Julia Fishman

Hate talking to sales? Now you don’t have to. Starting this week on Arc, you can now skip the sales calls when hiring for most freelance developer roles. Just sign up, post your job, and start reviewing candidates instantly—no hoops, no delays. Here’s how: 1. Post your job – List the role, skills, and details. 2. See candidates – Access profiles. Invite to interviews. 3. Hire fast – Connect with vetted freelancers right away. We’re excited to make freelance hiring faster and easier than ever. Let us know your thoughts or feedback below! Ready to try it out yourself? Visit arc.dev today.

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People that care about UX and productivity for sales people: SDR Managers (god bless you wonderful folks). I do find that most direct managers in Sales aren't polling their employees--especially AE's to find out what's not working, what they are putting up with and not complaining about. There are tons of tools that sales folks are buying on their own dime like Scratchpad, Superhuman, etc. We all care about "giving developers the right tools to stay in flow".. but your revenue team? Sure, leaders need our forecasting tools and enablement systems (maybe)--but ask your team "what sucks about this CRM layout, how does thing work on your mobile device, what things are getting in your way, how much time do you spend clicking around poorly designed tooling interfaces---and what would move the needle for you". As an AE-centric leader, i'm working to put things in place that sure--make folks more productive--but that they don't hate using. What say you? whats sucks in your world? what tools do you buy on your own to deal with your day? or even how should the world work for a day-to-day SDR/AE/Account Manager, etc

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SDRs don't ask much of their leader. Most just want someone who: - Cares for their wellbeing - Tries to understand them - Recognizes their good work - Respects and listens to them - Invests in them with coaching - Is honest and direct with them - Picks them up when they're down None of this is the sales part of SDR leadership. It's the people (and most important) part. Get it right and they will respect you. Work hard and grow under you. And be far more engaged. Which is what you want (and need). Because happy people → happy pipeline. So be intentional about developing your people leadership skills. It's by far the biggest impact area you can develop. - - - P.S. Want help engaging your SDR team? We cover this and more in The SDR Leader Bootcamp. Next cohort starting June 3 – 13 seats left. Sign up below. https://lnkd.in/etdUeNP3

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How Dave, an underpaid CSM secured a remote CSM role in 3 weeks (without networking): Dave was a: • Underpaid CSM • Told there was no $ to get a raise • Fighting fires instead of giving value So he started to look for his next CSM role. But things were tough. He hadn’t interviewed in years His resume was a complete mess He didn’t know the market of 2024 So he reached out and we got to work with the F.I.R.E Framework 🔥: 1. Leveraged my 2 job boards to conserve energy 2. Used an automated apply tool to apply for him 3. New resume written by a tech SaaS recruiter 4. Overhauled his LinkedIn to stand out 5. New cover letter to be concise 6. My 10 task assignments 7. My 20 QBR templates 8. A new mindset It didn’t take long for him to get traction. One of my fastest clients to date. Typically it takes 2-3 months. He did it in 3 weeks! He got what he was looking for. • 95K role • Remote Job • Bonus payout • Growth opportunities • Build out the CSM organization Grateful I was able to help Dave get to where he wanted to go. So if you are a CSM who: • Want to find their next CSM job • Think networking is a waste of time • No growth at your current company • Unable to gain traction in this job market • Want help from an enterprise CSM and Tech SaaS recruiter • Need guidance from someone who’s helped 83 CSM’s find their next role Fill out my application form in my featured section and we’ll see if we’re a fit to work together. Or, you can DM me the word “DAVE” 2/4 spots in September left.

