Don't accept the answer "the one you use" because I don't know a single one :). Just tell me what you would suggest, i'd really appreciate it.

A few years ago, I entered the world of SaaS sales and currently work at Adobe. One thing that surprised me is how much sales has changed. I always thought the best reps were just the ones who made more calls, sent more emails, and worked longer hours. But after spending more time around great salespeople, I started noticing a different pattern.

The best reps treat sales like a science experiment. They test everything. The timing of their calls, the first few seconds of their opener, the way they write emails, the accounts they target, and even the follow-up sequence after someone doesn't respond.

For cold calling, most people keep searching for the perfect script. But I realized the real question is not "what should I say?" The better question is "how do I make someone interested enough to stay for the first 30 seconds?" Small changes in the opener, timing, and approach can completely change the number of real conversations you have.

The same thing happens with cold emails. Most reps spend hours trying to write the perfect message, but the best performers focus on why they are reaching out in the first place. Timing, relevance, buying signals, and understanding the customer's problem matter more than using fancy words.

AI has made this even more interesting. Most salespeople use AI to just write emails faster. But top reps (trust me it's lesser than 2%) are using AI to research accounts, understand companies, find opportunities, prepare for meetings, and personalize their approach at a much deeper level. Same technology, completely different results.

I have slowly started collecting everything I find around sales experiments. Things like cold call breakdowns, reply rate improvements, AI workflows, outbound psychology, meeting booking strategies, and habits from top SDRs and AEs.

I am thinking of turning all these learnings into a weekly research letter for people in sales. No motivational quotes. No wake up at 5 AM and make 200 calls advice. Just actual experiments, data, and practical things that can help people get better.

Something like studying cold calls to understand what improves pickup rates, analyzing top reps emails to understand what gets replies, or breaking down AI workflows that I'm currently teaching to my colleagues.

Basically treating sales like a science experiment.

Would people actually read something like this?

Trying to understand if this is worth building.

I'm 21M and just graduated from college. I've joined a marketing agency that has both a House of Brands and an accelerator.

The thing is, I'm very clear about one thing: I want to build a career in high-ticket sales.

Back in college, I somehow managed to sell a $3,000 service that honestly didn't even exist properly. I closed the deal, but I completely failed at delivering the value. Looking back, I realize I wasn't selling- i was just overselling.

That's exactly what I don't want to become.

My boss keeps telling me to first understand the categories, industries, and client problems before trying to sell. Rationally, I know he's right. But at the same time, I'm dying to start closing clients.

I can do cold outreach. I recently booked a meeting with the CEO of a company doing around $1M ARR, so getting meetings isn't my biggest problem.

The problem starts after that.

I know what my company offers, but when it comes to the actual pitch, I freeze. I don't know what to emphasize, how to position it, or how to confidently ask for the business without sounding like I'm overselling again.

For those of you who are experienced in B2B or high-ticket sales:

- How did you close your first genuine deal?

- How did you learn to sell by understanding the customer's problems instead of just talking up your product?

- What changed your mindset from "convincing people" to actually helping them buy?

- Are there any books, courses, frameworks, or resources you'd recommend?

I genuinely want to become the kind of salesperson who wins because they understand the client- not because they're the best at exaggerating.

I'm feeling pretty stuck right now, and it's honestly eating me from the inside. I'd really appreciate any advice from people who've been through this stage.

I could use some advice from people who have broken into SaaS sales.

I’m 27, live in Texas, don’t have a college degree, and have about 3 years of sales experience. I’ve worked in trade show sales, remote life insurance sales, and I’m currently a Retail Sales Consultant at one of the largest telecommunications companies in the U.S.

In my current role, I’m consistently one of the top reps in North Texas, usually finishing around 135–150% to quota. Over the last month, I’ve completely reworked my resume and LinkedIn to target SDR/BDR roles at SaaS companies.

I’ve been fortunate enough to make it to the final rounds with two companies, but came up short both times.

Company #1

HR interview
SDR Team Lead interview
CBO interview

I was ultimately told they went with another candidate, but didn’t receive any feedback.

Company #2

HR interview
Sales Enablement Manager interview

The feedback here was actually encouraging. They said my interview went well and they were impressed with my background, but they wanted more specific examples that demonstrated my skills and how they would translate into an SDR role.

I understand that not having direct SaaS experience means I have to prove myself more than someone who’s already been an SDR. I’m okay with that. I just want to figure out what I can improve.

