Andre Dean Smith

Are you an SDR or BDR in Australia? There’s always a lot of chatter about how to get into softwares sales. However, as a community, post-hire support resourcing has been scarce to date, leaving many reps lost in their roles. In recent months the Earlywork team has begun a Sales Club with it’s alumni to offer the kind of support that has been lacking for folks making there first steps in software sales. But they haven’t been the only ones in need of that kind of support… 🥁🥁🥁 From today, we’re opening up our free alumni community of 100+ Aussie SDRs, Sales Club, to a select few tech sales reps outside of our alumni! If selected, here’s what included as a Sales Club member: 1️⃣ SDR Slack Community Join a private community of 100+ Earlywork sales alumni. Learn how other reps deal with similar sales challenges, share & discover great sales resources, keep up to date with sales events, and meet other ambitious SDRs. 2️⃣ Fortnightly Events All Year Round URL & IRL events with local sales leaders to help reps level up their sales skills and build deeper peer relationships. Previous guests have included the former ANZ Country Manager of HubSpot and the founder of the Salesforce SDA Grad Program. 3️⃣ Curated Sales Mentor Network A pre-vetted group of AEs and SDR managers from our network who have offered to help graduates with tactical sales and career advice anytime. 4️⃣ SDR Resource Bank No-bullshit frameworks, guides & templates built by the Earlywork team to help reps hone their sales craft. Think career development trackers, target calculators, 1:1 templates and more. 5️⃣ Exclusive Job Opportunities Looking for an SDR promotion or AE role? Be the first to apply for roles at our partner companies before they go on market. If you’d like to throw your hat in the ring, apply for free today 👉 https://lnkd.in/gwujw7th Know someone who would be a good fit? Tag them in the comments below 👇

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I made 2500 cold calls to Aussie SMB owners, so you don't have to. Book meetings and start conversations with my three value 🪝 framework, script, and process ⬇ 🤠 If you want the templates, give me a shout below, and I'll send them to you! 👉🏻 This script and flow delivered the first 20 B2B customers for a new SaaS company using this process and leaning into... ◾ Understanding deeply the irresistible pains to solve for the prospect ◾ Building authority with industry language ◾ Opening yourself up to objections ◾ The simple SPIN call framework ◾ Using a 1,2,3 call pattern What's often overlooked or misunderstood for first-time callers is that the goal of the call is to have a conversation, start a relationship and qualify a prospect. You are trying to work out if you can work with the person on the other end of the call or if they are not the right fit, right now or ever. In the startup world the disqualifying is about... ◾ Identifying your ICP's as fast possible ◾Investing in the best fit prospect for your product right now ◾ Keeping the non ICP's who you know you can't deliver value to warm ◾ Playing the longer game by fostering these early relationships and bringing people on the journey. If you are going to make claims you best be ready to explain at a business and functional level. This process worked because it... ◾ Brought forward objections with folks intrigued/challenged the 3 value 🪝's ◾ Focused on getting past the intro section to hold them on the call ◾ Lined up the hurdle ready for you to jump over ◾ Makes sure you can talk at a 'business level' ◾ Makes sure you can talk at a 'product level' And you know the difference between these 👆 Remember that the objection is merely a hurdle in the shape of a question or statement to be understood, empathised with, stripped back, and moved forward with in a direction. I wanted to share this from a highlight period of my dialling career where I was hitting a 5% conversion rate from call to booked and knew exactly how to run my week to hit quota! Do cold calls fit your market? If this is helpful, please let me know, and I hope it saves you 2500 calls to work out how to build your script and process! --- I am Sean the Founder of Sell Anything We have worked with 300+ Founders alongside some of the best Incubators, Accelerators, VCs and Scale-Ups in Australia. We help SaaS/Tech businesses build $0 to $5m ARR and beyond.. and we bloody love it! Reach out if you need help in sales and revenue growth you'll be working with people who have grown companies from $0 to 8 figures in revenue 🤝 #sales #coldcall

