I struggled a lot and you know I honestly I found out I almost was I was about to get like go in my first 90 days which after after learning that I kind of thought about you know where did I cross the chasm in and it was really just removing that entitlement and having an open mind you know reaching out for help and letting people know that hey I need some help with this I can’t do this on my own. And so the beginning was I guess a little bumpy and then just building on that moment. From from from the start to the outbound I started to like I said I’m working longer days so I was able to understand what made me good and what I was good at and what I wasn’t good at its strengths and weaknesses played a large part in it being able to relinquish those you know my competitive advantage.
Episode 41: The Top SDR at DiscoverOrg – Josh Sutton – Grit & Doing What Others Aren’t Willing To Do
The Top SDR at DiscoverOrg – Josh Sutton – Grit & Doing What Others Aren’t Willing To Do
After a rough first 90 days as an SDR at DiscoverOrg, Josh Sutton found his footing and became the top Sales Development Rep in the company. In 1 year he generated over 300 completed meetings that resulted in nearly $2M in closed business. He even set a company record by scheduling 10 meetings in a single day. In this episode of the Sales Success Stories Podcast you’ll hear how he did it.
Clip: “It’s about building the relationship even without trying to sell something”
It’s about having the building the relationships even without trying to sell something you know I’m sure that if we weren’t already working together he would probably somebody would have tried to sell him DiscoverOrg I’m sure but never using somebody as a means to end I guess it just kept staying on top of maintaining relationships and you know figuring out how you can leverage the people in your network and then also provide value to them as well.
Clip: 10 meetings in 1 day!
I asked my manager hey what’s the most outbound of anybody’s ever scheduled them one day. And he said the most is 9. OK I’m going to do 10 today. And that was at 8:00 a.m. in the more 8:30 in the morning and by 3:00 p.m. I had 10 or 10 scheduled and I said Hey I beat the record. And sure enough it was like How did you do this how did you do this? I was like well you know I focused on kind of laid out my process and then I thought I’m like wait I could have done this. And then I wouldn’t have got a No from that person. And so just you know having an open mind and don’t be afraid to share what you’re doing with other people because you know the more you talk about it the more you’re going to uncover of how to get better as well.
Clip: The SDR Role: “you have to go about it with the right attitude”
With the SDR role. It’s one that it’s kind of the entry level and you have to go about it with the right attitude. You know a lot of people say that you have to be able to get shot down you have to you have to you know roll with the punches and roll with the No’s and you know you have to celebrate the small wins. And I think that that’s that’s all true. However if you if you change your mindset you can accomplish anything really like if you if you think about what you’re doing and remove yourself from your hypothetical remove yourself from the environment or where you’re at and kind of see yourself doing certain things and figure out how you can improve those systems and processes and have the right mindset. Staying positive. It goes further than anything else you know so much of sales is success or I’m sorry is luck and so much of your success is played off of those those lucky things that happen you know so it’s like you reach out to somebody cold. Well I think it’s just it’s a matter of luck that they. Oh yeah I was actually just thinking about you last night. You know it that a lot of that is luck. And you have to take that and channel it and put it towards you know rolling with those No’s that really went a long way for me. And you know it took me a while to figure that out but here I am now.
Clip: Connecting with people on a human level in sales
Whether or not somebody is going to buy it from me or whether or not somebody is going to take a meeting for you or whatever reason you know if they do buy from you or if they don’t or if they do take a meeting from you. It’s all about having that personal you know connecting with somebody on a human level. And if you got shared interests in and building those relationships further than just a means to an end. I guy I still talk to some of the people that have said that I’ve set meetings with that ended up you know buying. And I still keep in touch like I feel like some people in my in the SDR role would forget about them after the meeting or after the sale. And you know LinkedIn has been great a big help with that by connecting with people and staying in touch. And so you know for me it’s a benefit because I can see also like if they go to a different company maybe I can help and there but really just you know don’t forget about them after you know they’ve taken that meeting or after they bought it from you. It’s OK to continue to foster that relationship because you know down the road they might need you. You might need them and it’s just they know that that’s what makes the sales role so great is it being able to have those relationships in and the ones that that are fostering those and maintain relationships and keeping in touch or are the ones that are going to be the most successful.
