Kelsea Patrick

How 99% of AEs operate: - They wait for their SDRs to book meetings - They complain they don't have enough leads - They reject SDR opportunities without "BANT" - They attach to a few deals with commission breath - They keep themselves busy with forecasting & Co. How the best 1% operate: - They prospect every day like their life depends on it - They consider any SDR-sourced pipeline a bonus - They jump on every SDR opportunity with joy - They disqualify prospects who are not a fit - They spend 80% of their time on selling The best AEs remember: ↳ they have been SDRs earlier in their career. The best AEs know: ↳ the SDR skillset is the fundamental skillset. You cannot close if you cannot open. This is not a chicken & egg problem. Repost ♻ this to remind some AEs to be SDRs again. What else would you add?👇 PS: Free prospecting course → https://lnkd.in/gTbPiShP

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Multi-threading... A skill that's fast becoming the most critical in a sales reps arsenal. Why? 🤔 The market is tough at the moment. 🤔 Buyers are more budget conscious. 🤔 CFOs are asking teams to reduce spend and cut back on investment. 🤔 Prospects that once had buying power and sign off capability now have to get approval from C-Suite. It sounds like an uphill battle 🏃‍♂️‍➡️⛰️ but the truth is, multi-threading is not as daunting as you might think. ⭐️ Here's some tips that have worked well for me in the last 6 months ⭐️ 🗺 Map out your accounts. Org charts are critical for multi-threading. You need to understand who your prospects are, who they report to, and who holds decision making power. Tip - LinkedIn SalesNav let's you build drag and drop org charts! 🗣️ Check with your your champion. Confirm your org chart is correct. Ask them what the process is for bringing on a new vendor. If they don't know, 🆘 they are not a true champion. 📧 Share content early. Begin introducing yourself to key stakeholders quickly. Tip - Connect on LinkedIn with a short and sweet connection request, something like "Wanted to put a face to a name following some great conversations I've been having with (champion name) re (challenge). I'll send over some content via email shortly. I look forward to hearing your thoughts." 🎺 Make sure your content is personalised, engaging, and stands out. TOP TIP - Using a tool like trumpet 🎺 (digital sales room) is a sure fire way to encourage stakeholder engagement. Upload clear and concise value props, how you can solve their businesses challenges, client case studies and more. Ask these contacts to bookmark the page as you will regular update it with content as the deal progresses. And, track their engagement, so you can meet them in the moment. So far, my prospects have been LOVING it! 📞 Pick up the phone. Once you've connected on LinkedIn and sent content, call prospects to ensure that they have seen it. Ask what questions they have and tell them about next steps. By doing the above, when it comes to negotiation these stakeholders will be informed and aware of the entire process to date, and you and your product will be top of mind 🧠 Tenured AE's in my network (I know there are a lot of you), what do you do to successfully multi-thread? P.S. You can guess what I'll be doing in the office today :😉 #multithreading #sales #digitalsalesrooms #dsr #aestrategies

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Sales leader doesn’t figure it out in the first 6 months? Fire em? What does it mean to “figure it out”... Hitting revenue targets that you drafted up on a spreadsheet? If you think hiring a vp of sales is your silver bullet to all revenue problems, there’s a good chance you’re wrong. If they aren’t smashing quota in the first 6 months, maybe take a more holistic view of what’s going on. I know quite a few sales leaders that saw little to no growth for 2,3,5 years then hit huge revenue targets, just here in Utah. Why are we so transactional with sales leaders sometimes?

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9 things Sales Leaders should stop doing in 2024 1. Being solely tactical 2. Dodging use of math 3. Befriending your reps 4. Opposing RevOps hires 5. Resisting remote working 6. Communicating infrequently 7. Avoiding tough conversations 8. Focusing only on team morale 9. Being penny-wise & pound foolish What else should we add to this list?

