BDR on that account plan. Then as you get into the cycle itself, your team starts expanding, and your STR probably won't be so much involved anymore.

You, as the rep, need to spot the issues in the deal and bring in the right people to solve those challenges and convert stakeholders into supporters.

When looking at hiring an enterprise rep, the first thing to start with is talking about how they build up your territory. What have they done that similarly in the past, and are they creative?

Self-sufficiency is also something to look for because the last thing you want is a rep who sits around waiting for someone to give them direction. 

It's probably not a good idea to take a pure SMB rep that has never worked a large deal and throw them into an enterprise role. 

It's better to start them with Mid-Market deals and work their way up. 

Driving Sales (13:47)

There's usually very little room for growth in an SMB account, and you want to have a team specifically there for upselling and cross-selling.

The organization has to do with the comp plans. There's a lot that goes into whether or not it's worth upselling or cross-selling.

There is no better customer than your current customer, and that's where your loyalty should be: focused on them. Of course, then, they will continue buying from you. 

Don't just show up when there's a problem. Instead, try to break that text barrier as early as possible and use any excuse to get that first text message out the door. 

It's not just about upselling. It's about building and maintaining relationships. 

For businesses looking to break into enterprise selling, Alex suggests taking a break every so often to look at what you're doing. Then, ask yourself what it will take to close an enterprise deal and test the waters first. 

Build the process, figure out what works, and then scale it rather than jumping right in. 

Full Episode Cliff Notes

Why Passion Is Important (0:58)

The essence of sales, creativity, and personalization is what we do as human beings. We hear a lot about B2B and B2C sales, but never H2H or "human to human" sales. 

Think about how you communicate with your friends, your family, somebody that you're trying to date for the first time or your wife of 20 years, your husband or friend. It's okay to be human. And that's what makes us different in sales.

If you're not passionate about what you're selling, you might need to find something else to sell because creativity is fueled by passion.

If you don't have that passion, you have to get it. Start by asking yourself, "why?" Why do you do this every day?

Turn that "why" into your passion and turn that passion into creativity in your sales outreach. You need to make sure that you are focused on that passion and creativity because you're going to come across as bland and authentic without it.

Focus on what you can do today to bring passion and creativity to your outreach.

Finding The Passion (4:19)

Sales is a math game. In that regard, you've got to make sure you're doing the right amount of inputs to get to the output. But sales is also an art. 

The only way to get better at that art is to practice it every single day. 

You have to understand your prospect. A lot of being creative and personal starts with understanding your prospect. 

So you need to get into their shoes. You need to understand what their world looks like.

​​We have to understand that our prospects are getting hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of emails—all the time. 

Many of them are coming from sales reps, just like you, and the bland emails may not even end up in the inbox. And it starts with the subject line. 

Personalizing Video Selling and Cold Calls (12:22)

If you're not selling with video in this day and age, you're falling behind. Prospects respond to video because it's personalized and creative.

You want a good background, good lighting, and a strong voice. You want it clear, concise, and to the point.

Use those videos to your advantage. You can even create generic versions of these videos and send them to prospects. They don't all have to be personalized, but you want to make as many of them as personalized as possible. 

Everyone should have a script going into a cold call because it's critical to have a game plan.

And it's not just the words in the cold call script, but how you deliver them. So you are the punctuation of the script; just don't go too crazy with it. 

The difference between standing out and not is getting that email getting opened. 

#63: Listen as Mike Farrell, CEO of Green Leads, talks about his experience with sales development and startup companies. He touches on how to set up your growth stage strategically, things to consider with a new sales development team, and whether to insource or outsource sales development.

Click here for the full episode show notes & more!

Forming A Sales Development Team (0:38)

When thinking about adding a sales development team, talent, internal support training, and tech stack are common things people go to. But the time and opportunity cost is probably the biggest factor.

The growth speed depends on how much horsepower has been put behind it, budget-wise, and everything from the get-go. 

Once you get a full-time manager and have all the investments of the tech stack, the data, the sales enablement, the training component of it, and the training program, that's when you've started to recoup your investment. 

It could be a full 18 to 24 months to see an SDR organization mature, guaranteed that you start from scratch.

There are going to be bumps along the way. Mike has seen companies let go of an outsourced firm after they've built themselves up on their own, and then all of a sudden, a year or two later, they come back to the firm they initially hired.

Balancing Insourcing and Outsourcing (4:44)

The maturity level of the marketing organization in terms of driving awareness, driving leads, and driving people to the website is very indicative of where a company is in its sourcing. 

CML or a VP of marketing is one of the early strategic hires. A lot of the sales efforts initially are founder-led, but they'll hire a marketer and start building up that marketing infrastructure.

They have to have an SDR, either outsourced from an outsource SDR company like Mike's or insourced from hiring within the organization. 

As the company grows, there comes the point where the founders can't do everything. 

When you have a product-market fit and have to hit the gas, you have to have a sales professional or sales leader because, at that point, you're probably going to have some additional funding.

Marketing and Sales Alignment (8:17)

There can definitely be contention on who owns the SDR function. For example, is it owned by the sales leader or by the marketing leader? 

If the marketing leader is the first one in, they typically own that function because they generate leads that need follow-up.

Then, when the sales leaders come in, there should be a little bit of a turf battle because they're the ones who have to build an organization. So they've got to scale. 

The chief revenue officer is supposed to be the person that ties in sales and marketing and even customer success into a single leader. So maybe it's just as a VP of sales initially or a couple of senior sales executives, and that's how you start the sales organization until, eventually, it's a CRO.

Whether you hire one at a time or multiple at once depends on how much you have from a venture funding standpoint.