Marcus Stromsmo

To all SDRs or anyone entering B2B sales, read this post to avoid falling into common traps. 1. The most successful AEs I have met were the best SDRs. 2. SDRs who didn’t excel in the role and are now AEs are still struggling to generate their own pipeline. 3. AEs who skipped the SDR role, often due to an MBA or strong interview skills, fear switching jobs and roles without inbound leads. They’ve never faced the grind of building a pipeline from scratch, filled with rejections. 4. AEs who have never been an SDR majorly rely on their SDRs or Inbound leads from marketing to help them build pipeline and if any Quarter they don't get inbound or enough meetings from SDRs they sh** in their pants. 5. When these AEs become managers, they often question their team—"Where are the numbers?" or "Why isn’t there a pipeline?"—instead of guiding them on building it. Lacking experience in pipeline generation, they fail to lead by example and eventually lose the respect of their team. Learn the art and science of being an SDR and excel at this job at any cost, you will never have to look back or depend on anyone for pipeline EVER. Prospecting and Generating Pipelines is fundamental to Sales whether you are an SDR, AE, Sr Manager, or VP if you don't know how to do OUTBOUND you will continuously live a sales life of fear and anxiety. So SDRs ask yourselves do you want to be such AE and Managers in the future who depend on others to determine their performance and faith or would you like to own your job? #sales #prospecting #outbound #pipeline #sdr #ae #b2b #saas

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I’ve helped 12+ AEs and SDRs transition into SE/SC roles. There’s no doubt that you can earn a lot as an AE. AEs can make $1,000,000+ in a good year - a very lucrative career path. But the reality is most AEs don’t get there. It takes an exceptional AE to earn consistently at high levels, year in and year out. (I personally would be a terrible AE 😅) A big reason why folks pivot to Sales Engineering is because the earning potential is solid and much more consistent. That’s what the data in the image shows: 36% avg quota attainment for AEs vs... 74% for SE from this same company, with similar OTE’s As an SE, you don’t always have the extreme upside* that your AE counterpart will, but your income is more stable. (*there are some companies that pay SEs similar to AEs, with SEs able to clear $1M+ in a great year, though this is more of the exception than the rule) As an SE, there’s also less pressure to hit quota, quarter after quarter. The roles are different, with different responsibilities and varying degrees of risk (and upside). Both paths can provide tremendous opportunities depending on your strengths and the type of work you enjoy. Hope this provides some perspective for those who are considering SE or AE career paths. #sales #presales #compensation (source: RepVue)

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I’m currently hiring for my West SDR team at Grafana (locations outlined in the listing below). In addition to the details on the job listing, I’d like to share a bit about my hiring philosophy for my team. If you’re someone who has tech experience - cool. If you’re someone who has SDR experience - also cool. If you can make 100+ cold calls a day - cool, and also, ick. None of those are required, nor do they automatically move you to the top of the candidate pool. Keep reading for more details… On my team we embrace: - Extreme Ownership: read the book, or at least the spark notes. - Selflessness: sales is a team sport, we have no tolerance for hero ball. - Consistency: 90% QoQ means more to us than 200% one quarter and 50% the next. - Collaboration: lone wolves need not apply. As of today, with one week left in our fiscal quarter, over half of my current team has hit or exceeded their Q1 number. Numbers are important, but how we get there is even more important. A core pillar of the SDR organization globally is the ability to hit your number in the right way. We don’t game the system here - we measure success based on not just number of opportunities, but the quality of those opportunities that progress into the funnel to support our company as a whole. If this sounds like a team you want to join and contribute to - please apply below. https://lnkd.in/ebVEbybT

