Designing Your B2B Outbound Sales Team for 2026 and Beyond

As we approach 2026, companies must rethink their team structures, embrace emerging technologies, and adapt to evolving buyer expectations to remain competitive.

The most successful organizations will be those that combine specialized expertise with AI-powered efficiency while maintaining the human touch that drives relationship-based selling.

The New Sales Development Hierarchy

The future belongs to intelligence specialists who combine market research with targeted outreach.

Sales Development Representatives

Modern SDRs should be:

• Signal hunters: Monitoring 50+ buying triggers across target accounts
• Market mappers: Understanding entire decision-making units, not just single contacts
• Competitive intelligence agents: Tracking competitor movements and market shifts
• Relationship orchestrators: Building multi-threaded connections across organization

I worked with a SaaS company that transformed their SDR role from "dialer" to "researcher." Instead of 100 calls per day, their SDRs focused on 20 deeply researched accounts. 

Result? Their qualified opportunity rate jumped from 2% to 18% in four months.

Account Executives

AEs in 2026 won't be glorified appointment setters. They'll be conversion specialists who bridge the gap between awareness and interest.

Key capabilities include:

• Multi-channel orchestration: Coordinating touchpoints across phone, email, LinkedIn, video, and direct mail
• Behavioral psychology: Understanding what motivates different buyer personas
• Objection anticipation: Addressing concerns before they become roadblocks
• Value articulation: Translating features into business outcomes

The New Role: GTM Engineer

This position doesn't exist in most organizations yet. But it will be essential by 2026.

Think of them as the air traffic controllers of your outbound operation:

• Performance optimization: Continuous A/B testing of messaging, timing, and tactics
• Market intelligence coordination: Synthesizing insights across all campaigns
• Technology orchestration: Ensuring your MarTech stack works in harmony
• Predictive analytics: Forecasting pipeline health and identifying risks

Specialization vs. Hybrid

The eternal question: should you build specialized roles or hybrid generalists?

The answer depends on your deal complexity and team size.

When to Choose Specialization:

• High-value contracts (£50k+ annually)
• Complex sales cycles (3+ months)
• Multiple stakeholders (5+ decision makers)
• Technical products requiring deep expertise

I've seen this work brilliantly with enterprise software companies. One client specialized their team by vertical (healthcare, finance, manufacturing). Each SDR became an industry expert, speaking the language and understanding specific pain points. Their conversion rates doubled within six months.

When Hybrid Makes Sense:

• Lower contract values (Under £25k annually)
• Shorter sales cycles (Under 6 weeks)
• Smaller teams (Under 10 people)
• Resource constraints limiting hiring
  

A mid-market client successfully ran hybrid SDRs who could prospect, qualify, and even close smaller deals. It reduced handoff friction and improved customer experience.

But here's the key: even hybrid roles need primary specializations. Nobody excels at everything.

Why 68% of Companies Are Going External

Let me share a story that'll make you rethink everything.

Last year, I consulted with a growing fintech company. They'd been trying to build an in-house SDR team for 18 months. They'd burned through £300k in hiring, training, and tools.
Their pipeline? Practically non-existent.

Within 90 days of partnering with a specialized sales development agency, they generated £1.2M in qualified pipeline.

The difference? Instant access to proven methodologies, advanced technology, and experienced talent. We've written extensively about whether an outsourced sales agency is right for you, and the data shows this trend accelerating as companies recognize the strategic advantages.

The outsourced sales development market is exploding because smart companies recognize the advantages:

Immediate Expertise Access

Building internal expertise takes years. Buying it takes weeks.

When you outsource, you're not just hiring people – you're accessing:

• Proven methodologies refined across hundreds of campaigns
• Advanced technology stacks that would cost millions to build internally
• Industry expertise across multiple verticals and use cases
• Global talent pools operating across multiple time zones

Scalability Without Commitment

Need to ramp up for a product launch? Scale down during quiet periods? Outsourcing provides flexibility that internal teams can't match.