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Most of you won’t know till it’s too late The year is wrapping up and companies are going to continue to do layoffs Every org I’ve worked for in the Saas space has now done a round or more of layoffs ultimately affecting people I’m close with Each person saying they’re going to take some time before looking again They got a decent severance and they’re going to use it to rest and recover My one piece of advice to anyone thinking the same thing DON’T WAIT Listen up… Applications and resumes don’t mean shit anymore There are AI platforms people have develop to apply at mass, clogging the application well Which results in screening apps making it nearly impossible to move from a blind application to the intro call Timeline…get ready for the long haul Average time it takes for people to land there next role, 4-5 months With a single interview process taking an average 2-3 months to complete And that’s if they don’t decide to push it, which, rid the season Show up and show off Competition is crazier than ever and if you’re not willing to go the extra mile, bet your ass someone else will If you aren’t networking like a sales person at a SaaS convention, here’s your sign 💢 80% of my interviews came from referrals or intros from connections I’ve made on here 💢 19% came from previous customers or prospects that I built rapport with 💢 1% came from applications I submitted directly…and I applied like it was going out of style No one has ever said “I wish I didn’t connect with so many people” Build now and thank yourself later #hiring

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💯 In my experience, CSMs who did what the company asked had unhappy customers. The CSMs who did what the customer needed had happy customers. Focusing on real communication and understanding what is important to the customer will drive success. Focusing on getting a customer to say they are happy at this moment is pointless.

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Can you say "it" without actually saying "it"? In a different world, long ago...it was okay and expected that a BDR/SDR would pitch for a meeting right away. No probing for pain, offering a value prop, or engaging in a conversation first. She/he would ask for an appointment. Today that does not work. Today's business professionals in those roles have to be educated, well versed in the industry their calling, and present themselves as "experts", to have any credibility. In other words, it takes talent and real work to be successful. I like it and prefer it! Outreach to prospects with a solution you know will make their life easier, and the knowledge to present a solution is far more powerful. Support your folks in these roles, provide... ▫ Updated data ▫ Access to company information ▫ Battle cards on the competition ▫ Tech stack that has value ▫ Personal support/coaching ▫ Spiffs for performance ▫ Reasonable commission plan What am I missing? Let me know in the comments. #BDR #SDR #Outbound

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A mock conversation to help position yourself as a performance consultant during your next request for enablement: THE TIP: Go broad before getting specific. Requesters typically start with a specific problem. —— SME: “Reps aren’t asking the right questions during discovery to surface business impact. We need training!” *Pause* *Get broad first* YOU: “Sounds like they’re at risk for not hitting quota.” SME: “Well, some are on track. But many aren’t.” YOU: “Hitting quota typically depends on the amount of deals booked and the average deal size. Are both a problem?” SME: “No, we actually have a consistent deal size. It’s the number of deals they aren’t closing because they aren’t asking the right questions early on!” YOU: “I see. Number of deals booked requires deals to be created and then converted through the sales cycle. Are they struggling with those?” SME: “Creating opportunities isn’t a problem - they’ve actually been able to surpass our meeting metrics. The problem is converting because they aren’t doing proper discovery!!!” YOU: “Meeting metrics?” SME: “Yes. They need 3 prospect meetings a week. We’ve averaged four, so it’s the discovery skills they lack to actually convert into qualified opportunities.” YOU: “Who do they book these meetings with?” SME: “Good question. We do want them to get high in the org, but most are with lower level personas…probably because they’re easier to book a meeting with.” YOU: “You mentioned reps weren’t surfacing business impact. Can lower level personas provide business impact data?” SME: “Hmm…I suppose not.“ YOU: “If they had the right personas on the call, could they uncover the right business impact data?” SME: “Well…I suppose they could. The information we want them to gather is well documented, along with sample questions to ask.” YOU: “Do they know who the right personas are and are they properly prioritizing them?” SME: “I’m not sure. We do prioritization at the account level during territory planning, not at the contact level.” YOU: “Do you think that might help?” SME: “I do. An easy lift as well.” YOU: “And those meeting KPIs - any chance we can include persona-level requirements?” SME: “Great idea. The amount might drop, but the quality could be improved.” YOU: “Another easy lift. Should we give it a try and measure how it impacts conversion rates before adding any formal training?” SME: “Good idea. The reps have been asking for less training lately anyways.” —- You’re looking for leverage; you can only find it if you dig. #sales #salesenablement

