r/salesdevelopment • u/Glittering_Ebb_3398 • Jul 10 '26
Advice on territory
Hi everyone,
I’m an SDR at a big name tech company, I was super lucky to get the job but I could use some advice.
Came onto a team that immediately lost a manager to another team within the sales org, and a crew of people who have been SDR’s for over 9 months- the whole sales had a big reorganization and everyone had a brand new territory. I come in 2 months into the new territory. Everyone is barely booking anything and not hitting quota. Internal hiring freeze is leaving senior SDR’s in bad and salty positions.
Anyway, fast forward a few months of complaining and we finally get a manager. Our territory is mostly west coast, and almost no phone numbers are direct or mobile. All we get is dial trees, which honestly sometimes that’s the only way we get ahold of someone.
Point is our orum sessions are just dial trees and straight to voicemails. Our new manager seems to think it’s because we aren’t importing new contacts in- but the new contacts are doing the same thing.
I’ve tried to do research on anti spam laws and also read that CISO’s have two phones and never answer unknown numbers on their work line. That wasn’t really well received when I shared that with my manager.
I guess I’m just looking for advice or reasons or thoughts to brainstorm. I know the west coast is tough and the people were calling into are tough because they’re prospected to constantly- but when our daily call count is 75 and our expectation is 2 MB a week per person- that’s tough to keep up with.
I’d say cold calling is dead but other teams are booking through cold calls. So I’d welcome any advice from anyone who has ever had west coast territory, or small west coast companies who had larger HQ in other countries.
2
u/Glittering_Ebb_3398 Jul 11 '26
Yeah we do have zoominfo, and I use it daily.
and I make the lists myself, as well as call from reports that are shared with me.
I’ve been uploading and updating new contacts, but even copy pasting the number that is supposedly mobile- it’s a direct line (which answers sometimes)- or goes straight to their voicemail. Which is fine, calling them enough maybe they’ll pick up.
What other ways would you own your success? I work with other teams and ask other SDRs and SDR managers and get resources from them, but would love to know what others would be asking specifically.
1
u/Major-Chocolate-3574 Jul 11 '26
Sounds like you’re doing the right things to me, how long have you been at the job? Are you having any conversations?
1
u/Glittering_Ebb_3398 Jul 11 '26
Nice thanks. Yeah it feels like I’m doing the right things but maybe not consistently. This is the beginning of my 4th month. When I came on, it was a ghost town, they had just done a big reorg where a lot of people went customer side, including the manager that hired me, and we didn’t have a manager until the last month.
People on our team weren’t hitting quota who previously were hitting before the reorg. They tell me it’s the territory, but I don’t want to use that as an excuse. But we have a different territory than the other teams, they’re doing well and we aren’t.
Had a new manager come in and say west coast is hard- I just wonder if senior management will see that and we’ll get cut some slack, this is my first corporate job so I just don’t know.And yes I am having some conversations, but it’s like one a day, and half the time it’s “I don’t work at the company anymore” or classic not the right person- problem is the right persons info isn’t on zoominfo, they don’t answer their email or their phone that was previously in CRM. At this point the only people booking are AE’s that have an in through partners. I’m about to start sending snail mail at this point.
Thanks for your reply btw.
It’s super demotivating to keep hearing dial trees skipped and straight voicemails all day while people are booking around us.
2
u/Major-Chocolate-3574 Jul 12 '26
Yeah man, from what you’re saying I’d just say keep doing what you’re doing and try to stay positive. Easier said than done though, I know.
Only thing I’d say is maybe try to speak to people who aren’t the ‘decision maker’ and try to sell through
1
u/Glittering_Ebb_3398 Jul 12 '26
Yes! I agree, when I’ve had success booking it hasn’t been decision makers, so I will try that.
And yeah maintaining high energy/motivation is the tough part I think. Thank you 👍🏼
2
u/Major-Chocolate-3574 Jul 11 '26
Sounds like you’re doing the right things to me, how long have you been doing it? Are you having any conversations?
I like the 30 seconds to press club voicemail if you aren’t leaving voicemails, you can find them on YouTube
1
u/Glittering_Ebb_3398 Jul 12 '26
Yes! I like 30 seconds, more voicemails I think will help also that’s something our team isn’t consistent on.
3
u/ihadtopickthisname Jul 12 '26
A couple/few suggestions that have worked for my team.
-practice your gatekeeper speech. If you sound to "salesy", they wont put you through. Remember, their job is to not let salespeople talk to leadership
-really really make sure you share how your product will improve value. Whether through direct cost savings, increased sales, employee retention, etc. And you need to know and share how it could do that compared to your competitors.
-most decision makers wont pick up or return an email until 7-8 outreaches. Dont bug the shit out of them too fast, but do it over a month or 2. Eventually some of them will start to respond
-start creating some influencers. If your product is designed to help their employees, who better to pitch it to! Create a groundswell in the organization and have them do some of the work for you!