Clip: Advice for new Sales Development Reps
Don’t get too much into your own head about having to perform a certain way or having to do certain things just do what comes natural to you. And align that within the systems and processes that are in place because you know when companies create SDR teams you know there’s so many different models and hours and hours of modeling that goes into say OK we need 10 you know qualified opportunities a month from each person in the seat. And this is what we have to do to help them. This is what we have to do to get there. And so it’s not necessarily having to do or don’t focus on you know always having to hear your number. It’s yes you want to hit your number and you want to excel but also you want to develop yourself along the way. And it’s OK to make those mistakes you know along the way too it’s like don’t be afraid to break something because there’s also like a silver lining that’s that’s within that. So number one don’t get in your head. Number two be do what comes natural and alignment with the systems and processes in place as well you know if they tell you to hit 60 dials a day do 60 dials but you know do those 60 dials with what comes natural to you. And don’t be afraid to also reach out for help. I mean that was one of the biggest things that I that I struggled with was I was naive and entitled. And I was new to everything so I thought that I could do it all. You know come in with confidence and you know rah rah rah. But really it’s the all the most all of the learning that I got came from one talking to people within the company you know the mentors that I have and two also talking to our customers and figuring out how I like how we can how I can get better at what I do.
Clip: Being a part of something big and figuring out his “what”
Like I said it is kind of a soul searching experience for me to figure out my purpose and I realized that I love the company I work for and my struggle was I just wanted to be a part of something big. And you know maybe it’s a feeling of importance I guess. I’m not sure what exactly it was but I just knew that I wanted to be a part of something big. And I wanted to look back whether I’m there or I retire or whatever maybe I want to look back and say that I was a part of something and I helped something big at DiscoverOrg. And so that’s that’s kind of what helped me realize that we didn’t have there’s not a whole lot of large companies out there that are already customers. And so I need to figure out how I can help our company what I can do how I can apply myself to to be a part of something big. And I realized that after talking to Patrick Pervis RCO he’s been kind of a mentor to me throughout my my time at that DiscoverOrg with me talking and we realized that yeah it’s kind of hard to find these large companies because they’re already customers. So why don’t you apply the skills that you know the things that you’re really good at and help us expand into these customers. And so you know really just shooting out a lot of people say you know find it figure out your why. And for me it was like figuring out my what. What was it that I wanted to do. And what is it that’s going to motivate me. And that’s kind of where what my decision process was.
Clip: Advice for SDRs looking to move to AE or otherwise advance their sales careers
Never get complacent with where you’re at and always be thinking about how you can make how you can relinquish and exploit those competitive advantages that you have and relinquish those the strengths to further compliment your weaknesses I guess. And so you know if you if you’ve been there for six seven eight months a year you know you’re kind of getting a salary you’ve already been established you’re just kind of working through the flow and thinking about your next step. No don’t get caught up in thinking about the next step. Get obsessed with getting even better at what you’re doing now and taking care of more the little things. And so you know I think about some of the things that I did throughout my you know kind of the midway or about you know tenured point in the SDR world is I kept thinking about how we can make everything better. Like how I can make everything better. Sure what I’m doing now is I’m seeing results but how can I take it a step further.
Clip: From zero to SDR Hero. How Josh Sutton set ten meetings in one day
I actually couldn’t say I was really frustrated it was. There was a it was a Thursday that I did those 10 meetings but the whole week I just been getting no it’s just being shot down. I mean I was bummed out and I thought you know what I need. I need to get ahead of this. And so I came in early and I started thinking more strategically and it was I was just off the heels of getting the meeting that are getting the response from my like my top top meeting I guess my most memorable meeting. And so I thought how can I how can I replicate that system and do it and take advantage of that success into my and kind of a corporate some of those things. And so I lined out my you know top accounts the companies that we had. But I was going after and I found each person that I wanted to reach out to with a personalized message and ended up doing that’s when I implemented my 5 by 5. And kind of showed that know I can reach out to him via email and follow up with phone calls so I did five meetings off of personalized e-mails and then five off of the phone. Following up on the e-mails.
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