82: Why the Current SDR Model is Broken
And an alternative approach
Read on jed.substack.com
Read time: 4min
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Agenda
Why the Current SDR Model is Broken
What Model to Use Instead
Why the Current SDR Model is Broken
I read a stat last week that blew my mind.
It takes 1,000-1,4000 touches to book a meeting vs. 200-400 touches 5 years ago (source: Jeremy Donovan)
Of course, there’s a lot of missing context in this stat but regardless, it’s no secret that booking meetings is harder than ever.
The question is, should we change our approach? Or keep pushing and increasing volume until things get “better”?
My friend Scott Martinis, CEO of B2B Catalyst, is developing what he believes to be is the future of the SDR model.
So I asked him to share it with you all today.
Here’s what Scott had to say:
Google announced recently that they're going to start harshly punishing emails that buyers don't engage with. And Apple has started auto-declining calls tagged as spam.
How can outbound stay viable?
Simple - buyers have to enjoy and get value from your outbound. And this starts with a demo.
Asking for a demo is code for 30-minute death by PowerPoint or scripted qualification questions... That MAYBE lead to the 1 or 2 questions buyers want answered.
The demo is actually an OFFER and one of the biggest problems with outbound today.
What if we offered buyers something they actually value: could be an interview where they'll learn the challenges their peers face, a white paper solving an urgent problem, a podcast slot, a sales workshop, a deliverability audit… the list goes on.
The new SDR model is almost a journalist... they're interviewing buyers, asking permission to share content, engaging on Linkedin, and creating their own content.
Engagement gets handed to AEs. Then, AEs pitch a custom business case to get meetings once it looks like an account is in a buying cycle.
"This sounds like a lot of work!"
Why would buyers talk to you if they have ChatGPT and all the information on the internet available?
They expect to be able to answer their questions without "talking to sales."
Do it… then your content sells for you and you get free intent data.
Don't do it... then someone else will.
If you want to learn more about Scott’s perspective on why the “industry standard” SDR/Outbound model is broken, what broke it, and his vision for the future, then check out this in-depth video.
How I Use This Model
Scott’s model is similar to the one I implemented at Mailshake.
Most of our email campaigns weren’t pushing a demo. Instead, we were providing free resources or lead magnets related to the problem we solve (deliverability) - you can read more about that here and here.
If you want to adopt this method, you’re forced to make a decision:
Do I want my offer to be a demo? If so, I’ll book more immediate meetings, but the volume of meetings and response rates will be lower.
Do I want my offer to be something of value? If so, you won’t book as many meetings right away. It will require more patience and strategic follow-up, but in the long run, you’ll book more meetings.
The sweet spot is reframing your demo as the value itself - by making it worth paying for.
The key is understanding that YOU are the expert on the problems your software solves. And that your insights ARE worth paying for.
For example, say your best friend owned a business and was struggling with the pain points that your product helps with. But you knew they didn’t have budget.
What advice would you give them?
At Mailshake, we did this by reframing our “Demos” as “Deliverability Audits”.
And no, we weren’t pulling a bait & switch :)
When prospects would join the meeting, we were upfront that our software helped with deliverability. However, we explained that our goal was to show them a few simple ways they could start fixing the problem on their own.
The end result was almost always them asking to learn more about our product (i.e. asking for a demo).
Again, patience is the key.
We have to get out of the mindset of thinking we can force prospects’ timelines.
How to Get Started
Using this value-first approach requires a two things:
Knowing where your buyers spend their time (i.e. the channel)
Knowing what they value (i.e. the offer)
I’ll give you a couple of examples:
One of my consulting clients sells to software engineering personas. His product is very complex and his buyers don’t spend time on LinkedIn.
Turns out, they attend a lot of trade shows.
His offer was a chance to speak with his CEO at these tradeshows.
But he made the offer even better by saying, “My CEO had you on his shortlist of people to speak with at [Event Name]. Would you be open to scheduling time with him to talk about [the problem they solve]?”
This campaign got 4x more replies and meetings than any other campaign he had run.
Of course, this isn’t super scalable. But the ROI is worth it given these are VP-level personas at Enterprise accounts. So it’s worth the CEO’s time.
Another one of my clients sells real estate CRM software. Again, her buyers aren’t on LinkedIn. They spend far more time in their local real estate Facebook groups.
So she joins these groups and provides value by sharing insights and resources on real estate trends in the market - then using that to start sales conversations.
Both are perfect examples of channel + offer.
I hope they get the gears turning for you to come up with your own!
We’ve got a couple of fun newsletters coming up:
My process for automating prospect research & list-building (I’ll be breaking down the process from scratch for a subscriber!).
How I’m using private digital rooms/landing pages to provide value upfront and book more meetings.
See you next week!
Jed
P.S. Any feedback or topics you want me to cover next? Reply & let me know!