Strategies for Sdr Growth

Since 2018, I’ve run 3 SDR orgs with >$5k ARR deal sizes. In hindsight, I f*d up. Knowing what I know now, here’s what I’d do differently: 1. LEAD FROM THE FRONT ↳ As a leader, make 100 cold calls every day. No excuses. Your team looks to you for leadership. If you won’t do the hard things, why should they? But if they see you cranking out calls AND doing what’s expected of a manger … they’ll be inspired to take their game to the next level. I didn’t do this. I won’t make this mistake again. Side Note: making calls makes you a better manager. You learn first-hand how prospects respond to your pitch. You learn where your processes are broken. And you learn empathy for your team. 2. PARALLEL DIALER + CALL HEAVY CULTURE ↳ Implement a call-heavy culture and parallel dialer (such as Trellus (YC W22) or Nooks) from Day 1. The benefits of a call-heavy SDR culture are staggering. You talk to more prospects. You qualify accounts faster. You get direct market feedback instead of unanswered emails. There are so many benefits. But if it were easy, everyone would do it. It’s hard for a reason. Side Note: it’s waaaay easier to move from a call-heavy culture to something else (email-heavy, inbound, social) if the business needs it. The opposite is not true. 3. AUTOMATE OR CENTRALIZE LIST BUILDING ↳ Most SDRs are wasting 30-40% of their time on manual list building. If you can automate or centralize those tasks? That’s the quickest way to 30-40% more pipeline and new revenue. Wouldn’t your company love to have 30-40% more SDR pipeline?!? Centralize this with your RevOps team. Or, thanks to AI tools like Ciro can now do this. But get this off your SDR’s plate so they can do what they do best. Talking to customers & finding creative ways to break in. Building efficient SDR teams is HARD. If it were easy, everyone would do it. But there are playbooks to follow. Please get in touch if you have Qs and I can help in any way. Those who have been SDRs and leaders ... what else am I missing here? Anything you've learned that you'd now do differently?

I'll say it once...and I'll say it forever...if you're leading an SDR team / department and you're NOT paying attention to what happens with your team's work after they hand it off to AEs... You're relegating your team / department to a support function rather than a strategic one... SDRs can't keep being appointment setters while prospective buyers are more discerning and more risk averse than ever And just tossing meetings and opps over the fence that meet "qualification criteria" isn't going to cut it unless your company is signing contracts like there's no tomorrow ➡️ Take into consideration what sales deems as "quality pipeline" (*cough* it's likely more than just persona + need *cough*) ➡️ Identify how your team can support sales in getting 1 step closer to "quality pipeline" (within reason) ➡️ Set benchmarks for conversion rates towards "quality pipeline" standard ➡️ Partner with sales and sales enablement to come up with a playbook for SDRs and AEs on best practices to hit "quality pipeline" standard ➡️ Make sure everyone -- AEs, SDRs, AE managers, SDR managers, etc -- knows what quality is and isn't, and coaches/reinforces to that standards; consider discovery scorecards, next step sequences, plays for objections during discovery, etc ➡️ Leverage data to identify what needs the most work and what must be true to improve, i.e. further coaching, enablement, disposition training, tactic, campaigns, etc

Proven Strategies to Supercharge B2B Outbound Lead Generation Let’s be clear: outbound isn’t dead—it just needs to be smarter. In a world where buyers are more selective and inboxes are more crowded, effective outbound lead generation is about precision, personalization, and partnership with sales. Here are 7 strategies I’ve seen drive real results: 1. Laser-Focus Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Before you start reaching out, refine your ICP. Go beyond firmographics—consider buying triggers, tech stack, growth signals, and key pain points. Use intent data and predictive analytics to prioritize accounts most likely to convert. A highly defined ICP ensures your efforts are efficient and relevant. 2. Multi-Threaded Outreach Modern B2B decisions are made by committees, not individuals. Build relationships across multiple stakeholders within a target account. Tailor messages to specific roles—finance, marketing, operations—and connect them to how your solution supports their objectives. 3. Hyper-Personalized Messaging at Scale Generic emails are dead. Use dynamic personalization tools to tailor messaging based on job title, company news, shared connections, or industry trends. AI can help scale personalization while keeping your messaging authentic and relevant. 4. Leverage Warm Channels First Outbound doesn’t have to mean “cold.” Use mutual connections, recent webinar attendees, or social media engagement as warm entry points. Pair outbound efforts with LinkedIn nurturing, retargeted ads, or personalized video messages to increase response rates. 5. Sequence with Strategy Use automated sequences (email, phone, social touches) designed around your buyer’s journey. Ensure every touchpoint adds value—share relevant case studies, industry insights, or pain-point specific content. A well-structured sequence improves both response and conversion rates. 6. Align with Sales for Speed and Feedback Marketing and sales alignment is critical. Share real-time feedback loops so messaging can be optimized based on what's resonating. SDRs should be armed with the right content, timing cues, and conversation starters to accelerate qualified conversations. 7. Test, Learn, and Optimize Relentlessly Outbound is not set-it-and-forget-it. Track metrics like open rates, response rates, and meeting conversion. A/B test subject lines, messaging, and timing. Leverage attribution insights to refine outreach and double down on what works. 💡 Outbound done right isn’t about volume—it’s about velocity and value. When marketers shift from “spray and pray” to precise, personalized, and data-driven outreach, outbound becomes a true catalyst for sustainable B2B growth. #B2BMarketing #OutboundLeadGen #GrowthStrategy #MarketingLeadership #RevenueMarketing #ABM #CMO #DemandGeneration

