Kevin "KD" Dorsey

CRO at finally - Founder of Sales Leadership Accelerator - The #1 Sales Leadership Community & Coaching Program to Transform your Team and Build $100M+ Revenue Orgs - Black Hat Aficionado - #TFOMSL

Formal Education will make you a living… Self Education will make you a fortune. – Jim Rohn

Sales Leadership Accelerator - The #1 SaaS Sales Leadership program - 
www.salesleadershipaccelerator.com


Patreon Group - Monthly Live Trainings, Podcasts, AMA's and more!
https://www.patreon.com/insidesalesexcellence

Awards and Recognition

- DemandBase Top 25 Sales Leaders
- Salesforce - Top Sales Influencer to Follow
- InsideSales top 10 Sales Leader
- Pavillon 🗣 Lecturer of the Year
- Salesforce Top 16 Sales Influencers to Follow
- Ambition Top 100 Sales Coaches
- SalesLoft Rev Star
- TOPO Sales Development Exec of the Year
- LinkedIn Top Sales Voices
- LinkedIn Sales Star
- The Modern Sale Top 100 Global Sales Leaders
- Crunchbase Top Sales Leaders You Should Know

I believe in focusing on the "person" in "salesperson" 

As I've grown as a leader I have a better understanding of what truly drives behavior, motivation, and long term success. If we can make better people, the sales will follow. 

I love scaling sales teams. I have built multiple teams from 0-150+ reps, revenues from 0-100M+ ARR (multiple times). 2 Unicorns (ServiceTitan and Tebra) I believe in processes and systems, paired with skill development, as the code to success. 

I also love to share what I have learned, and what I am learning with others. I consult all sorts of different companies and people as they look to improve their results. I mentor and consult early, mid, and late-stage SaaS companies all across the world. Sharing my playbooks and processes for scaling sales teams successfully.

I have spoken at the top conferences across the country, mentor/coach start up's across the country, and love sharing as I go. 

If there is a book on sales, psychology or influence I have probably read it. I am a voracious learner and am constantly pushing myself and my team to reach new heights of achievement. Because of my own internal desire to learn and grow, that also gets translated out to my team with non-stop growth, coaching and training.

Founder & CEO

The Sales Leadership Accelerator is #1 SaaS Sales Leadership Program

https://www.salesleadershipaccelerator.com/slamembershipoverview

Ya’ll these are the exact trainings, systems, processes I’ve used to build 4 teams over 100 people, 2 unicorns (working on my third) and have trained 1000s of others on as well. 

That's part of what makes this different, is I'm still doing it. 

I'm still in the game. I'm still executing on these things, fine tuning, improving, and growing. 

These aren't the tactics that worked 8 years ago, this is the stuff working NOW.

That’s what the Sales Leadership Accelerator is all about. 

A program to level up the LEADERS!

Leaders need systems, processes,and skill development too. 

That's what this is all about.

Over 15 hours of leadership training (sorry ya’ll, no micro course here, if you want one of those, go somewhere else! it takes more than 90 min to learn this stuff. ) That has been incredibly highly reviewed by 100s of sales leaders and companies. 

Covering things like… 

The BIPSY Leadership Methodology
The WGLL and 4Ds
How to run 1x1s
How to truly develop skills
Coaching and Motivation
Tough Conversations and Accountability
Issue Diagnosis and Metrics
And much more!

Plus over 12 Templates you can take and make your own tomorrow. 

1x1s
Coaching Plans
Issue Diagnosis Checklists
Calls Scorecards
Goal Calculators
And more

Plus monthly group calls, AMAs, and outside experts.

Join today!

Everyone gets ICP wrong.

What people think ICP stands for is 'Ideal Customer Profile.'

But here's the problem:

Most companies define it like this:

→ 200+ employees
→ Technology industry
→ Series B or later
→ VP of Sales is the buyer

That's not an ICP.

That's demographics and firmographics.

I want you to think about ICP differently.

ICP = Ideal Customer PROBLEMS.

Your real ICP isn't a company size or an industry.

It's the customers who have the specific problems you solve.

I was recently speaking at a conference with 150 CEOs in the room. I asked them: "What problems do you solve?"

Four or five of them answered.

Every. Single. One. talked about benefits. Not problems.

