Contactout blog https://contactout.com/blog Wed, 17 Apr 2024 02:58:03 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://blog.contactout.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/cropped-ContactOut-Icon-01-32x32.png Contactout blog https://contactout.com/blog 32 32 The Sales Resources Hub https://contactout.com/blog/the-sales-resources-hub/ Mon, 01 Apr 2024 02:29:18 +0000 https://contactout.com/blog/?p=5876 πŸ‘‹ Hey there and welcome to our collection of 300+ sales articles, videos, guides, bookmarks, templates and more – all in one place!

We’ve handpicked this set of sales materials (yep, including the templates we swear by!) – the kind we so wished we had on Day 1 of our sales adventure. We’re optimistic that they’ll supercharge your journey in mastering sales.

So, who will benefit from this?

  • πŸ•΅οΈβ€β™€οΈ Sales Reps – Boost your numbers with these easy-to-use guides.
  • πŸ” Sales Managers – Lead your team to victory with smart tools.
  • πŸš€ Sales Directors or VP – Strategize and expand quickly with our proven tricks.

Table of Contents

Curated by ContactOut. Follow us for more recruiting tips on LinkedIn and Youtube

We plan to update this resource regularly. Share your feedback or suggestion here!

🏁 Starting Out

Building a Winner’s Mentality for Sales Success

Setting up Your Sales Strategy

For small agile teams:

Productivity

πŸ“‹ Steps in the Sales Process

πŸ”Ž Prospecting

Searching for Potential Customers

Creating Buyer Personas (BP) & Defining Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Multithreading

πŸ“§ Engaging Prospects

Cold Emailing & Email Sequences

Cold Calling

Social Selling

Hosting Events & Webinars

Handling Your First Discovery Call

🧐 Qualifying & Evaluating Leads

🎬 Running Sales & Product Demos

🚫 Objection Handling & Negotiations

😁 Closing

πŸ™‹ Onboarding

πŸ€– AI & Automation in the Sales Process

Automating Everyday Workflow in Sales

πŸ“ˆ Measuring the Success of the Sales Process

🚩 Sales Operations 

Structuring Commission Plans and Sales Budgets

Managing Remote Sales Teams

🧠 Thought Leaders

Founders & Entrepreneurs

Outbound Sales Experts

SDR, BDR, AE Experts

Sales Content & Education Experts

πŸŽ₯ Video Channels

πŸ“Ί Webinar Channels

πŸŽ™ Podcasts

πŸ“š Books

πŸŽ“ Courses

🧰 Sales Tools

CRM

Sales Engagement

Sourcing

Contracts

🐸 See how ContactOut has helped over 1.4M recruiters & sales reps from Fortune 500 companies β†’

]]> 50+ Recorded Sales Discovery & Demo Calls (From Asana, HubSpot, Datadog, Okta, PayPal, Shopify, Vimeo, Zoom, and many more) https://contactout.com/blog/sales-discovery-demo-calls/ Mon, 25 Mar 2024 04:08:57 +0000 https://contactout.com/blog/?p=5846

πŸ‘‹ Welcome to our blog post about mastering sales techniques! If you want to learn how to sell effectively to decision-makers at top companies, you’re in the right place.

So, what do we have here?

  • πŸ“Ή 50+ Real Sales Call Recordings & Presentation Decks – Including ones with big-name companies (Asana, Hubspot, Shopify, Paypal, Zoom, and many more), so you can watch and learn
  • πŸ“§ Sales Email Templates – Ready-to-use email templates from the top companies to help your team work efficiently while still creating an excellent candidate experience.
  • πŸš€ Sales Resource Hub – A list of resources for you to start learning the basic overview of sales methodology

Browse all sales call recordings hereπŸ‘‡

CompanyΒ  πŸ“§ View pre-call emails/ activities here πŸ“Ή Watch the recorded call here πŸ“ŽDownload the presentation deck here Assigned type
8×8 View here Watch 8×8 call Download deck AE
Asana View here Watch Asana call AE
AvidXchange View here Watch AvidXchange call with SDR