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If you want to become a strategic leader in your career, here 3 things you need to do. This morning Toni Hohlbein posted this after a bit of a backlash from the #RevOps community. Giving proper advice on how to move forward is the best way to answer gracefully in my opinion. We had a quick back-and-forth in the comment and I wanted to share with the rest of the class what was said. So if you want to become a strategic leader in your company here are 3 things you need to do: 1. Don't wait for a seat at the table, add a chair. Don't wait for the C-suite or board members to tell you what to do. Instead, find a hard problem to fix that is costing millions to the company. This can also be an unseized opportunity. 2. Learn how to read P&Ls, QBRs, and other board-level resources. You can't find hard problems to solve or opportunities to seize if you are not constantly looking at the most important KPIs in your company. 3. Follow points 2 to 3 from Toni's post down here. This one is more for RevOps folks: Finance should be your best friend in the company if you don't report to them. P.S. I'm excited to see what Toni and his team will do in the future.

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Hey CS Leaders: Customers don't want empathy. - They want to not have problems to empathize with. SVP of CS reaches out to me. - Sends CSAT survey - Get's 0s across the board - Get's my quick feedback too - Asks if I can have a call to explain - I say no, we have been through this - Nothing has changed for the better - Another call is a complete waste of time Then I get an email from my team - We've been waiting a month - To get answers on an open case - So I ask this SVP of CS for his help - He asks again for me to get on a call - To "explain my customer experience" - To "evaluate ways to better serve clients" I responded: - I don't want a call - To explain this again - For at least the 10th time - I just want this case resolved - Is that too much to ask them for? Case is resolved in 24 hours GREAT! BUT........ Do I have to email the SVP of CS every time my team can't get an answer from his team? And do I have to explain to him why I'm dissatisfied? He wants me to take time to explain the problem. Here it is: - Their "system is broken" - They don't track case resolution - Or don't make effort to improve it - Their CS team is very poorly trained - And/or not held accountable in any way - And/or they're immensely under-resourced *My best guess is they don't want to spend the money to have more CS reps to resolve issues faster, nor to improve their processes, systems, reports and metrics. There's really no other explanation for lack of response. 1. Poor systems 2. Lack of training 3. Zero accountability 4. Insufficient resources If we have to have our customers explain this to us on a Zoom call we're miles behind the curve. ✌️

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🎃 A CSM's Halloween Horror Story - be prepared Things that keep Customer Success Managers up at night: 👻 Ghost customers who vanish after onboarding 🧟‍♂️ Zombie accounts with zero product usage 🦇 The dreaded "can we have a quick chat" email from a champion 🕷️ Multiple stakeholders mysteriously leaving at once 🎃 Surprise scope creep crawling into projects 💀 The silence of death after sending "Hope you're doing well" emails 🧙‍♀️ The magic trick of turning red accounts green before QBR season But the scariest thing of all? That moment when your customer says "Actually, we found another solution..." Happy Halloween from your slightly paranoid but always dedicated Director of CS! 👻 #CustomerSuccess #CSM #Halloween #CustomerExperience #TechLife

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Revops Leaders: I'm asking because I'm genuinely curious if you've done this work for your org. I want to learn from you. This is not a call for "what tech do you love" but instead a financial question about your team dynamic. What is your tech stack marginal cost to carry an AE, BDR? - Prospect enrichment - CRM - Call recording - Contact sequencing - Contract management - Quoting / proposal management - Learning management solution - etc. etc. Do you know how much, as a percentage you are spending to carry an AE with technology? Curious to know this by ASP... e.g. 10K, 100K, 1M average spend...

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I’ve ran the same onboarding session at Gong for 2+ years on time management for sellers. Here’s the biggest principle / productivity hack I teach. You need to align high energy-consuming tasks, when you work best. And low energy-consuming tasks, when you are fading. Over an 8 hour work day, you won’t be productive the entire time. Humans weren’t designed for 8 hours of non-stop laptop focus in a chair. Personal breakdown of tasks that require the most / least energy from me. High-energy consuming: -Cold Calling -Sending value touches to active deals -Running demos -Any prospecting Low-energy consuming: -Meeting follow ups -Rewatching Gong calls -Meeting Prep -Admin work -Internal Meetings Example: I struggle to make cold calls when I’m tired / fading. And I’m best on my demos when I’m not in back to backs. But I can send meeting follow ups in my sleep, super easy. It’s different for each person. Now, align them to when you typically work best. My personal energy breakdown. High-energy: -Anytime in morning -Mid-afternoon Low-energy: -Right after lunch -End of day around 4 PM I choose to do the hard things during those high-energy hours. Prospecting, working active deals, running demos in early mornings and mid-afternoon. And admin, meeting prep, follow ups, etc. right after lunch or come end of day. Every one differs in their own energy + what tasks take the most from them. Worth spending the 15 minutes to think through it + realign how your day. 🦙 P.S. Join 500+ sellers that have downloaded my (free) mutual success plan: https://closedwon.xyz/msp/