"We help companies scale faster."
"We improve operational efficiency."
"We drive revenue growth."

Those aren't problems. Those are outcomes.

Problems sound like:

"Our reps are wasting 3 hours a day on manual data entry."
"We're losing deals because our follow-up takes 5 days."
"Our managers have no visibility into pipeline until it's too late."

THAT'S the level of specificity you need.

Here's the truth:

There are plenty of 200-person tech companies that don't have the problems you solve.

And there are 50-person companies outside your "ICP" that are DESPERATE for what you do.

Firmographics are just prerequisites. They increase the likelihood of the problem existing.

But the problem is the actual qualifier.

When you take a problem-based approach:

→ Your prospecting gets sharper
→ Your messaging gets clearer
→ Your discovery gets deeper
→ Your win rates go up

Stop defining ICP by company size.

Start defining it by customer problems.

This will change how you target, who you target, how you message and most importantly how quickly you can close.

Honored and humbled to be speaking at PeakSpan Capital Scale Up summit in Boulder, CO. 

To be in a room of over 150 CEOs and executives, being taught by one of the best CEO coaches in the game John Hamm is always just something that is exciting. 

Then to get to present, drop some knowledge, some insight, some acronyms (you know WGLL had to make an apperence) and receive rave reviews just makes it all that much better. 

Fun Fact - At almost every conference I go to I make a joke when checking in about did they get my fog machine and my custom bedazzled name tag. 

Why?

For fun. Because why not. 

EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE... The team goes and makes it happen. 

Haha shout out to the Peakspan team for going along with my ridiculousness and brining some fun to this thing called business and GTM. 

I feel so fancy now..

It's one thing to want more.

It's another thing to be worth more.

Everyone wants the shortcut.

The new title. The new comp. The new bonus. The new car. The new watch.

They want to become a new version of themselves without developing a new skill. Without actually being better at anything.

That's not how it works.

Worth follows skill.
Worth follows ideas.
Worth follows collaboration.
Worth follows execution.

Even career-wise — people think longevity is the key.

"I've been here 3 years, I deserve a raise."

No. The only point of longevity is that you're also getting BETTER year over year over year.

If you're the same as you were two years ago skill-wise, you don't deserve more money. You just deserve more time on the clock.

Harsh? Maybe.

But it's the truth.

And this doesn't just apply to reps. Leaders, this is for you too.

You want more? Become worth more.

Here's how:

→ Read more this year. Consume knowledge relentlessly.
→ Buy the course. Invest in yourself before asking others to invest in you.
→ Find the mentor. Get in rooms with people better than you.
→ Practice more. Reps aren't just for reps — leaders need reps too.
→ Seek feedback from those ahead of you. Ego kills growth.
→ Try new things. Measure them. Improve them. Repeat.

That's how you earn more.

Not by wanting it. By being worth it.

Money follows worth and value. 

Become WORTHY of more money and you'll be shocked how it shows up. 

Level up, ya'll.

Hot take or best practice?

Send candidates a training module before their final interview.

Here's the idea:

Before the role play or scenario call, you send them a recording of an actual training. They watch it. Then in the interview, you see how well they apply it.

I've done it in the past and am thinking of brining it back again as we start to scale up. 

Here's why:

→ You see how well they prep
→ You see how fast they learn
→ You see if they can apply new information under pressure
→ And you're actually giving them VALUE — they walk away having learned something whether they get the job or not

But I know some people will push back.

"You're asking candidates to do work before they even have the job."

I get it. But here's where I think this is a bit different. 

This isn't "build me a 90-day plan for free."
This isn't "create a strategy doc we'll use whether we hire you or not."

This is training. Development. Something they keep forever.

You're investing in THEM before they've invested in you.

They're going to do the role play/scenario call anyway... so why not give them the best shot at it?

And honestly? If a rep or manager doesn't want to watch a 20-minute training to land a job...

What does that tell you about how they'll show up once they have it?

But I want to hear from ya'll.

I'm genuinely curious. 

Is this a smart interview tactic or asking too much?

What would you do if your salary and rent were covered for a full year?

That's not a hypothetical.

Stanley (Your Content Coach) is giving away $100K to help one person go all-in on their dream.

