Ryan Leech

SDR Manager: "Do 100 activities per day using this very specific set of instructions. We created these scripts for a reason, they work, don't deviate from them." Commercial AE Manager: "You need to close 50 deals per year to make your number. Qualify hard and run our playbook." Enterprise AE Manager: "Do detailed research on an exceptionally complicated organization then develop a unique perspective on this organization's business that would get the attention of a person who has >10,000 people that they are responsible for and makes more than anyone that works at our company." If we don't encourage critical thinking on the way up the AE career path, why would we expect people to be great at it when they get to the top?

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Promotable AEs... Do not: 1. Single thread 2. Hope as a strategy 3. Complain without solutions 4. Pitch features 5. Reject accountability Do: 1. Diversify their pipeline generation methods 2. Know why they win 3. Great discovery 4. Sell solutions, not meetings 5. Work for a company that promotes AEs :) This is the way. 🏆

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Hey sales leaders! Your 2025 plan will require unreasonable efficiency.[1] And there's no better place than #GTM2024 next week in Austin to figure out how to make this happen. There's a tremendous lineup of speakers and events—all for GTM leaders to share what's working, what's not and what to do from here. I can't wait to learn from everyone else. And on Wednesday (10/16), I get to share some things I've learned about—you guessed it—unreasonable efficiency. We all hope AI is going to make us more efficient. It will! But not if you apply it to the wrong place. Efficiency means finding and eliminating the major constraint—the bottleneck—in your system. Repeatedly. If you don’t tackle the bottleneck, nothing else makes a difference. Intuitively, we think rep time is the bottleneck. After all, if we just made prospect comms more efficient we could talk to more prospects. So, we’re using AI copilots and AI email personalization and entire AI SDRs. What’s more efficient than sending a million “personalized” emails with AI? A whole lot, actually… I’ll show that the *actual* bottleneck for most organizations is account targeting. If you’re working the wrong accounts, no amount of activity increase will improve your results. (Warning: there will be some math!) And that’s where you should apply AI and use processes like dynamic books that maximize its capabilities. Can’t wait to share more about how to do this! See you next week. [1] Certainly compared to a few years ago. And guess what? Your CEO's super into AI now and is wandering around quoting Sam Altman about building a "$1B company with 1 person". It ain't gonna get easier...

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Converting your AEs to start sourcing a majority of their own pipeline might not be such a good idea and here’s why: Typically this transition fails for three main reasons: 1) The pipe gen goal that’s assigned is completely made up and is based on the financial model and not relevant sales data 2) You don’t have the right resources in place including an airtight ICP, deep understanding of your persona, the right messaging or tech stack  3) Typically exec or senior level leaders are disconnected from the realities of how difficult cold outreach really is and don’t give the campaign enough time to be successful Here’s what you can do to give yourself a better chance at success: 1) Pick a few key data points to track (such as number of accounts worked, positive contacts, opportunities created, pipeline generated, closed won $$$s) and benchmark these over a period of time that makes sense for your sales cycle. Use this data set to understand what is or isn’t working and make adjustments from there. 2) Start with a small campaign to select accounts within your ICP using targeted messaging and an intriguing offer 3) Cold outreach is a team sport, get your execs and senior leaders involved by having them look through your target account list and see if there are any doors they can open from their network 4) Have some fun while doing it, celebrate the wins along the way! What do you think?

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Want to find off-market deals? Here’s how. You can source off-market deals directly via traditional cold outbound strategies like cold email, direct mail (which definitely still works, I bought a ~$3.5mm business with direct mail in 2022), and even cold calling. You can also source off-market deals via referrals and warm intros from your network. It’s harder to consistently drive these but with the right understanding of networks and relationships you can substantially increase your chances. The crazy thing? It’s often the people whom you are least connected to in your network that are the most valuable for sourcing deals. I break down the science behind this and detailed step-by-step off-market sourcing strategies in my free training on 23+ ways to source deals. You can check the whole thing out here: https://lnkd.in/gPBfz9vm #mergers #acquisitions #dealmaker #businessinvestment #entreprenuership

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MEDDPICC and other sales qualification methodologies can be overwhelming for sales teams. After doing 1000s of deals and 100s of deal reviews, these are the 3 things that matter most: 1. Metrics Do you have real metrics you can tie to? Do you understand their current state and how your solution will credibly impact the metrics they care about? 2. Identified pain How much pain exists? How big of a problem is this to solve? What happens if they do nothing? 3. Champion Do you have a real champion who can get you to power, isn't afraid to give you bad news, and is actively coaching you? If not, it's very rare to get a deal done. A real Champion with strong metrics and severe pain will get you access to the executive buyer.