Watch AvidXchange call with AE

 SDR/BDR

AE
BigCommerce View here Watch BigCommerce call SDR/BDR
Blackline View here Watch Blackline call with SDR

Watch Blackline call with AE

 Download deck SDR/BDR

AE
Box View here Watch Box callΒ  SDR/BDR
Braze View here Watch Braze call AE
Cloudflare View here Watch Cloudflare call Download deck SDR/BDR

AE

Sales Engineer
Datadog View here Watch Datadog call AE
DigitalOcean View here Watch DigitalOcean call SDR/BDR
DocuSign View here Watch DocuSign call with SDR

Watch DocuSign call with SDR & AE

 SDR/BDR

AE
Domo View here Watch Domo call with SDR

Watch Domo call with AE

Watch Domo call with AE & SE

 Download deck SDR/BDR

AE

Sales Engineer
Fastly View here Watch Fastly call SDR/BDR
folk CRM View here Watch folk CRM call Founder
Framer View here Watch Framer call with AE

Watch Framer call with AE & SE

 AE

Sales Engineer
Gitlab View here Watch Gitlab call AE
Monday.com View here Watch Monday.com callΒ  SDR/BDR
Okta View here Watch Okta call with SDR

Watch Okta call with AE

 SDR/BDR

AE
PagerDuty View here Watch PagerDuty callΒ  SDR/BDRΒ 

AE
PandaDoc View here Watch PandaDoc call AE
Paypal View here Watch Paypal call Download deck SDR/BDR

AE
Qualys View here Watch Qualys call AE

Sales Engineer
RingCentral View here Watch RingCentral call SDR/BDR
Shopify View here Watch Shopify call AE
Smartsheet View here Watch Smartsheet call with SDR

Watch Smartsheet call with AE

 SDR/BDRΒ 

AE
Snowflake View here Watch Snowflake call Download deck Sales Engineer
Sprinklr View here Watch Sprinklr call AE
Sprout Social View here Watch Sprout Social call with SDR

Watch Sprout Social call with AE

 SDR/BDR

AE
Squarespace View here Watch Squarespace call Download deck SDR/BDR
Webflow View here Watch Webflow call with AE

Watch Webflow call with AE & SE

 Download deck AE

Sales Engineer
Wix Enterprise View here Watch Wix Enterprise callΒ  Download deck AE
Yext View here Watch Yext call SDR/BDR
Zoom View here Watch Zoom callΒ  AE
Zuora View here Watch Zuora callΒ  SDR/BDR
Vimeo View here Watch Vimeo call SDR/BDR

 

 