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SDRs: When you set a meeting for your AE, it’s like setting up a blind date for your prospect. So get your prospect excited to meet with your AE! Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes. You get a call from someone you don’t know, from a company you haven’t heard of. They do a decent job in the call and you’re intrigued. And then… They set you up for a call with someone else. This process feels like a nurse handing you off to a doctor. Who will then ask you the same exact questions the nurse did. Not a great experience. Let's do better. Here’s how to pull this off: ✅ Tell the prospect what they’ll learn First, ask your AE what prospects learn from their first conversation. This excludes any language about platforms or dashboards. I’m talking education around “why change?” Second, watch a recorded disco/demo from your AE. Or ride shotgun in a few sales calls if your company doesn’t record them. Here’s an example of what this might sound like at the end of a cold call: “I’m really excited for you to meet with __________. You mentioned that staffing welders and figuring out how to automate high mix/low volume parts are top priorities. My Account Executive will walk you through how other manufacturers are solving these two problems so that you’re not having to push back orders. You’ll also walk away with a plan for how you can tackle traditionally tough to automate products.” Don’t mention “demo” at all. ✅ Humanize your AE Talk about your AE’s experience. Hype them up. After you tell the prospect what they’ll take away from the call with your AE, you could end with: “Oh, and ____________ has about 7 years of experience walking the plant floor. Not to mention, he’s had dozens of conversations with Operations leaders in the last 6 months. There are some really big trends we’re seeing and everyone’s dealing with the labor shortage right now. You should get a few ideas you can bring back to your team." --- Lesson here: Take that extra step at the end to talk up your AE and get the prospect excited about them as a HUMAN + what they can learn in that first call. ~~~ This is a great way to improve show rates. Have you tried something like this? #sales #outbound #prospecting

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If you're an AE or SDR, do you schedule an activity to follow up with your customer 1-3 months after you've closed a deal and handed it off to Customer Success or your Account Manager? If you're not, you're missing out on one of the easiest ways to be successful in Sales. Here's why: 1) BELIEF - When you follow up with your client after they have implemented your solution and are seeing value in it, you'll start to believe more about the difference your solution makes to the right client and you'll have more confidence and belief in what you're selling moving forward. 2) RELATIONSHIPS - Most sales reps sign the deal and move on if they are not responsible for maintaining the client. This wastes all the effort you put in to developing that relationship throughout the sales process. When you follow up with no agenda other than to make sure they are getting the value of what you sold them it creates a deeper relationship that could/should last for years to come. 3) REFERRALS - This is the absolute easiest way to fill your pipeline with new, qualified opportunities. When you follow up with a client who is seeing value in your solution and ask if they know anyone else who was facing the same challenges, they usually know people in their network that are and can refer you right in. With that referral, you're no longer in a competitive situation with anyone else because you've already been validated. 4) CHURN ISSUES/PREVENT BAD REVIEWS - By reaching out to a client within the first 1-3 months with no agenda, they might be more open to providing you feedback than their CS/AM because you still most likely have a better relationship with them than the CS or AM does at this point. This way you can uncover potential issues that might lead to churn or bad reviews which is deadly these days. 5) ITS THE RIGHT THING TO DO - Don't just be a "Sales" rep. Show that you care that what you're selling makes a real difference and it's not just about the commission check for you. What did I miss?

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The best SDRs have a short-term memory… 👉 You face lots of rejection as an SDR. More than any other role. - Tough cold calls. - Unsubscribe emails. - Demo no-shows. Constant rejection sucks. But, we can fix that. Adopt a short-term memory. - View it as a learning moment rather than a rejection. - Expect only 10% of your accounts are going to buy. - Understand that rejection is a normal. - Celebrate small wins. - Have a call buddy. You don’t want: - One bad call effect the day. - One bad day to affect your week. - One bad week to affect a quarter. - One bad quarter to affect a year. So… Keep improving your skillset. Become resilient. Win in the long term. ➡️ What do you do to get over rejection fast? Subscribe to my newsletter - Sales Synergy - 👉 Link in bio.