Here's why this matters:

Only 4% of creators earn enough to support themselves full-time.

4%.

The rest are grinding nights and weekends. Squeezing in content before the kids wake up. Recording in parking lots between meetings. Burning out trying to build something while working for someone else's vision.

Most people don't quit because they don't have talent. They quit because they run out of gas trying to do it all.

Last year, Stan ran this same campaign. Over 3,200 people signed up. 2,500 shared their dreams on camera. The videos generated 12.9 million organic views.

It became more than a giveaway. It became a movement.

And they're doing it again.

Imagine having a full year where you didn't have to worry about paying rent. Where you could actually focus on building the thing you've been dreaming about.

Think about what you could actually do:

→ Write every single day
→ Record content without rushing before work
→ Start that podcast you've been talking about for 2 years
→ Interview the people you've always wanted to learn from
→ Travel and speak at events
→ Build an audience without burning out

This isn't side hustle energy. This is full hustle. All-in. No excuses.

Here's how it works:

1. Sign up for Stanley (free)
2. Post a video (2 mins or less) on a public isntagram or tiktok sharing your story, your dream, and how you plan to bring it to life using #standaretodream26 and tag @stanleyforcreators
3. Complete the Typeform after signing up

That's it.

The Stan team will review every single entry and pick a winner in February.

I've seen what happens when someone goes all-in. 

The growth compounds faster than you can imagine when you're not splitting your energy 47 different ways.

This is someone's shot to skip years of the grind.

Is it you?

Join Dare to Dream & enter to win $100K → 

https://lnkd.in/g_pQjXkX

What's your dream?

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. For Official Rules, visit DaretoDream.Stan.Store

Brand partnership • CRO at finally - Founder of Sales Leadership Accelerator - The #1 Sales Leadership Community & Coaching Program to Transform your Team and Build $100M+ Revenue Orgs - Black Hat Aficionado - #TFOMSL

Ronen R. Pessar

I Help New Leaders Thrive, Not Just Survive | When Emotions Unblock, Performance Will Unlock

We build your in-house outbound systems and recruit top talent for your SDR team to outperform your revenue goals... 1 conversion at a time.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY:

💙 “I bet the house on Outbound Operators in ’25. By April, just four months in, we had already surpassed all of ’24’s SQLs. It’s like black magic.”
—Sol Broady, Head of Corp Dev @ MCI
(Hired 4 SDRs instead of 34)

💙 “You smoked them. That’s over. They got the boot. You crushed them. You guys are the winners for SDR.”
—CRO, $300M digital marketing agency
^ after a bake-off against another SDR firm.
(Hired 1 SDR instead of 12)


Outbound Operators delivers a managed outbound system - people, process, and tech - that you fully own (your SDRs, tools, and process). With 40 connects per day, per rep, your AE's calendars will be full quickly, and CAC efficiently. 

🚀 WHAT YOU GET:
ALL done for you:
• Recruit + hire top SDRs
• SDR Stack / RevOps (tech stack build)
• Onboarding + coaching for SDRs and AEs
• All outbound operations done for you (internally owned)

Ramping in 1-3 weeks, your new SDRs will consistently create more qualified pipeline at a lower CAC/TCO than hiring, training, doing tech setup/RevOps, and managing SDRs yourself.

Result: 40 live decision-maker conversations per rep per day.

Our model is simple: You own it all in-house. We design it, run it, and hand you the keys.
• Up to two experienced SDRs placed in your org (to start)
• Powered by our proven system that we build for you
• 1 rep produces pipeline =  8 to 12 SDRs

Why clients choose us:

1. Faster ramp: 1–3 weeks to full SDR output (vs. 9 to 12 months for typical SDRs)
2. Low CAC and TCO: Avoid $450k–$1.2M+ in wasted trial-and-error SDR teams with headcount bloat and bad strategy.
3. More output, 10x quicker, with fewer reps (PE friendly): 40 live decision-maker conversations per rep, per day.
4. We prove it before you commit. In a single 90-minute proof of concept we'll get 20+ live conversations with your buyers right before your eyes. The equivalent to 3–4 weeks of work for 1 SDR done in 90 minutes.

🔥 Stop lighting cash on fire with SDRs. 🔥
Plug in a system that works.

