What is Sales Development? The Top 10 isms

I have spent the past six (6) years helping companies break ground and/or expand their Sales Development function so I’ve been involved in a lot of different approaches. Some super successful and some not-so successful.

In this post I highlight The Top 10 isms of Sales Development based on my experiences and years of research.

This isn’t going to be a long tactical guide on how to “do Sales Development right”. These (ten) 10 short philosophies are more meant to help shape your mindset about Sales Development, particularly if you are planning to implement a team for the first time or struggling to get the most out of the team you already have.

Sales Development is…

1. Sales Development is a representation of your company’s focus on, and value in, prospecting.
2. Sales Development is a sort of “insurance policy” for your sales funnel when attraction (marketing) isn’t enough, and for when your Sales Representatives (the closers) are concentrating all their efforts on late-stage opportunities (like they should).
3. Sales Development is measured by its ability to increase velocity in your sales funnel while reducing unnecessary drag. Trish Bertuzzi writes in her book, The Sales Development Playbook: “The value of a sales development effort is measured by increased won business per Account Executive and/or accelerated new customer acquisition” (pg. 8).
4. Sales Development is a partnership sales model in that the Sales Development Representative’s (SDR) fundamental purpose is to facilitate qualified engagements where your closers meet with or demo to, leads that closely match your company’s ideal customer profile (ICP). Simply put, SDRs make it possible for your closers to spend more time with better prospects.

1. 5. Sales Development is arguably the best training for people who want to earn a comfortable living while learning a specialized set of skills that will help them grow their professional careers.

1. 6. Sales Development is an extremely effective advantage that not only allows you to rapidly scale your sales funnel but it also helps provide a world-class experience to potential customers while gathering vital market intelligence.

1. 7. Sales Development is a carefully orchestrated effort between several cross-functional groups which is carried out by SDRs. “Sales is a team sport now”, as I always like to say.

1. 8. Sales Development is the first impression of your company.
2. 9. Sales Development is customizable to your unique business requirements. It is not meant to be one-size fits all. Every industry and every company within those industries will implement Sales Development differently.
3. 10. Sales Development is no longer an option for pro-growth companies who want to scale and remain competitive.

I hope you found the above isms to be insightful and ideologies that you might be able to adapt to your Sales Development organization.

Derrick Williams

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