One client needed to test three new markets simultaneously. Instead of hiring 15 new SDRs (and risking massive layoffs if markets didn't work), they partnered with an agency.
Two markets failed, one succeeded. They scaled the winning market and avoided the costs of the failed ones.

Risk Mitigation

Bad hires cost 2.5X their annual salary when you factor in hiring costs, training, lost productivity, and severance. With outsourcing, performance risk transfers to the agency.

Plus, you avoid the overhead costs that kill profitability:

• Office space and equipment
• HR administration and payroll
• Training and development programs
• Technology licenses and support
• Management time and attention

AI Integration

Here's where most people get it wrong. Contrary to fear-mongering headlines, AI isn't coming for your sales job - it's making salespeople unstoppable by handling routine tasks and amplifying human capabilities.

By 2026, AI will handle the routine work that currently consumes 60% of an SDR's time:

Research and Prospecting

AI can analyze thousands of data points to identify high-probability prospects:

• Buying intent signals: Technology adoption, funding rounds, hiring patterns
• Behavioral indicators: Website engagement, content consumption, competitive research
• Timing triggers: Contract renewals, budget cycles, organizational changes
• Competitive intelligence: Market positioning, pricing changes, personnel moves

Personalization at Scale

Modern AI creates truly personalized outreach without sacrificing efficiency:

• Dynamic content generation based on prospect role, industry, and recent activities
• Multi-stakeholder messaging that coordinates across entire decision-making units
• Cross-channel consistency ensuring aligned messaging across all touchpoints
• Real-time optimization that adapts based on engagement patterns

Performance Optimization

AI continuously optimizes every aspect of your outbound operations:

• Send time optimization: Finding the perfect moment for each prospect
• Channel selection: Choosing the most effective touchpoint for each interaction
• Message testing: A/B testing at scale with statistical significance
• Conversion prediction: Identifying which prospects are most likely to convert

But here's the critical point: AI amplifies human capability. It doesn't replace human judgment, creativity, and relationship-building skills.

The "Multi-Everything" Strategy

Gone are the days of single-channel outreach. Modern buyers expect multi-touch, multi-channel experiences that provide value at every interaction.

The winning approach combines:

Multi-Threading

Engaging multiple stakeholders simultaneously across the decision-making unit.

Multi-Tactics

Phone calls, emails, LinkedIn messages, video messages, direct mail, and strategic gifting.

Multi-Channels

Professional networks, email systems, phone systems, social platforms, and offline channels.

Multi-Touch

6-10 touchpoints optimally spaced over 2-3 weeks, with each providing unique value.

I worked with a client who increased their response rate by 340% using multi-channel sequences. The key? Each touchpoint provided different value – market insights, case studies, tools, introductions – rather than just repeating the same pitch.

Remote and Hybrid Models

The future is distributed. By 2026, the best outbound teams will combine remote efficiency with strategic in-person interactions.

The Remote Advantages:

• 24/7 market coverage: Follow-the-sun operations for global prospects
• Access to global talent: Best people regardless of location
• Cost optimization: Avoiding geographic salary premiums
• Scalability: Rapid expansion without physical constraints

When to Go In-Person:

• Complex deal support: High-value opportunity progression
• Relationship building: Key stakeholder meetings
• Team training: Culture building and knowledge sharing
• Industry events: Market intelligence and networking

Making Remote Work:

The key is intentional culture building:

• Over-communication protocols: Preventing isolation and misalignment
• Outcome-based metrics: Focus on results, not activity
• Regular coaching: Weekly 1:1s and skill development
• Technology excellence: Professional presence across all digital channels

Performance Measurement 

As we explored in our analysis of crucial KPIs to measure outbound success, most companies are tracking activity metrics rather than business impact - a fundamental flaw that becomes even more critical as we approach 2026

The New Performance Framework:

Primary Indicators:

• Pipeline velocity: Time from first touch to closed opportunity
• Conversion rate by stage: MQL to SQL to opportunity progression
• Revenue per team member: Monthly pipeline generation
• Customer acquisition cost: Total cost per qualified opportunity

Advanced Analytics:

• Multi-touch attribution: Understanding which touchpoints drive conversions
• Channel performance analysis: ROI by communication method
• Predictive pipeline forecasting: AI-powered revenue projections
• Competitive win/loss analysis: Market positioning insights

Quality Metrics:

• Conversation quality scores: AI-analyzed call effectiveness
• Relationship depth indicators: Multi-stakeholder engagement levels
• Value delivery metrics: Insights provided per interaction
• Customer satisfaction scores: Buyer experience ratings

The goal isn't just more activity. It's better outcomes through smarter execution.