📥 DM me here on LinkedIn
🧑‍💻 visit [www.outboundoperators.com](http://www.outboundoperators.com)
📆 find time to chat: [https://tinyurl.com/4h4vf35p](https://tinyurl.com/4h4vf35p)

PS: Not ready to bring the whole kit and caboodle in-house quite yet? Ask about our network of fractional cold callers for hire!

Chief Executive Officer

1 - I build SDR teams to hit pipeline goals as a fractional leader (bespoke consulting)
2 - Cold Call Training (live and course)
3 - Message-market fit: 100% done-for-you email and cold call campaigns. 

**coming soon: Cold Calling Bootcamp**

Ronen 🧡 Pessar

Hiring a part time cold caller ASAP

💰 $6,500-$8,000 per mo (2 months to start)
📆 Daily, 40-50hrs per month needed (60 dials per day)
☎️ List, tools, script, process, and even onboarding provided

Sound like you?
🥇 You're in the top 5% of cold callers
👨‍💼 You already offer fractional cold calling
⏰ You can commit to 2.5 hrs per day (minimum)

Tag someone you know or...

Apply here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gFBeJ3Km

Comment or DM with questions.

#hiring #coldcaller 
#hiringpost

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SDR Consulting Plug

📌 not sure where to start with SDRs, grab some time to get clear on the SDR team cost and value (on the house). Or DM me with questions if you're not ready to book a free advisory call.


https://calendly.com/rpadvisory/leadership-coaching-intro-call-30m 

TED Talk - RC

📌 the number 1 proven way to lead is a collaborative way-- check out the TED talk: 

https://www.ted.com/talks/jim_tamm_first_step_to_collaboration_don_t_be_so_defensive?hasSummary=true

Value Vomit VS Probe-Provoke

📌 if you're ready for a modern way, a collaborative way, check out this TED talk: 

https://www.ted.com/talks/jim_tamm_first_step_to_collaboration_don_t_be_so_defensive?hasSummary=true

Zig Quote

"You can have everything in life you want if you will just help other people get what they want." 
- Zig

Founder OS plug

ronen-pessar-advisory

sweet-karma-ice-cream

Stop paying SDRs for meetings, meetings don’t matter | Cofounder @ Outbound Operators

Being an SDR is the hardest job in sales...

And it's not even CLOSE

Most people think it’s hard because you’re bothering people.

Which isn't wrong, but that's only one layer.

The real problem is this:

 ➡️ Most SDRs are playing a math game they were never taught, and leaders thing that if they find the right people and say the right thing, that outbound will work.

Welp, hate to break it to ya. But that's not how it works. 

What they don’t realize is that:

- A workable list is not a reachable list
- Only ~15–30% of “good” prospects are even reachable

And after timing shakes out…

Only 0.5–2% of the original list is open to a sales call right now

So what happens when you have a hungry young buck making cold-calls, and only 3% of those dials turn into convo's?

That young buck gets tired and burns out. 

Outbound isn't failing because SDRs are bad - it's failing because leaders aren't setting them up for success.

Not sure what's worse here...

The pure violence in reminding me that we're closer to 2050 than 2000...

Or that he started the email by saying "heyyo"

You decide ⬇️ 

Anyways, stop cold emailing and get back on the phones ☎️

I'm going to make this post 1M times until every young seller in the world reads it. 

Young sellers need to focus less on "learning how to sell" and more on how do do basic shit well.  

What do I mean when I say "basic shit?"

I mean:

• Showing up with good energy
Not fake hype. Not LinkedIn motivation.
Just being someone people don’t dread talking to. AKA a normal human being

• Listening instead of waiting to talk
Actually hearing what someone is saying - not just scanning for your next objection handle.

• Doing what you say you're going to do
Send the email you said you'd send

• Show up 5 minutes early 

• Learn how to speak clearly and not like a kid that just graduated college

• Treating people better than you need to

Prospects. Teammates. SDRs. Ops.
Not because it helps you today - but because people remember how you made them feel.

• Realizing that doing things for people with nothing expected in return is a 10/10 strategy to go REALLY far in life. 

Most top performers aren’t better because they know some secret framework.

They're better because they're easy to work with, likable enough, and take the time to understand their prospects.