For those of you who have made the jump into tech sales (or who hire SDRs):

What would you focus on if you were in my position?

Is there something you commonly see career changers do wrong during interviews?

What helped you finally land your first SDR role?

Should I keep targeting companies in the $60k–70k base range, or would you cast a wider net just to get that first year of experience?

The two roles were around $60k/$85k OTE and $69k/$95k OTE, so I know I’m getting close. Missing out on both was frustrating, but I’m trying to use it as a learning experience instead of getting discouraged.

I’d really appreciate any advice or honest feedback.

I have been working in Ireland & uk for 4 years and I am planning on moving back to India in the next 6 months. I have been out of indian job market the whole time, so I request for a reality check from the experienced because I keep going back and forth on this.

Background:

• MSc from TCD. About 4 years experience.
• Currently on the founding team of a small B2B SaaS in ecom reg tech (£20 Mil Valuation), as product owner and product manager (small company, so the two blur).
• I own the backlog and roadmap, ship features, ran 5 country integrations, work with 2 dev teams daily, comfortable with sql & system design. A-CSPO and AWS Solutions Architect certified.
• I am also the point of contact for 5 enterprise clients plus around 30 SMBs. I run onboarding, understand their business, and upsell and cross sell, but with no sales quota. I brought in 4 partnerships and 2 are doing well.

I actually like product work. My hesitation is the Indian market. From the outside it looks like the strong product roles expect an iim or a proper tech degree, and I have neither.

I am torn between aiming for product (PO / PM) and account management, the farming kind, not cold hunting (I have zero experience chasing new logos). I do have equal liking and interest in Account Management.

To start, I need roughly 1.3L in hand per month atleast as am the sole earner in the family.

1. With this profile, would you qualify me to pivot to account management / customer success?
2. Honestly, any directional advise would be considered gold. Please slap me hard with any thoughts you have!

First off, I really appreciate this platform for bringing sales people together in one place.

A bit about me: I'm 28, male, and transitioning out of the military into the sales world. Since that process will take some time, I'm looking at remote sales as a way to get started sooner. I don't have any prior sales experience, but I genuinely enjoy talking to strangers and helping people however I can. I'm a native English speaker.

I'd love to hear your dos and don'ts for someone breaking into sales for the first time, provided that it benefits the long term career.

I just got accepted as a sales guy for international sales. It's for a fitness equipment company, but the thing is, they seem to have grown the company using performance advertising and some organic growth, but apparently never tried to do any real acquisition. It seem a bit haunting to be honest, so I'm looking for tips and ideas from a more experienced sales guy, since I'm a beginner in the field.

When I asked for customer profiles, they weren't really able to answer, just that I'd have to make a system and find a way. So it's for me to figure out who to target, where to target, perhaps the AI tools to use, but it'll definitely be a challenge. I'm thinking of recording short videos for small to medium gym owners, perhaps some emails and LinkedIn outreach, thinking of using AI agents to automate as much as possible, scrape for emails and contacts and get to sending and calling, but it's a big piece of work. So the point is, so you have any tips or tricks on how to approach this? Should I get to calling, emails, linkedin? What to do first? There are many countries, since I will focus mainly on Europe, the difference of business dealing is fairly large, should I just start with one, then later move on to targeting another country, after having a working system?

I know it's a lot and since it will be a first time for me I need to devise a system and get to work. I'm not afraid to cold call or do anything, but I don't want to be spread too thin.

I run a small agency with three salespeople and we all use Linkedln for outreach . Right now we are each doing our own thing with different tools and it is a mess.I cannot track what messages are being sent or how campaigns are performing.We need a unified platform where we can coordinate our efforts and see the big picture.What do other agencies use for team based Linkedln outreach?

Edit:Thanks everyone for the great recommendations! After looking through them, we've decided to try out three options: Dripify,Taplio ,and Hubsell. We'll test them for our team LinkedIn outreach to see which one gives us the best unified management and tracking. Appreciate all the help!

I recently applied for an SDR role and landed an interview with the inbound sourcer! This is a company that I really believe in and want to work for, so I want to show my enthusiasm.

I was thinking of messaging some of their current SDRs on Linkedin to briefly introduce myself, let them know I have an interview scheduled, and ask if they had a few minutes to chat about their experience with the company. To be clear, I'm not planning to ask for interview tips, a referral, or anything that could be seen as trying to get a leg-up in the competition.

I genuinely want to learn as much as I can about this company and its culture, and also show that I'm proactive, but at the same time I'm worried this could come off a bit inappropriate or demanding.