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If your message isn’t right, you can double your outbound and results only increase a tad. We worked with Jen Allen-Knuth at the start of Q3 to increase our quality… In Q3, with comparable outbound, my org meetings completed went up 1.4x QoQ, and we “dropped pipeline like it was hot” = per person +33% QoQ and +18% YoY. Learn to resonate! Shout out to y’all on my teams for constantly learning and working hard to get better to increase results 🙌

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I have 3 RevOps interviews today and more next week, this is how I get prepped as a hiring manager: 1️⃣ Create an interview guide. The critical thing is to add up the time for each question. In a 30-minute interview: — Intro ~3 minutes — Each question takes ~3 minutes at least. Don't ask too many. — Leave time for the candidate to go deeper in at least one of them. 2️⃣ Review their resume, LinkedIn profile, and any other material they submitted (cover letter or video). Find areas you want to dig deeper. — Do they have specific expertise or projects you want to cover? — Are there any areas that look a little off (reminder: no one is perfect)? 3️⃣ Get everything ready: Zoom, notes, and recruiting system. 4️⃣ Leave time for the candidate to ask questions. I usually leave at least 5 or 7 minutes for it. 5️⃣ Block time after the interview in case it runs a little long, but also to do my write-up. Hiring is time-consuming, but also the most important thing you can do for your company. Don't skip steps here.

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I'm going to spill the tea on my abrupt departure from Avoma (it wasn't a good look for them) and my next move. I got hired there to build an SDR team, was told I'd be recruiting and training 4 US based reps. Spent all of January and February of this year recruiting and interviewing, only to find out hiring would be put "on pause" indefinitely. I was the SDR team. The quota was 20 meetings/month and I was not able to make that happen. Totally own it. Excuses on this are a dime a dozen. Was also managing 1 rep based out of India. As a team we were not enabled from the get-go. For example - it took a full 6 months to implement multiple sending domains so we could increase volume. There was also a 3 month period with absolutely no contact data provider. I paid for this out of pocket via Lusha and LeadMagic (shout out @Jesse). The CEO, Aditya Kothadiya, at one point asked me not to quit suddenly because he knew things were not going as planned and didn't want to be caught in a situation where he was scrambling to back fill my position. Instead, two weeks later the SDR under me quit (understandably) on a Friday and I was fired the following Monday. He decided to move on from outbound as a concept and focus on inbound. $2000 severance, still haven't received my last commission check. Total slap in the face. I have two small children, my daughter just turned 2 and my son is 4 months old. My wife is not working right now so at the moment, they have two unemployed parents. Many people have advised me not to tell this story publicly but I believe it is justified. In order to make ends meet, I am taking on consulting clients as I look for the next W2 position, making sure I get it right this time. Multiple people warned me against joining Avoma and I should have listened. It's not fair that companies and their founders can behave this way and face little to no consequences. Anyone thinking about working there should consider this story. Not a good experience. I am sharing this candidly and accept my responsibility. More updates to come this week, probably focused more on the types of clients I am taking on (outsourced cold email is on the table) and how the job search is going. Thanks everyone. 😀