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Outsourcing SDRs? Don’t fall for: - A promise of X amount of meetings/month - X amount of dials and emails they promise to send out - Their email + call messaging skill Outsourcing has a bad stigma because there are so many companies looking to get quick money from clients with weak results. What to look for instead: - A team who understands they need to test messaging and help you make pivots to your ICP - Shares their sequence strategy - Shares their email and call messaging - Shares the tech they use - What they do to avoid ending up in a spam inbox and hurting your domain health - Builds your target/ICP lead list with you - Sends weekly reports on progress - Gives you access to their SDRs so they feel like they’re part of your internal team This is when outsourcing is worth it ⬆️ #outsourcing #sales

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My face when I hear sales leaders say: “We don’t want our AEs to outbound, their time is too valuable.” 👇 Here are 3 reasons why this thinking is dangerous: ⛔️ 1) Entitled Culture Self-sourcing will always be a must. The SDR : AE ratio in your sales org will never be perfect. Marketing can ebb and flow. And if you plan on moving up-market—execs don't fill out demo request forms. You must proactively start conversations. Building a self-sourcing culture from scratch is WAY harder than turning up the dial when you need to. Don't allow a "my pipeline isn't my responsibility" mindset. ⛔️ 2) Missing opportunities with execs I love SDRs. I've worked with and trained dozens of top-notch SDRs. But here's the thing: most SDRs haven't spoken much with execs. They're not as equipped to engage a senior exec if they happen to catch them on a phone call. AEs have had more of those conversations. They have more business acumen and experience. They'll be much more effective at engaging execs and landing meetings. ⛔️ 3) AE sourced pipeline is usually better This is almost always the case with my clients. AE self-sourced pipeline has: - Higher win rates - Shorter sales cycles - Larger deal sizes Have ops run a report on this. If any of the above is true for your sales org, all the more reason why self-sourcing should be encouraged. ~~~ AEs don't need to self-source 100% of their pipeline. And I agree that the majority of their time should be spent selling. But they should know how to self-source at-least a third of it. Agree or disagree? #outbound #sales #pickupthephone

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The best "cheat codes" every AE should know: 1. 1:1s with your boss. Approach them strategically. Proactively share format and content. Biggest deals you need support on. Challenges you need help with. Forecast for the month, quarter, etc. Wins. 2. Perception. Performance is your fire. How you're perceived internally (aka your brand) is the water or gas that gets dumped on your fire. Attitude, how you show up, handle change, communicate, matters. Hold yourself to a high bar. Two levels above where you're currently at. 3. Document everything. Take the time to write down your own sales playbook. Every strategy, process and template you have. Store it on your personal computer. The value of this over time is immeasurable. I can't state this enough. 4. Problems are a good thing. Anytime there's a problem that's an opportunity to solve it, improve it, and add value. Some of the biggest opportunities I've gotten in my career came because I dove head first into problems and helped move the business forward. Startups always have problems. Don't be the negative person. 5. Time management. Block Monday mornings every week. Don't go to meetings if they're not worth your time. Most things can be solved async. Make meetings 15 to 20 mins. Sometimes you need a whole week of no meetings to catch up, get organized and do deep work. Don't feel bad for saying no to people. They'll understand. 6. External coaching. Up level by listening to podcasts, taking courses and building an external network. Don't rely on your company for everything. Even if they're doing a great job get the perspectives and strategies of other people for a significant edge. What would you add to this list? - Mike G 👉 Join 5,000+ sellers getting my (free) sales newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/gwQVvVBK

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The greatest sales objection is actually bandwidth for implementation. You heard that correctly. If you're solving someone's problems, but still not closing deals... it's most likely a bandwidth issue for your buyers. Your buyer can't be in a million different places at once. No matter how big of a problem you solve, or how attractive it is for buyers... It's just noise for them after they buy it. They'll never be able to spend time in it just like they never spend time in most of the other tech they buy. So how do you mitigate risk for that? If you don't provide services for implementation and customer success post sale, you will never win these deals... or if you do win them, you certainly won't retain them. And no, I'm not talking about a bi-weekly sync during the first month... I'm talking about getting your hands dirty to help them drive the outcomes they need to drive. #saas #saassales #ecom #cro #salesleadership

