🔥 Tom Slocum

Your Future Homie- In- Law | Founder @ The SD Lab | Sales Consultant | 7x Strategic Advisor | 4x Sales Leader | SDR Coach | #empathyactivist

Hey I’m Tom I help B2B leaders, SDR teams and founders fix broken outbound when pipeline is dry and reps are stuck spinning

After 18 years in sales from 400+ daily cold calls in a cubicle to building $3M+ in pipeline from scratch I’ve built a repeatable system that gets outbound back on track

Here’s how I help

Weekly workshops (theory + tactical execution)

Rebuilt call flows, messaging and targeting

Sequencing + workflow installation

Call reviews with live coaching + scorecards

Fast performance gains tied to KPIs

Client Wins

Kustomer → 50%+ lift in meetings → 100% SDR attainment in 3 months
ServiceChannel → 30% SQL lift with sharper messaging + coaching
Rockledge, Distran → 10–20 meetings/month booked after outbound reset

I’ve also worked with brands like ServiceChannel, Kustomer, Apollo, ZoomInfo, Smartlead, Surfe and more to coach teams and represent their tools

Outbound isn’t dead it just needs fixing

👉 Want sharper messaging, predictable pipeline and reps who book meetings?

Book an Outbound Strategy Tour (Featured below)

Or join my newsletter (7K+ readers) for free outbound playbooks (below)

Founder

The SD Lab is a top-of-funnel sales consulting agency. The SD Lab offers customized services to help businesses optimize their sales process and achieve measurable results. The SD Lab offers a 14-week Revenue Acceleration program, Custom Sales Playbooks, and Team Coaching packages that cover all things Top of Funnel. If you're looking to optimize your sales process and achieve sales success, The SD Lab is here to help. Let's work together to transform your sales approach

I ran a real data experiment so you don’t have to

Last quarter I told y'all I was stepping into mobile validation

not hypotheticals
not screenshots from a vendor deck
actual reps dialing actual lists

here’s what happened 👇

The Setup (real world)

• ICP: B2B Sales Leaders (VP Sales, SDR Managers/Directors)
• NA, B2B SaaS, Series A-B
• same persona, same call windows, same rep

Test #1 - Raw Data

I took about 1,100 contacts from my CRM
(Apollo + Lemlist + Leadmagic)

SureConnect validated the mobile data 
→ 100 P1s (people verified to pick up the phone)

strong signal
enough to keep digging

enter Wiza

Omer Pinthus from Wiza DM’d me after seeing the experiment and said

“If you want to run the same test with Wiza I’ll hook you up”

so..we pulled 800-900 B2B Sales Leaders from Wiza

same ICP
same filters

Sent the list to

• My SDR (Brianda) to dial
• SureConnect to mobile validate

SureConnect came back with

👉 50 P1s

So we said “cool let’s dial it Mon–Fri and see what’s actually real"

What we saw (calling results)

across Wiza driven lists

→ connect rates ranged 6% → 18%+
→ some micro lists hit 20-28% connect
→ conversation rates 40-70%+ on certain cohorts
→ clear difference between

broad lists ❌
tight ICP slices ✅

no parallel dialer games
no cherry picked screenshots
just clean lists + disciplined calling

My Honest Take (no BS)

I use

• ZoomInfo
• Apollo
• LeadMagic
• SureConnect
• and NOW - Wiza

I’ve kept testing this since and the pattern has held across multiple lists

Here’s where Wiza stood out

✔ huge coverage (especially via LinkedIn pull)
✔ clean UI, fast enrichment
✔ free credits if you pull from LinkedIn
✔ very reasonable pricing ($0 to $100–200/mo to start)
✔ strong phone & email combo for SDR teams

is it magic? No
does it replace ICP discipline? Hell no!

but….

Your list IS the strategy! 


Wiza makes it easier to build better lists faster

The Real Lesson (this matters)

if your connect rate is 1–3%.....

it’s not your opener
it’s not your SDR(s)
it’s not your talk tracks

It’s your inputs! 

clean data → clean infrastructure → then coach skill

That’s how you stop putting out fires and start booking meetings

If outbound is a real priority for you this year… and you want

→ better connect rates
→ less wasted dialing
→ cleaner email sends

Wiza is 100% worth testing alongside Apollo/ZoomInfo

I dropped a simple carousel below breaking this down 👇
happy to answer questions in the comments

___

Yes this was a paid collab
Yes the experiment was real
Yes I’ll keep testing and sharing what actually works

🤙

I have been very fortunate to find my place in the world of Sales Development. I find passion in helping organizations build & scale sustainable sales development teams that consistently hit quotas. 

I have found success more often than not in my sales career when leading with research, relatability & relevancy in my outreach. I want to give back & help countless reps strengthen these values & build strong relationships with prospects that drive human conversations. 

In 2020 I launched my own company the SD Lab - a business development agency that specializes in creating scalable outbound sales motions to accelerate company growth and help Founders achieve their dreams through a do WITH you 14-week accelerator program. 

As your trusted business development partner and advisor, my goal is to remove everyday noise and distractions so you can get back to what really matters:

Working ON your business versus IN your business. 

