Predictable Revenue’s Updated Sales Development Methodology
Today I’d like to share a little about our content plans for 2023. You probably know about us because of the Predictable Revenue book, but it’s been over 10 years since it was published, and to no surprise, some of the tactics need updating. While email-specific tactics have evolved, the core ideas around specializing sales roles are still relevant today.
We’ve always been working on updating our Methodology, and while our team has done a tremendous job pushing the methodology forward internally, we haven’t done a great job sharing those advancements with you.
Last year after we published the first part of the methodology, we switched our focus to creating SEO content. And full disclosure, I have nothing against SEO; in fact, I know well enough how helpful it can be in pushing organic reach to reach a wider audience, but our approach, in this case, might not have been the best one. We produced a lot of content specific for finding long-tail clicks and building content for keyword ranking, which didn’t really contribute to pushing the methodology forward.
And so, as of 2023, we’re no longer spending energy on creating that type of content. Our focus this year is on aligning our delivery teams, the people hiring, coaching, and running SDR teams, and our marketing folks and bringing them together so that they all contribute to the same goals.
What this means for our content moving forward is that we’re going to publicly share our internal docs with you on how to build an SDR team, how to train sales reps, how to manage them, etc. This guide will be available on our site in a special spot where it’s easy to root around, click, download, and copy/paste as needed.
We’re doing this because our goal is to help create more SDRs and ensure they’re set up for success. And the one thing that we know doesn’t get a ton of attention on most teams is SDR onboarding. We’ve been guilty of it ourselves.
So the first chunk of content we’re working on in Q1 is SDR Onboarding, which will provide a field guide to the first 90 days as an SDR. Our hope is that it will help SDRs ramp faster and that managers will incorporate it into their onboarding.
Here’s what we’ll cover.
The guide’s first section begins with the theory of SDRs, including why they exist, how they fit into an organization, and guiding principles for success in the role. We’ll also cover channel theory (i.e., how to find where your prospects hang out), mindset habits of effective SDRs, and what to expect from your first SDRs regarding activity and quota.
From there, we’ll break down the specific skills an SDR needs to succeed, including plenty of tactical how-to’s on everything from cold calling, customer research, email personalization, and more.
We’ll discuss designing an effective sequence, getting to know your buyer personas, and handling objections. The idea is that this guide can be used by both new SDRs or managers who are looking to build their onboarding program.
We firmly believe that there is no right or wrong approach to outbound sales development – there’s only what works for your organization. And the only way to determine that is to run tests.
This guide will share what’s worked for us, helpful external resources, and research-backed insights to help you understand which tactics might work for you. This document will be your starting place for effective SDR onboarding.
Take a look at the preview of the Table of Contents below. All we ask is that if you see something missing here or have an alternative suggestion, you let us know!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Theory
- Why do SDRs exist?
- What do SDRs do?
- SDR Mindset
- 7 Habits of Highly Successful SDRs
- Channel theory – finding the unusual places your prospects hang out
Skills development
Expectations
- Activity, outputs, and timeframes
- Quotas
- Advancing in the role
Know your customer (MarketFit training)
- TAM/SAM/SOM
- ICP
- Persona
- Pain + Value = Meeting
Skills to develop
- How to identify a good account
- How to identify a good prospect
- Identifying buying triggers
- Sequence design
- How to write a cold email
- How to personalize emails
- How to cold call (openers, scripts, and asking for the meeting)
- How to handle objections
- How to book a meeting over email
- What to do once you’ve booked a meeting
- How to prospect on LinkedIn
- How to follow up
- Mining for gold in your CRM
Learning your tools
- Data
- Sending email
- Making phone calls
- Email writing tools
- Call recording tools
We’ll also share weekly updates on the methodology in our newsletter – click here to follow along.