Here's How
Learning from experts on how to structure, impact, and scale your sales team
Hello friends,
I’m humbled and appreciative of your support. I recognize you have unlimited options when it comes to what you’d like to see in your inbox.
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As I sift through articles, podcasts and content, I seem to mostly save the stuff that sticks out to me for some reason or other. Often sparked by conversation with someone on my team or dialogue between an industry colleague (or even a text thread between myself and members of a formerly famous air-guitar rock band), my hope is that these quick insights resonate with you as well.
But I also welcome any feedback or requests for topics to include in the future. Holla at me!!!
As Jocko likes to say (below): Let’s Get After it.
In this week’s edition of Stretch Weekly -
How ZoomInfo Built a Best-in-Class SDR Growth Strategy
Chris Salisbury shares his Mighty Triangle of Influence
John Barrows takes us through navigating the give/gets for a win-win.
And of course - world famous STRETCH SNIPPETS on how we can learn from other’s success.
And lastly - as always, if you find this newsletter valuable- consider sharing it with someone who might as well 👊.
THANKS for reading!!
-Grant
STRETCH SHARES
How ZoomInfo Built a Best-in-Class SDR Growth Strategy
There has been a lot of talk about full-cycle vs. role segmentation in sales. Whatever side of the fence you sit- it’s interesting to see how ZoomInfo structures its unique SDR process for world-class growth.
Now- we all have varying degrees of budget, headcount, and resources to work with. And I’m not sure everyone who’d like to implement this approach would be able to do so without significant investment, but it’s helpful to see the structure outlined as something to work towards.
ZoomInfo’s SDR org is structured into three critical roles:
Inbound SDRs, who are solely fed inbound leads
SWAT SDRs, who are working with warm leads who haven’t filled out a form
Outbound SDRs, who are cold calling in a very targeted nature by leveraging data fed to them through our data lake, which is ingesting both data from our platform and our CRM
Learn from ZoomInfo strategies, tactics, and tips on how to utilize this approach to scale growth.
The Mighty Triangle of Influence
I enjoyed this concept from Chris Salisbury first published on LeadIQ talking about the Magical Triangle of Influence when it comes to moving deals through the funnel to close.
Not too far off from what we learn in MEDDIC, or what some may call Multi-Threading. Chris pines (see what I did there?) about identifying your 3 categories of people that will ultimately decide of the fate of your deal.
3 Categories of the Triangle of Influence
At the top point, we have the “financial” decision-maker, who manages the budget.
At one other point, we have the “technical/operations” decision-maker, who will ultimately be implementing the service or solution throughout the company.
The third point is the “user” decision-maker, who needs to make sure that the product will benefit and be usable by the employees while purposely advancing the company goals through its use.
Once each person/group of people are identified- Chris recommends following these three rules:
Never CC the highest-ranking person on an email. This may imply you are trying to tattle on them for not considering you.
Address the group in your email copy. Don’t write to just one person.
If they don’t respond, follow up with all three. If that doesn’t work, maybe you’re target isn’t the right part of the influence triangle.
How to Navigate the Gives/Gets for a Win-Win
Great insight from John Barrows on achieving a Win-Win in sales negotiation. My quick summary below:
A Win-Win is hard to achieve.
We often condition buyers to expect us to give.
If you keep giving, people keep asking for things. Whether it be free trials, discounts, add-ons, or other requests, If you continue to give the client what they are asking for, there is no respect in the relationship. The more equal you can keep the relationship, generally, the healthier it is.
Best way to combat discounting? John’s answer: A big fat pipeline. Spend time daily prospecting and building this.
9 rules to achieve a Win-Win in Sales Negotiation
Rule of Reciprocity
Conditioning
Know what to ask for
Follow good protocol for pre/post conversation
Objective health measurement
Time management
Common language
Story Time
Know when to walk away
STRETCH SNIPPETS
📞 Struggle with picking up the phone to cold call? Copy these 3 things James Thornburg does well.
💫 Lemkin → Dan → Stretch → You. We've got some SaaS Sales Inception with Dan Martell summarizing some tips from Jason Lemkin on How to Deal with Long Sales Cycles.
😬 Why "Does that make sense" makes Becc Holland CRINGE every time sales reps say it - and what to say instead.
👀 "You suck at closing if you suck at prospecting". Listen to this oldie but goodie podcast with Jeb Blount on prospecting.
🏋️♀️ Sahil Mansuri pens a good post on getting personal. Your standard "here's how we can help you save $$ and time" email is NOT going to work. You have to actually do the work. Create value. Be smart.
🛒 Buying is not easy! Kevin Dorsey shines a light on a typical buying process and what we as sellers, need to think about to make it easier for buyers.
🚑 Need some help with your sales strategy? Pipedrive to the rescue. Check out the guide here.
🧠 Mindset
Jocko scares me. But he tells it like it is which I appreciate. Quick 60 second video below to start your day.
Thanks for reading!
My hope is if you find this valuable, consider sharing it with friends (or signing up if you haven’t already).
— Grant 👋
About stretch vp: confessions, learnings, and insights from sales leaders in SaaS
Compiled and aggregated from a network of sales leaders in SaaS, Stretch VP showcases learnings, insights, and experiences as well as best practices to overcome common hurdles, obstacles, and setbacks in your quest for excellence as a sales leader in SaaS.
Are you a VP, Director, thought leader, or content producer in the SaaS space? We’d love to have you contribute. Contact Me HERE.
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