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🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 Please welcome to the stage this Monday Order Editing 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 Where is your business based? Melbourne, Australia 🇦🇺 What is your company Slogan? Turn order edits into thousands of dollars Why should merchants or partners consider your agency? The only app to let customers edit their order details and add more products after purchase. Why do you build for Shopify? It changed our lives. Their advocacy for developers and ethos toward us making them more valuable encouraged us to bet on them, which has paid off tenfold. It’s amazing the joy and opportunities working between themselves and merchants brings. Whats an awesome merchant case study? The founders of Nakie were our first ever Plus merchant. Ahead of BFCM they were expecting to receive over 2000 “can I change my address” or “can I change my size” support tickets. They launched our app prior and received just 60 support tickets. Additionally, they upsold $12,000 of new sales by letting customers add more products to their order 5 minutes after checkout. “There’s space in your package” was the copy that won Black Friday. What topics should should merchants or partners reach out to you about? Customer Experience, Returns, Self-service, Post-purchase upsells Anything else the linkedin community should know? We’re building in public! Follow our journey :) we share it all

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I stumbled into B2B sales role selling multi-million dollar SaaS software deals that almost broke me. In 2015, I entered the world of B2B SaaS with an Australian startup, unaware of how crucial the price point was in shaping our sales approach. We were selling a product priced between $20,000 and $45,000 per month, with an $600,000+ implementation cost. Despite the clear value our software offered, we struggled to close deals. Clients were excited, but they weren't buying. The problem wasn't the product—it was that our clients couldn’t equate the cost with the value. To add to the pressure, there was a team of 40 to 50 people depending on us to solve this riddle, and it became clear that selling wasn’t the issue; people simply weren’t ready to buy. I remember everyone playing table tennis or having Friday afternoon drinks and I felt guilty for participating because we weren't selling at the rate we should have. I don't know why but I felt we needed to change our sales approach and force clients into their buying cycle by highlighting the pain, risk, and cost of continuing with their current solutions. This strategy required challenging their thinking while building rapport, a delicate balance that proved essential. This shift transformed our sales meeting almost overnight and sent us on another trajectory. Where clients once delayed decisions, they began moving forward with confidence. I realised that selling high-ticket software required more than just presenting a product—it meant becoming an expert in guiding clients through their buying journey. By developing strategies and processes that added value at every step, we were able to reduce the sales cycle and build stronger client relationships. The most significant lesson I learned was that this principle applies universally. Whether a business is buying a multi-million-dollar software or a $50 subscription, they still need to see the value, trust the seller, and go through a journey to make the purchase. The key is proving value in the form of ROI, not just through the product but by demonstrating how it aligns with the client's primary drivers—revenue generation, cost reduction, or risk reduction. By focusing on these areas and collecting real client feedback to substantiate ROI, I was able to reduce sales friction, increase demand, and make the sale easier. If your startup is struggling to make consistent sales or it feels like deals are stalling, I have a guide to help. Just send me a message or comment below. #startup #salesstrategy #b2b #highticket

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Are you an SDR or BDR in Australia? If you’re feeling alone in your role and want to meet other SDRs and BDRs… then do I have some big news for you. 🥁🥁🥁 From today, we’re opening up our free alumni community of 100+ Aussie SDRs, Sales Club, to a select few tech sales reps outside of our alumni! If selected, here’s what included as a Sales Club member: 1️⃣ SDR Slack Community Join a private community of 100+ Earlywork sales alumni. Learn how other reps deal with similar sales challenges, share & discover great sales resources, keep up to date with sales events, and meet other ambitious SDRs. 2️⃣ Fortnightly Events All Year Round URL & IRL events with local sales leaders to help reps level up their sales skills and build deeper peer relationships. Previous guests have included the former ANZ Country Manager of HubSpot and the founder of the Salesforce SDA Grad Program. 3️⃣ Curated Sales Mentor Network A pre-vetted group of AEs and SDR managers from our network who have offered to help graduates with tactical sales and career advice anytime. 4️⃣ SDR Resource Bank No-bullshit frameworks, guides & templates built by the Earlywork team to help reps hone their sales craft. Think career development trackers, target calculators, 1:1 templates and more. 5️⃣ Exclusive Job Opportunities Looking for an SDR promotion or AE role? Be the first to apply for roles at our partner companies before they go on market. If you’d like to throw your hat in the ring, pop a few bits of info into the form on our shiny new Sales Club page and I'll be in touch with next steps!