Browse all sales email templates hereπŸ‘‡

πŸ’Ό Sales and Marketing πŸ‘¨β€πŸ« Education and Training
SalesLabs Β  Matt Wolach SaaS Coach
Β Sopro Β  AgileJS
Β LinkedSelling Β  Codementor
Β  Yesware Β  Pragmatic Institute (formerly The Data Incubator)
Β Discoveroo Β  Sales Impact Academy
Β Webapp.io (formerly LayerCl) Β  MonkeyLearn
Β  QuotaPath Β  Knowledge Tree
Inside.com
  Tray.io ☁ Cloud Services
Β  Salesprocess.io Β  Google Cloud
Β  Acquire Β  Twilio Segment
Β  LinkSquares Β  Stripe
Β  Allego (formerly Refract) Β  Rollworks
Β  LeadIQ Β  Rollworks (2)
Β  LeadIQ (2) Β  Rollworks (3)
Β  Adroll Β  Vaporware
Β  Capterra Β  Vaporware (2)
Β  G2 Β  CoreOS
Β  Kickfire Β  Swiftstack
Β  Clearbit Β  Datadog
Β  Clearbit (2) Β  Blackline
Β  Clearbit (3) Β  box
Β  Pop Team Β  Okta
Β  Yodel Β  Cloudflare
Β  Boolean Β  Qualys
Β  Aircall Β  RingCentral
Β  Reuters Events Marketing & CX (formerly Incite Group) Β  PagerDuty
Β  User
Β Digital Astronauts πŸ‘₯ Innovation and Collaboration
Β  Agile CRM Β  Product Hunt
Β  Pacvue (formerly PipeCandy) Β  Venture out NY
Β  Highspot Β  Pavilion
Β  Braze
πŸ‘” Business Solutions
πŸ“Š Data and Analytics Β  Asana
Β  FullStory Β  Asana (2)
Β  Syften Β  Netsuite
Β  Usersnap Β  AvidXchange
Β  Datorama Β  Paddle (formerly ProfitWell)
Β  Mixpanel Β  Paddle (formerly ProfitWell) (2)
Β  Mixpanel (2) Β  Paddle (formerly ProfitWell) (3)
Β  LogDNA Β  Paddle (formerly ProfitWell) (4)
Β  Insight Squared Β  Carta
Β  People Data Labs Β  Carta (2)
Β  Jumio Β  Carta (3)
Β  DiscoverOrg Β  Cover
Β  Elastic Β  Copper (formerly ProsperWorks)
Β  Sisense (formerly Periscope Data) Β  DocuSign
Β  Sisense (formerly Periscope Data) (2) Β  DocuSign (2)
Β Sisense (formerly Periscope Data) (3) Β  DocuSign (3)
Β  Amplitude Β  PandaDoc
Β  Conversific Β  PandaDoc (2)
Β  Actonlytics Β  HubSpot
Β  Wavefront Β  HubSpot (2)
Β  Reintent Β  HubSpot (3)
Β  alooma Β  HubSpot (4)
Β  Liveramp Β  Zendesk
Β  Leadspace Β  Zoom
Β  Bright Data (formerly Luminati) Β  Zoom (2)
Β  Lucid Chart Β  Zoom (3)
Β  Talkdesk
πŸ‘₯ Human Resources and Benefits Β  Gong
Β  Gusto Β  Gong (2)
Β  Captain401 Β  Ironclad
Β  Upcounsel Β  Workato
Β  Rippling Β  Front
Β  Rippling(2) Β  Nylas
Β  Rippling(3) Β  e2f
Β  Rippling(4) Β  LightSpeed
Β  Trademark Now Β  Teem
Β  Hired (formerly Vettery) Β  Enlume
Β  Hireplicity Β  Velocify
Β  Beacon Talent Β  Yieldify
Β  Trinet (formerly Zenefits) Β  OPSGenie
Β  StemX Β  Gorgias
Β  Moonlight Β  Sprinklr
Β  Dashbot Β  Gitlab
Β  folk
πŸ‘₯ Branding and Advertising Β  8×8
Β  Human Creative Β  Sprout Social
Β  Squarespace Β  monday.com
Β  Wix Β  Zuora
Β  Left Productions
  Pencil Media Production 🦾 Generative AI Software
Β  Gravity Video Β  Lavender
Β  Stova (formerly eTouches) Β  Vidon
Β  Yext Β  Pencil
Β  Optimonk
πŸ’¬ Information and Internet
Β  Comparably
Β  Square63
Β  Midaxo
Β  SurveyMonkey
Β  Delighted
β˜• Others
Β  Crema
Β  Callrail
Β  Evernote
Β  Swiftype
Β  Google
Β  Google (2)
Β  Paypal
Β  Shopify

 

]]> Zuora https://contactout.com/blog/zuora/ Fri, 08 Mar 2024 07:51:59 +0000 https://contactout.com/blog/?p=5829 πŸ”— Zuora

Day 0

**Subject** Zuora Introduction

**Body**

Hi {{first_name}},

I saw that you requested that someone from Zuora reach out to you.