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AUSTIN SALES NETWORK ASSEMBLE 🐚 (Anchorman references still work right?) Absolute belter of a role up for grabs. 💰 $100–120k base + double OTE 📍 Hybrid in Austin, TX Here’s what our client is after 👇 ✅️ 3–4 years crushing it in SaaS sales (bonus if you’ve done your own self gen). ✅️ Comfortable with 6–12 week cycles and $20–80k ARR deal sizes. ✅️ A proven closer who finds a way to help their clients win. ✅️ Confident talking to financial personas, even if you’ve never sold in this space before. Benefits in the comments 👇 Think you’re the one? Or know someone who is? Message me and I'll send a link with all the details and how to go for it.

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Every CRO and VP of Sales I know is obsessing over "efficiency" right now. 📈 ⚡ Definition: "How do I get my sales org performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort?" 🤔 The problem is they're optimizing every single part of their funnel and sales process EXCEPT for the part which matters most. How their sellers are showing up each day🧠 Data on how sellers are showing up in 2024: - 82% of sellers are stressed or highly stressed. - 70% of sellers struggle with mental health. - 70% of sellers are experiencing fatigue. - 69% of sellers have trouble sleeping. Time and effort will ALWAYS be wasted and "efficiency" will never be achieved, if your people are showing up in a 💩 state mentally and physically. If I phrased the same numbers above as: - 82% of your leads have wrong emails. - 70% of your cold emails end up in spam. - 70% of your demos no show. - 69% of your deals are lost to competitors. You would be freaking the f*ck out. 😬 So this is a nudge that you need be freaking the f*ck out about how your salespeople are showing up each day... Because it's not good. 📉 Good news is I'm delivering FREE 60 minute workshops to sales organizations during the month of May to make teams healthier, adaptable and more efficient. If you're interested - send me a DM. I only have capacity/bandwidth for 5 more clients so act now.🔥🔥🔥 ***Sales orgs must be +15 people to qualify***

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If something in your sales process isn't working, you need to look 1-2 stages back for root cause. If we aren't converting initial meetings into next steps> are we targeting right personas and is our messaging aligned with our buyers priorities and problems? If we are getting stuck in proposal > did we do the right discovery? If we are getting slammed for discounts at the end > did we build a compelling value discussion before we got into commercials? If something isn't working, the answer is almost always 1-2 stages back.

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Missed quota? You’re not bad at sales. Selling is hard. Why? There are so many factors beyond your control: Timing Budget Economic conditions Shifting priorities Personnel changes Product issues High churn Low market awareness The key to tranquility? Detach from the outcome. Detaching does not mean you’re complacent. Detaching is the wisdom of doing your best and yielding to what happens. When you truly and deeply realize that you don’t control outcomes, your heart and mind relax. You no longer have to jump over hurdles; the hurdles fall away. When you lose a sale, you’ll detach and say, “Okay, I’ll ask the prospect for feedback, learn, grow, and move on.” (Hurdle falls.) Be with what is occurring. What comes, comes.

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A CEO asked me, "We're ready to grow our sales team, which model is better for selling to dealers, SDRs with AE or full cycle AEs? Here's my advice. Both models can be effective. Both can fail miserably. With the SDR model, the handoff is the choke point. SDR books an appointment, dealer doesn't show. This compounds with incentivizing SDR for booking and showing appointments. A full-cycle AE on the other has an opportunity to transition right into a demo when the dealer shows interest. I could sound like this..."Are you in front of your computer?" "I just shot you a link, I can show you..." I like the full-cycle AE because so much is dependent on relationships when selling to dealers. Full-cycle AEs create deeper trust and long-term loyalty. The downside is it's stressful and burnout happens. If I had a commodity product with heavy competition, I'd suggest SDRs. Also for a startup looking to scale fast. But a complex solution I favor full-cycle AEs. Regardless of the model, you need the right players on the bus. ________________ I like to work with companies that need help with my strengths: Cold outreach, booking appointments, and generating new revenue in automotive. I accept all meeting requests so if you want to talk, use the link in my profile or DM.

