#277 The Best Career Path for Sales Development Reps

Notes:

Last week, I was fortunate to be a guest on Chris Bussing’s podcast. That episode turned up to be a huge success, according to Chris. You can listen to it here.

We had a great time talking so I decided to invite Chris into my show and continue our conversation.

For those of you who will meet Chris for the first time, this awesome dude is a senior account executive at Bespin Global US, a tech-sales company based in Austin, Texas. Like me, he also teaches and coaches salespeople.

In this episode, we talked about Chris Bussing’s journey in account management for big companies like Google. Chris’ path is a perfect illustration that while being an SDR may not be the best path to becoming an SE, it could be a great stepping stone to account management or becoming an account executive as Chris has done.

Key Takeaways:

Why salespeople shouldn’t tie their self-worth to their performance
The importance of recognizing that you are working for a business and layoffs are inevitable
Who Chris Bussing is
How sales can be a force for personal development
The pros and cons of being an extrovert and introvert in sales
What it means to take care of people and make it happen
How Chris’ dad, also a salesperson, became his inspiration
How Chris got into Oracle
Why universities could use more education around emotional intelligence and business skills
Why sales is one of the most important skills to have
The importance of learning through experience
How to become an SDR
Why coachability and the ability to take in feedback are foundational in sales
How to develop cold calling skills
Traits to avoid if you want to become an SDR
Why salespeople should learn to be comfortable with chaos and ambiguity
Why progress is more important than perfection
Why the hardest part is starting
The importance of not being afraid to ruffle feathers
How to deal with objections
What a challenger sale is
How to move or move on from a deal
How to write effective sales emails
The normal career path for someone going into SDR
Why Chris is interested in psychology
Chris’ book recommendations
The habit Chris is working on right now

Quotes:

As salespeople, I feel it’s very difficult to surrender to the outcome because you’re responsible for the outcome. — Ramzi Marjaba

It definitely can be a pressure cooker in sales, so it’s not for the faint of heart. But man, do you grow a lot when you become the type of person that can manage that stress. — Chris Bussing

In sales, you’re forced to pick up a phone and make a cold call to a stranger, which is very uncomfortable, and do other uncomfortable things like negotiating. And when you stretch beyond your comfort zone, that’s where living happens. — Chris Bussing

Take care of people and make it happen. — Chris Bussing

If you believe in yourself, that will translate. — Chris Bussing

Prospecting and the art of getting the meeting and getting someone’s attention is critically important if you want to realize any type of goal or dream. — Chris Bussing

Coachability and the ability to take in feedback and optimize is foundational… Because when you are coachable, your potential is limitless. — Chris Bussing

Get a little bit better every day. And you can’t do that if you’re expecting perfection. — Ramzi Marjaba

You can reach higher and higher. You’re not going to get it perfect or right the first time. You’re not going to reach your full potential the first time. You can always reach higher. So done is better than perfect. Just start. — Chris Bussing

The hardest part of any journey is to actually start. — Ramzi Marjaba

If they’re saying something that doesn’t make sense, that’s an objection. And the first part of handling objections is not necessarily telling them why they’re wrong. It’s just trying to understand where they’re coming from. — Ramzi Marjaba

The beauty of the SDR role is, as I said, it’s one of the best career paths for people that don’t know what they want to do with their career life. — Chris Bussing