I have a few questions for you before we set up an introduction meeting just to make sure we get the right folks from my team on the call.

  • What is it you are trying to achieve?
  • What CRM and ERP do you currently use?
  • What is your annual revenue?
  • What is your company size?
  • What is your growth trajectory?

After I get your answers, I’d be happy to connect you to our team to facilitate a conversation.

Best,

John

John DoeΒ (He/Him)

Team Lead, Business Development

Day 2

**Subject** Re: Zuora Introduction

**Body**

Hi {{first_name}}, given the urgency I sensed in your request I wanted to make sure this was on your radar.

Let me know when makes the most sense for us to connect. Feel free to call my cell (in my signature) as well if that’s easier for you.

Best,

John

John DoeΒ (He/Him)

Team Lead, Business Development

Day 4

**Subject** Re: Zuora Introduction

**Body**

Hi {{first_name}}, I wanted to follow up with some more background information on how Zuora is working with industry leaders and disruptors likeΒ Zoom,Β DocuSign,Β Zendesk,Β Box, and many others.

At a high-level Zuora works with subscription and recurring revenue businesses to grow top-line revenue and increase market share through innovative strategies, customer analytics and greater flexibility enabled by automating recurring commerce, billing, revenue recognition, and finance operations, resulting in sustainable recurring revenue growth.

Further information on the work Zuora is doing across industries can be found viaΒ our resource page.

I’m curious, does any of this information peak your interest? Would still love to get on your calendar if the timing is right.

Thanks,

John

John DoeΒ (He/Him)

Team Lead, Business Development

Day 7

**Subject** Re: Zuora Introduction

**Body**

Hi {{first_name}}, given your interest in a conversation but lack of response to setting up a conversation, I thought it might be of interest for you to test drive Zuora for free – you can sign upΒ here.

The trial has a guided walk through to explain how the platform works, as well as subscription strategies you can put in place with Zuora.

If you use the trial and consider it being a valuable tool, let’s set up some time to talk one-on-one about your subscription strategy and specific areas Zuora can help.

Kind regards,

John

John DoeΒ (He/Him)

Team Lead, Business Development

Day 9

**Subject** Invitation: Onboarding Session & In-app Help

**Body**

We look forward to helping you! We can start with your use cases, what you are trying to accomplish in Zuora, and where you are having trouble. In the meantime, feel free to peruse the Training Center in your trial for guidance.

 

 

 

β¬…Β View more email templates from top companies

]]> LeadIQ (2) https://contactout.com/blog/leadiq-2/ Fri, 08 Mar 2024 07:42:44 +0000 https://contactout.com/blog/?p=5824 πŸ”— LeadIQ

Day 0

**Subject** LeadIQ Demo Request

**Body**

Hi {{first_name}},

Thanks for reaching out to LeadIQ! I would love to learn more about your team and objectives to ensure we tailor our support to your specific needs.

Here are a few quick questions that will help us determine how best to assist you:

  1. What challenges or pain points are you looking to address with LeadIQ?
  2. How many team members will be using the LeadIQ platform?
  3. Are you currently utilizing LinkedIn Sales Navigator for prospecting?
  4. Could you share your current tech stack, including CRM and Sales Engagement tools?
  5. How did you hear about LeadIQ?

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Best Regards,

John Doe

Sales Development Rep

Day 4

**Subject** Re: LeadIQ Demo Request

**Body**

Hey {{first_name}} –Β Checking back in to see if the demo you requested is still on your radar.

As a quick refresher, I made this quick gif to show you how the click of one “Capture” button can move a single lead or a list of leads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator into your entire tech stack. In addition to sending prospects into Salesforce or Hubspot, they’ll also go directly to the first step of a sequence or cadence in seconds!

Not quiteΒ readyΒ for a demo but want to schedule a quick call to learn more about LeadIQ to determine if it’s a good fit for your team? Please feel free to use my calendar link below to book time and I will be happy to help!

