If you build it...
building a sales team, process, and pipeline for success
Hello friends-
I’ve had this topic in mind for a while as I recently talked with a friend of mine about building a sales org from the ground up.
What, as sales leaders we can do to impact revenue based on the building blocks and structure we help put into place.
So like most weeks -the content I’d been saving all came together like the hoard of spectators at the end of the movie Field of Dreams.
In this week’s edition of Stretch Weekly -
Ralph Barsi shares 11 ways SDRs and AEs can build a strong pipeline together.
Hear from Than Hancock and Carlie Adams on building your sales organization and what they did to help grow Podium into the Unicorn they are today.
And don’t miss time-tested snippets from experts on building your process, pipeline and team for sales success.
THANKS for reading!!
-Grant
And lastly - as always, if you find this newsletter valuable- subscribe or share it with someone who might as well 👊.
STRETCH SHARES
11 Ways SDRs and AEs Build Pipeline
Ralph Barsi is one of my favorite sales leaders to follow. I’ve featured his advice from his blog and podcasts in this newsletter a half a dozen times already. Check out THIS podcast from roughly 2 years ago that I still reference)
In this blog post below he offers 11 ways SDRs and AEs can build a strong pipeline together.
SDRs directly support no more than 3 AEs at once. The pairings stay put as long as they can.
There’s a defined set of prospective logos they own. Why cast a net when you can throw a spear?
Each knows how the other prefers to communicate. And then they actually communicate.
They aren’t ON a team, they ARE a team. Big difference.
None of them HOPE it works out, they EXPECT it to work out. They’re committed and focused.
They conduct pre-mortems and post-mortems for every key meeting. Prospects benefit most.
They use CRMs as the single source of truth. The keys hang from the sign that says “KEYS.”
Everyone agrees on criteria for qualified accounts, people, and meetings. They discuss as a team.
AEs reject SDR-sourced meetings that aren’t yet qualified. Kind, tactful, teaching moments.
Egos are healthy and often left at the door. There is mutual respect, for each other and for the mission.
They invite the SE (Sales Engineer) into the process at the right time. They help the SE help them.
Building Your Sales Organization for Scale
I’ve said it before, but when SaaStr releases sales specific content, I devour it. (Kind of like pie. Rhubarb or apple for me. I’ll take 🥧 all day.)
This one is especially fun as Podium is based in my home state of Utah.
Hear from Than Hancock and Carlie Adams on building your sales organization and what they did to help grow Podium into the Unicorn they are today.
Podiums 5 Principles for Success:
Ownership is key. No Wild West. Specialize. “Good fences build good neighbors”.
Science over art. Make it clear what good looks like. The 3-2-1 daily mantra. “Ruthlessly Repetitive”.
It’s all about the team. A-players early on in every seat. Intentional about diversity & inclusion. “Great VPs not only get the good hires, but the GREAT hires.
At scale, focus is critical. Focus and hard tradeoffs. Guardrails on who/where/what to sell.
All in one boat. Cross collaboration. Sales driven and not sales dominated culture. Customer obsessed. We all win together.
STRETCH SNIPPETS
❄️ Add this podcast to your queue! Hear the fascinating story of Chris Degnan and how he helped build Snowflake to the decacorn it is today (and highest valued software IPO in stock market history!)
💪 This is one of my favorite episodes on all things SaaS. As a founder or VP of Sales - David Skok and Harry Stebbins will take you through the nuts and bolts of how to build, structure your sales team (and compensation models and quotas).
🐺 SDRs: Hunt in packs. Sam Nelson says that teaming up with your AE can multiply responses, and gives you three ways to do this.
🤯 Awesome slide deck from Balderton on structure, process, compensation, channel, culture, scaling internationally, key metrics to track and everything I wish I had as a Stretch VP and a great reference for me going forward.
👉 SDRs, BDRs, AEs, CSMs. Dan Martell talks about the right way to build a SaaS sales pipeline through dedicated sales roles.
🧠 Mindset
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. Just reply to this email and I’ll be in touch.
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