Alex Levin

90% of SaaS reps overcomplicate objection handling. They’ll write 15-slide decks or “strategic” follow-up emails. But the best objection-buster I’ve ever used took one line: 👉 “Here’s how to get your CFO to approve this tool in 7 minutes flat.” That line alone turned stalled deals into signed contracts. Why? Because it gives the buyer exactly what they need (ammunition to win approval internally). We spun that same core message into multiple weapons: • “The ROI calculator CFOs can’t argue with” • “Your boss will literally thank you for sending this” • “The lazy AE’s guide to instant approvals” Different flavors, same impact: we made the champion look like a genius inside their org. The lesson? You don’t always need “new messaging.” You need the right angle for each buyer. One insight. Three angles. Pipeline unlocked.

57

62 Comments

Had a fascinating conversation with a new BDR leader at a ~$30M+ ARR SaaS co who spent 6+ years leading teams at a well-run sales org prior. His reality perfectly captures what I'm hearing in dozens of conversations. Here's the stark reality that's quietly killing growth inside many companies today: THE EMAIL CLIFF "Email works next to zero percent," he said. They're calling into healthcare systems with advanced firewalls and spam blockers. What used to be a reliable channel has essentially flatlined. His team still sends emails, but he admits it's "probably a waste of time." THE DIALING SQUEEZE They've invested in better dialing technology for improved coaching and gamification, but their connect rates have dropped to 3.5%. At his previous company, he was hitting 4.5-6%. The trend line is clear and it's not pretty. THE INTENT SIGNAL OVER PROMISE Three weeks into his role, they bought an "intent signal" platforms that promises to identify hot prospects from website visitors and digital signals. The reality? "Once you get only one relevant visitor a week for your specific patch, that doesn't make it engaging." The volume is so low it's barely worth logging in. THE EXPERIENCED LEADER DILEMMA He works under a seasoned CRO with an incredible track record. Very impressive runs. Someone who built successful playbooks at scale across 3 high growth SaaS companies. But those proven plays from 3-5 years ago? They're not working anymore. The CRO is in "learning and absorbing mode" trying to figure out what comes next. What I read from that is he doesn’t know what to do. And he is not alone. This situation isn't unique. It's becoming the norm. Teams are "turning over every rock" looking for pipeline. They're manually building closed-lost re-engagement campaigns. They're increasing dial requirements to 150+ per day just to sniff their numbers. While email isn’t delivering, they are afraid to have their teams stop doing it because they don’t know what the alternative is. NOW WHAT? If email is in trouble, connect rates keep dropping, and signal aggregation doesn’t move the needle unless you have a real inbound machine or massive PLG motion... what happens next? I see three paths: 1. Full-cycle reps become the default       Fewer specialists, more account ownership. Likely nowhere near the 6-7X quota to OTE ratios and cost to acquire customers rise. Outbound deals take much longer to close and these reps begin to master long-term nurture.     2. Outbound shrinks dramatically as a portion of pipeline Companies invest heavily in inbound, partnerships, content, thought leadership, and events instead. If this is true, a lot of the CROs whose value is tied to building outbound functions will decrease (this was me before Champify) 3. Growth slows across the board Companies simply can't scale as quickly without reliable outbound channels. What do you think happens? What am I missing?

184

76 Comments

CSMs are borrowing techniques from psychotherapy to save renewals. And it's working. The OARS framework comes from therapeutic counseling, but it's perfect for discovery calls. It builds trust faster than any sales technique because it makes prospects feel heard instead of sold to. Here's how it breaks down: - Open Questions. Stop asking "Do you like our product?" Start asking "What's the #1 thing being discussed in your boardroom right now?" Open questions force prospects to think and share real information. Closed questions get you yes/no answers that lead nowhere. - Affirmations. When customers hit milestones, acknowledge it. "You increased automation by 30% ahead of schedule" builds momentum better than moving straight to the next agenda item. - Reflections. This is the secret weapon. Repeat back what they said in your own words: Prospect: "We're drowning in support tickets and need better analysis." You: "So it sounds like you want to extract more insights from your current support system, and you're looking for solutions to do that. Did I get that right?" Reflections prove you're listening and give them a chance to clarify. Even when you're wrong, they'll correct you - which gives you better information. - Summary. End calls by pulling together everything they said, then ask: "What's the next step you think we should take?" When THEY suggest the next step instead of you telling them what to do, they're more likely to follow through. The framework works because it changes us the traditional sales approach that your clients might be used to. Instead of pitching and pushing, you're reflecting and guiding. Most reps ask a question, then immediately ask three more questions because they panic in silence. That turns discovery into an interrogation. OARS teaches you to ask one question, shut up, and let them talk. Then reflect what you heard before moving forward. Chad shared how he used this to save a six-figure renewal during a Sales Assembly session on Customer Discovery last week. The customer had been ghosting emails for weeks. Instead of pitching harder, he asked: "Is there something I should have asked you that maybe I didn't?" The response was a novel about losing faith in the product roadmap and feeling left behind by competitors. That one reflective question uncovered the real issue and saved the deal. Therapists know that people need to feel understood before they'll change their behavior. Customers need to feel understood before they'll renew their contracts.