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CSM's, 5 Signs Your Company’s a Dumpster Fire—and It’s Time to Leave 🔥 1️⃣ Churn is Out of Control Every town hall’s starting to feel like a therapy session. Leadership talks “vision”. While you’re stuck managing unhappy customers and broken promises. Ask yourself: Is this where I’m meant to be? 2️⃣ The Slack Talks Are All Negative. Quarterly layoffs, top CSM's leaving. The vibe is “who’s next?”, it’s clear—the clock’s ticking. How long will you wait to make your move? 3️⃣ Career Growth? Radio Silence. You’ve hit your KPI, grown accounts, kept customers around. But every time you ask about growth, it’s “let’s talk next quarter.” Question is: How many quarters are you willing to wait? 4️⃣ Disconnected Leadership They preach “innovation” from afar but haven’t spoken to a customer in years. You’re in the trenches, fighting fires while they stand miles away. Are they even seeing the real picture? 5️⃣ The Product’s Losing Ground You’ve flagged issues, done the damage control, apologized to customers. But nothing changes. If they won’t listen now, will they ever? The right CSM role is out there—one where your growth and impact actually matter. Don’t settle for a company that isn’t moving forward and doesn't give a flying flower about you 🌻 👉 DM me "Interview" to grab early bird pricing for my interview masterclass.

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How Brian, an Underpaid CSM, Landed a 77K role in 6 weeks (without networking) Brian was a: • California native • Passionate Customer Success Manager • Stuck in a role, underpaid, bored and undervalued      Despite his dedication and skill set, he wasn’t where he wanted to be in his career. But: • Struggled to stand out in the final rounds of interviews. • Felt stuck in a job that didn’t challenge or reward him. • Was losing motivation after repeated rejections. When another opportunity slipped through his fingers, Brian knew he needed a change. So he reached out and we got our Bic lighters and began our F.I.R.E framework 🔥 We: • Completely rewrote his resume to showcase his skills and achievements. • Revamped his cover letter to build a strong pipeline of interview opportunities. • Reignited his confidence, showing him that he could land a job with the right tools. • Worked closely on mock presentations to perfect his pitch for the final rounds. • Leveraged our auto-apply tool and two job boards to streamline his applications. Things started moving fast. Brian is a rockstar who takes action quickly. He started landing interviews almost immediately and made it to the final rounds. His confidence came roaring back. It was incredible to witness. 5 Final rounds secured. We put in the work to prepare him: • Perfecting his slides • Sharpening his talk tracks • Providing resources for research • Equipping him to handle any objections Then we did it. The offer. • 77K base • 30K bonus • Full benefits day 1 • 401K match This is the outcome that I live for. And when you work with me: 1. You aren’t just a number (that’s why I only take 5 clients a month) 2. You get up-to-date insights from a CSM who 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 works in the field daily 3. You get my full attention and knowledge customized to your needs 4. Your in a slack group with others, not on your own. So if you are a CSM who: • Cannot land a job offer • Needs to reignite their confidence • Wants to close the deal in the final stages • Is open to being coached by an 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 CSM I’ll work with you to get a remote CSM role. DM me “𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻” and I’ll send you the details or check out my featured profile section and sign up (3 spots left for October) 💘 Ready to LEVEL up ? --> https://lnkd.in/esffe-Y4

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Sales is a game, here are my 2024 rules: Quota - 960K Accounts - 300 Active Customers - 20 Active New Logos Opportunities - 18 𝐆𝐨𝐚𝐥? Inv time where there’s the highest revenue impact, in the shortest amount of time. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦? You have 300+ accounts. You don't know where to start. You have to find high-intent (and large) accounts + high-intent prospects. 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧(𝐬)? 1. Tier accounts with precision. Categorize my 1,000 accounts into Marquee, Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3. This is determined by Size of Prize + ICP (Ideal Customer Profile), aka how great of a fit they look like for our solution. 2. Identify intent with technology. UserGems 💎 (previous champions that joined my accounts) close at a 30% higher rate. I start there. I also look for other signals: Web activity, content downloads, sales hiring, new CRO/VP Sales, and previous opportunities. 3. Maximize revenue-generating activities. Spend 80% of your time in these 2 buckets: -Generating pipeline -Advancing pipeline Color code your schedule revenue-generating vs. not... learned that from Salman Mohiuddin this week. Everyone can play the game differently and see success That's the best part about it Happy friday all ✌️

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