Nicolae Popescu

What I hear a lot from SDR/BDR Managers focusing on cold outbound! 👨‍💻 Their reps are struggling to speak to enough people…..connect rates are sitting about 3% in the US and around 7-10% is the UK Their data quality is poor, so they’re not getting through to the right people or calling bad numbers! The reps call culture is on a decline because they spend all day dialling listening to voicemails and answer machines! (Even when the call goes to the right person they’re being marked as SPAM) What does that mean for SDR Managers and their teams ?🧐 They’re struggling to hit quota because they aren’t having enough conversations…. Pipeline is on a low…. They’re always trying to find ways of motivating their team to dial! If you’re looking to take back control by improving your teams efficiency, Allowing them to have more conversations Improving calling culture (Reps feel like they’re wasting time when they see no ROI on their time) Calling dynamically to ensure your using your data effectively Then let’s have a conversation! Drop me a DM 🚀 P.s Cold calling is the BEST form of outreach I don’t care…..

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CS leaders ☝ What's stopping your teams from starting renewal conversations earlier? Something I’m hearing a lot recently from Customer Success leaders, is they are realising they need to be looking at renewals up to 6 months ahead if they want to make an impact on account health before it’s too late to save. Seems to be especially important right now as a high percentage of renewals tend to happen in Q4 as Sales love to get a last minute deal in! #customersuccess #csleaders #customersuccessleaders #csm

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SDRs, stop calling - it’s December! December often gets labelled as "downtime" for SDRs or sales in general, with many easing off and slipping into holiday mode🎄 Yes, I agree people need to recharge and enjoy Christmas, but this can be the last push before the new year. The reality is: while others relax, businesses still need solutions, and decision-makers are often more available. This is a big opportunity to stand out and fill the gap that other are failing to fill... This week we managed to bring on a large client that needed immediate assistance with finding candidates as they weren't satisfied with the current service levels. Within a couple of hours we managed to fill them positions for them and the next day they asked us for more!...Building a growing partnership🤝 Consistency in December can lead to some massive wins – not because there aren’t opportunities the rest of the year, but because fewer people are going after them now. When others lower their standards, you raise yours. 📈 #Sales #SDR #December #Opportunities

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How do you know if you sound the same as the 1000’s of candidates applying for SDR roles? If you want to work in sales because you… - Want progression? - Want to earn money? - Work well to targets? - Enjoy speaking to people? Yeah. You’re saying the same things as everyone else. It’s the reasons behind these statements that are personal to you. It’s these personal reasons that help other people understand you and how you might fit into their team or company or culture. Be candid. Be honest. You’ll get much further than saying the same bits as everyone else. #sdrhiring #salesinterviewtips #sdrinterview #yourwhy

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Quick question to all of my Business Developers out there. What do you see as the role of personalisation in the BDR cycle in 2024/25? Are more people automating this? Is the juice worth the squeeze? I'm hearing more and more teams move away from manual effort. #sales #businessdevelopment #personalisation #salesloft #salesforce (PFA: Hey!)

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As an SDR, I’m a big believer in a multi-channel approach. Yesterday, I booked three meetings - one from each channel: phone, email and LinkedIn. While the phone remains one of the highest-performing channels, I’ve found that combining it with email and LinkedIn is the most effective way to maximise outreach. Using multiple channels ensures you’re reaching as many prospects as possible - even those who might be hard to catch on the phone📞 If you’re not yet using a multi-channel approach, consider this your sign to start experimenting! The key is to stay relevant, avoid pitch-slapping, and get creative with your messaging. What’s your top tip for reaching prospects across multiple channels?👇 #SDRlife

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99% of SDRs think sticking to a single outreach channel is the best way to hit their targets. However, limiting yourself to one channel means missing out on huge opportunities Here's why I switched from a monochannel to a multichannel approach: 🚀 Diversified Reach: Not everyone checks their email regularly, and some prospects might engage better on LinkedIn, phone calls, or even direct mail. By diversifying, you’re more likely to connect with prospects where they’re most active 📈 Improved Engagement: Different channels allow you to tailor your messaging and approach based on the platform. What works in an email might need a personal touch in a call or a more visual element on LinkedIn. Multichannel engagement increases the chance of resonating with your prospect ⏱ Shorter Sales Cycles: With multiple touchpoints, you're not just another email in their inbox. Engaging prospects across different platforms speeds up responses and builds familiarity, leading to quicker conversions So, instead of sticking to just email, why not try incorporating LinkedIn outreach and cold calls into your strategy? Implementing this change could lead to a broader reach, higher engagement, and faster deals