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❤️‍🩹 It’s a lonely world as an SDR, but it doesn't have to be. Today, we’re opening up our 🆓 alumni community of 100+ Aussie SDRs, Earlywork Sales Club, to a select few tech sales reps outside our alumni! If selected, here’s what is included as a Sales Club member: 1️⃣ SDR Slack Community Join a private community of 100+ Earlywork sales alumni. Learn how other reps deal with similar sales challenges, share & discover great sales resources, keep up to date with sales events, and meet other ambitious SDRs. 2️⃣ Fortnightly Events All Year Round URL & IRL events with local sales leaders to help reps level up their sales skills and build deeper peer relationships. Previous guests have included the former ANZ Country Manager of HubSpot and the founder of the Salesforce SDA Grad Program. 3️⃣ Curated Sales Mentor Network A pre-vetted group of AEs and SDR managers from our network who have offered to help graduates with tactical sales and career advice anytime. 4️⃣ SDR Resource Bank No-bullshit frameworks, guides & templates built by the Earlywork team to help reps hone their sales craft. Think career development trackers, target calculators, 1:1 templates and more. 5️⃣ Exclusive Job Opportunities Looking for an SDR promotion or AE role? Be the first to apply for roles at our partner companies before they go on the market. If you’d like to throw your hat in the ring, pop a few bits of info into the form on our shiny new Sales Club landing page and ⚡️Ryan Van from our team will get in touch!

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There are 33 closing days until the end of the FY for most sales teams in Australia. There are 3 types of sales leaders right now. 1. I have made my team number and we are in bonus time. The biggest challenge is “what do I keep for next year while maximising bonuses and commissions for the team this year?”. I hope this is you! 2. I will make my team number but I need a few key deals to close. The total focus is on closing those deals. If you are not in category 1, I hope you are in this group. 3. I am not going to make it. Do I push as hard as possible to get as close as possible, or do I keep it all for next year. I hope this is NOT you. Does the CEO/Owner and CFO know where you are at? How are you going to address your key challenges whichever category you are in? If you are in category 2, here are some questions for you to ponder: 1. What is the customer’s process from now to contract signature? Who is involved and when? 2. What happens if they do nothing and let it slip until next year? Is there an impact on their business? 3. Are you across their business case? What is unique about our solution that means they have to select us to get those outcomes? 4. Is there budget to spend on this? Or is this process to get budget and then we need to get further approval to spend that budget? This is the process from contract signature to cash in the bank. If you are in category 3, our proven sales framework will ensure you are not in the same place next year (95% success rate over the last 5 years). #founders #salesleadership #salesframework #pamice

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Brilliant podcast about sales💎🗓️ Alex Hormozi describes the challenges and how to overcome them perfectly. Whilst most of us are in a holiday mode I highly suggest to use the additional spare time available on honing your craft 🙏💻🎵 #sales #neduai #prospecting #creating #value