Fact: Outbound sales is broken. Incentives and strategies are misaligned. Tools like Salesloft and Outreach didn’t cause it. They amplified it. Now marketing and sales need to work together to fix it. The real issue is that sales managers push SDRs to prioritize volume over quality, leading to generic outreach that no one wants to read. Fixing this starts with focus. Give SDRs a small set of accounts, 30 per quarter, and tier them into A, B, and C priorities (using tools like Clay, Tofu, Unify). This makes it clear who they’re targeting and allows them to spend their time understanding the industries, companies, and people they’re reaching out to. Instead of chasing volume, they can dive deep into the problems their prospects are trying to solve. With the right tools, resources and 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴, SDRs can educate themselves on the pain points, motivations, and challenges of their target audience. They can craft outreach that adds value and speaks directly to what matters most. Take me as an example. If you’re reaching out to someone like me at MoEngage, don’t send lazy, cookie-cutter emails like: “Does getting more pipeline keep you up at night” “Would you be interested in getting more qualified meetings” “Do you want customer lists of your competitors?” “Are you still interested?” “I haven’t heard back. I’ll assume this isn’t a priority.” These don’t work. They’re noise. If you want my attention, show me you’ve done your homework. Understand that I’m focused on growing in North America. Recognize the challenges of expanding into a crowded market. Tell me something valuable about how companies like mine are navigating those problems and how you can help. This approach may lead to fewer meetings overall, but the meetings you get will be better. SDRs and AEs will know their audience. They’ll understand the pain points. They’ll deliver messaging that lands because it’s relevant and thoughtful. And this isn’t just a sales problem. Marketing has to help. Marketing should train SDRs and AEs with insights about the market, the ICP, and the problems worth solving. Outbound sales works best when sales and marketing are aligned, working together to get the right message in front of the right people. Stop trying to get more meetings. Focus on getting better ones.

We grew our pipeline 50% QoQ in Q2 ... and in the hope that it's slightly helpful to someone out there... I'm going to share how. Now, before you squint your eyes and assume this is some a fake click-baity post or just a complete lie… it’s not. ...It wasn’t the result of some AI “hack.” 🙅♀️ ...It wasn't from spending more (we were operating off 2/3 of our 2024 budget) ...It also wasn’t just a bunch of bad opps. In fact, we measure the quality of our pipeline by the density of Top ICP fit accounts, and that metric also improved. Here’s what we did 👇👇👇 1️⃣ Laser focused on our top ICP Looking at our product roadmap and new Compete Agent product, it was clear that our best fit customer of the future might not look the same as the past. We created new ICP account lists and tiering structure, and rebuilt our entire demand gen system to focus solely on them: ✅ Used Vector 👻 to identify when a contact in these accounts showed intent ✅ Which triggered automated campaigns ✅ Combined with SDR prospecting to expand contact engagement within the account. 🤑 2️⃣ Invested in GEO/SEO Our organic pipeline increased 40% QoQ because we’re investing in long-tail terms and content formats that helps us show up in AI search. We are seeing steady QoQ gains in self-reported attribution on our demo form that buyers are finding us via AI search. Wee! 3️⃣ Focused on producing content ABOUT OUR PRODUCT We focused the majority of our content work around product releases and using video to show new use-cases and how to use new capabilities. Everything was about product, and being as clear as possible about what problems we can help to solve. 4️⃣ Hunted for top SDR talent We raised the bar for SDR hiring. Simple, but easy to lose focus on. Hiring top tier talent will 4x your outcomes alone without changing anything else. That’s my experience. I'll take my killer SDRs co-piloted with AI tooling (like Nooks and UserGems 💎) over your bots any day. We're aiming for 60% improvement in quota attainment this quarter. And hoping to 2x by the end of the year. 5️⃣ Combined Brand with Demand campaigns I read a case study from ServiceNow that said running brand campaigns BEFORE a demand gen campaign lifted their outcomes by something like 40% (I’m making this number up but whatever). We’ve tested this out twice now and it seems to be working: ✅ We ran a positioning campaign ahead of launching our Compete Agent, with a demand campaign to convert interest. Overall ... exceeded targets by ~110% 🤗 🤗 I’m incredibly proud of the team and the work they’ve done. The #1 key to all of this? Focus. ✅ Ignoring those million other little things that are JUST noise, and using extreme discipline to do only what will move the needle. ✅ Smart strategic priorities combined with great execution. That’s the equation. 🧠 ❤️

