SaaSy Talk S01.11: Creating Demand: The Art of Outbound Sales with Tito Bohrt

Explicit content warning

10/10/23 • 47 min

About The Guest(s): Tito Bohrt is the founder and CEO of AltiSales, a company dedicated to building world class SDR teams. Tito blogs for Sales Hacker, is a mentor for the Alchemist Accelerator, a frequent public speaker for Sales events such as Outreach’s Unleash, and the Sales Development Conference. Tito grew up in South America, attended Duke University, and speaks 3 languages. Summary: Tito Bohrt, founder of AltaSales, shares his passion for outbound sales and how it all started with a unique opportunity during his college years. He discusses the importance of understanding the buyer's journey and creating demand rather than just capturing it. Tito emphasizes the need for sales professionals who can differentiate themselves from AI and provide value to prospects. He also challenges the notion that outbound is more expensive than inbound, highlighting the scalability and potential of outbound sales. Tito's insights shed light on the future of sales development and the role of SDRs in creating demand. Key Takeaways: - Understanding the buyer's journey and creating demand is crucial in outbound sales. - Sales professionals who can differentiate themselves from AI and provide value will thrive. - Outbound sales can be more scalable and cost-effective than inbound in the long run. Quotes: - "Selling is not an action. Buying is an action. Selling is just designing the buyer's pathway to completing their transaction." - Tito - "As long as you can differentiate yourself from a bot and provide value, you'll win as an SDR." - Tito Chapters: (01:00) Story of starting a successful outbound team in college (07:00) Playbooks as guidelines for executing go-to-market strategies (09:00) Different approaches for demand capture and outbound sales (15:00) Tito emphasizes the need for hiring sales professionals, not just salespeople. (17:00) Tito discusses the importance of evaluating sales professionals' performance. (19:00) Tito explains his interview process for identifying real sales professionals. (22:00) Tito gives tips on creating an ideal customer profile (ICP). (26:00) Tito shares his thoughts on the two-step process vs full cycle AEs. (28:00) Tito predicts the return of SDRs in the future. (33:00) The difficulty of closing enterprise deals with inbound (36:00) AI is just another technology, not the death of SDRs (44:00) Quick Fire-Round Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZVkJ12FIqD39oqgj7Kcjq Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/saasy-talk-unfiltered/id1709426070 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SaaSyTalkUnfiltered Subscribe on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/saasy-talk-unfiltered Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://substack.com/@saasytalkunfiltered Visit our Website: https://saasytalkunfiltered.transistor.fm/ Follow Ricky Sevta on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickysevta/ Follow Sean Diljore on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seandiljore/

Previous Episode

SaaSy Talk S01.10:The Power of Partnerships in the SaaS Industry

About The Guest(s):

Gauri Chawla, a strategic executive, known for forging global partnerships with key players in SaaS, system integration, and IT/digital realms. She's a sought-after advisor for C-suite leaders, specializing in advancing partnership functions, ecosystem building, cross-functional engagement, brand awareness, and market growth. With a vast international network, she excels in team leadership across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. Gauri serves on the board of Papirfly and leverages her expertise to identify partnerships, devise strategies, and drive revenue growth.

Gauri's career includes leadership roles at Showpad, Marketo, Oracle, and IBM. She holds a Juris Doctorate from Pace University School of Law and a Bachelor of Commerce (with honors) in international business and management information systems from Queen’s University at Kingston.

Summary Gauri shares her journey in the SaaS industry, starting from her days at Oracle to her current role as an executive at InRiver. She explains how she got hooked onto the SaaS industry and the pivotal moments in her career that led her to focus on partnerships and alliances. Gauri emphasizes the importance of partnerships for early-stage startups and provides tips on how to approach and measure partnerships effectively. She also discusses the role of partnerships within an organization and the need for proper enablement and collaboration. Gauri shares valuable insights and advice based on her extensive experience in the industry.

Key Takeaways

Partnerships are the fastest way to revenue for B2B SaaS startups.
Early-stage startups should focus on collaborating with regional partners before targeting big consulting firms.
Enablement is crucial for successful partnerships, both on the technology and consulting sides.
Metrics for measuring partnerships should include sourced revenue, sourced pipeline, length of sales cycle, conversion rate, and certifications.
Partnerships should be treated as a separate go-to-market motion and managed as a distinct function within the organization. Quotes
"Partnerships is like dating, and you're never going to be exclusive with one person."
"Partnerships should be tied to revenue, but it's important to have realistic expectations and focus on qualified opportunities."
"Trust yourself and know your worth. Sometimes walking away is the best decision."
"Partnerships have a big contribution to how well your customers are doing and how well you're doing."
"Partnerships should be a separate go-to-market motion, separate from sales and marketing."

Chapters:

(01:00) Gauri's decision to transition to the cloud and SaaS industry

(06:00) Gauri's experience in building partner ecosystems

(10:00) Importance of collaboration and value proposition in partnerships

(14:00) Ricky discusses the importance of enablement for partners

(17:00) Ricky asks about metrics for measuring partnership success

(18:00) Gauri suggests tying partnerships to revenue and qualified opportunities

(27:00) Gauri discusses her transition into different roles and her desire to build something from scratch

(28:00) Gauri emphasizes the importance of knowing when it's time to leave a job

(29:00) Gauri shares her passion for helping startups and providing advice and connections

(31:00) Gauri discusses the joy of seeing her team members succeed in their careers

(32:00) Gauri reflects on the valuable advice she has received, including trusting oneself and knowing one's worth

(35:00) Quick Fire Round

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Next Episode

SaaSy Talk S01.12: From Homeless to CEO: Draven McConville's Inspiring Journey

About The Guest(s):

Draven McConville is the founder and CEO of Klipboard, an all-in-one field service platform for job management, scheduling, accounting, communications and more.

Summary:

Draven McConville shares his journey from being homeless at 18 to becoming the CEO of Klipboard. He emphasises the importance of hustle, determination, resilience, and self-development in his success. He also discusses the challenges of delegation and the need to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. Draven provides valuable insights into securing funding, including the importance of finding the right investors who can bring more than just capital to the table. He also highlights the need for a robust financial plan and the importance of building a strong culture within the company. Draven concludes by discussing his excitement for the future of Klipboard and the field service market.

Key Takeaways:

Hustle, determination, resilience, and self-development are crucial for success.
Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you and delegate tasks.
Find investors who can bring more than just capital to the table.
Have a robust financial plan and understand the metrics of your investment.
Build a strong culture within the company and foster open communication.

Quotes:

"People buy from people. Features don't sell." - Draven
"Know your customer, know your market, and don't be a jack of all trades." - Draven

Chapters:

(00:33) Draven's journey of becoming homeless and hustling (02:19) Starting clipboard and addressing the market gap in field service

(05:23) Balancing doing and delegating as a leader

(07:30) Transitioning from founder to CEO and inspiring the team

(09:27) Learning to be empathetic and building rapport with the team

(12:42) Importance of communication and accountability in early-stage startups

(14:09) Strategy for securing funding and attracting talent

(16:53) Importance of angel investors and their added value (20:01) Tips for evaluating venture capital firms and their support (24:16) The challenge of creating a five-year plan

(26:29) The importance of credibility as a founder

(28:44) Tips for building relationships with investors

(31:07) Choosing investors based on their alignment with business strategy

(32:04) Treating investor prospecting like a sales journey

(36:28) Focus on customer needs, not product features

(37:42) People buy from people

(39:36) Quick Fire Round
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