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A snippet from our CRO's LinkedIn post today. We hit Q1 target.... and 60% of that revenue was BDR sourced. Personally I've never seen numbers like this for an outbound motion. How did we achieve this, Alex Olley's post talks about the wider teams but from a BDR perspective Revenue not meetings - We are driven by conversion rates and closed won not total number of meeting sat. Of course we still need meetings but they must be ones that will continue down the pipeline. Focused Prospecting -using intent data from marketing we focus on accounts that are in market, and prospect with personalised and relevant information. Pod it Up - We work with a single AE, we multithread key accounts, collaborate on messaging and win together. Proud of the whole team BDR & wider for this awesome quarter.

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There's a huge amount of goodwill that SDRs can create by showing up to their calls well-prepared. If you work with midmarket/enterprise accounts - this is for you! 💪 What am I getting at? - If you can describe in detail the world of the prospect - that 'can' take you all the way to the finish line (maybe even despite a weaker mid/close section) 🏁 But how do you incorporate research into your opening structure? This is how I do it. +++++ 1. Lead with the data point's you've learned, 🔑and🔑 go one step further and make an educated guess. <I noticed you're hiring for enterprise reps> + <which suggests to me that you're moving upmarket and wanting to acquire more logos like X Y and Z> 2. Do some storytelling about typical challenges, don't just say what the challenge is, be very specific. <At upmarket level, there's more budget scrutiny> + <you know... C-level are expecting a business case otherwise the deal is going nowhere> 3. Make it relevant to the world of your prospect. Think persona-specific metrics here. A phrase I love is: <"And where you might see that translate is"....> + <longer sales cycles, lowered win rates etc...> 4. Ask for resonance. <To what extent does that resonate with you?> <You're probably going to tell me that was some daily metro horoscope-level rubbish...> + wait for response ⁉️ Why does this work? 💡 SMYKM - show me you know me ⏰ prospect sees you've put in the time, and they probably aren't part of a spam list 🧪 data points tie into story and challenges, which tie into persona's KPIs. You basically tell them why they should care about this. ⏩ In this particular call: - research was on point, persona was completely off - no meeting booked - referral gained. 👨🏻‍🔧 Improvement areas: - Saying 'um' in the middle of the opener and mispronouncing prospect's name 😅 - I probably didn't need to add that "if it's not interesting I won't call you again." - Research could have been snappier. But that said - if you've made the effort to do research, people will give you grace. After all, you're making it about them. #sdr #outbound #saas #sales #digitalsalesrooms

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What is one of the biggest factors that determines your success as a SDR? Well… a couple of weeks ago, we had a prospecting day at MSC HQ. Thinking it wouldn’t matter so much, I exported a huge amount of contacts into HubSpot and enrolled them all into a sequence. Call after call, I wondered why my conversations weren’t going as well as they usually do. It got to lunchtime and I had already made 80 odd dials, with no meetings. Usually, my conversation to meeting rate is between 4-5:1. But on this prospecting day, I had had 12 conversations without a sniff of a meeting. What wasn’t working? Why was I so stuck? After a tough conversation over lunch with the prospecting queen herself Nia Woodhouse, I realised that none of the contacts I called were they right person to be speaking to. So what did I do? I removed all off the dead contacts from my sequence, and spent a small chunk of the afternoon carefully finding prospects who would be great to speak to. 80 calls and 10 conversations later, I finished the day with 2 meetings, and a great follow up list for the next couple of weeks. Moral of the story? You can make however many dials as you want, but if you’re not calling the right people, then you’ve got absolutely no chance of being successful. What else would you say is crucial to the success of a SDR? 👇