Your GTM strategy isn’t broken—It’s just outdated. Most B2B companies still treat GTM like a straight line… Marketing generates leads, SDRs reach out, sales closes. That’s not how buyers operate in 2025. A staggering 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels (Gartner). The best GTM teams aren’t running siloed motions. They’re building a connected system where outbound, and inbound marketing work together. Let’s dive in: 1) Marketing: Still optimizing for MQLs? You’re playing the wrong game. Marketing isn’t about filling the funnel. It’s the first outbound function. - Thought leadership from Exec profile(s) drives inbound SQLs. - LinkedIn and podcasts accelerate sales cycles with building trust. - Engaging your ICP before outreach makes deals warmer. How to execute: - Prioritize founder/executive-led content. People buy from people, not logos. - Stop reposting blogs—run LinkedIn-native demand plays from Exec insights. - Personalized engagement. Your buyers notice who’s in their comments. This is how you catch your prospects in the untapped part of the top of funnel for people who are solution and problem unaware. 2) SDRs: 2025 will see the need for unicorns. SDRs with a marketer skillset. Outbound isn’t just emails and cold calls anymore. The best SDR teams are using LinkedIn engagement, retargeted content, and intent-driven outreach to create warm conversations. This keeps them focused on the 20% of prospects that will book 80% of the pipeline with people who already know you and trust you/ have a need. Instead of blasting cold emails, try: - Engaging with ICP content first. - Following up with relevant content from Exec profile. - Sending intent-driven messages using trigger events to find active buyers How to execute: - Train SDRs to comment and interact daily. - Build multi-channel sequences (LinkedIn & email). - Use insights in DMs, not templates, in cold outreach. 3) Sales: By the time sales step in, buyers are often 70% through their buying cycle. The best reps in 2025 aren’t convincing—they’re being trusted advisors. In a world of an excess of information reps who challenge and guide their buyers towards the right info will flourish. How to execute: - Structure calls around pain narratives - Challenge buyer information requests and suggest better alternatives - Help the buyer to quantity impact, and seek to disqualify rather than qualify. The Future of GTM → A Unified Model When done right, marketing, outbound, and sales aren’t separate functions. They feed into each other, creating a demand loop that compounds. - At Atticus, we help B2B companies build GTM strategies that actually work—combining executive-led content, warm LinkedIn outbound, multi channel prospecting, and intent-driven sales motions. If your GTM feels broken, it’s probably not a lead problem. It’s a motion problem. What’s one thing you’re changing in your GTM playbook this year?

I spoke with 25 EMEA SDR leaders last week in Amsterdam. These 3 tactics are the difference between missing quota and hitting it. (Share this in your Slack channel) 1. The 100-to-1000 Rule SDRs need to do 100 of ANYTHING (cold call connections, LinkedIn video DMs, etc) before saying "it doesn't work." If someone tells me: "My rep sent 5 videos and got nothing." My response is: "Cool. Michael Jordan missed 5 shots once too. Then he took 20,000 more. The 5 videos you made are just the warmup. Come back at 100. Here's the math: • 1 SDR = 100 attempts minimum • 10 SDRs x 100 = 1,000 data points • Now you know what actually works The reason for the 1,000 data points is to collect overall data for the team to adopt this across the board. It also builds belief on the team that these tactics that you want your team to do ACTUALLY can work. Stop accepting "it doesn't work" from reps who tried it twice. 2. Test Your Messaging With Actual Buyers Most LinkedIn advice comes from sellers selling to sellers. Again, guilty as charged. So let's get messaging straight from your actual buyers. The play that's booking meetings: • Message your internal champion that is your potential buyer (CTO, CMO, etc.) • Ask: "What's the best outreach you've received?" • Use AI to decode why it worked • Test that approach with similar buyers • Scale what gets responses We did this with our CMO when I worked at Terminus and we booked a ton of meetings from it. 3. Find Your Team's Unique Strength Every SDR has a superpower waiting to be unleashed. Map it out: • Sarah is nailing it on cold calls? Document her opener • Mike gets 30% email reply rates? Emulate his templates • Lisa owns LinkedIn? Make her teach everyone I tried to be the email guy when I realized I am more of a cold call / social guy. Know your lane and maximize it. Then you can build multi-channel plays using each person's strength. I did this with my SDR team and we hit above our quota for 6 straight months. The real talk here is start demanding mastery from your teams instead of going through the motions. This is the way. P.S. Which takeaway are you testing with your team this week?

