James Hawkins

🚀 Sales Confidence 2.0: Get SDRs Who Hit the Ground Running! 🚀 Tired of spending weeks onboarding new SDRs, only to realise they aren’t a fit for your fast-paced team? I know the challenges of hiring SDRs—getting the right person who’s not just great on paper but ready to sell from day one can be tough. Let’s face it, traditional CVs don’t tell you if someone has the grit to go out there to the market and have conversations. We provide pre-trained and pre-screened SDR candidates, ensuring your next hire can deliver results immediately, without the lengthy training process. Our Sales Confidence 2.0 ranking system highlights the most proactive, self-taught talent, so you can skip the guesswork and bring on SDRs who are proven to thrive in sales. 🌟 Meet Our Top Talent of today🌟 Jalil- an experienced B2C sales professional with entrepreneurial passion, showcased resilience and bravery in handling tough objections during his role play. Enrike -A charismatic listener who builds trust with strong questions, creating powerful, results-driven conversations. Zuhair- An adaptable professional with retail experience, skilled at handling tough conversations and solving problems creatively. Ali - An aspiring sales professional who thrives on the thrill of winning deals, bringing energy and enthusiasm to every prospecting challenge. Jiya - A versatile professional with a strong background in events, her energy and bubbly character from the role play can allow her to use humour to establish trust. Avishai- A future leader with a background in music, is a well-spoken and articulate professional who excels at getting to the point and handling objections with ease. If you are hiring reach out, remember 50% reduction fee.

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Sales Lessons from Gareth Southgate and England at Euro 2024 ⚽   Anyone in sales or sales enablement knows the feeling. One minute you're celebrating a smashed quota, feeling like you're unstoppable 💪 The next, you're staring at a spreadsheet of missed targets, questioning every sales tactic you ever learned. It's a rollercoaster and sometimes it feels like the freefalls are never ending. 😭   This emotional pendulum swing reminds me a lot of Gareth Southgate and the England team so far at Euro 2024. Remember the heat he took after some shaky performances? The pundits were calling for his head, questioning every decision. Tactics? ❌ Lineup? ❌❌.   Then, Southgate did something bold yesterday. He subbed out his captain, Harry Kane, for a player, Ollie Watkins, that played ZERO minutes in the entire tournament. 😱 😱 A gamble some might say, but a gamble that paid off in spectacular fashion – Watkins bagged the winning goal against the Netherlands!   The lesson here? Even when the pressure's on, and the critics are circling, stay true to your strategy. Just because someone hasn't had their big moment yet doesn't mean they can't be your game-changer. So, the next time you're feeling like you're at the bottom of the sales well, take a deep breath, dust yourself off, and remember: 💠 Believe in your process. You got this far for a reason. Keep refining your approach, and the results will follow. 💠 Don't be afraid to make bold moves. Sometimes, shaking things up can lead to breakthroughs. 💠 There's always an "Ollie Watkins" out there. New ideas and approaches can come from unexpected places. Stay the course, and never lose sight of your self-belief. Let's go!!

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We conducted the largest sales coaching specific survey EVER. Now its time to talk through the results and share what we discovered. Next Tuesday at 2pm UK time, join myself and Imani Cracknell from Aircall . Standby for: - How Sales Reps really feel about the amount and quality of coaching they are currently receiving - The huge disconnect that exists between sellers and leaders which companies have to pay attention to. -The type of sales coaching sellers crave (and what they want less of) - The correlation between great coaching and quota attainment. These results are a huge wake up call for Sales Leaders, who are perhaps convinced they have a fulfilled and happy sales force when it comes to their personal development. This webinar will share the specific things you need to be focused on as you plan for 2025, to finally put coaching front stage of your agenda. Register your spot here: https://lnkd.in/eESH_MDq

