The robust days of B2B SDR sales are over for many many companies that are coming to realize that making contact with their buying market has changed from the days of the Fuller Brush Man, the Milkman, the Buggy Whip Maker, and the Door-to-Door Canvasser.
We live in a blizzard of marketing information, so even a great message gets drowned out. Imagine yourself shouting at the top of your lungs in Madison Square Garden filled with 20,000 people all shouting the praises of their SaaS software at the same time! The market only hears the ROAR of the crowd.
To separate yourself from the ‘pack’, it’s going to take some alternative thinking about how best to find, connect, and then ‘DISQUALIFY’ sales prospects instead of ’QUALIFYING’ them.
I find LinkedIn to be especially helpful with this effort, and the posting on Reddit have proven to be fruitful for me personally. These tools, used properly, draw attention to YOU so you can then capitalize off the responses and reactions. You need a new strategy…
Direct B2B sales is a “thinking man’s” game today. If you are a quota-carrying sales rep you will find this transition challenging because management has a KPI measurement based on your performance in terms of “How Many” > meetings, proposals, closed sales etc.
Miss the number – get RIFFED.
If you are self-employed, you can ill afford to chase everyone, so you have to be choosy about who you contact. Pay attention to your “Cost of Sales” (time & money).
If you are a W-2 sales rep, you’ve got to find a way to please your ‘master’ and make the number if you want to hang on to your job. That’s the reality of how things are today.
Look around – lots of layoffs. Lost their jobs because their cold emails ‘died’ in SPAM filters.
