Managed Sales Pros provides sales development services primarily for technology companies executing displacement campaigns. They have found that some common assumptions about hiring and managing SDRs ("sales development representatives") are myths. Instead of relying on career paths, money incentives, or gamification to motivate SDRs, they focus on stability and collaboration. They hire for the right personality traits rather than degrees and have found remote and second-chance hires can be very successful. Their processes emphasize quality over metrics or technology stacks. They have grown significantly by breaking from traditional "SDR dogma".

2. Breaking the SDR Dogma
#SALESDEV17

3. Carrie Simpson, Managed Sales Pros

4. 10 Facts About MSPros
1. Profitable YEAR ONE (and every year after that, too!)
2. Self funded – started with nothing but a phone and a laptop
3. 3rd party verified growth – 621% over last 2 years
4. 50% of our team works remotely (we’ve never met them!)
5. Our highest paid SDR makes $17/hour
6. 70% of our call team makes $10/hour
7. 90% of our team (including me) have no degree
8. Our team performs as well as our clients’ in-house SDRs
9. We don’t spiff our SDR team
10. We ONLY use calling, SDRs do not email prospects.

5. Managed Sales Pros primarily supports
technology companies who are executing
on displacement or “knock-out” campaigns

6. Language “Sync-up”
DISPLACEMENT
u The prospect already has something – real or perceived – that solves the
problem you’re trying to solve for them
u There is no “land grab” in displacement

7. Displacement:
• You don’t need to educate the
prospect on the value of what you’re
offering
• They already understand the value
• They already bought in!

8. Displacement campaigns rely heavily on t
wo things:
u Volume
u Timing

9. If your sales cycle is highly dependent on TIMING:
u Process is essential, and,
u Process only works when you have great data.

10. Great Process + Great
Data + Great SDRS
= More Sales
Appointments

11. YEAR ONE:
THE BAD IDEAS THAT WE
THOUGHT WERE GOOD IDEAS

12. 1
Thought: we will hire a telemarketer
and offer them more money than they
currently make
2
Thought: we will offer a really
exciting variable comp plan to attract
aggressive hunters and minimize our
risk
3
Thought: we will hire a telemarketer,
and we will groom them to become
our next sales executive.

13. And how did that go for us?
• Poorly qualified meetings
• Overly aggressive callers
• Team members who were not
content in their roles
• Huge holes in data and process

14. We bought in to some myths, and we paid for it.
We started being successful when we strayed from SDR Dogma

15. MYTH ONE:
THE SALES
BENCH
THEORY

16. The “Sales Bench Theory”
u The SDR role is an entry level role that we can make attractive
to those seeking a career path within our company
u Great candidates will take this entry level role with eyes towards their car
eer path with the company
u It is the first step towards becoming a great account executive or manager

17. The Sales Bench Reality
u You can’t hire a lead generator and expect them to grow into a great sales
executive
u You can’t hire a sales executive and expect them to be a great lead generator

18. The Sales Bench Reality
The most desirable profile traits for a sales rep:
u 1. Drive
u 2. Influencing Others
u 3. Risk Tolerance
u 4. Recovery From Setbacks
u 5. Takes Leadership

19. The Sales Bench Reality
The most desirable profile traits for an SDR:
u 1. Service Orientation
u 2. Takes Leadership
u 3. Consideration for Others
u 4. Organization
u 5. Stress Tolerance

23. How We Changed
u We pay attention to the profile, not the resume
u We started recruiting in non-traditional ways and places (many second-chance hires)
u We hire people on-premise for whom our roles are a step up, not people who are wildly ambitious
u Our goal is to MAKE them wildly ambitious, and we plan to lose them when they get there
u We created tiers of SDRs for promotion and recognition
u We changed our comp plan to a lower hourly – less attractive to experienced sales
u We add something new to the team comp plan annually that benefits everyone
u paid lunch and coffee breaks
u paid vacation – 2 weeks annually after a year with us
u Health insurance (75% coverage, low copay, low deductible)
u Paid family leave (12 weeks full salary)

24. MYTH
TWO:
MONEY
TALKS

25. Money Doesn’t Make The SDR World Go ‘Round
Great SDRs are risk-adverse and seek stability, not commissions

26. MYTH
THREE:
CAREER
PATHS

27. College Degrees aren’t required and Career Paths are limited
• The SDR role is an entry level role that doesn’t require a degree.
• The SDR role can be filled with minimum wage talent.
• The SDR role will churn
• The SDR team can churn without disrupting your process
• The SDR personality profile will not excel at sales
• The SDR personality profile will not excel at sales management
• Make your SDRs into BETTER SDRs

28. We expect 1/25 hires to advance
We have zero tolerance for absenteeism or tardiness
We hire AND fire quickly – that’s the min wage market
3/5 don’t make it out of training
Those who make it through training develop quickly
Good people stay out of loyalty, risk aversion or necessity
Great people move into hybrid roles with additional responsibilities
Exceptional SDRs eventually top out and move on – and good on them.

29. MYTH FOUR:
GAMIFICATION

30. Reality
u Good SDRs collaborate, not compete
u Gamification adversely affects morale
u Gamification (like commission) encourages bad behavior
u Gamification shows one or two factors, it doesn’t reflect quality of work

31. MYTH
FIVE:
THE STACK

32. Reality
u With the right people in the right seats, your stack is irrelevant
u KISS

33. CRM: $35.00/seat
Call Platform: $60.00/seat (inclusive)
Email: $5.00/seat
integration/custom report/programming requirements: $12,000.00 PA (max)
Data entry/database maintenance 1 FTE x $15.00/hour
Zoho administration $15,000.00 PA (.25 FTE)
Lead lists: FREE – library resource

34. MYTH
SIX:
THE
BULL PEN

35. Reality
You can hire remote callers in cities where people don’t
pay exorbitant rent and need to commute
for 1.5 hours to get to your office

36. Our experience w/ remote callers is different than our on premise callers
We hire experienced callers for remote roles.
We pay them more – 1099 roles.
We haven’t had someone leave our remote call team in over two years.
We hire sight unseen based on interviews and use platform to train, audit, coach
and communicate.
Remote callers work only one one person to one project assignments, there is no
need for them to collaborate with each other.
Hiring profile is slightly different and skewed towards working independently.

37. How Can Managed Sales Pros Help?
u We can prospect for you.
u We can teach your team to prospect.
u We can help you set up your calling systems and
processes, including recruiting.

38. Contact Us
@coldcallcarrie
carrie@managedsalespros.com
702-695-3258

39. THANK YOU