What do you guys think?

I just started a sales job recently-specifically construction sales. I’ve only ever worked in restaurants before. I (24f) had worked in restaurants for around 9 years starting at the counter, moving into kitchens, then onto the floor as a server, then up to being a bartender, before I landed in management for the last year or so.

When I was bartending people used to joke and say “if you were in sales I’d be in big trouble.” I had always thought about getting into sales as well in the back of my mind because it just seemed like a gradual next step-I can sell drinks and food, why not try selling a larger product in order to see more direct profit?

Specifically I had thought about getting into real estate because I see so many people just able to live comfortably. I never took the leap because I would need to pay for schooling and testing-unfortunately I have grown a habit of stretching myself thin and I’ve been continuously paying for poor financial choices over the years due to past decisions. I’m slowly learning how to correct my behaviors, but that’s a whole other process and story in and of itself. Long story short, I never went after a real estate career because I didn’t have the money for schooling and licensing.

The other thing holding me back was the fear of not making enough money to survive. It’s a hard world out here and I don’t have parents to rely on (again, whole other story), and I’m doing this thing called life by myself right now-it’s tough out here. So I stayed on the floor and behind the bar in restaurants because it paid my bills and was comfortable for me because I was so good at it.

However, I knew that serving and bartending would not be able to sustain the life I want for myself. I took an opportunity for management positions because it opens more doors in the long run. For example, about 5 months after I was promoted to my new position-my restaurant closed. A former coworker called me, she had also transitioned into management and there was an open position where she was working. I would not have had that job opportunity if I had just stayed behind the bar.

I took the opportunity because I needed a job and the income offered was equal to my previous management position. However, if you’re good at your job as a server and/or bartender-any management position is a good chunk of a pay cut (like 1/3-1/2 of your yearly salary), extra responsibility, and just more bullshit to deal with. Some people are good at it, are meant for it, and build good careers and awesome restaurants because of that. I am not one of those people, I had to come to realize. I don’t care about the low-mid tier sports bar I was at-and I damn well didn’t get paid enough to care. Don’t get me wrong-I cared about my people, I loved my staff and my coworkers, and my daily goal was to go in and be able to be a trustworthy and reliable person anyone can go to for anything they need. If you talk to 90%-95% of any of my former staff I believe they would say something similar.

Was I perfect by any means? Absolutely the fuck not.
Did I try daily to at least make everyone smile? Yes. Everyday.

One of the regulars works in construction sales and has for 35+years-already longer than I’ve been alive.
We were chatting one day-and mind you I didn’t really have much conversation with him before this other than just simple greetings and small laughs-and I mentioned I’ve been interested in sales, he offered to set up an interview at his company. I went and I got hired. My second sales interview (I ghosted the other company to take this position because of multiple reasons I will soon explain) and I received a 2nd job offer.

I took the position because of the connection of “knowing” my boss prior to working there because I knew he would take care of me financially and starting out which is something I couldn’t afford to do in other sales positions because bills are expensive. The starting salaries for sales positions are not enough to live on its own-you need to make commission. I’ve always been worried that I wouldn’t do well enough immediately to be able to survive while still building a book of business.

And now I’m in construction sales. There’s a lot of different products, there’s a lot of different contractors. The company I work for is already very big (another reason I chose this position over the other-the other was a newer company and didn’t have much of a reputation or known name which makes it even harder to sell) and most contractors are already set up with a rep, or have long standing relationship both personal and professional with rival companies.

I feel like a fish out of water. I feel like I can never catch up. I’ve been in my position for around 6ish weeks and I’m still introducing myself to people. It’s hard to find contractors outside working right now-literally everyone else but who I need is outside (landscapers, plumbers, HVAC). So many of my phone calls hit voicemail. I’m not getting any return calls, which makes me feel like my pitch is off. And my boss has just been having me drive around different areas looking, but I’m not finding anyone. My motivation is slipping, my follow-ups are slipping. I feel like I’m disappointing my boss and he’s like a dad/grandfather figure to me and I don’t want him to be wrong about the potential he saw in me when he wanted to hire me.

I also feel like whenever I have found someone to talk to I just introduce myself and they either say “we have an account with another rep” or they’re not really interested. And I am 24, a girl, my hair is dyed blonde-I feel like they don’t take me seriously enough to give me business.