Allowing you to build, scale, and grow your company 

Personal Achievements & Highlights:

- 16-year Sales Vet 
- 4x Sales Leader
- 9x Strategic Advisor 
- Named a Top 50 Sales Leader to follow in 2022
- Named a LinkedIn Top Sales Voice in 2020
- Have coached 100’s of SDRs on cold calling, email, social selling & building strong personal brands 
- Built and maintained a 1800+ SDR/AE member community from 2020-2022 known as RevLeague
- Teams I have led produced over $25 million+ in revenue & booked 8,000+ appts 
- I have made over 500,000+ cold calls, booked over 4,000+ appts & driven $12 million+ in revenue
- Experience in Small Business, Mid-Market & Enterprise    
- Have helped over 30+ companies see on average a 20%+ increase in meetings booked & pipeline generated

Contact me anytime! 👇

🔗 thesdlab.com
🔗 https://linktr.ee/tomslocum

"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful" by the great Eric Thomas (E.T)

Wiza Data Test 

Helping B2B Teams Fix Outbound → Build Pipelines That Convert | Sales Coach | SDR Builder | Your Future Homie In Law

Not a sales post
Not a flex

Just one of those “pause for a second” moments.l

Second comp of the season for us today 
Girls locked in and ready

and today we walk up and see a suite with
“Cheer Dads Unfiltered” on the door 🤯

We started this thing outside the gym after practice 

Now we’re here

Grateful
Proud of the girls
Proud of what we’re building with this competitive cheer community

Let’s go Jamfest 🤙

#CheerDads #GirlDad #Community

Saw this drop late last night grateful for the shoutout 🙏

A few months ago things felt chaotic

Hard decisions
Dark days
A lot of recalibration

but alignment creates velocity
and lately things have just… clicked

Appreciate Sprouts.ai for the spotlight and for including me alongside a lot of real operators in this space

2026 is going to be a big year for teams who take outbound seriously 

process, discipline, relevance and actually coaching their reps

We’re just getting started 💪

Sales Leaders to follow 

Sales Leaders to Watch in 2026 🌟

Closing our campaign by shining the light on leaders who excel where it matters most, pipeline, process, and performance.

These sales leaders are redefining how modern teams prospect, qualify, convert, and grow revenue with discipline, empathy, and systems that scale. From outbound innovation to deal strategy, from coaching to pipeline quality, each of them brings a proven track record of building high-performing sales organizations.

Swipe through the carousel to meet them, and follow for practical, field-tested insights on modern selling. 

Check them out 👇

Laura Roach, M Joshua Ben Michael, Meredith Chandler, Joe Fontana, Dariia Gerasymova, Nick Hunt, Dolapo Fadare, Troy Johnson, Kristie K. Jones, Nikki Lang, Anita Nielsen, David Priemer, Ronnell Richards, Kristin Anderson, Morgan (Shelly) Erazo, Peter Kazanjy, Brittany Scott, Tom Slocum, Jesse Woodbury, Elyse Archer

y’all saw monday’s post where I walked through how we actually built outbound for a founder

high intent
mid intent
workflows
prioritization

that’s the foundation

this video shows what happens after that foundation is in place

this is ZoomInfo GTM Workspace account planning

instead of jumping between tools or gut checking accounts you can spin up a real penetration plan in under a minute

- who’s engaged
- who’s missing
- where expansion lives
- what to do next

this is the layer that turns signal into strategy

when I look at the build I shared Monday this is exactly how I’d elevate it

same intent
same focus
but now everything lives in one place
with clear next actions for reps and leaders

no fluff
no guessing
no chasing everyone

if you’re already using Zoominfo this is worth slowing down and looking at 
GTM Workspace changes how teams think about accounts

and if you’ve been evaluating tools heading into 2026 this adds a whole new dimension to the stack

watch the clip
this is the direction things are heading 👀

#ZoomInfoPartner

Why conversations > call count (and how leaders screw this up)

This whole “500 calls a day” debate is missing the point

and yes I’m chiming in because James Hanzimanolis kicked the hornet’s nest and it’s a good conversation to have

Here’s the truth from the field 👇

Cold calling works
Volume matters
The phone is still the fastest skill builder in outbound

But…

Calls aren’t the job
Conversations are

If a rep makes 40–60 dials, connects with real humans, runs clean discovery, and books legit meetings...that’s not underperforming

That’s execution! 😤 

Where leaders screw this up 👇

They turn dials into the KPI instead of

→ connects
→ conversations
→ conversion

So reps optimize for activity instead of outcomes

They rush calls
They spray bad lists
They avoid real discovery
They game the system

Congrats! You hit 500 calls 😆 
You also taught your team nothing 🤷‍♂️ 

Now let’s be clear…

Early stage SDRs?
Yes! 100% Bias toward calling. Hard! 

Learn the phone
Learn objections
Learn how to think on your feet
Earn the right to do “more sophisticated” stuff later

But if your coaching starts and ends with

“Make more calls”
“Hit X dials”
“Grind harder”

That’s not leadership
That’s laziness disguised as hustle

The real question leaders should be asking

👉 Are we pushing volume to build skill or to hide weak coaching and bad systems?