I'm 35. Here's 15 pieces of advice I'd give to someone in their 20's:

- Buy life insurance 
- Explore the world
- Get married early and have kids 
- Spend time to create quality friends
- Build a connection with a higher power. 
- Most important decision you make is who you marry
- Stop worrying about your "purpose." Experiment more. 
- Harness your energy. It's your only differentiator in your 20's
- Put money in the markets, you're not smarter than the market
- Accept the fact that men and women communicate differently
- Most powerful thing you can do is commit: to a skill, a person, an idea whatever
- Learn to be a beginner. The more you can embrace being a beginner, the farther you'll go. 
- whatever you think is important now, probably isn't all that important in the long run.

What's one piece you'd give to your 20y/o self?

You will make 10x more money as a top SDR/AE than as a Manager or a VP

It might be less cool to say that you're an IC at parties...

But IC life is 1000% better than being a manager or a VP and here's why:

1) Eat what you kill - you're completely in control of your own fate

2) Your skills compound - you're in the arena, which means you'll improve at a much faster pace 

3) Zero people babysitting - don't have to worry about handing out PIP's, coaching other reps, morale management, you just gotta be a dawg. 

4) Less politics - If you're convos are converting or you're closing deals as an AE, not much else matters

5) Freedom - Great SDRs and AEs can walk into almost any org and win. If you're a good IC, you'll never hurt for work. 

6) Optionality - You can always move into management later. Going into management too early kneecaps your upside. Get to the peak of the IC world, then debate management. 

I'm not saying "don't go into management."

That advice would be silly because everyones path is different. 

If your goal is to make serious money, landing an Enterprise AE role at a kickass company puts you in a far better position than going from SDR ➝ AE ➝ SMB Manager.

Agree or disagree?

In 24hrs, 414 reps applied to this open job

We already put 4 on the phone, and found our finalist (we move fast)! 

This fractional role is filled, but similar opportunities pop up sometimes. 

Folks in communities like CallBlitz will hear about them first, and we prioritize them for these roles. 

From time to time, CallBlitz members share other open fractional cold caller role they need filled too. 

If you're trying to become a 200k/year cold caller, CallBlitz community is where it's happening.

Just ask some of the high earners already in there like: 
Tony Brophy 
Connor Johnston

👉 https://lnkd.in/gGRJa3fR

Paying SDRs for meetings held is corporate pipeline fraud.

Not illegal.

Just a quiet way to poison your forecast.

Here’s the play most orgs run:

Tell SDRs “your job is meetings.”
Pay them on meetings set or held.
Act shocked when the calendar turns into a landfill.

I watched an SDR “crush quota” like this.

Same account.
Same buyer.
Different titles.

Six meetings held over two years.

Zero revenue.

On paper: top performer.
In reality: perfectly trained.

Protect the check, not the pipeline.

The SDR isn’t the problem.

The scoreboard is.

Outbound isn’t about filling calendars.

It’s about getting to truth fast.

Who is this.
Can they buy.
Are they ready.
Do we move forward or do we park it.

So stop asking:
“How many meetings did you set?”

Start asking:
“How many real conversations did you complete?”

A completed conversation is simple:

You reached the right person.
You got clarity on role, influence, and timing.
You left with a decision, progress or park.

SDRs don’t control budget or politics.

They control coverage and clarity.

Pay for truth and follow-up, and three things happen fast:

Fake meetings disappear.
AEs stop treating SDR invites like spam.
Pipeline starts to look like reality.

If your SDR comp plan pays for meetings, you’re buying a prettier forecast call.

Not revenue.

just now i answered a cold call, "hello?"

The caller was mid-voice message and didn't stop talking, so i try again.

"hello??"

and he kept going.

"HELLO?!?! you there?"

then i realize:

it wasn't a person
it was a pre-recorded voicemail!

(and now that number is blocked)
((flagged as spam))

If you're prospecting:

Don't leave pre-recorded voice messages,
and honestly, don't leave a voicemail at all.

(before ever having a convo, after is ok)

Because it doesn't increase replies,
...it will lower your pick up rates.

and the next time you call,
they may recognize your number and decline the call

OR WORSE
block you after the voice message and that number is now flagged as "spam"

curious:
do you leave voicemails on cold calls?