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“Top sales reps don't get laid off”   I've seen this a few times recently.   On paper it's hard to dispute.   But let me tell you a quick story.   In 2021 I helped a pre-IPO firm build their GTM team in ANZ.   We spent a year recruiting the best folk in the industry.   AEs. SEs. CSMs. Channel. SDRs.   All genuine A-players.   They did great. Signed some big logos. Tracking well.   Then the CEO announced they were pulling out of ANZ.   The entire team was let go including the VP.   It was properly shit. We felt terrible but no one saw it coming.   Now I can't speak for the rest of the world, but if hiring in APAC you've got to take this into account. Many SaaS firms completely pulled out of region here. Stop assuming good people dont get laid off. Being ignorant will cost you.   #techsales #gotomarket #saasrecruitment

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We collected the 58 highest performing email templates used by Brex, Salesforce, Gong and others including Salestools to drive outbound sales. If you like a copy simply: 👍 Like this Post 😎 Comment your favourite Steak Cut or Fish 🔗 Add me as a connection and I will return the file

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Constantly chasing unresponsive clients In New Zealand's competitive market, many sales professionals find themselves repeatedly following up with clients who seem to vanish after initial contact. This endless chasing can lead to frustration, wasted time, and decreased productivity. It's a sign that the approach may not be resonating or that the sales process is misaligned with the buyer's needs. Refine your sales strategy with effective guidance Instead of chasing clients across time and space, sales professionals should focus on refining their strategy by adopting proven sales techniques. By reading a highly effective sales book that addresses this exact challenge, professionals can learn how to engage clients more effectively from the start. These resources often provide insights on how to position value propositions, ask the right questions, and build rapport to create a more natural flow in the sales process. When applied in a New Zealand business context, this leads to more responsive clients, less follow-up, and a higher success rate in closing deals.

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Top performing AEs achieve 4.8x FASTER DEAL VELOCITY. Imagine 1 report & 6 Qs accelerating your Q3/Q4 deals! Every quarter feels like a short quarter. Q3 and Q4 are no exception. Summer getaways, mid-term breaks & the holidays. → Good AE performance is exiting H1 on 40%. → Most AEs need to close 60% + to hit quota. → Speed is everything in Q3 and Q4. If you can add 4.8x deal velocity, then it gives you a great chance to exceed quota! How do top performing AEs achieve 4.8x deal velocity? They prospect the best-performing personas. Here is the rub... You need to check the data first hand. Check the CRM for closed deals. → Run a report for closed deals in H1. → Run a report for closed deals last FY. Get a decent sample size. It can be deals closed in your patch. Deals closed by your team or wider org. It can be deals closed in your vertical globally. Run a report that fits your situation. Then check the Top 5: Q1. Top 5 Largest Deals Q2. Top 5 Shortest Deal Cycles Q3. Most common Personas? (Champions, Economic Buyers) Then take it a step further. Q4. What were the exact pains? Q5. What were the exact use cases? Q6. What were the desired outcomes? tldr: to achieve 4.8x deal velocity... hat tip to Ebsta for the data. → Pipeline Generation: Use this to prospect the right persona so you can find deals with higher velocity. → Progress Pipeline Get all the top personas involved in your deals. Make a concerted effort to have more stakeholders engaged. p.s. If you’re an Account Executive looking to fill your pipeline and exceed quota in 90 days or less, I've space for 5 AEs in August. Send me a DM saying "90" to find out more. 🔥 🍾

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BANT might be killing your top of funnel. I've been on the buyer side a lot more lately and the amount of times I've been BANTed in the first call is crazy. Even had an SDR BANT me on email... The thing is, your funnel is a process and you want to be mindful about where you add friction to it. It might make sense for some co's with crazy demand to add friction very early on in the funnel because leads signing up might not be of the best quality. But if you're startup, adding friction too early might not be the best move. Same for recruitment btw, for a big four, a cover letter makes a lot of sense, for a startup... maybe that's too much friction too early. Point is, Look at everything as a system with processes and be mindful of where you add friction. PS. Not just hating on BANT, just shouldn't be used as a checklist in most cases.