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An exercise I do with sales teams to give them more control & confidence on their cold calls By no means is this about being more scripted on the phone I came up with this exercise when I was an SDR as I was struggling to know what to say and I realise that the answers fooled into normally a yes/no or positive/negative bucket This image below is a very simple version of the final product but hopefully give you an idea of what it does The first challenge is: Does the person pick up -- yes or no If yes then Do you get - I am busy or hang up or the opportunity to share what you called If they hang up on you then either call back or send an email If busy then reply with what is in the image below If you get the opportunity to share then share the top 3 challenges you are seeing for that persona and ask if any of them resonate Then is yes Say tell me more about that If no Say "Oh that is really interesting you are the first person I have called this week who has not shared those as challenges ... what are challenges currently?" I see Cold Calling as one massive Conversation Tree and you just need to understand and map out your own tree When I did this 4 years ago it gave me a lot more confidence to pick up the phone because in my head or on a piece of paper, I've mapped out what the call may go like Interested to hear in comments if anyone else has one of these? ⤵

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got asked for some advice from leading successful Sales Development functions for over 10+ years...... so here's 7 tips if I was starting out! keen to hear others 🙏 as the list is endless: ❤️ give a shit about your people 📈 make data-driven decisions 👯 industry peer insight is most valuable 🤺 focus on driving habits, mindset, momentum, process & consistency 🕵‍♀️ perception is the enemy 💪 quality over quantity all day long 🕺 If you aren't competitive, you're in the wrong game #salesdevelopment #leadership #tipfromyouraveragesalesleader

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VPs Sales, STOP managing your SDRs | Here's why... 👀 Here's the sh*t you should be doing: 💵 Focus on supporting your AE team/s close deals 🧬 Prioritise strategic collaboration with other functions 📊 Review data to set strategic direction 👔 Spend time hiring A-Grade Leaders & AEs 🤝 Give attention to customers to optimise renewals & upsells ⚙️ Implementing & driving adoption of core sales processes Here's the sh*t you either should NOT be doing or worse... MISSING: 🗣️ Coaching the most inexperienced/junior reps in the org 🔁 Hiring & promoting in an ever-changing team dynamic 👥 Providing daily support for people still finding their way as an adult 🧑‍🏫 Teaching the BASICS of how cold-call, email, qualify, etc. 🔬 Study current prospecting trends & ideas 💪 Keeping impatient and hungry young professionals motivated Be honest with yourself... 🧠 Think about where you're burning your calories 🧠 Think about whether you have the time to manage this stakeholder group 🧠 Think about whether your prospecting knowledge is as sharp as it should be 🧠 Think about whether your SDR team is delivering the results you want 🧠 Think about where you are going to have the biggest business impact ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ 👋 Hi I'm Andy, Founder of RevRocket. I specialise in building, optimising and growing your SDR function so you don't have to. Considering getting support for your PipeGen Team? Shoot me a DM ✉️

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SDR Life in 2024: The Hardest It’s Ever Been? During Episode 11 of Beyond The Profile Podcast , SDR Leader Graeme 👨🏼‍💻 Gilovitz 🎗️ shared what it’s like to be an SDR today and why the landscape has never been more challenging. With over a decade in the tech industry, Graeme explains the real competition facing SDRs: “Our biggest competitor isn’t necessarily in our industry—it’s everyone vying for the same attention span.” Here’s why SDRs today face a unique uphill battle: 👉 Crowded channels: Hundreds of people trying to reach the same persona 👉 Automated overload: New tech has increased outreach but also the “white noise” SDRs have to break through 👉 A tough role to start: It may be an entry point into SaaS, but it’s no easy job Graeme offers a reality check for anyone entering the SDR role and shares what it takes to make an impact. #SDR #SalesDevelopment #Sales #SaaS #Podcast

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Nearly every salesperson who's prospecting is making this mistake right now Assuming that sending a 15-step cadence over two weeks will land them a meeting Whilst it might be ✅ Value-driven ✅ Multi-channel ✅ Hyper-personalised There are only 52 weeks in a year And less than 5% of buyers are in the market at one time So the likelihood of you catching them in those 2 weeks is pretty small The solution? Ditch the breakup emails and add nurture steps to your sequence instead Short + educational emails every 4-6 weeks So you're top of mind when they are in the market