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Multi-threading... A skill that's fast becoming the most critical in a sales reps arsenal. Why? 🤔 The market is tough at the moment. 🤔 Buyers are more budget conscious. 🤔 CFOs are asking teams to reduce spend and cut back on investment. 🤔 Prospects that once had buying power and sign off capability now have to get approval from C-Suite. It sounds like an uphill battle 🏃‍♂️‍➡️⛰️ but the truth is, multi-threading is not as daunting as you might think. ⭐️ Here's some tips that have worked well for me in the last 6 months ⭐️ 🗺 Map out your accounts. Org charts are critical for multi-threading. You need to understand who your prospects are, who they report to, and who holds decision making power. Tip - LinkedIn SalesNav let's you build drag and drop org charts! 🗣️ Check with your your champion. Confirm your org chart is correct. Ask them what the process is for bringing on a new vendor. If they don't know, 🆘 they are not a true champion. 📧 Share content early. Begin introducing yourself to key stakeholders quickly. Tip - Connect on LinkedIn with a short and sweet connection request, something like "Wanted to put a face to a name following some great conversations I've been having with (champion name) re (challenge). I'll send over some content via email shortly. I look forward to hearing your thoughts." 🎺 Make sure your content is personalised, engaging, and stands out. TOP TIP - Using a tool like trumpet 🎺 (digital sales room) is a sure fire way to encourage stakeholder engagement. Upload clear and concise value props, how you can solve their businesses challenges, client case studies and more. Ask these contacts to bookmark the page as you will regular update it with content as the deal progresses. And, track their engagement, so you can meet them in the moment. So far, my prospects have been LOVING it! 📞 Pick up the phone. Once you've connected on LinkedIn and sent content, call prospects to ensure that they have seen it. Ask what questions they have and tell them about next steps. By doing the above, when it comes to negotiation these stakeholders will be informed and aware of the entire process to date, and you and your product will be top of mind 🧠 Tenured AE's in my network (I know there are a lot of you), what do you do to successfully multi-thread? P.S. You can guess what I'll be doing in the office today :😉 #multithreading #sales #digitalsalesrooms #dsr #aestrategies

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SALES, SALES, SALES - Let's meet & work together for the rest of your sales career - Account Executive Opening$ 💘 Revenue Tool - SaaS Series B $125- $150k base $1m- $1.2m quota $7k- $500k deal size selling into #saas #sales #gtm teams actual inbound $$ growing their sales team from 5-12 SDR support (one on one for now) for #startup rep$ only 💘 Direct to Healthcare Tool - SaaS Series B $900k quota Some SDR support ideal candidate has worked with #insurance and has #saas background 💘 Manufacturing ERP Account Executive & Implementation Consulting org $95-$110k base. $200k++ OTE $200k+ deal size Must MUST MUST have sold #erp to manufacturing companies this is NOT a platform, or a RESELLER, this is a CONSULTING ORG that sources, refines fit and works with the customer throughout a very long up to 2 year implementation process - you will be the #csm #am NO COLD CALLING OR SALES EMAILS you will work DIRECT with JUST the founder open to seeing #sdrs who have sold #erp to manufacturers who want to get out of software, and into consulting - SDR Opening$$ 💘 Direct to Healthcare Tool - SaaS Series B 10+ qualified attended meeting a month selling into #hr mostly within #nonprofits and #homehealthcare $55-$65k base, up to $200+ per qualified, attended meeting do not contact me if you aren't going to take my coaching seriously :) cold call me 10x in a row text me send me a blind invite do what you got to do <3 #sales #salesrecruiter #gtmsales #founderledsales #saleshiring #salesjobs

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2.8k SFCC stores do $1m+/yr. 1.4k do $5m+/yr 1k do $10m+/yr 704 do $50m+/yr 281 do $100m+/yr There are huge brands on Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Definitely a higher concentration of public brands than on Shopify. But the Shopify market is so much larger in the $1m - $100m segment. It’s still the greatest opportunity in eCom. #Shopify

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Average Contract Value by segment: Strat - $278K ENT - $180K MM - $57K Direct correlation with your expected payouts? Yes. Average OTE by segment: Strat AE - $280K See more: https://lnkd.in/gEqj9YQz ENT AE - $255K See more: https://lnkd.in/gb7GeWzW MM AE - $165k See more: https://lnkd.in/gDkDDg5w The larger the deals you're selling, the more earning potential. The more earnings potential, the higher the expectations. All open SaaS roles here: https://lnkd.in/ggz4efaD Any of these surprise you? 🦙

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Your AEs not generating enough pipeline? Too dependent on SDRs? Some thoughts and suggested actions: ➡ Insufficient Training & Enablement Outbounding and selling are distinct skills, and over 80% of reps aren't proficient in both. Without a compelling talk track, AEs won't confidently pick up the phone. Solid email coaching is essential for generating responses. Action: Create a practical playbook for AEs and offer weekly or bi-weekly training sessions on the latest best practices. ➡ Lack of Accountability Outbound efforts are challenging and often unpleasant, much like exercising. Accountability is crucial as most people won't do it on their own. Action: Schedule weekly 1-hour blocks dedicated to pipeline generation. Assign a team lead or a rep with leadership qualities to ensure adherence and report on daily results. ➡ Misguided Sales Math Avoid setting arbitrary activity targets. Instead, help reps determine the precise outbound activities needed to hit their sales targets. Action: Calculate the necessary outbound activities starting from revenue and deals closed to the number of meetings needed. ➡ Inadequate Coaching & Feedback Pipeline and deal reviews dominate most managers' 1-on-1s and team calls, leaving little room for pipeline generation discussions. Provide guidance on target accounts, approach strategies, and messaging feedback. Action: Dedicate 10-15 minutes of your weekly 1-on-1s to focus solely on pipeline generation. What did I miss? #sales #outbound #pipeline #salestips #outboundsales