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Sean’s Sales Tip 🚫 Focusing solely on increasing the pipeline to meet sales quotas is a misguided strategy. It is akin to saying I will risk $300 in the slot machine, instead of $200 to make a win. 🔔 Salesforce's recent decision to require 3x pipeline coverage, up from 2x, rang the alarm bells for me. 💸 Such an increase demands significant effort and resources, leading to a dramatic rise in customer acquisition costs (CAC) and other bid related costs without guaranteeing an equivalent increase in revenue. 🤔 Think about the optics of this announcement. You are saying to your sales teams it is OK to lose 66% of your deals now, instead of 50%. 🎯 The emphasis should shift from maximizing pipeline to optimizing win rates and accelerating deal velocity. Step 1 🏆 Improve Win Rates Improving win rates is a more efficient and cost-effective approach to achieving sales targets. For instance, a modest increase in win rates from 20% to 25% can yield substantial revenue gains with no extra pipeline required. Step 2 🚀 Accelerate deal velocity To enhance deal velocity (and also win rates), salespeople need to focus on creating pain, recruiting, and equipping champions within the client organization so that your deal gets done and becomes a priority. 💡 Prioritizing win rates and deal velocity over pipeline growth is a smarter and more sustainable strategy for achieving sales quotas. This means that Sales Leaders need to be trained in how to coach their teams effectively and for them to get out of the office more often.

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Just talked to a top SDR in APAC. Here's how he consistently attains over 200% of his target. His most effective channel is cold calling. 🔷 Call after lunch when prospects are more relaxed. 🔷 Set the agenda at the start to manage expectations. 🔷 Attend all AE calls to understand why users love the product and refine messaging. 🔷 Use a power dialer to maximize calls during key times. 🔷 Even if a meeting isn’t booked, gaining insights (like competitor info) is valuable for improving future messaging. 🔷 If a meeting isn’t booked but you learn something, use that information when reaching out to others in the company. 🔷 Highlight your best accounts and share them with your AE for cold calling. Timing is crucial, so increase your chances. What's your top tip for lead generation? Subscribe Maven Club for insights from top GTM leaders!

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Why EvettField Partners Pty Ltd Choose HubSpot to Drive B2B Business Growth! HubSpot is a leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform that offers a full suite of tools for marketing, sales, customer service, and content management. Here's a brief overview of its main features and benefits: Key Features: 📔 CRM: HubSpot CRM is free and provides a centralized database for managing customer interactions and data. 💻 Marketing Hub: Tools for email marketing, social media management, SEO, content creation, and lead generation. 📧 Sales Hub: Features include email tracking, meeting scheduling, sales automation, and pipeline management. 👩‍🔧 Service Hub: Customer service tools like ticketing, live chat, knowledge base, and customer feedback surveys. 🔎 CMS Hub: Content management system for building and managing websites, with features like drag-and-drop editors and SEO recommendations. ⚙️ Operations Hub: Tools for data syncing, automation, and reporting to ensure all your business operations are aligned. Benefits: 👨🏻‍💻 User-Friendly Interface: Intuitive and easy to navigate, making it accessible for users of all levels. 🤝 Integration: Integrates seamlessly with many other tools and platforms, enhancing its functionality. 📈 Scalability: Suitable for businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises. 📊 Comprehensive Reporting: Detailed analytics and reporting features to track campaign performance and ROI. 🤖 Automation: Robust automation capabilities to streamline marketing, sales, and service processes. 🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Support and Community: Extensive resources, including tutorials, a knowledge base, and a supportive user community. Use Cases: 📺 Marketing: Creating and managing email campaigns, social media posts, and content marketing strategies. 💲Sales: Managing leads, tracking sales activities, and automating follow-up tasks. 👩‍🔧 Customer Service: Handling customer inquiries, managing support tickets, and gathering customer feedback. 💻 Website Management: Building and optimizing websites with SEO tools and content management features. HubSpot is well suited to small to mid-sized businesses due to its comprehensive feature set and flexibility. It can be especially beneficial for B2B companies (agriculture, architecture, building and construction, distribution, engineering, manufacturing, and mining) by helping streamline their marketing and sales efforts and improving customer relationships. If you’re looking for more information on how implement HubSpot in your B2B organisation in Australia or New Zealand, get in touch and I’d be more than happy to provide a free 30-minute consult on your requirements. #B2B #HubSpot #StrategySnapshots™️