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SDRs - struggling to find motivation today? This one thing upgraded my results and life drastically: Exercise Believe it or not, exercise can and will massively up your game as a rep. It's proven to increase: 1. Mental Clarity and Focus 2. Energy Levels 3. Resillience 4. Discipline Whilst decreasing: 1. Stress 2. Burnout 3. Anxiety 4. Bad moods This then translates to: 1. Better quality calls/emails/LI's 2. More energy to do more activity 3. Less anxiety around rejection/failure 4. Better quality of life overall. So if you haven't started working out do! Could be anything from walking to football to cycling. My happy place is the gym (and have also dabbled in crossfit). Has exercise benefitted your sales career? Here's a picture of me and the GOAT SDR Sazid Reza enjoying our travels in cornwall.

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Over the last 2 years I have been building out different offerings of how I can support sales teams create more pipeline Here are the current 3 areas we focus on 1. Account Workflow The super important pre-work you do before going outbound on an account - prioritising the right accounts - having alignment with your AE and BDR - building a hypothesis - account and contact level research - mapping out an account with the relevant stakeholders 2. Outbound Channels Becoming a master in the 3 major channels cold calling, email writing & LinkedIn but also what comes with that is - objection handling - building your own custom cold cooling cheat sheet - persona value messaging - how to build a personal brand on LinkedIn - get more from voice notes and video messages - building effective sequences - understanding data triggers in sequences 3. Tooling How to get the most out of your technology stack and create a day-to-day workflow - customising tools - identify gaps in tech stack - end to end data flow charts - specific technology training sessions - designing your best AI prompts Undertsanding your ICP is coming ... DM if you think this might be something you want to hear more about

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No one should be ashamed of working in sales You rank pretty high compared to others Did you know... Average UK SDR Salary: £35,412 → UK - Top 26% → Global - Top 12% Average UK SDR OTE: £45,309 → UK - Top 20% → Global - Top 10% Average UK AE Salary: £55,000 → UK - Top 15% → Global - Top 8% Average UK AE OTE: £75,000 → UK - Top 10% → Global - Top 5% Sources: UK Talent, Jobted, PayScale, UK Tax Calculators Is it comfortable on your high horse? 🐴 Let me know in the comments #sdr #ae

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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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“SDRs get stuck in the same call, day after day, slipping into a pattern that drains their energy.” Coaching SDRs is more than just teaching call scripts- it’s about shaking things up! In our latest I Used to Be Crap at Sales episode, Mark Ackers chats with Chris Dawson on how important it is to step back, reset, and add a bit of variety to keep the team energised. Leaders, are you keeping your SDRs fresh or letting them run on empty? Tune in to learn: • How to help SDRs break free from repetitive habits. • Why taking breaks and resetting is key. • Simple ways to refresh an SDR’s mindset. Full episode available now - link in the comments! #SDRLife #SalesCoaching #SalesLeadership

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Seen some interesting discussion about digital sales rooms (DSRs) on here recently As with most sales tools, part of it comes down to the end user - would you blame Orum or Nooks for a bad cold call? Having sent +2,000 myself, here are some top tips to make them work: 1- Make them personalised - prospect's branding, business cases, call summaries, demo recordings, MAPs 2- Introduce them early 3- Show your buyers how it's going to make their life easier before you send it 4- Don't overwhelm buyers with all information at once. Evolve them over time 5- Adapt to each deal. There is no 'one size fits all' - a DSR for SMB will be different to Enterprise 6- Use video to give context. People retain 95% of video information vs 10% in text 7- Make mutual action plans collaborative, don't just set homework 8- Encourage collaboration through live chat, comments and huddles 9- Focus on the DSRs that have the most engagement 10- Make them on brand 👆 The feedback from our customers' customers is overwhelmingly positive when you follow these steps And if buyers aren't willing to look at a digital sales room, they might not be *that* serious about buying 😬 #digitalsalesrooms

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Please stop renaming outbound It’s the dumbest trend Well done outbound is now called Value based outbound which is now… Trigger led outbound which is has been changed to… Prospect led outbound which, this just in, has been renamed to… Inbound-outbound but slightly midbound with a hint of closebound Good lord Y’all sound like my 2 year old trying to form a sentence It’s outbound, evolving to market demands Relax, you didn’t discover the new way #sales