BookΒ TimeΒ On My Calendar

I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Cheers,

John Doe

Sales Development Rep

 

 

β¬…Β View more email templates from top companies

]]> PagerDuty https://contactout.com/blog/pagerduty/ Fri, 08 Mar 2024 07:33:38 +0000 https://contactout.com/blog/?p=5820 πŸ”— PagerDuty

Day 0

**Subject** PagerDuty: Response to your Request

**Body**

Hi {{first_name}},

Thanks for getting in touch with us. I’m here with Jane your account executive. We work with you as a team.

I am reaching out based on your inquiry on our website aboutΒ re:

Hi. I want to know more about Professional Services and Support.

I would like to schedule a call with you in order to understand your needs and help you further.

What would be the best phone number to reach you on?

Please have a look at myΒ calendarΒ and feel free to schedule a call with me.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,

John Doe

Sales Development Representative

Day 3

**Subject** Invitation: PagerDuty + ContactOut

**Body**

Hello {{first_name}},

I hope this message finds you well! Thank you so much for booking time to chat. This will be a Discovery call where we will go over a few quick questions for basic discovery. The goal of this meeting is to get enough information to get a meeting set up with an Account Executive, who will take a deeper dive, discuss pricing, and can even provide documents to assist along the way. Looking forward to speaking with you.

Best,

John Doe

πŸ“Ή Intro call

Day 4

**Subject** Reminder: your meeting PagerDuty + {{company_name}} is about to start

**Body**

Hi,

Our meeting “PagerDuty + {{company_name}}” is about to start in a few minutes.

Please click the button below to join the web conference.

Join meeting

I’m looking forward to talking to you soon,

Jane

πŸ“Ή Follow-up call

Day 4

**Subject** Re: PagerDuty: Response to your Request

**Body**

Hey {{first_name}},

Here are both those links for your review.

https://www.pagerduty.com/security/

https://www.pagerduty.com/support-policy/

I should’veΒ asked you on our call, so sorry! But I am curious what your main driver here is on which tool you are looking to go with? Would you say it’s pricing, overall functionality, or ease of use?

I would love to hear more on that!

Cheers,

Jane Doe

Account Executive – Client Services

 

 

 

β¬…Β View more email templates from top companies

]]> Yext https://contactout.com/blog/yext/ Fri, 08 Mar 2024 07:01:41 +0000 https://contactout.com/blog/?p=5816 πŸ”— Yext

Day 0

**Subject** Ready, Set, Demo! – Yext

**Body**

Hi {{first_name}},

Thanks for getting in touch with Yext to request a product demo! To best understand how we can support your team, I’d like to propose a quickΒ 15-minuteΒ call to talk about your current challenges. This will significantly help us prepare for the live demo.

Please let me know what date and time work best for you this week or next, and I’ll do my best to accommodate your availability. If it’s easier for you, you can find a link to my calendar below.

Looking forward to connecting!

Best,

John

John Doe

Digital Strategy at Yext

New York, NY

Day 1

**Subject** Invitation: Yext + {{company_name}} Meeting

**Body**

πŸ“Ή Intro call

Day 3

**Subject** {{company_name}} + Yext – Next Steps

**Body**

Hi {{first_name}},

Great speaking with you! To confirm, we can help ensure your data is accurate and consistent across the digital landscape– looking forward to discussing more.

Regarding availability, do you have a 30 minute block between {{date&time_stamp}}?

If not, let me know what times work best for you and I can accommodate with the Executive.

Best,

John

John Doe

Digital Strategy at Yext

New York, NY

 

 

 

β¬…Β View more email templates from top companies

]]> RingCentral https://contactout.com/blog/ringcentral/ Fri, 08 Mar 2024 06:50:58 +0000 https://contactout.com/blog/?p=5812 πŸ”— RingCentral

Day 0

**Subject** Considering RingCentral?

**Body**

Hello {{first_name}},

I saw that you were looking into RingCentral and wanted to make sure someone was able to connect with you to provide some assistance. I tried calling the number you provided, but it looks like I have an invalid number.