62

17 Comments

Our outbound reps make 160% of the industry standard ($140K vs. $85K)   And that’s not an accident. It’s intentional.   The old model was broken: (1) Hire cheap junior reps (2) Churn and burn until a few survive (3) Measure activity, not outcomes   The new fad is wearing thin: (1) Hire cheap junior reps (2) Replace humans with fully automated AI SDRs (3) Mass spam that looks like marketing No trust, no creativity, no real pipeline   At Unify, we’re doing it differently: AI-empowered sellers.   Elite humans doing what only they can, supported by AI to scale what they shouldn’t. The results: (1) Ramp in weeks, not months (2) Outbound opps converting at 20% - higher than inbound (3) Reps paid for Closed-Won, not just meetings (4) And yes, one of our reps is pacing for $180K this year   Soon, an outbound rep at Unify will break $200K in annual comp. Not by accident but by design.   The future of outbound isn’t cheap headcount or AI bots.   It’s fewer reps, bigger outcomes, and top sellers getting paid what they’re worth.

338

38 Comments

How to turn your AEs into a winning team: - product positioning - Discovery training - Command of the message - Great CRM setup - Nice Sales deck - listen to Calls in Gong ^^ tasks split across marketing, RevOps, AE leader, enablement. How to turn your SDRs into a winning team: - map the TAM - learn a variety of decision maker titles - cold calling training - set up email infrastructure - buy and set up multiple data tools - learn copywriting for exec communication - learn about SMTP, DMARC, DKIM - run complex math to determine how many leads are needed - collaborate with marketing for MQL handoff - optimize sequence settings to prevent bottlenecks - validate CRM data to prevent bounce leads - learn LinkedIn strategy for messaging prospects - learn to leave proper voicemails - run discovery on inbound leads - build a variety of sequences - run the math on A/B testing messaging - pass proper notes to the AE - follow up with leads that ghosted the AE - handle phone objections different than email ones - test a variety of tools, and fight for budget contstantly - help SDRs career plan and understand comp plan ^^ worst of all, the SDR manager has to do 90% of this in their own! Then SDRs and SDR leaders are paid less than their AE counterparts. Then when things aren’t working the SDR team is cut while the AE team is trained. How does this make sense? Been saying it for years #SDRsMatter

70

17 Comments

Enjoyed having James Roth (CRO ZoomInfo) on the GTMnow podcast. This episode is a masterclass in scaling revenue in the enterprise: - Transitioning from transactional sales to enterprise, value-led selling. - ZoomInfo’s “good co / bad co” segmentation model. - How to reposition an entire company (and why the ticker change to GTM mattered). - The Copilot launch: from internal adoption to $220M ACV. - Operationalizing AI across 37,000 customers. My main 5 takeaways 1. Enterprise growth isn’t about more sales reps. - ZoomInfo’s best upmarket product wasn’t a sales license, it was data as a service. - Selling licenses failed because enterprise buyers wanted data integrated into Snowflake & Databricks. - Their fastest-growing business: 150% NRR, 40% YoY growth. 2. “Good co / bad co” is a ruthless focus. - Every quarter, they cut through anecdote and ego by running the data: NRR, upsell, segment fit. - If retention is weak, reallocate resources, even if the product leader loves it. - Avoid pushing rocks uphill; double down where customers pull. 3. You can’t just hire your way upmarket. - Enterprise motion required restructuring CSMs, onboarding, comp, and sales methodology. - Moving tenured reps into new roles showed who thrived and who hated it. - “Changing the tires at 80mph” - the talent reset was harder than the strategy. 4. Copilot’s $220M ACV sprint had one cheat code: internal proof. - They rolled it out to 1,600 sellers first. - Sellers showed customers how they personally used Copilot in their day. - The GTM motion became: “Here’s my workflow, here’s how Copilot changed it.” 5. CROs must choose long-term health over short-term wins. - Easy play: turn on SMB sales, add $20M+ ARR, keep Wall Street happy. - Hard play: shrink SMB, grow enterprise to 72% mix, and commit to the slog. - Roth’s advice: “Day one, go after the big hairy issues. Don’t waste your tenure on tweaks.” Full conversation is live on all platforms!

76

13 Comments

Please, for the love of revenue, stop opening your pricing call by pulling up the proposal and running through the price. You’re not a waiter dropping the check at the table. If the prospect says, “We just want to review the price,” that’s your signal to slow down and give context to the conversation. Every pricing call should start by confirming: - current challenges or problems to be solved - desired outcome for their business - how your product or service is going to deliver the outcome for them Once you are aligned on these three things, you can move forward with showing the price. This is especially important when a new evaluator joins the call. For example, you have been working with a champion who gets to the point where they want to see the price. You schedule the call to review the commercial terms. They invite the CFO or the economic buyer. That CFO has no context for value that you are going to deliver. They haven’t felt the pain you’ve been unpacking over the last few weeks. That's your job to give them the right context. Price only makes sense when you understand the current challenges and desired outcomes. That’s why I always start pricing calls the same way: “Before we jump into numbers, I just want to make sure we’re aligned on the goals of this partnership. Can we quickly revisit the challenges you’re solving and the outcomes you’re targeting? I want to make sure the proposal maps to that.” It’s a hard thing to say no to. And it does two important things: It gives you a chance to reinforce the value. It opens the door for new information or things the buyer hasn’t told you yet, but that will matter in the decision. I have lost many sales opportunities in my career by rushing to show the pricing. I thought moving fast meant being efficient. But I skipped the context. So the next time you have a pricing call, slow down. Frame the conversation. Align on the value of the partnership. Then move on to the commercial terms. ______ If you need help structuring that conversation, I’ve got an executive summary template that makes this easy. Comment "Summary" and I'll send it to you.

39

23 Comments