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Scaling isn’t about hiring more people. PEOPLE DON’T CREATE DEMAND. Sure, adding headcount looks like growth on paper. But without demand, they’re just added costs—not revenue drivers. Let’s think about this. How many of your reps are consistently hitting quota? Are you maximizing revenue per FTE? What’s happening with activity levels, pipeline health, win rates, and conversion rates? Is there room to optimize? And what about ACV and ARPU? Are you leaving money on the table? Could better automation, smarter AI, or streamlined processes shorten sales cycles? Is your tech stack doing its job, or just adding complexity? (Believe me, it happens). Can smaller customers self-serve via PLG? Is that even a possibility? How are your SDR-to-AE ratios? Is Customer Success stepping in early enough, or just post-sale? Please, please, please: answer those questions before you even think about adding headcount. But scaling isn’t just about zooming into the details. It’s also about stepping back to see the bigger picture. How’s your LTV:CAC ratio? Are your pricing and packaging strategies protecting margins—or eroding them? Is churn under control? How’s NRR? GRR? Are you capitalizing on upsells and cross-sells? Again, how much can you gain before adding costs? Then there’s the market. I know, I know, it's getting longer. But it's critical (and sometimes ignored). Are you nearing saturation? Is there room to grow, or is it time to explore new verticals or product lines? And let’s come back to demand. Really? Really. People don’t create it (yes, I’ve said it before—and spoiler alert—you’ll hear me say it again). Can your inbound-outbound engine scale? Is inbound strong enough to support growth, or are you overly reliant on outbound? Outbound isn’t getting any easier. Without the right balance, more reps just add noise—not results. Are you adding quality behind quantity at the top of the funnel? Is your messaging resonating with ICPs? Are marketing and sales truly aligned to convert intent into revenue? If you’re going upmarket, is your product-market fit proven? Is the whole company ready—not just GTM, but Product, Dev, and Ops? Scaling isn’t about throwing people at the problem. It’s about building a machine that works—and works well. Clear, repeatable processes. A documented, applied enablement strategy. Teams trained and empowered with the right tools and data. And the most important piece of the puzzle: people. They are (by far) your most important asset—but only if they’re set up for success. Diversity, creativity, and motivation within your team is what really drive results. Scaling isn’t just a numbers game; it’s a people game. Are you creating an environment where your team thrives? Beyond the slogan, are you? Fix what’s broken. Optimize what’s working. Empower your people. Then scale. Because scaling isn’t about more—it’s about better.

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When onboarding a new AE I focus their first 4 weeks entirely on understanding our clients and client success teams. This means shadowing our CS reps, watching onboarding calls, watching activation calls, sitting in on strategy sessions and planning calls, and handling CS calls in week 4. All of this before we ever begin to start talking about sales enablement or taking sales calls. Why? Because too many sales organizations are 100% seller centric. I am passionate, some may say maniacal about ensuring our sales force is the most customer centric team in the industry. This means our AE's need to understand our customers, their status quo, be able to deliver thought provoking insights, the problems we solve, why they work with us, and the results we get them deeply before they can sell that way. Sending someone into the deep end to "learn by experience" is a go to for many. But I will never be swayed that this is the best way. The best way to create "at bats" and build confidence without burning potential opportunities is to ensure your AE's are learning as much about your customers as possible. This coupled with strong sales enablement, process, and clear expectations will set them up for long term success. Sure they may not be making dials and having meetings 2 weeks in. But I can assure you they will be more successful a year from now then the rep in that situation the majority of the time. True sales leadership is about long-term results. I know this is an unpopular opinion but I believe it is one of the biggest advantages you can give your new hires to increase their chances of long-term success. At the end of the day, my responsibilities as a sales leader are to be fanatical about our customers ensuring our clients and potential clients receive a world class experience. Set our sellers up for success to deliver that, and create an environment where people grow, win, and are challenged on the regular. By doing this, revenue targets take care of themselves. If you're onboarding new AE's in Q3, I would challenge you to try this if you're not. Happy EOQ!