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Public PSA to sales reps with EOY: If you’ve already offered your prospect a discount to sign by X date once or twice… and they haven’t… don’t do it again. Your “promotion” lacks all credibility. Value sell, value sell, value sell. Understand your clients timeline from the very first call you have with them. Micro close them every single interaction you have + then hold contract value because you’re actually aligned on the buying cycle and priorities. 😘🚀 #discounts #eoy #sales #accountexecutives #valueselling

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I partnered with Kyle Poyar this week to uncover 10 PLG plays that can enhance your customer engagement, streamline processes, and drive revenue growth. Even if your company doesn't identify as Product-Led Growth (PLG), these are strategies from PLG that ANY company should be incorporating. Full post in today's GTM Newsletter by GTMnow, I’ll pop the link in the comments. The TL;DR: 1. Interactive demo on the website 2. Replace hard feature gates and paywalls with soft gates 3. Incorporate a usage-based component to pricing 4. Leverage product data to drive customer outcomes 5. Offer trials for new features 6. Correlate product usage with revenue growth 7. Automate resource-intensive processes with AI 8. Implement smart email nurture cadences 9. Build and leverage power user communities 10. Offer starter packages or proof of concepts ✍️

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There’s something I hear early healthtech sales reps get wrong when they move upmarket. When you sell to SMB customers, they want to know they’re going to get the attention they think they deserve. Whether it’s customization or time talking to someone on the phone, it’s a bit of a “We’ll be there for you!” attitude. When companies move upmarket RFPs and big asks can seem like inviting opportunities to let an enterprise customer know that you’ll do anything for them. “Let us know what you want and we can build it.” Or, when health systems ask about roadmap, it can seem like the answer should be… “We’ll your our largest customer so if there’s something you want then we’ll build that for you.” Enterprise customers often don’t want to hear this. This approach takes consultative selling off the table. You’re actually asking them to consult for you on your next steps! Enterprise customers don’t want to hear that you’ll do anything for them. They want you to listen to their pain points and have the experience and expertise to confidently tell them the best ways to fix their problems. See enterprise customers aren’t just buying your tech, they’re buying the team that comes with it. While enterprise customers do want to hear your roadmap isn’t locked in for the next year, be wary how you walk this fine line of adjusting just for them. Talking about how big they are can backfire into them thinking, “Well great we’re prioritized until the next big customer signs with them.” Again, enterprise customers want to know your experts in the market. It can be tempting to go broad because an organization so big must have opportunities to use all aspects of your product, but, you’re seen in a better light the narrower you stay focused on the thing they’re begging you to solve. There’s a lot of nuance in sales and adjusting to your prospect. In fact, your pitch may even be different to the PM versus the CIO evaluating the deal. But you’re always at your best when your prospect believes you’re the team to help them. #sales #digitalhealth

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Amazing journey of an AI startup building agents for businesses! Lyzr AI is must watch out, and how they are adding value to their customers.

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Sales Reps- Here are ways to be proactive if your Sales Manager doesn't have time to give you consistent feedback on your sales calls: 1) GIVE YOUR SALES MANAGER SOME GRACE. They probably really wish they had more time to review your calls. Their role just isn't set up for success in that department. Time is against them. 2) FIND A COACHING BUDDY: Pick another sales rep on your team that you admire/respect. Ask them to be a coaching buddy for a few months. 3) WHAT'S A COACHING BUDDY? A coaching buddy is an accountability partner. Similar to that buddy that drags you to the gym when you don't want to go. 4) SET 3 LEARNING OBJECTIVES: e.g., I want to improve the quantification of pain, I want to consistently get a next meeting on the books, I want to customize my Demo to the Disco. and buyer persona. 5) CREATE A SIMPLE SCORECARD: Create it in a Google Doc with 10 skills that are ranked 1-4 (1= the skill/action didn't happen, 2= still needs quite a bit of work, 3= good, but not quite there, 4= Awesome!). Include your learning objective skills within the 10 skills. 6) COMMIT TO REGULAR REVIEWS: Agree to watch 1-2 of each other's calls per week. 7) DOCUMENT FEEDBACK: Score the other person's calls, and in the G Doc, jot down: what went well, and what could be improved. 8) SCHEDULE WEEKLY FEEDBACK SESSIONS: Block off 45 minutes in the calendar each week to review feedback together and spend time role-playing your/their areas for development. 9) KEEP IMPROVING- Once you've mastered a learning objective, check it off the list and add a new one. 10) CELEBRATE IMPROVEMENTS: Watch your sales stage conversation improve over that 3 month period! I'll bet it improves 5-15%. 11) KEEP YOUR MANAGER INFORMED: Let your Sales Manager know what you guys are up to. The right Sales Manager will respect your commitment to improving. 12) CONTINUE TO IMPROVE- After three months, either continue with the same partner or switch to another team member to focus on different skills or sales stages. Take control of your own destiny! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐FREE OFFER⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ We’ve launched a platform for sales reps that ingests your sales call transcript and gives you super valuable coaching. Try it out. Get 2 call reviews for free and let us know what you think. (SDR's and AE's) JUST COMMENT "YES" BELOW and I’ll send you the deets on how to get your 2 free call reviews. No strings attached:) We just want early feedback and you get FREE coaching:) Happy Friday! 💪 Please TAG, LIKE, SHARE if you know a sales rep who would appreciate a couple of free call reviews. #sales #Coaching