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As an SDR outbound prospecting is crucial to filling your pipeline with high quality and ICP leads, and here are a couple of things I've learnt and adopted since being an SDR: ✅ Have a creative cadence/flow - ensure you are mixing ways of prospecting, from emails, LinkedIn, cold calls, memes, videos, voice notes etc. = For each industry I approach, it's different. However, there are similarities and traits between them all, they are all 8 steps+, and I like to message on LinkedIn or email first, then call them, as it's slightly warmer and rings a bell. ✅ Personalisation is SO important - show your prospect that you've done your homework. = I tend to use LinkedIn or the companies website to find information, i.e. what they're interested in, people/leaders they follow, whether they are active on LinkedIn so you can reference a recent post etc. My favourite piece of outreach is anything that includes Everton (it always gets a response... whether good or sympathy🤣) ✅ After finding information, use this to tailor your messages to the prospect’s industry, role, and pain points/challenges that may resonate. = "After reading that X, Y & Z, I imagine this could be a risk that you're looking to mitigate" OR "this could be an area that you're looking to capitalise on" etc. ✅ Once you've started your cadence, keep following up respectfully. Persistence for an SDR and salesperson is 🔑 = Again, I liked to mix this up, but every follow-up needs to try and resonate with the prospect and their industry. If I've tried reaching out and not heard from them, I use memes, gifs, case studies etc. But ultimately timing matters, so don't stop after the first attempt!! These are some things I've picked up, please comment some other tips below👇👇 #sdrs #outbound #prospecting #businessdevelopment

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"I hope no-one from Cognism watches this..." 😅 The truth is, the SDR role isn’t dead - it’s evolved. Forget the days of hammering phones and spamming inboxes. The best SDRs today bring real value by ✅ knowing your business, ✅ understanding your pain points, ✅ delivering relevant content that keeps them front of mind. Even if it’s not the right time to buy, ✅ they know they’ll be top of your list when it is. In this clip, Global Sales Director (and £5-25M ARR ICP/GTM wiz) Paul Wingfield and I talk abut why we firmly believe SDRing is far from dead, and how companies like Cognism are nailing the modern SDR in to ICP game. 💬 What's your take on where SDRs win, or lose today? #sdr #cognism #sales #gtm #icp #MakingRevenueTick #podcast by Tick Talent

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Rules Every SDR Should Follow for Success Being an SDR isn’t just about hitting targets - it’s about following the right principles. Here are 4 rules every SDR should keep in mind: 🔳 Personalise everything. 🚀 No one likes generic outreach. Do your due diligence, make sure you know who and why you're calling. 🔳 Follow up & stay organised 📞 Keep track of everything & make sure you finish the day with no loose ends. 🔳 Listen more, talk less. 👂 The key to discovery? Asking and listening. You'd be surprised at the amount of SDR's that answer their own questions. 🔳 Learn from every “no.” ❌ Rejection isn't failure - it’s feedback. Try to adopt the mindset of 'what can I learn from this?' These are the foundations that can turn a good SDR into great one. Following these rules will help you build the skills that you need to progress.

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No shows 👻 I'm sure every single person who either is, or has been an SDR has just had a shiver go down their spine. There is genuinely nothing worse as an SDR than putting in tonnes of work into booking a meeting, for them to not even show up. Here's how I've been keeping no-show rates under 20% for the past couple months: 1️⃣ - Send the calendar invite, and get your prospect to accept ON THE CALL. 2️⃣ - Call/message all meetings due to sit in a day in the morning, just to double check they're still all good for that time. Let's not forget, sometimes things genuinely do crop up. 3️⃣ - Try to book all meetings within a 10 day window - The further away the meeting is, the more likely they are to no-show. 4️⃣ - Qualify better on the call - make sure this is something your prospect wants to spend their time talking about. If not, another meeting will go straight on top of yours. Sometimes there are still times you can do all the above, and the prospect still doesn't show up 🤷‍♂️ Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments 👇 #sales #sdr #SaaS

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What my lunch at Hawksmoor Manchester taught me about B2B sales... - - - Kidding. Not that kind of LinkedIn post. Closing in on a trip around the sun as an SDR -- trials, tribulations, peaks, valleys, wins, losses... What a year. One thing I've learned -- the sales world isn't for the faint of heart. If being told to "F@$& Off" (usually communicated a little more politely/creatively) was a professional sport, my jersey would hang from the rafters. I've also learned that the Sales world comes with incredible rewards (the reason I've posted a photo of a dry-aged rump steak out of the blue) & more importantly, relationships. Albeit a quick escape from the Summize HQ during our Company Kick-Off week, this lunch not only symbolizes a celebration of a record Q4 & the work put in to achieve this landmark, but also encapsulates an SDR-AE relationship defined by unwavering support, accountability, encouragement, coachability & the ability to enjoy the good. Exactly how it should be & a recipe for success / continued improvement. With that being said, I have to shoutout Olly Atkin: our Head of Enterprise Sales here at Summize, the AE I report to, a mentor, friend & great guy to share a meal like this with. (I also promised him I'd post more on LinkedIn this FY...) While it's back to 0 in Q1, I look forward to all the world of B2B Sales has to throw our way the rest of 2024. I'd bet on this Summize team any day of the week. Great to be in Manchester capping off our 4th consecutive year of triple-digit ARR growth. #legaltech #CLM #SaaS #AI

