r/salesdevelopment

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.

;)

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.

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.

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 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!

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?

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.

My company moving from SalesLoft to Gong Engage for “consolidation purposes” will be the end of me.

That’s all.

Edit: and I hope anyone from Gong sees this post.

Before I started my own thing, I managed a small SDR team at a previous company. We were missing activity targets constantly and everyone kept saying "I need more time to prospect," so I actually had the team log their day in 30-min blocks for two weeks. Not proud of some of what we found, but sharing because I think it's more common than people admit.

Average breakdown across 6 reps:

• Actual selling activity (calls, LinkedIn messages sent, follow-ups): 2.1 hrs/day
• Building/finding lead lists: 2.6 hrs/day
• Researching individual prospects before messaging: 1.4 hrs/day
• CRM admin/logging: 1.1 hrs/day
• Internal meetings/standups: 0.8 hrs/day

So almost half the day list building plus research was going into "getting ready to sell" rather than selling. And it wasn't because reps were slacking. Manually filtering LinkedIn Sales Nav, cross-checking against companies already in CRM, figuring out who's actually a decision maker vs just has the right title... it adds up fast per lead.

The part that got me: reps who spent MORE time on manual research per lead didn't have meaningfully better reply rates than reps who spent less time and just sent more volume to a rougher list. The research time felt productive but didn't show up in the numbers.

We ended up restructuring so one person did bulk list-building/scoring for the whole team once a week, freeing everyone else up to just execute. Reply rates didn't drop, and total meetings booked went up almost 30% in the following month, mostly just from reps having more hours to actually message and follow up.

Not sure if this is universal or just a "our process was bad" thing. For reps or managers here what % of your day would you honestly say goes to list-building/research vs actually reaching out? Curious if the split looks similar elsewhere or if I just had a uniquely inefficient setup.

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 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?

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

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?

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?

I work at a tech startup selling Al marketing software for small businesses) and converting free 7 day trials to paid plans.The company helps small businesses grow and stay consistent through a marketing automation/ Al tools platform. It works to build your instagram, facebook, and google business profile right now. It's $225 monthly or if you do a quarterly plan $155. It's stressful because in order to receive base you have to hit a certain amount of conversions a week. Almost everyone that got brought on before me or with me has left. Things are constantly changing and getting harder but I haven't missed a quota yet (only been there 3 months). Knowing that things are going to continue getting more challenging or even if it stayed at this level I need a more efficient way to convert people. I want to grow here but fuck sales is so anxiety inducing especially when there's pressure on you as a OG and your stressed if your gonna hit base. Any advice?

Edit:For the people, wondering why I’m still there.. like I said below I honestly feel like the people that have quit just weren't of quality. The pros to this job outweigh the cons, which is why l'm still here. I like working remote and they're pretty chill. I don't have too many team meetings and most of them are optional for me since I do what I need to unlike other positions where they are mandatory. What I'm trying to say is I'm rewarded the opportunity to work independently which is the main pro. I don't wanna just give up so that's why l'm asking for advice from people that can help

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?

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

I've seen a few posts saying Paychex is churn and burn. I've seen a few others say that the inside sales role for ancillary stuff like 401(k) can be better and less effort for a sale because you are calling on existing Paychex customers.

Anyone have any experience with this role or doing this role now and care to chime in on what it's like and if it's a good gig or not? I'm interviewing now for the role in the DFW/Irving branch of Paychex. Please let me know any thoughts you have, good or bad. Thanks!

is me being pip’d five weeks into the job fair?

got pip’d five weeks in

so ive been working in sales for a month now and prior to the job I had no experience but I had the skills for it such as communication skills, sociable, being very friendly and esc. i was always complimented for my performance within the team and im known as very hard working and seen as having lots of potential.

so on my week one I didn’t make any sales as I didn’t learn the pitch fully, I didn’t know how to quote yet and didn’t know the tablet process. then in my second week I managed to sell 7 fuels, third week two fuels and fourth week two fuels. on my third week two days were cut short then the next three days my manager and team was changed plus the venue was very bad. on my fourth week I had to relearn again an entirely new pitch from the team as I only memorised the pitch from my old manager.

I am in my fifth week and I have been told that my performance has been reviewed and that I haven’t been meeting targets and that I can’t work monday-Friday, only the weeks and I’ll be making £10 less in commission. I have to make 8-10 fuels on saturday, same amount of Sunday too which is almost 20 fuels in total in the weekends to be allowed back onto the team and can go back to working mon-fri.

i personally think this was very sudden and unexpected as im still very new and im very hard working and have been complimented in my performance.

what should i do? im currently studying for a BTEC in health and social care but do want a career in sales. im going into my second year of my BTEC in September. should i just go back to studying full time or just look for another job?