I’d love to help you learn more about RingCentral and how we could partner with you and your business. You canΒ click to schedule a call with me, or respond to this email with a new phone number and let me know how I can best assist you!

Looking forward to connecting,

John Doe

Sales Development Representative

Day 1

**Subject** Let’s Simplify Your Search

**Body**

Hi {{first_name}},

I hope you are doing well!

I’ve reached out a few times over email hoping to provide some assistance in your search for a new VOIP provider. I’ve been unable to contact you via phone- the number I have is invalid.

I’m sure it can be a bit overwhelming as you look to make the right decision for your business.Β I’d like to make this a simple process for you. If you schedule an appointment with me, I’ll walk you through the best options for your business and get you connected with an account executive – they can provide answers for your situation and pinpoint the best solution for your business needs.

In 15 minutes, you could have a solution tailored just for you. It doesn’t have to be a complicated process –Β click here to set up an appointment with meΒ and we’ll show you how simple and effective a RingCentral solution can be!

Sincerely,

John Doe

Sales Development Representative

Day 2

**Subject** RingCentral | 15-Minute Meeting with {{first_name}}

**Body**

{{first_name}},

Looking forward to speaking with you soon. I will be giving you a call at the time you selected.

If you have any questions in advance, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

All the best,

John Doe

Sales Development Representative

Day 2

**Subject** RingCentral / {{first_name}}

**Body**

John Doe has invited you to a RingCentral Video meeting.

Please join using this link: {{link}}

πŸ“Ή Intro call

 

 

β¬…Β View more email templates from top companies

]]> Shopify https://contactout.com/blog/shopify/ Fri, 08 Mar 2024 06:41:31 +0000 https://contactout.com/blog/?p=5807 πŸ”— Shopify

Day 0

**Subject** Shopify Plus – Let’s talk

**Body**

Hi {{first_name}},

Thank you for getting in touch with Shopify Plus.

Shopify Plus is for our high growth, high volume merchants and is designed for businesses looking to take their growth to the next level, either domestically or internationally! Generally, merchants start to look at Plus when their annual online revenue reaches $1M+.

It would be great to learn a little more about your business and how we may assist you in growing your business. Book in a time that suits you best. –Β Book a meeting with John Doe.

Cheers,

John Doe

Business Development | Shopify Plus

+65 8888 9999 Singapore |Β Mobile:+65 9999 8888 (WhatsApp)Β |Β LinkedIn

Day 2

**Subject** Invitation: Shopify Plus x {{company_name}} | Initial Chat

**Body**

Hey there,

Thanks so much for booking a call with me! This initial call is to help understand your interest in Shopify Plus and determine if it is a fit for your business. Please use the Google Meet link provided in this invite for our call.

I look forward to speaking with you!

Best Regards,

John Doe

πŸ“Ή Intro call

 

β¬…Β View more email templates from top companies

]]> Part 23: How To Find Mentors (4/4) https://contactout.com/blog/part-23-how-to-find-mentors-4-4/ Fri, 08 Mar 2024 05:12:38 +0000 https://contactout.com/blog/?p=5761

How to find mentors

Doug Hall was the first sales hire at Glassdoor and VP sales at our competitor Entelo.

I got in touch with Doug for a mentorship session and here’s what I asked him:

What sales collateral and training materials did you create? Can you show me examples?

How did you train the new reps?

How did you source the new reps to hire?

How many meetings do you have with the team? What does your weekly schedule look like?

What performance metrics do you track?

What were the compensation plans?

And when Doug answered, I would dig deeper into it.

What were the exact steps

Can you show me the sales scripts?

All right. So you had your mentorship session.