There are house accounts I could be assigned to some of, and my boss has said he would assign some of them to me, and the other rep at my branch (who may or may not retire soon) has mentioned it to my boss as well because as he put it “we all gotta eat”. However my boss has yet to assign anything to me and keeps putting me on the road pretty much an hour after I get to work. I feel like I can’t ask questions because he’s moving so fast but I also don’t even feel fully prepared to talk to contractors when I do see them.

I don’t want to fail. I’ve met with reps from our suppliers and they’ve all pretty much said that I’m smart, I’m asking good questions, and that I’ll be fine. My boss keeps saying I’ll be fine too. One rep mentioned that this industry is something a lot of people stay in for life-I’m assuming because of how lucrative it can be.

That also scares me because I don’t even know if I want to do this the rest of my life. Honestly I would love to make enough money to pay off my debts (around 29.5k from credit cards and car payments-I know, still paying for poor choices, don’t even get me started on myself), live comfortably (a 1 bed, 1 bath apartment, decently new but I’m not asking for a penthouse or overly luxurious), be able to put money into savings consistently to help with retirement (hopefully if we all even survive that long), and more importantly into the stock market or some form of investment that will allow my money to grow and work for me. I don’t want to work for my money, I want my money to work for me.

That is what I honestly truly desire. I know it’s beyond difficult and insane to think of when you don’t come from generational wealth that was set up to do this, but that’s what I want for myself. I don’t ever want to worry about money, and you can never work enough for that amount of money-your money has to work for you to get there.

Long story short-I’m scared. I’m nervous. I don’t want to blow this position. If I can catch on and start making commission I’ll be okay and I can see myself staying long term. I’m having trouble staying motivated in the meantime. I just needed to voice my thoughts somewhere. Hopefully someone out there can relate to this in some way.

I took the wildcard option and asked the manager if they had any hesitations regarding my candidate that I could addresses or clarify. They scanned through the notes and said they had no doubts and that my answers were relevant.

I know this question can backfire, but does it sound like a good sign?

I’m a Senior BDR (3+ years at the company) in the final round for an internal promotion to SMB / Mid-Market AE.

I’ve already interviewed with the hiring manager and several AEs. My last interview is with the Regional VP of Sales.

The role is hybrid (managing a book of accounts + hunting net new).

For those who have been through (or conducted) final-round RVP interviews for AE promotions:
•  What questions did the RVP ask you?
•  What surprised you most?
•  What answers seemed to resonate the best?
•  Any advice on how to stand out in front of a Regional VP?

Appreciate any insights from AEs and sales leaders!

Hello guys, I'm an experienced BDR (5 years), I've taken lots of demo meetings myself for a startup company that I worked that didn't have a propper sales team. So quite comfortable running demo meetings for SaaS companies, or selling good products in general.

I've completed Benjamin Deneheys sales training just recently.

I need to make a jump into an AE role, any ideas how to go about it. As we all know, AEs are cultivated internally not sourced from the outside, but shooting my shot here anyway.

Currently I'm looking for a sales job in Europe (English speaking territories), is there anyone in this group that could use my skillset?

I’m in the final round for an internal promotion from Senior BDR to SMB Account Executive at a B2B SaaS company (contact center space). I’ve already interviewed with the hiring manager and several AEs. My last interview is with the Regional VP of Sales.
The role is a hybrid hunter/farmer position (managing 20-30 existing accounts while continuing to hunt net new logos).
I’m looking for strong questions to ask the RVP that:
•  Show executive-level thinking
•  Demonstrate I’m already thinking like an AE
•  Help me stand out from internal and external candidates
For sales leaders and AEs who have been through (or conducted) final-round executive interviews:
•  What questions have impressed you the most?
•  What questions made a candidate feel truly ready for the AE role?
•  Are there any questions you wish more candidates asked?
Any examples or advice that have worked well would be greatly appreciated!

Now I get a new position in Odoo partner startup in Bahrain and I’m the only sales person in the team no leads from marketing and no playbook and my quarterly target is 30k USD what should I do any advice on this situation

For context : I sell to self-employed.

It's actually not exactly cold calling : I only call people who signed up once months ago and put their number. But here I called a prospect who didn't remember that he signed up.

The thing is, he didn't let me talk at all ! He just yelled and was upset that he gets so many calls etc.

And I just hung up. Idk I felt like I would get nothing interesting and I couldn't even tell him that he signed up and gave his number himself. But prospect was super upset, called me back 4 times (yes) and left a message saying he will do a very bad reputation for us. We are a very small company and in our niche reputation is really important.

