Melissa Lui

Most SDRs aren’t actually selling. They’re stuck at building lists, researching accounts, and switching between tools. That’s admin work, not revenue work. Hire a GTM engineer to handle qualification, scoring, signals, and CRM uploads. Now your reps start the day with ready-to-call leads. Less busy. More productive. Are your reps selling… or just staying busy?

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Executives won't open cold emails, but they will open a package. This is my best advice for breaking into Tier 1 accounts... When we were trying to break into big enterprise accounts at Levelset, there was one approach that consistently worked. We sent our top prospects a gift in the mail. Most teams never try this. They send another cold email, another LinkedIn message, or another voicemail. Then they sit around wondering why nothing converts. When you’re going after companies that can change your trajectory, you have to operate differently. Start with the person you are trying to connect with. Before you buy anything, spend time learning about the prospect. Look at what they post. Notice what they care about. Listen for the problems they’re trying to solve. You’d be surprised how often people leave clues out in the open. AI is really helpful at pulling this together for you. It's important to understand what would actually matter to them. Pick a gift that shows you pay attention. It takes more effort to pick something thoughtful than it does to spray a thousand people with the same sequence. But you’re not going after a thousand people. You’re going after the handful who can meaningfully move your business forward. It doesn’t need to be expensive. It needs to be personal. Somewhere in the $25–75 range is enough to show you cared without feeling transactional. Include a handwritten card. Keep it simple. Three or four sentences. Tell them why you chose the gift. Tell them what it made you think about in their business. Then make a clear, easy ask. When everything else in their stack is automated, a handwritten note stands out. Send it in a bubble mailer. Nothing fancy. USPS works fine. A bubble mailer gets opened. People are curious. Just make sure the address is right. We double checked every single one. Full up after it arrives. Don’t assume they saw it. Don’t assume they connected the dots. Send a short email. “Just shipped you something. Should arrive this week.” Then follow up again after it lands. The follow up is where the meetings get booked. Did this work? At Levelset, this was our most reliable way to break into large accounts. The response rates were dramatically higher than anything we did through email or phone alone. And it wasn’t because we were clever. It was because we were willing to put in more effort than everyone else. Most reps won’t spend thirty minutes researching a prospect or writing a card. That’s fine. The ones who do will win the meetings with the best prospects. The Reality This work doesn’t scale. It’s not supposed to. You don’t run this play for your entire TAM. You run it for the hundred companies that would meaningfully impact your business if you earned their trust. For those accounts, a thoughtful gift is a small investment compared to the upside. And if you’re willing to do the work, you’ll end up in conversations your competitors never even get close to.

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Now that intent data has been proven to be a massive con, what’s next? Parallel dialling is already on its arse. Gong has ran its course. SDR to AE model? Clay? “Sales” people with less than 2 years experience starting their own agency?

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RevOps isn’t a tool. It’s a commitment to reality. Most teams buy software to avoid discipline. Then nothing changes. If you want revenue to scale, install RevOps like an operator: 1// Define pipeline stages Clear entry/exit criteria. No vibes. 2// Assign next actions Every deal has a next step or it’s dead. 3// Track conversion rates Lead → call → proposal → close. 4// Run a weekly revenue meeting Scoreboard, pipeline, offer friction, commitments. 5// Clean the CRM every week If your data is fake, your decisions are fake. You don’t need another tool. You need a system that tells the truth. Follow Gerald Duran — in-the-trenches mentor to founders who are done guessing. Founders who want mentorship through CanaGlobal: start at 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹.𝗼𝗿𝗴 (click Start Here).

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Most sales reps are still stuck fighting yesterday's outbound battle. They're drowning in manual prospecting and sending template emails to anyone with a pulse. But here's the thing: the real game-changer isn't about cranking out more messages. It's about getting radically smarter with who you target and why. Traditional outbound operates on the hope that firmographic data tells you enough. Software companies with 50-100 employees who raised Series A funding probably need revenue scaling help, right? Maybe. Or maybe not. AI transforms this guesswork into precision. Modern platforms now weave together technographic signals, hiring patterns, news analysis, intent data, and financial indicators to build complex scoring models. Instead of hoping, you're finding actual proof that a company is experiencing the specific challenges your solution addresses. Take account targeting: old-school methods might capture 200 potential accounts based on basic criteria. AI-enhanced scoring filters this down to the 35 accounts showing multiple signals of readiness—companies actively hiring for roles that suggest growth pain, showing intent signals around your category, or experiencing the exact triggers that indicate fit. This isn't just better targeting. It's a fundamental shift from spray-and-pray to surgical precision. What happens when your messaging connects buyer problems to solution value instead of just listing features? Response rates jump from 1% to 8-12%. Pipeline quality improves because you're talking to people actually experiencing the problems you solve. How are you moving beyond basic demographics to find the accounts that are truly ready to engage? #AIinSales #OutboundSales #SalesPlaybooks #AITargeting #B2BSales

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Your AEs are sitting around waiting for SDR meetings while their pipeline coverage drops < 2x. And you're wondering why forecasts keep missing. The linear SDR-to-AE model assumes clean handoffs and qualified pipeline flowing upward on schedule. But markets are tighter now. Budgets are frozen. Decision cycles are longer. You CANNOT afford to depend on a single pipeline source. Parallel prospecting should be, with few exceptions, not even up for debate right now. Here are some standards to set in stone: 1. SDRs focus on top-of-funnel volume. Book meetings. Qualify interest. Create awareness in accounts that aren't actively buying yet. 2. AEs prospect their own territory. Hunt for warm referrals. Expansion opportunities. Build relationships with execs. Go after high-value targets that require account context and business acumen. 3. Execs (yes, you) support in relationship-building Board members, founders, C-suite: everyone participating in opening doors and accelerating deals. Don’t get me wrong - this is NOT about SDRs failing. It's about current market conditions requiring more pipeline from more sources. Some of the best sales teams I know moved away from mass outreach this year and leaned into their network. Asked for referrals. Re-engaged relationships from 2-3 years ago. Fewer touches but higher quality deals. Better logos. Larger ACV. PS - Few teams I know use Vieu to uncover who in the company network (investors, advisors, customers, execs etc.) is connected to target buyers and can make intros. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/g9GB2J8u That's AE-level prospecting. That requires business relationships and strategic thinking that SDRs typically don't have access to yet. The pushback usually sounds like: "But that's what we pay SDRs for. AEs should be closing, not prospecting!" lol ok. How's your pipeline coverage looking right now? If your AEs only work SDR-sourced pipeline, they're dependent on a single source. The implementation is straightforward: - Adjust quota expectations. If AEs spend 20-30% of their time prospecting, quota reflects that or territory size decreases. - Comp structure rewards it. Higher commission rates on self-sourced deals. SPIFFs for expansion within existing accounts. - Track pipeline composition. What percentage is SDR-sourced vs. AE-sourced? If it's 90/10, your AEs aren't really prospecting. - Get the right tech: Vieu for scaling network-led intros, Clay for market signals etc. This doesn't eliminate SDR teams, but it does admittedly change how they work with AEs. In a good way, IMO. Less handoff friction. More collaboration on account strategy. SDRs opening doors, AEs building relationships. Your top performers already do this. They're not waiting around for their next SDR meeting. They're working referrals, reaching out to warm contacts, expanding existing accounts. Make it systematic across the whole team.

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