One of the keys to booking more than 500 sales meetings quarterly for us? We're very, very precise about who we target with our ads and with our outbound efforts Here’s how we currently do account prioritization and scoring at Chili Piper We have 300+ (!) criteria on the account that we take into account before we reach out  They won’t all fit in one LinkedIn post, but here’s the summary We have a few qualification criteria based on what our software does  - They have to use Salesforce/Hubspot as a CRM  - They are in B2B - They have a “Contact Us” type of form or a “Free trial” funnel on their website In addition, we found that customers with the highest LTV have the following characteristics:  - Have high complexities in their routing (no surprise here), meaning they:  - Have more than 10+ sales reps  - Have a high influx of leads - Have a complex sales cycle (have AMs, CS) in addition to AEs  - They use multiple tools to optimize their funnel  - They use marketing automation tools(Pardot, Marketo, Hubspot)  - They use sales engagement tools - In-app optimization tools  - Are in good standing  - Have good G2 reviews  - Have some founding We sell faster if they - Are based in the US  - Have more than 100 employees - Are in SAAS  - Have SDRs - Have Demand Gen/Growth Marketing function  - Have paid campaigns running  - Have a chat on their website - Have a rev ops function  - Are Hiring  - Use swag to their prospects  - Sell to SMBs Takes us longer to sell if  - They are more traditional (this applies to companies funded before 85)  - Are on Outlook (sorry all Microsoft shops!) We have different weights for these criteria, and we only distribute 10 accounts a day to SDRs a day. Only those that have high scores We also use some intent channels /tools for distribution (currently using G2, and Crossbeam for data from our partners and Usergems) As for accounts that get pushed to advertising campaigns: we try to do a combination of high scores and cold accounts (meaning accounts that haven’t heard of us - yet) Curious to hear more about our account scoring/routing? Follow Tara Robertson newsletter on our website for more in-depth /longer articles than what I’m able to post here on LinkedIn 

Every SDR knows the pain. Tabs everywhere. Copy, paste, repeat. Selling time lost before you even say hello. This is how we fixed it with Manthan Patel: ☑ AI does the research. Reps make the decisions. ☑ No more tab overload. No more late first touch. ☑ A clear brief and a draft email appear. The rep reviews and sends. Here’s the workflow: → Pick one lead source. Demo form, product signup, inbound email, or a CSV list. Start simple. → Enrich leads automatically. Pull company basics. Add one key signal that matters for your pitch. → Auto-draft the first email. Keep it short. 45 to 70 words. No fluff. No guessing. → The rep is the final reviewer. They check, tweak, and send. Judgment matters more than typing. → Route the lead to the right owner. Log every step in the CRM. No lead left behind. Guardrails that keep it real: • Never invent facts. If the data is thin, switch to a full cold approach. • Put a timer on each step. No more endless research. • Track every action. Time to first touch. Research minutes per lead. Meetings per 100 leads. This is not about doing more. It’s about doing less, but better. Less typing. Less waiting. More judgment. More ownership. The result: → SDRs spend more time selling, less time searching. → First touch happens faster. → Every lead gets the right message, at the right time. This is how you build a modern outbound engine. No more chaos. No more wasted hours. Just a simple, repeatable workflow that lets your team win.

Yonathan Levy and I mapped out the exact framework that's generating 3X more qualified meetings. Most companies are choosing between human SDRs OR AI automation. The winners are building Human x AI Outbound Systems. Think about your best SDR. Now imagine they could: • Run personalized outreach to 500 prospects daily (not 50) • Never miss a follow-up when a prospect shows buying intent • Know exactly which accounts are warming up before competitors do • Spend 80% of their time actually talking to prospects This isn't about replacing humans. It's about amplifying what makes them irreplaceable. Here's what changes when AI becomes your SDR's co-pilot: ✓ Follow-ups that think: AI reads reply sentiment, crafts contextual responses, catches buying signals humans miss at 2 AM ✓ CRM that works for you: Every call logged, every email tracked, every interaction scored - without touching a keyboard ✓ Personalization at scale: One strategic prompt creates 100 unique sequences. Each feels hand-written because AI studied the prospect's digital footprint ✓ SDRs become strategists: No more data entry. They're analyzing patterns, building relationships, closing deals Your SDRs can finally focus on what humans do best - building trust and closing deals. Meanwhile, AI handles everything repetitive and scalable. We've broken down the entire system in the visual above ↑ Save this. Share it with your revenue team. Over to you: How quickly can you implement this? Drop a comment with your biggest outbound challenge - we're here answering questions all day. Follow Manthan Patel for AI automation blueprints Follow Yonathan Levy for SDR excellence strategies