Ryan is going to sh*t on me for this...

You all know I'm a believer in the fact that:

"the list IS the strategy"

You can NOT build a successful cold-calling motion with a shitty list. 

That being said...

The list is not the ONLY thing that matters. 

Your script and what you say to prospects does matter. 

"But Ronen, how do I build out a script? I'm a terrible writer 😥"

Here’s the one I’d use.

   𝟭. 𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺
   Stop asking “Is this Ryan?”
   Say “Ryan?” then pause.
   It signals confidence and familiarity.

   𝟮. 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿 (𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱)
   “You weren’t expecting my call. It’s the first time I’ve reached you and I was          hoping you could help me for a second.”

   𝟯. 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝘁𝘄𝗼-𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲
   “Appreciate that. My name is {name} with {company}. Not sure if that sounds       familiar?”

   𝟰. 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁
   “Purpose is to see if it makes sense to schedule an intro chat when I’m not             calling out of the blue. Do you have time next ___ or ___?”

   𝟱. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁
   “I have you as {title} at {company}. Is that right?”

If no, get the referral.
If yes, move on.

   𝟲. 𝗣𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵
   “We work with {role} who want {outcome} without {pain or cost}.
   With {tool}, teams move from {current pain} to {future state}, so {result}.”

   𝟳. 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
   “How are you handling {pain} today? Is it mostly {status quo}?”

   𝟴. 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
   “Would you be opposed to a 10 to 15-minute intro call next ___ or ___?”

Plug your product into this.

Run it consistently.

Your conversions will jump.

Do you use a script, or do you freestyle every call?

Meetings booked is the most dangerous metric in sales.

Because it rewards lying without calling it lying.

It turns your entire org into a meeting production company.

And VPs love it.

Not because it works.

Because it gives them cover.

You can miss the number and still look “ahead.”
You can have a full calendar and a dead pipeline.
You can celebrate while your deal quality rots in silence.

Meetings booked doesn’t measure demand.

It measures how good your team is at getting strangers to say yes to 15 minutes.

That’s not sales.
That’s persuasion theater.

Here’s the ugly truth:

If your team is proud of meetings booked, you’re probably selling to people who cannot buy.

Or won’t.

Or shouldn’t.

And you’re burning your AEs to prove you’re “doing something.”

Bad revenue is worse than no revenue.
Bad pipeline is worse than no pipeline.

Because it wastes time twice.

First on the meeting.
Then on the fantasy that it meant anything.

Most VP Sales careers are built on one skill:

Replacing results with activity that sounds like results.

If you’re tracking meetings booked like it’s sacred, you’re not leading a revenue system.

You’re managing your own anxiety.

Either you run a sales org.

Or you run a calendar factory.

---
Day 6 of taking collateral damage selfies til Matt Firestone does an influencer roast (he won’t do it…)

The biggest lie in modern sales is this:

If it’s not booked on my calendar, it’s not real.

I heard it again this week from a sales leader.

We were looking at their numbers and I said,
“Cool. So you’re calling the people who showed interest but didn’t book?”

He looked at me like I suggested we bring back dial-up internet.

“I’m not making calls. I want everything scheduled.”

Let me translate what that means:

A prospect can literally raise their hand, ask a question, show interest, and if they don’t agree to a meeting right now…

Most sales orgs treat them like they don’t exist.

That is insane.

Because you don’t have a pipeline problem.

You have a follow-up problem.

Your CRM is a gold mine full of “almost” buyers:

* the not now crowd
* the timing is off crowd
* the we’re exploring crowd
* the we have a question crowd

And instead of picking up the phone and doing what salespeople are paid to do…

You send an email.
You wait.
You call them “unresponsive.”
You go hunt colder leads.

This is why reps miss quota.

They are trying to create brand new interest in strangers while ignoring the people who already gave them a signal.

Even crazier, we can do the math on this.

Most lists are 100 people.
Maybe you reach 20.
And only a slice of that 20 is even open right now.

So when you find someone who is reachable and interested, that person is rare.

That person is priority.

Not “send an email and hope.”

Call them back.
Same day.
Next day.
Every few days.
Until you get clarity.

Not to shove them into a demo.

To figure out where they’re actually at and help them make sense of the decision.