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The best "cheat codes" every AE should know: 1. 1:1s with your boss. Approach them strategically. Proactively share format and content. Biggest deals you need support on. Challenges you need help with. Forecast for the month, quarter, etc. Wins. 2. Perception. Performance is your fire. How you're perceived internally (aka your brand) is the water or gas that gets dumped on your fire. Attitude, how you show up, handle change, communicate, matters. Hold yourself to a high bar. Two levels above where you're currently at. 3. Document everything. Take the time to write down your own sales playbook. Every strategy, process and template you have. Store it on your personal computer. The value of this over time is immeasurable. I can't state this enough. 4. Problems are a good thing. Anytime there's a problem that's an opportunity to solve it, improve it, and add value. Some of the biggest opportunities I've gotten in my career came because I dove head first into problems and helped move the business forward. Startups always have problems. Don't be the negative person. 5. Time management. Block Monday mornings every week. Don't go to meetings if they're not worth your time. Most things can be solved async. Make meetings 15 to 20 mins. Sometimes you need a whole week of no meetings to catch up, get organized and do deep work. Don't feel bad for saying no to people. They'll understand. 6. External coaching. Up level by listening to podcasts, taking courses and building an external network. Don't rely on your company for everything. Even if they're doing a great job get the perspectives and strategies of other people for a significant edge. What would you add to this list? - Mike G 👉 Join 5,000+ sellers getting my (free) sales newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/gwQVvVBK

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I used to view discovery meetings as pass/fail: Pass: Right person, right problem, continued conversation with that person. Fail: No next steps with that prospect. Now, I break successful discovery into two categories: 1) Opportunity progressing discovery 2) Account progressing discovery Opportunity progressing discovery means right person, big problem you can solve, and next steps agreed with that individual. This is the best outcome, but when it’s an early discovery meeting with an account, it’s unlikely. The next best outcome is an account-progressing discovery. This means you leave the conversation with more knowledge about problems the company is solving, how they are trying to solve them, and gaps in their process. You may not have next steps because the person you spoke with isn’t the right person, but you have a stronger point of view. And that point of view will get you in front of the right people where you’ll evolve from account progressing discovery to opportunity progressing discovery. If you view discovery as pass/fail, you’ll abandon great accounts too soon. If you view discovery as an ongoing process for each account, you’ll break into more of your best accounts.

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It should not be so hard to empower your sales teams. But, in 2023: 📉 53% of CROs struggled to increase sales velocity and rep productivity 📉 72% of salespeople spent time not selling 📉 28% of sales reps expected to attain quota This year, learn how to leverage the power of sales enablement 🚀 https://lnkd.in/eHDKVJ_J #salesenablement #change #saas

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I was fortunate to spend a year in Dan Fougere's sales org at Medallia and learned at a rate I've never experienced at any other point in my career. Some of my key takeaways, which he also shares in this conversation. ➡️ A repeatable sales process/playbook is the foundation for scaling an Enterprise business. ➡️ The best Enterprise reps hone and maintain maniacal discipline around PG. They never let it fall off their calendar. ➡️ The most effective frontline managers spend more time coaching and supporting their team early in the sales process (i.e. Discovery & Evaluation) than they do in the later stages (i.e. Negotiation/Closing). Without explicit guidance from 2nd and 3rd line leaders, most tend to get this balance wrong. ➡️ Sales leaders (at all levels) have to be 'in it' with their teams i.e., involved in outbound prospecting, regularly speaking with customers, playing an active role in deals, being audible ready etc.. ➡️ One of your core responsibilities as a sales leader is to create a high performance environment where people feel like they are challenged, constantly learning, and being supported to achieve things they didn't think were possible (securing C-Level meetings via outbound PG, winning 8 figure deals, earning international career opportunities etc). If you work in sales, this Podcast is well worth an hour of your time. #sales #salesenablement #coaching #salesleadership

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SDRs / AEs: Account Selection is king right now when prospecting. Use these 5 filters on Sales Nav (LinkedIn Sales Solutions) to uncover healthy & growing companies: 1. Buyer intent 2. Recent leadership hires  3. Recent funding (last 9 months is good) 4. Headcount growth in the last 6-months 5. Recent hiring in the org / persona segment you target 6. % distribution of personas that makeup the total employee headcount There are still companies out there who are growing and investing.. You just need to find them. Don't cast a wide net right now, you're likely wasting a ton of time. Instead, go deeper on fewer accounts.

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Focusing on the weakest link can really boost your sales performance.

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This framework is incredibly valuable for diagnosing sales issues. Breaking it down step by step makes it easier to identify where improvements can be made.

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Great approach to troubleshooting sales. Focusing on KPIs and asking the right questions can really help uncover what's holding back growth.

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