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Picture a SaaS world where: - The Customer Success org starts with Solutions - There's a Chief Solutions Officer on the board - AEs consult with SEs on all ongoing deals - Customers talk 80% in conversations - Focus is on adoption, not renewals How much retention would go up? I'm guessing by A LOT. P.S: Because customer adoption almost guarantees renewals. #presalesevolution #customersuccess #saas

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The top decile enterprise sales leaders I’ve met enable their reps with one thing in particular, that the bottom 90% neglect. Across the several hundred revenue, sales, and value leaders I’ve spoken to as we’ve built Minoa, there’s a recognition that proving value and ROI is tough. Now, hand that responsibility over to a rep too busy dealing with admin, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for miscommunication and lack of customer buy-in. We get this question all the time - “how do I get reps to adopt our value selling initiative”? This frames it as an issue related to rep discipline, when the problem has nothing to do with this. It’s not that reps don’t see the point - they just don’t know how to navigate communicating the quantitative impact of your product’s value. The very best sales leaders empower their reps with clear frameworks of how quantitative impact (be it for revenue, cost, time etc.) maps to value drivers and use cases. Proving value can be hard, but having the power to communicate and match product value to measurable business outcomes in a long and complex sales cycle cuts through the noise. At Minoa, we help set up the value frameworks, calculations, and guardrails that give every single rep the ability, and more importantly the confidence, to use data and quantitative impact to sell on value.

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So, we have an engaged prospect - They’re in the ICP - They have buying intent - It’s the right timing for them - But they’re the wrong Buyer Persona! What do we do here? 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗚𝗼 𝗔𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺 (𝗬𝗲𝘁) In my experience this is a fantastic way to piss of your prospect (AND their boss) while coming across as salesly and losing all credibility. 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 if we try to sell to the wrong persona, more often than not we lose the deal, and any time we’ve invested, if we don’t get to power. This is a fantastic way to work really hard and miss quota. 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗮 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 Instead of selling the product, we sell them on partnering with us to run an evaluation together. Let me walk through how I’ve done this. 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗪𝗵𝘆 Find out why this is important to them and the impact on them personally of getting this right, of getting it wrong, and of it not happening at all. We need a good reason to ask them to stick their neck out to introduce us to their leadership team. 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸 There’s often risk for our champion. If this goes south, they may be blamed for it, or even fired. I’ve seen it many times and I can share specific stories of how this goes down and how it could all be avoided by engaging leadership in the right way. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 It’s critical not to skip key steps. To earn trust, we have to add value. They want to see an introductory demo, understand pricing, etc etc. These things are fair. But we can’t go too far without looping in the right people and we need to stay in the pocket until we can. 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗧𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 Once we’ve earned their trust, we can and should ask to build a plan together. This involves bringing the right people, from both sides, in for the right steps. If we build this plan together we stand a better chance they’ll follow through with it. 𝗪𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝘆, 𝗡𝘂𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 If we cannot get them on board with this we need to walk away and nurture them until that’s changed. We can share relevant marketing content, events, etc with them to do this. We can also start to share that with others on the team. I’m a big fan of role specific marketing content for this reason. It’s a lot easier to invite a CEO to a CEO dinner than it is to just go around our champion with a cold email pitching a sales meeting. RevOps can really shine here by helping to map this process out and align sales and marketing to do this. What would you add here? 🤔 More on nurturing tomorrow in 📰 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗢𝗽𝘀 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 📰 Sign up here to get it: https://bit.ly/3xgqF55 ✌️

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