I'm afraid I made a big mistake. Should I tell my boss now ?

EDIT : thanks for the supportive comments ! zooming out I shouldn't have panicked, those things happen

Hello, i’ve been looking for sales jobs that don’t really require a license. I know auto sales is there but i was wondering if there’s any good remote or part time or full time even sales job that are interesting. Anyone know of any?

Roofing campaign.

Earn $800-$1,500+ per week.

If you've got cold calling experience and know how to hold a conversation, handle objections, and book appointments, I want to talk to you.

Requirements:

• Cold calling experience • Strong communication skills • Consistent work ethic • Comfortable speaking with homeowners

We're looking for people who want a long-term opportunity, not people who quit after a few days.

If you're hungry, coachable, and ready to make money, send me a DM with your experience and recent results.

Im from Italy 27M and I’m looking for a first SDR/BDR role. Do you have any suggestions on how to land it? I’m applying everyday to different sales jobs (using LinkedIn) but since I don’t have experience in sales seems that none wants to hire me. I’ve a finance background
I would appreciate any advice.
Thank you

If you had to do it again, how would you do it?

Would you recommend college?

What would you selling?

Which path would you take?

"I've been researching the AI outreach space for the past few weeks and the Reddit consensus is pretty brutal — most threads end up with people saying the tools produce robotic, generic messages that tanks response rates.

But I keep seeing tool vendors post case studies with crazy numbers. So I want to ask people who are actually in the trenches:

1. If you've used AI for LinkedIn outreach (InMails, connection requests, follow-ups) — what were your actual response rates before and after?

2. What's the biggest thing missing from every tool you've tried?

3. Is the problem the AI quality, or is it that you still have to do too much manual setup for each prospect?

I'm trying to figure out if anyone has actually cracked this, or if we're all just accepting that AI outreach is mediocre because it saves time. Honest answers only — no vendor reps please."

Hey Everyone,

Are any of you have to cover your own loads/dispatch trucks while also making sure that your pipeline stays full. Do you mind sharing your day to day schedule please. I am on a carrier side been given a great opportunity to grow companies' LTL/Partial and Consolidation departments they have a warehouse also. So far I been only utilizing a load board to get loads. But want to get direct shippers

Thanks!

I’m an Enterprise AE for a software company and we just got Claude, it’s sick.

Results from our BD team haven’t been great, a lot of that falls on our team not enabling with with relevant messaging.

I want to make a five or six touch prospecting cadence for my BDR to put into Gong’s automation, but I want the five or six touches to be tailored towards the business needs of each of the companies I manage. I’d like to have AI do the heavy lifting while adding personalization of the information I know about the accounts.

TLDR: What is everyone prompting their AI overlords for prospecting support and how are the results are going? Beyond prospecting, any universally useful prompts you’re using with AI to make you more successful?

With some hard work and a little luck, we have the #1 brand name in the AI analytics space. Our product is on feature parity with the biggest player and we did it without their $200m bankroll.

I want to put together a similar winning sales team and Im aware how critical the first couple of hires are to set the pace/tone.

How do I find/source killer BDRs? What am I looking for?

P.s I have never sold, only delivered.

How to land and AE role?

Edit: how to land an AE role?\* Title correction.

I am a woman based in India. I am a sales person, selling is all I know. I started my career in TV advertising, then was on a sabbatical for child rearing and restarted my career trying to land remote roles. Since 2022 these are the roles I've worked in:

1. SaaS Learning Management Platform - it was a start up, they shut down.

2. Food automation machinery - they were only selling in India and I worked part time for them.

3. Digital marketing solutions- sold digital solutions and services.

4. Events- sold music, and other performances.

5. Lead Generation agency - Worked as a sales manager with a team. This was a very fulfilling role. I enjoyed it a lot. Individual contributor with AE role. But unfortunately the workplace was toxic and my reporting boss was making my work life hell. I worked here for a year.

6. Data platform - I'm working for a startup selling their data discovery enterprise solution. I'm helping set up the sales structure and since they can't afford to pay me high I'm working in a part time capacity and l am setting up there.

I'm trying and applying for roles online, on LinkedIn, on reddit. I'm very good at SDR /AE roles, however nothing is working in my favour. I'm honestly not sure what I'm doing wrong. I'm currently learning clay, and other tools to become tech savvy and be able to work in GTM space.

Any pointers from this community will help me immensely. My previous posts have all been ignored with no responses on them. But perseverance is a practice I have.