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Sales Friends- How many times in a sales conversation do you qualify your prospect's level of interest? ReplayzIQ has unearthed that top sales reps will qualify their prospect's level of interest 3-5 times in a 45 minute Discovery or Demo call. What does 'qualifying their interest' mean exactly? It means taking a temperature check of your prospect throughout the call to see if they genuinely appear to be seeing value and whether they are identifying with the pain you are solving. Are they leaning in or out? Are they hot or cold on your solution's ability to solve their unique painpoints? Why is this important? None of us are mind readers. So why not just ask how your prospect is feeling about what you've unearthed so far? This gives you the ability to address what is on their mind right there and then. A lot of the time your prospect won't volunteer this info unless you ask. AND unless you ask in the right way. What can this sound like? "Based on what we've discussed so far, it sounds like our solution could immensely help you with ________ (insert the pain you identified here). What do you think?" "So is this feeling like a fit for you?" "How does this stack up with how you are doing it today?" "Is there anything you were hoping our solution would do that you haven't seen so far?" ReplayzIQ uses AI to analyze hundreds of sales calls per hour. We've trained ReplayzIQ to unearth the patterns that lead to success. This one skill consistently shows up as a differentiator of top-performing sales reps. What other qualification questions do you use? Weave in 3-5 of these gems in your next sales convos and you will see the difference. Crush it today my friends! 🙌 #sales

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I agree with my Silicon Valley buddy, Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight on this. ⚙ Why? One of the things I always say is that, "It all starts with sales." 🤔 Without sales, there is no company. The better the sales org operates, the better the company will do. So why not optimize and unify the sales organization by having the CCO report to a CRO (rhetorically asked). 📈 It's a great way to ensure that customers are delighted post-sales and that they keep coming back. 🤝I've seen this configuration foster a cohesive strategy for maximizing customer satisfaction and revenue growth. This alignment ensures that customer-focused initiatives are deeply integrated into the organization's broader revenue strategy, enhancing the effectiveness of both functions. 🙌 It seems to promote a unified approach to identifying and capitalizing on customer insights, ensuring that customer needs are addressed proactively. This reporting structure also facilitates better communication and coordination, leading to more comprehensive customer engagement and streamlined decision-making processes. 💪 I believe this configuration strengthens the organization's ability to enhance customer experiences and drive sustainable revenue growth, contributing to long-term business success. #leadership #management #sales #innovation #venturecapital

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Most Sales Leaders I speak with each week, tell me that poor discovery is the biggest reason their team aren’t closing enough deals. Here’s four things you can coach your reps to do, to make them more effective at discovery: 1. Start calls by asking your prospect “What was it about [insert problem you fix] that made you intrigued to talk with me today?” If the prospect struggles to give a reason, then create the demand… “In recent weeks, I’ve heard a lot from other Sales Leaders that they are struggling to hit their numbers, and they point to weak discovery as a key reason as to why they aren’t being more successful. Others share that they simply are lacking the bandwidth to improve selling skills in their team. Which of those resonates in your world?” Get into problems quickly. 2. Get your sellers to practice summarising back to the prospect. It’s a great way of getting them to process what they’ve heard, and to invite a prospect to share more: “So just to clarify what I’ve heard there. You mentioned your big goal this year is to achieve 20% growth in revenue, and that ultimately this is key to unlocking Series B. You did mention though that your team’s win rate has dropped since the start of the year and this is starting to become a bit of a concern in achieving that big goal. You also mentioned you had invested in some external sales training for MEDDICC last year but it hasn’t had the desired effect. What did I miss there and is there anything else that would be useful for me to know?” Summarising makes prospects feel heard. This tactic also almost ALWAYS ends up with them sharing more. 3. Get your sellers to go beyond the surface level pain, by using seven magic words ‘typically when I hear that it means…’ “You mentioned that you’ve observed on sales calls, that your team aren’t asking relevant questions to prospects. Typically when I hear that it means they end up with stuck deals that don’t progress or losing deals they should be winning. Whats happening in your world?” This is a great way to get prospects to take you to big business problems, and away from surface level issues. 4. Get your sales team to share the alternative way of solving the prospect’s problem and why it MIGHT be a better solution in some situations, rather than spending money with you. “One way you could solve this problem is by doing the coaching through your Sales Enablement function. This might be a good solution if they can dedicate at least 2/3 of their time to coaching 1:1, that they are highly skilled at coaching, and that they can separate skills development from things like product training. Is this a feasible option for you?” Get your prospect to validate whether another solution is an option, whilst altenratively getting them to see that it’s likely not going to cut the mustard. Bottom line is - finding the time to do all of the above regularly is tough as a Sales Leader. That’s why MySalesCoach exists.

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