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Sales bods! Here's a banging prompt structure to help optimise your sales calls using NotebookLM: "As an experienced sales professional, analyse this sales conversation and provide insights in the following areas: 1. Key decision drivers and timeline indicators 2. Budget discussions and financial parameters 3. Technical requirements and integration needs 4. Competitive positioning and objections raised 5. Next steps and action items" ------------------------------ "Please identify: - Critical pain points mentioned by the prospect - Specific product features that resonated - Areas where the prospect showed heightened interest - Potential roadblocks in the decision process" ------------------------------ "Based on this conversation: - Highlight opportunities for value demonstration - Suggest personalised follow-up points - Identify areas requiring additional information - Outline potential closing strategies" ------------------------------ "Structure the analysis as: - Executive Summary - Key Discussion Points - Risk Assessment - Opportunity Analysis - Strategic Next Steps" ------------------------------ "Extract and analyse: - Mentioned competitor products - Current solution limitations - Competitive advantages discussed - Price sensitivity indicators" Using NotebookLM's audio overview feature can help you review and refine your sales approach by listening to AI-generated conversations based on your meeting notes, helping you identify areas for improvement in your pitch and presentation. #AIinSales #B2BSales #SalesTechnology #SalesEnablement #BusinessDevelopment #SalesTips #SalesTools #NotebookLM

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Don’t pitch. Don’t pitch. Don’t pitch. 🫠 As an SDR, this is what goes through your head at an event when you’re talking to people, well if it doesn’t go through yours, it damn well goes through mine. But the question I got more than any this week was “so, what does Allego do?” 🙃 Being someone who lives and breathes the platform you sell each and every day, you can quite easily just slam straight into pitch mode without even knowing anything about who you’re speaking to. If you’re anything like me and your eyes are too bad to see what their badge says, ask them some questions to really understand who they are, what they do, and what their business does. “I’m trying desperately not to go straight into pitch mode, before I start, do you mind if I ask what you and your company do, and from there I can share the best use case you can get out of Allego?” 🥇 Asking this question helps get you lots more information, and also you can understand why they’re attending this particular event, what they’ve seen already, and what piqued their interest to come over. I managed to have some excellent conversations this week, but also got some great feedback on what I did well, and what I could improve on which will prove invaluable for my next event. Drop your best practices for events in the comments 👇

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Tomorrow I turn 29! I'm reflecting on some things. Being a BDR for 5+ years has given me exposure to many different landscapes and situations in selling; however, this is not always met with positive responses. I once had an interviewer say: 'I'm looking at your CV, but I want people that won't be happy sat as a BDR, they need to want to make that next step' - followed by a number of questions trying to qualify why I hadn't 'made it' yet. I sometimes felt people didn't truly see the value in the areas I've spent time mastering. I went from conversations with independent business owners all the way through to navigating complex enterprise challenges with the C Suite at Multi Billion Dollar companies, displaying competency at every stage. I've sat more disco's than Gloria Gaynor; I've worked together with sellers on RFP's for multi billion dollar companies; my multithreading has created cross-functional discussions in that led to the closing of 6 figure deals- and I still refine my craft every single day. My calls are better this month than ever before. But one of the bigger mistakes I made early on in my career? I didn't get enough exposure to the next step. It's so easy to be laser focused on growing that you forget to dress for your future. Which is why I must say thank you to Scott Finden for his AE Fundamentals course. I'm half way through now, and It's been priceless. I watched Scott go from 1st hire at Reachdesk as a start up, now in Series B, through the ranks as BDR > AE > Enterprise AE to then join the household brand monday.com publicly traded, competing with the monoliths of tech. You just see these people in your career and know you should pull out the notepad (picture for attention). I highly recommend checking out his 'day in the life' content series, because I'm implementing everything I'm learning in this course on a daily basis. It's golden stuff.

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I often get asked by aspiring SDRs why I left tech sales to join recruitment. (Particularly if they’re trying to move in the other direction) I did this with my co-founder because we both loved sales. But we never set out to be salespeople. Which we think is pretty mental. Because it’s a great career. A career where anyone can break into and succeed. Where you can earn big money and be trusted to organise your day. Where you can put effort into improving yourself and you’ll see the results in your career and personal life. So it made sense to try and help more people into those positions. #salesstory #whysales #saleshiring

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