How do you follow up and build a long term relationship?

I’d ask my mentors:

Would you be open to mentoring me for an hour a month at $500 per hour?

Or whatever rate they think is suitable.

When I start a business. I might have like up to 50 mentorship conversations.

For some of them I find that I learned so much from this person that I want to like keep the relationship going.

Eventually you’d get mentors in every area of business: growth, sales, products,

As well as in life: people management, mental health, family, productivity, learning.

And you create like a personal board of directors.

As you develop these relationships, what I found is three of my mentors:

Santosh Sharan, Jeff Deustch and Doug Hall ended up joining ContactOut!

If you talk to someone one hour every month, you really get to know them

and you talk about more than just business.

We’d cover family, philosophy, life, learning and productivity.

It’s the same with Jeff Deustch , who he was the head of growth at VIPKid, which is a 4 billion dollar unicorn.

Jeff joined us to lead growth at ContactOut.

I would have never dreamed in my life to be able to convince some of these folks at their caliber to join me in my business.

I’m some dropkick from Australia. I don’t even have a university degree.

But it all started with a mentorship call and building a relationship.

Here’s how you get a mentorship session with Bill Gates:

Alex Banayan was a 19 year old student. He emailed Bill, no response.

So then he went to conferences. First, he ambushed Tim Ferriss in the bathroom,

Tim took a liking to Alex, and then he was introduced to Chi Lu, who was a vice president at Microsoft

Chi who introduced Alex to Bill Gates Chief of Staff.

And eventually he managed to get a mentorship session with Bill Gates.

Alex wrote a book about it called Third Door.

So yea anything is possible.

 

 

 

]]> Part 22: How To Find Mentors (3/4) https://contactout.com/blog/part-22-how-to-find-mentors-3-4/ Fri, 08 Mar 2024 05:11:24 +0000 https://contactout.com/blog/?p=5759

How to find mentors

Whenever I’m starting a new business, I would break my business plan down into product, hiring, marketing, sales,

and I would try to find people that have done each of those areas before.

For product mentors, I’ll find people at companies in my industry with a similar or adjacent product. Email and contact data tools, email outreach tools.

For hiring, I’ll look for people that have hired a similar size product team in Asia,

and run a remote sales team in Europe and USA.

Marketing, I’ll find experts In channels that I want to use.

We do a lot of SEO. So I’ll find ex-employees of companies that do SEO targeting recruiters and salespeople.

Sales process: I spoke to Doug Hall, who was the first sales hire at GlassDoor

and was the VP of Sales at one of my competitors Entelo.

Beyond business, reach out to any expert that you want to learn from.

E.g the author of an interesting book you just read,

or a podcast guest that you just listened to.

Whatever you’re trying to learn. Somebody has probably done it before.

Ask them, don’t start from zero.

Build on all the knowledge that humanity has already accomplished before you start inventing your own thing.

Before you start the mentorship session:

read their blog, go through all the content, watch their podcasts, so you can ask intelligent questions.

What would you ask in a mentorship session?

I try to ask mentors about their experience, what they did. I’ll get really specific.

I try not to ask them to solve my problems or to provide opinions on my business because they don’t have the context.

Whereas it’s really easy for them to share stories about things that they have done in the past.

From their experiences, I’m able to extrapolate our lessons that I can selectively apply to my business.

For Santosh, who had helped build the product at Apollo and ZoomInfo.

I was asking things like, how do you source phone number data for the USA?

Did you source data from companies like PIPL, PDL, Spokeo, People Finders, consumer data companies?

How accurate was this? What are some other sources? Can we get data off of LinkedIn? Is there intent data?

One method that ZoomInfo got data from was community contribution.

When you sign up as a salesperson, you share your inbox you share your contacts.

On average every sales rep has about 20, 000 email signatures with phone numbers and emails in their inbox

Zoominfo would crowdsource and combine all these contacts to create their contacts platform.

]]>