Are Inbound SDRs irrelevant? | Hot Take with Kaylee Edmondson

Episode Description

In this episode, I'm mixing it up a bit. Join me as I share my hot take on Inbound SDRs and how we are optimizing that inbound handoff process for handraisers. It's quick. It's controversial. It's bound to leave you considering how you can optimize your speed to lead.

Show Notes

Chris Walker's State of Demand Gen Episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/state-of-demand-gen/id1511588213?i=1000523544158

Dangerously MisLeading eBook - How Some Companies Drive More Pipeline Without Inbound SDRs: https://www.chilipiper.com/resources/hub/dangerously-misleading-guide

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Follow Kaylee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaylee-edmondson/

Learn more about Chili Piper: https://www.chilipiper.com/

About Demand Gen Chat

 Demand Gen Chat is a Chili Piper podcast hosted by Kaylee Edmondson. Join us as we sit down with leaders in marketing to discover the key to driving B2B revenue. If you want benchmarks or insights on trends in the market, this podcast is for you!

Episode Transcript

Kaylee Edmondson: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Demand Gen Chat. I am your host, Kaylee Edmondson. And today we're going to mix things up a little bit. It will just be myself. We are not having a guest join us. Um, but I felt it was important for us to get on here and try and cover this topic that I feel is being discussed more and more in this space.

Let's just dive right in. Um, the topic of inbound SDRs is been debated for quite a while, but I feel like with all of the intent data, um, enrichment signals, all of those types of things that we can now leverage through the ZoomInfo, Clearbits Apollos of the world, um, it's now becoming less and less that you actually need an inbound SDR to hop on a qualification call. Right?

So let's set the stage and walk through how this happens traditionally. Um, even still today, it's most common that a buyer or prospect will come to your website, do all of their research, understand your pricing model, maybe have chatted with a friend in the space that uses you guys, whatever it is, they're on your site and they're ready to buy. So they fill out a form, virtually raising their hand saying, "Hey, I'm here and I'm ready to buy. I'd like to talk to someone on your sales team." And more often than not, what are they met with other than some type of confirmation page or even a confirmation up that's like, "Thanks so much for your interest. We'll get back to you within 24, 48, 72 hours."

Crazy. So me, as a prospect, right then, I'm in buying mode right now. I'm most often doing my own, um, hand-raising for prospects for, you know, me prospecting into other software outside of working hours, right? Um, or right then and there, when that pain point is hitting the hardest and I'm raising my hand and saying, "I'm ready to buy now. I have a pain point that I need alleviated. Your service can help me. I'm ready to buy."

So, if I met with some type of confirmation page that doesn't allow me to immediately take action, as the prospect, what am I doing? Probably going to their competitor and doing the very same thing, right? To see who can get me in the fastest and who can solve my problem right now. So, the way that we interpret that here at Chili Piper is that obviously that's not what we want to do. We don't want to allow people to not get the help that they need right then and there. It's in... This is a buyer-centric world today, um, and that's just how every demand gen marketer should be thinking.

So, someone hits our site. They fill out a form. We actually use some enrichment data on the backend to allow us to properly qualify or disqualify them on the spot. And then of course, we leverage our own product Concierge, um, part of Chili Piper, to route the auto-qualified leads to their appropriate account executive right then and there to book a meeting. Very seamless. Quick engagement. Very quick sales cycle. It closes the loop, right? It doesn't allow leads to fall through the cracks or to not be followed up with properly.

Um, I feel like it's a much more humanized approach than some of the other ways that B2B software are going about helping their buyers, helping their prospects, all of those things. Right? So, this alternative allows us to essentially skip that tradition step in which someone is coming in, requesting a demo, being passed to an SDR for a qualification call, which is just lengthening the sales cycle, also probably irritating the prospect.

Um, there's nothing worse, right? I know we've all been there. There's nothing worse than getting on a call, thinking that you're going to end up getting a demo, um, and actually seeing the inside of whatever product it is that you're seeking, uh, the solution for, only to be met with an SDR, or BDR, et cetera, whatever you want to call them, um, that asks you a series of questions, right? That likely could have been found out beforehand. Um, it, it's not a great buying experience for the prospect.

So, anyways, we have a, uh, a slightly controversial stance in that we do all of our other qua- qualification, like, directly on the form. If you're not qualified, we route you to a different destination. If you are qualified, you land on your appropriate AEs calendar based on territory routing, geo routing, whatever it is that you need, so that your solution is there. Front and center. The buyer is ready. They're expressing a pain. You can solve their problem. That's speed to lead.

I think we have talked about speed to lead forever. I feel like it's, um, something that everybody says a lot, but still aren't actively acting on or solving for. Um, actually the, what sparked this idea for me to record this episode solo was an episode that Chris Walker actually put out on State of Demand Gen. Um, I believe it was last week is when it was published, but it's episode 148. It's a brilliant episode. Um, it talks about this very same topic in much more depth than I'm covering right now.

Um, he actually has a guest speaker on as well. They kind of collaborate on some of their thoughts and some of their potential solutions for how, um, buyers in this space or demand gen marketers in this space should go about solving this very same person, um, but still not at the forefront front of people's minds. Especially when you come in, your new demand gen marketer for a new organization, this is one of the very first things that you should be solving for, is making sure that that speed to lead, that lead handoff process is in place and is there for your prospects.

Um, there's nothing worse than spending all of this time, especially in demand gen, building out advertising campaigns, or even organic campaigns where you're trying to get in front of your audience with the right message, at the right time, only for them to be pushed through this funnel, land on your website, and not have a great experience once you have actually captured that demand.

So, hopefully this is helpful. I would love to, of course, hear all of your thoughts in the comments. Um, I will post this on LinkedIn as well. And, you know, I just love to open up a forum about it. So how are you processing your inbound leads today? People that are coming to your site and raising their hand and saying that they are ready to get a demo of your product and buy your solution, what are you doing with them? How quickly are you getting back to them?

Uh, there are so many stats out there that say the importance of speed to lead, less than five minutes, less than an hour, whatever it may be. But all of those things, instantly providing them with gratification is obviously the world that we are living in today. So as close as you can get to instant gratification is obviously going to be the key winner and a main differentiator for you against your competitors.

If you found this helpful, please leave a review. Reviews help us ensure that we can continue to bring valuable content like this, as well as interviews, your way, um, to hopefully spark some inspiration for your own demand gen strategies. We'll see you next time. Bye.