This is the part that separates hunters from farmers.

Farmers wait for the calendar to fill.

Hunters pick up the phone, work the gold they already have, and build market dominance one follow-up conversation at a time.

Hot take for the comments:

If your AEs don’t call back activated leads, YOU DON'T HAVE AEs.

You have professional meeting attendees.

In a sales word filled with farmers & order takers,
...hunters are a dying breed.

'nuff said
✋
🎤

I'm about to hit you nerds with a "day in the life" as a Founder/Father of 3 kiddos 

5:15 - alarm goes off - praying my kids aren't awake yet. Chug water, listen to audible, make coffee (for later) + breakfast for the kids and wifey 

6:00 - jog or Gym time, get the blood moving and endorphins flowing 

6:30 - rest of the house arises. Chaos ensues. 

7:30 - wife takes kids to school. I open Robinhood and continue losing money trying to trade options

7:45 - Bike along the beach to work (shoutout San Diego)

8:15 - Get to the office.  Prayer, meditation, try and get the mind right before the day

8:30-3ish: Six hours of nonstop work: sales calls, client calls, creating videos. Quick bite somewhere in between.

3:30-5pm:  Follow-up work, fix everything that broke throughout the day, plan for tomorrow, wrap-up.

5:30 - Always try and be home by 5:30 (usually closer to 6). Phone down, work down, time to reconnect with the kiddos and wife

7:30 - kids bed time *FINALLY*

8:00 - Watch an ep of Severance - play backgammon online - or if it's football season youtube the Browns, and masochistically watch them lose.

There ya have it!

Most SDRs think they’re paid to book meetings.

They’re not.

They’re paid to create revenue.

-- meetings don’t equal revenue --

Meetings often equal rushed calls, forced demos, and prospects who never wanted to talk in the first place.

You know the talk track:

Prospect: “I thought this was my kid’s school.”
Rep: “Can I just tell you why I called real quick?”
Prospect: “I’m not interested.”
Rep: “What about a quick intro demo?”

That rep could hit their meeting number...
but they won't move the business.

Top sellers play a different game.

They optimize for two things only:

1 • Completed conversations (signal)
2 • Follow up conversations (SQO)

Here’s what that sounds like.

Prospect: “I thought this was my kid’s school.”
SDR: “Sounds like a bad time. I’ll try you back later.”

One week later.

SDR: “Last week sounded hectic. Do you have two minutes now?”
Prospect: “Yeah, what was this about again?”

That second call is where trust is built.
That’s where qualification happens.
That’s where revenue starts.

-- top sellers aren’t thirsty --

They’re patient.

They know most people aren’t a fit right now.
And they always make the follow up call.

If you want to sell like that, we built a community for you

👉 https://lnkd.in/gEwfjZBx

What's your biggest red flag as a seller?

Mine is being too nice. 

Historically, I'd let prospects walk all over me.

I did that because I thought being nice would help a deal get done. 

Turns out that was dumb as hell 

What's your biggest red flag?

AI didn't kill outbound. 

But it has made mediocrity cheaper.

And now every rep thinks they're scaling because they sent 10,000 emails that nobody read.

Parallel dialers? You're burning through lists faster than you can say "wrong number."

Sales engagement platforms? Congrats, you automated being ignored.

LinkedIn automation tools?

Nothing says "I care about you" like a bot that can't spell your name right.

Here's what actually happened: AI lowered the barrier to entry so much that everyone's inbox became a dumpster fire. Prospects are numb to it. They can smell automation from a mile away.

The irony? While everyone's chasing volume with tools, the reps who pick up the phone and actually talk like humans are cleaning up.

You want to stand out? Stop hiding behind software. Do the work nobody else wants to do.

Have a goddamn conversation.

Human to human.

Otherwise we might as well just have bots sell to bots. 

AI should make you better, not lazier.

The tools aren't the problem. It's that most people use them to just do more of what already doesn't work.

Stay above the API.

Hey you, SDR manager, let's chat. 

Can you help me understand why you're justifying your SDR's meeting that he set with an intern?

It's almost crazy how often I've seen this: A lot (not all) SDR managers will do everything humanely possible to justify why an opportunity is "qualified"...

Even though an intern was on the other end of the Zoom call. 