Because one creates killers
The other creates burnout

Phone still wins
Coaching still wins
Context always matters

Curious where others land on this 👀

#outbound #coldcalling #salesleadership #sdr #saas

linkedin’s inbox is honestly a mess right? 

when I first started posting 6 years ago it was fine

a few dms
easy to keep up

now?

brand deals
podcast invites
client convos
event stuff
prospects
random pitches

and I’ll be real…

I missed things

not random stuff
real opportunities

not because I didn’t care
but because the system sucks

unread/read isn’t a workflow
scrolling isn’t a follow up system
“remembering later” isn’t a strategy

that’s why I use Kondo: Superhuman for LinkedIn DMs  

here’s what changed for me:

- I don’t lose hot conversations anymore

- I snooze follow ups so they pop back up when I need them

- I send voice notes straight from desktop (huge time saver)

- I separate noise from actual revenue

I don’t even think about my inbox anymore
it just works 🤷‍♂️

linkedin went from chaotic to organized

and when you treat dms like a system instead of a pile…

you close more loops
more replies
more booked calls
less mental clutter

if you’re active on linkedin…selling, hiring, building, hosting events and still using the native inbox raw…

you’re probably leaving time and opportunities in there 🤷‍♂️

you can try kondo free for a month here

https://lnkd.in/efyG3bFG

no catch

just something I use every day that makes this platform way more manageable 🤙

now be honest…

do you have a real system for your dms or are you just hoping you don’t miss anything? 👀

#sponsored #Kondopartner

alignment creates velocity

i used to hear that phrase and think
“yeah yeah… i’m aligned”

i wasn’t….

in my head? maybe
in my choices? not even close

i was juggling everything
saying yes to too much
feeding conversations i shouldn’t have been in
confusing motion for progress

and it felt hard
everything felt hard

somewhere around last summer i realized i had to change how i was operating

not tweak…
change

that meant

- cutting things that were working but felt wrong
- setting real boundaries
- pricing with confidence
- saying no without explaining myself
- choosing focus over volume

it cost me energy
it cost me comfort
it cost me some familiar patterns

but here’s the wild part…

once i actually got aligned 
things stopped feeling like an uphill battle 

work started flowing
decisions got cleaner
the right people showed up faster
i felt calm and fired up at the same time

and then this side thing i didn’t overthink
a little cheer dads podcast we started to document our daughters first season
just… took off! 

21 days in
- 31,000 impressions
- embraced by the cheer community
- coaches, gyms, sponsors leaning in
- merch, special episodes, real momentum

meanwhile on the SD Lab side things feel locked in

less work
more impact
better money
zero chaos

same me
different alignment

that’s the lesson i keep coming back to

when you stop forcing what’s misaligned
and double down on what feels clean, intentional and true…

velocity shows up on its own 💪

curious what have you been holding onto that might actually be slowing you down?

most sales teams are still duct taping their data together…

tool A for companies
tool B for people
tool C for emails

and somehow we still can’t get a complete list 🤦‍♂️ 

well...the wait is over

FullEnrich just launched their new feature - Search 

an all in one workflow that replaces the Frankenstein setup we’ve all been using for years 

Here’s what it lets you do in one tab:

🟣 dual layer filters (title, seniority, tenure, HQ, industry)
🟣 95%+ employee coverage (zero blind spots)
🟣 CSV reverse search to find the exact decision makers inside your accounts
🟣 saved lists you can re-run anytime
🟣 one click enrichment for verified emails & mobiles

The real unlock though? 

When your data is actually complete…

SDRs stop chasing ghosts
you stop wasting time on dead numbers
outbound becomes a system not a scavenger hunt

I’m building outbound engines for teams every day and this solves 80% of the mess before outreach even starts

Run a free search yourself: https://lnkd.in/gMmYT_G7

Don’t take my word for it
Plug in your ICP and watch the match rate

FullEnrich

#FullEnrichBrandPartner #sales #outbound #prospecting #sdrculture

alignment isn’t loud
it’s calm

today reminded me of that

I closed a new client… but the win wasn’t the deal

the win was how it came together

no chasing
no discounting
no “let me make this work” energy
no over scoping to feel safe

just:

clear discovery
clean follow up
firm boundaries
mutual respect

six months ago this same situation would’ve gone very differently

i would’ve:

- over given in the first call

- rushed to prove value

- under priced to reduce friction

- said yes to scope I didn’t believe in

not because I didn’t know better but because i was operating from speed and scarcity

the last few months forced a reset

a car accident
slowing way down
saying no more than ever before
getting painfully honest about what actually works for me

today that showed up as a $14k engagement that felt… easy..

not because it was smaller
but because it was aligned

alignment isn’t a mindset buzzword

to me it’s:

- pricing what you’re worth
- scoping what you can actually deliver
- letting the right people opt in

this feels like a new floor for me

curious where in your work are you still operating from speed or scarcity…and where are you starting to feel alignment show up instead?

taplio

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taplio

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