For Kelly Cabatuan, sales is her second career. Fresh out of college, she started a business with her husband-to-be, which they successfully ran for 10 years. However, with a family to look after, Kelly started looking for a job with more stability. This led to her first sales position.
Now, as the Senior Manager of Sales Development at Alteryx, Kelly has drawn on her experiences to energize their sales team. She spoke to Tenbound about the challenges they face, the tech that powers the team, and how they use their SDRs to support existing customers.
Sales Development challenges
For Kelly, the biggest challenge is the ability to connect and have meaningful conversations. Getting accurate phone numbers is a lot harder than it used to be. The team has been able to use LinkedIn messaging to supplement those calls, but it’s not a perfect solution. For an SDR to grow, it’s essential that they’re connecting with prospects and having those meaningful conversations. Without that experience, it’s difficult for them to improve. It’s also difficult for managers to properly coach them.
Another challenge is due to the industry Alteryx operates in; data analytics is a relatively new space, so finding talent with experience can be difficult. With the way Alteryx is positioned, they have to be generalists, selling to almost any department, industry, and title. When you look at how most companies operate, with specialists and subject matter experts, selling to anybody can be overwhelming for someone new to sales.
A third challenge is keeping consistency between the regional offices. Alteryx now has offices in Irvine, Dallas, and New York, not to mention their international offices in London, Paris, Germany, Singapore, Australia, and Japan. With so many different teams, it’s important to keep everything consistent across the three regional offices, while also being there to support those who need it.
Kelly’s sales stack essentials
Part of that consistency comes from having the right tech for the job. Here are the top three tools used by the Sales Development team:
- Salesforce “That’s our single source of the truth.”
- SalesLoft “Used to determine the right amount of sales touches based on the quality of the lead.”
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator “Critical. It allows us to verify a person’s role, their history, and if Alteryx would be right for them.”
They also leverage Discover.org, which is critical to understanding the organizational structure of large enterprise companies, and it provides accurate contact information. Additionally, they are evaluating other tools to help broaden their outreach and channels.
Using account-based marketing strategies
While Alteryx doesn’t have a true ABM model, the SDRs support the teams that are their largest sales segment, supporting accounts that are already existing customers. The SDRs support those account executives and have an account-based alignment.
This may not be a true ABM model but, with this unique approach, Alteryx is prospecting into existing customer accounts and maximizing the potential footprint that still exists there. For example, they might have initially sold into the finance department, but the SDRs are now prospecting into the supply chain department at the same company and showing them how they could also leverage Alteryx.
At this level and with the accounts this large, it’s definitely different from the traditional SDR role.
Conclusion
When it comes to 2020, Kelly’s plans are the same: to help their team of SDRs build a solid foundation for their future as a seller. It all starts with building people up for promotion and instilling best practices. That leads to building pipeline, which is ultimately going to lead to revenue, which means success for the whole company.
If you’re looking for ways to improve your Sales Development program and overcome similar challenges, contact us at Tenbound today for a no-obligation exploratory call.