Here's what I've been seeing in outbound as of late:

Most teams will enter the loop of "plausible deniability" rather than fix the broken engine. 

So what happens is that most teams don't have a problem setting meetings. 

They have a problem setting meetings that MATTER. 

Meetings that:

- Are with your ICP
- Are with real stakeholders
- Are with people who are actually ready to buy

Now, you can't control the 3rd one. Nobody can. 

You can control the first two. 

But most teams can't even do that. 

So what they do is this: they add on more sequences, more steps, more tools, and more activity that looks like work and produces nothing but a calendar full of meetings that don't go anywhere.

Here’s the part nobody wants to say out loud:

Most SDR managers are professional excuse writers.

They justify why a meeting with an intern is qualified, because their incentives are to do so. 

They keep everyone busy, so nobody has to admit the system is broken.

Meanwhile, the pipeline fills up with “opportunities”:

People who will take a call.

But won’t buy.

My new mantra for 2026: "Bad revenue is worse than no revenue."

Bad revenue steals your calendar and gives you migraines. 

It also trains your team to be customer support for tire kickers, rather than actual salespeople. 

Building a system that only works when you turn up the volume, doesn't work. 

So you have two choices: 

Turn up the volume until everyone goes deaf...

Or build a system that actually works. 

The choice is yours 🤷‍♂️

Openers
Openers dont
Openers dont matter
Openers dont matter if
Openers dont matter if you
Openers dont matter if you cant

REACH

PROSPECTS

ON

THE

PHONE 

(List Reach > scripts)

If your SDR “motion” includes email, social, list building, and 44 dials with voicemails, you built a burn machine.

Not a pipeline engine.

You didn’t hire an SDR.

You hired a human to babysit your anxiety.

Let’s call this what it is.

Email sequences are where bad positioning goes to hide.

Social “touches” are where scared reps go to feel productive.

List building is where leadership dumps the work they don’t want to own.

And 44 dials with voicemails?

That’s not selling.

That’s leaving digital litter so you can say you tried.

You’re paying a fully loaded salary for someone to:

Research people who were never a fit
Write messages nobody will read
Leave voicemails nobody will return
Update fields so dashboards look alive

Then you act surprised when the only thing growing is churn.

Here’s the part that ruffles VPs:

“Multichannel” is the polite word for “we don’t know how to create a conversation.”

So you spread the failure across more surfaces and call it strategy.

It burns money in four ways:

You burn payroll
You burn brand
You burn good reps
You burn your own belief that outbound can work

If your SDR org needs constant activity to justify its existence, it’s not a growth lever.

It’s a cost center with better vocabulary.

Keep funding the theater.

Or build a system that produces real conversations when nobody’s watching.

Here are 3 things I absolutely SUCKED at this year...

And what I'm going to do better in 2026 ⬇️ 

1) My fitness / athletic routine

I tore my ACL and went from “basketball 3x/week” to basically nothing.
I felt like a complete bum. The ripple effects were real: energy, sleep, resting heart rate shot up… the whole shebang. 

Lesson: your body is either compounding for you or against you.
Take the time to physically and mentally fix yourself, otherwise it'll hurt you in the long run. 

2) Selling Outbound Operators (early on)

One thing I sucked at was selling Outbound Operators.  The reason? I was selling from my perspective, not the buyers

And I was focused on the wrong metrics.

What's worse is that I wasn’t framing the comparison.

So buyers compared us to the cheapest thing they’re doing today - which is a great way to lose deals. 

Lesson: if you don’t frame the deal, your buyer will.
Lead with the comparison you want them to make. 

3) Missing obvious product signals

For months we held a hard line: “We don’t build lists.”

But list-building kept showing up as the bottleneck… for prospects and clients.

So we finally decided to just solve it operationally (even if it’s at cost).
Because without it, the entire machine stalls. 

Lesson: When the same objection repeats, it's a signal. Either pay attention to the signal or lose out on revenue. 

2025 wasn’t perfect. But it was by far the best year of my professional life. 

Feeling really grateful to all my clients, friends, and family that have made this year as fulfilling as its been.

p.s. I'm very self-critical so this was an easy exercise 😂

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Ronen 🧡 Pessar

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The Battle

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