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SDR leaders, quit being the superhero. It's stunting your team's growth. (both professional and pipeline) Your job isn't about: ❌ Giving your reps all the answers ❌ Solving all their problems ❌ Running a dictatorship ❌ Doing it all yourself ❌ Micromanaging Your job is about: ✅ Helping your reps find the answers ✅ Coaching problem-solving ✅ Running a democracy ✅ Delegating out tasks ✅ Giving autonomy Less about being the superhero. More about empowering superheroes. Magical things happen when you "relinquish control". Your team becomes more self-sufficient, engaged and productive. And they grow ridiculously faster. Meanwhile you become less stressed. Relieving the constant pressure on yourself. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal right? Well that's because it is. So do yourself a favor. Take off your cape.

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“Stop treating knowledge/ sales professionals like factory workers. Specialized knowledge, building networks, and embracing tech innovation are more important growth levers than measuring activity inputs.This is especially true for strategic sellers. If you’re leading with activity and not strategy, I guarantee you don’t have trust in your sales team. As we enter the 2nd half of 2024, I encourage you to think differently.” #strategicsales

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SDRs / AEs: Account Selection is king right now when prospecting. Use these 5 filters on Sales Nav (LinkedIn Sales Solutions) to uncover healthy & growing companies: 1. Buyer intent 2. Recent leadership hires  3. Recent funding (last 9 months is good) 4. Headcount growth in the last 6-months 5. Recent hiring in the org / persona segment you target 6. % distribution of personas that makeup the total employee headcount There are still companies out there who are growing and investing.. You just need to find them. Don't cast a wide net right now, you're likely wasting a ton of time. Instead, go deeper on fewer accounts.

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Such a valuable list of “cheat codes”! Some I wish I learned earlier on in my career, but happy to have learned them at some point and able to act on them!

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Prospect says I'm not interested Average SDR response: "Why?" 👎 "I haven't shown you anything yet for you to not be interested" 👎 Top SDR response: "Sounds like you've tried something like this before?" ✅ PAUSE "Understood. I know I called out of the blue. Usually when I hear someone isn't interested it's because they've tried this before and it didn't work" ✅ PAUSE Your prospect will correct you☝ So why is saying "why" bad? Your prospect will get defensive. It comes off as too aggressive and you haven't necessarily earned the right to ask why. You sound like you're about to fight the prospect... Seek to understand by being understanding - not by being aggressive and annoyed 🧘‍♂️ #coldcalling #SDR #sales

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Automation is the way to go. So much to be gained by using the right tools for the right job.

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The NUMBER one sales prospecting blunder I see in my inbox from fresh SDRs (can be fixed in 5 seconds): 😮‍💨 "Hey Zoe, I see you lead strategic finance at Apollo..." I do not.... There are two Zoes at Apollo. Double-check that you're emailing the right one:) Personalization + relevance ONLY hit if you have the right contact. Ps. Use Apollo.io for free to get in front of the RIGHT person with the right message at the right time:)

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There's one trick top sellers use to go from spending hours on sales admin To cut that down to less than an hour a week 👇 Sales admin is notoriously a low-priority With time being limited as it is We often have to make the choice between a revenue-driving action like a call or email... and filling in the CRM with notes But this poses a big risk - if you let a couple of days go by without updating your deals You can very quickly find yourself in a situation where you’ve got an hour or more of admin to catch up And that’s the last thing we need My take on admin is that little & often is the best policy During calls I take passively notes while actively listening So that when I send my follow-up emails after calls I can boil down the key insights from the call while keeping MEDDPICC in mind And type these into a ‘Quick Summary’ section of my follow-up email I’ll then use these notes which are used to summarise the call for my prospects And transfer those directly into CRM under the deal Moving specific bullet points to different sections depending on the topic This saves a lot of time as I’m killing two birds with one stone While also keeping my prospects & managers aligned with the ongoings of the deal Remember, finding ways to keep your process lean in Sales is key It helps you protect your energy & focus on the areas that matter How do you go about saving time?

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