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Just in case you've been living under a rock... MySalesCoach & Aircall just wrapped up the biggest sales coaching survey EVER—and the results? Let’s just say, some of you might be in for a surprise... Today at 2pm (UK time), join Richard Smith and Imani Cracknell from Aircall as they unpack the juicy insights of the survey! 🎙️ Here’s what’s coming: 👉 How Sales Reps really feel about their coaching (spoiler: it’s not all roses) 👉 The shocking disconnect between sellers and leaders—and why companies need to listen up. 👉 What sales reps are begging for in coaching (and what they’d happily see less of) 🤔 👉 How great coaching links directly to smashing quotas 🎯 If you’re a Sales Leader who thinks your team’s coaching game is on point, this might be your wake-up call. Get the real scoop on what you need to prioritise in 2025 to level up your coaching and results. 🔗 Grab your spot before it’s gone: https://lnkd.in/eESH_MDq

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Here's the stark facts in sales today. - 31% of reps are making quota - Nearly half (44%) of deals slip - Sales cycles are double digits longer, win rates are double digits down - Inbound leads are down - Salesforce recognised the need to increase pipeline coverage to by 50% (from x2 to x3) Most of those we speak to recognise all these challenges. But they are stuck. "Do more with less" is the message. They have cut teams and fought for those remaining. Their organisations are stuck with blind hope and knives sharpening. The only solution they know is to fire and replace. Because the real problems aren't acknowledged. The market has changed and it's harder. But are teams are not more skilled. The same teams, that could achieve in the old world are failing in this one. And the last message anyone wants, is we need to spend some money to solve that. "That's your job isn't it?" cries the leadership to time-starved managers and leaders. Anyone want to guess what's going to happen to sales manager average tenure (already at an all-time low of 18 months)????

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🚀 'There we Land' Sales Confidence 2.0 – Week 4! 🚀 We’re thrilled to showcase a talented group of aspiring SDRs who are making their mark in the world of SaaS Sales. If you’re on the lookout for charismatic, proactive candidates who are self-taught in sales, this August is your chance to connect with them at no cost! Our exclusive Sales Confidence 2.0 ranking methodology ensures you get the most proactive and self-motivated individuals for your SDR roles. Want to see how we rank them? Let’s talk once you start working with us! 🌟 Meet Our Top-Tier Candidates: 🌟 Nusrat Bhuiyan – A smart, articulate professional who uses her tone to ask insightful questions. She adeptly handles objections with a blend of knowledge and humor. Benjamin Kita – An inspiring sales professional who understands the transformative power of sales, focusing on guiding people from point A to point B with his solutions. Kunle Adeniji – A charismatic professional with diverse industry experience, leveraging his legal background to craft compelling stories and ask challenging questions during role plays. Nicole Maria Green – A multi-talented pro with a background in sales and marketing, quickly grasping complex needs and showcasing her bright talent in the sales world 💥 Here’s Your Opportunity: Connect with these standout candidates directly to offer mentorship, advice, or coaching. 💡 No cost, no strings attached—just pure potential. 🔗 Discover their profiles here: [Link in the comments] #Sales #SaaS #SalesDevelopment #TopTalent #SalesExcellence #CareerOpportunity

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Top tips for getting replies... 1️⃣ Read your message out loud. If it sounds jargony, sales-y & not super engaging then try again. We're all guilty of adopting the same "sales-y" language & format but if you wouldn't speak like that normally then don't over email. 2️⃣ Send it to yourself Send the email to yourself & preview it on your laptop & phone. If the preview or first sentence isn't capturing your attention then condense it & try again. *Tip Claude.ai & ChatGPT are good at reducing jargon & characters. 3️⃣ Make your subject boring Might sound silly but most subject lines sound really sales-y or marekting-y. Remove jargon words & try & make it sound like an internal email. e.g. article, post you wrote, interview talks Our prospects inbox's are slammed which makes standing out harder, but not impossible. What would you add as number 4?

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