Building for Scale: Your 2026 Action Plan

Ready to transform your outbound sales structure? Here's your blueprint:

Phase 1: Assessment

• Audit current team structure and performance
• Identify gaps in skills, technology, and processes
• Benchmark against industry best practices
• Define success metrics and goals

Phase 2: Technology Foundation 

• Implement AI-powered prospecting tools
• Integrate multi-channel orchestration platforms
• Establish performance tracking and analytics
• Create data integration and workflow automation

Phase 3: Team Restructuring

• Redefine roles based on specialization strategy
• Implement training programs for new capabilities
• Establish coaching and development processes
• Create performance management frameworks

Phase 4: Optimization 

• Continuous A/B testing of messages and processes
• Regular skill development and training updates
• Performance monitoring and improvement cycles
• Strategic planning and competitive analysis

The Future is Now: Your Competitive Advantage Awaits

The transformation of B2B outbound sales isn't coming – it's here. Companies that adapt quickly will capture disproportionate market share. Those that don't will struggle to compete.

The winning formula combines:

• Specialized expertise over generic activity
• AI amplification of human capabilities
• Multi-channel orchestration for modern buyers
• Continuous optimization based on performance data
• Global talent with local market expertise

The question isn't whether to evolve your outbound sales structure. It's how quickly you can make the transition.

Because while you're debating, your competitors are already building their 2026 advantage.

Ready to design your future-ready outbound sales team?

The blueprint is here. The technology exists. The talent is available.

The only question is: will you lead the transformation or follow it?

At Punch!, we've helped companies like AWS, Square, and DHL build outbound sales structures that dominate their markets. Our combination of specialized expertise, AI technology, and proven methodologies delivers the results your business needs to scale rapidly and profitably.

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"I'm drowning in signals," our one business development rep said to me the other day, scrolling through approximately 47 different notifications from various tools. "HubSpot says Company A downloaded a whitepaper. ZoomInfo alerts tell me Company B hired someone new. LinkedIn tells me Company C posted about their challenges. But I have no bloody idea who actually cares or what to do with any of it."

He paused, looking genuinely defeated. "It's like having a smoke detector that goes off every time someone makes toast. Eventually, you just ignore it."

That conversation stuck with me because Graham isn't alone. According to recent research, 73% of marketing-qualified leads never convert to opportunities, and 27% of sales reps say they can't effectively act on the intent data their marketing teams provide.

The Intent Data Paradox: Why More Information is Making Us Less Effective

We're living in the golden age of buyer intelligence, yet most sales teams are more confused than ever.

Think about it. Your average B2B sales rep has access to:

• Website visitor tracking
• Content consumption analytics
• Social media monitoring
• Technographic changes
• Job change alerts
• Funding announcements
• Buying signals from multiple sources

But here's what actually happens: Sarah from Company X downloads your eBook about "Cloud Security Best Practices." Your intent data platform flags Company X as "high intent." Your SDR reaches out to the first contact they find and sends a generic email about cloud security solutions.

Plot twist: Sarah's an intern who was doing research for her manager's presentation. The actual decision-maker (who never touched your content) gets a completely irrelevant outreach message and promptly hits delete.

This is why intent data has become the emperor's new clothes of B2B sales. Everyone talks about how revolutionary it is, but deep down, we all know something's missing.

Contact-Level Intent: The Missing Piece of the ABM Puzzle

What if I told you there's a way to know not just that someone at Company X is interested in cloud security, but that David Thompson, their CISO, spent 12 minutes reading an article about zero-trust architecture on a competitor's blog this morning?

That's the power of contact-level intent data. And it's exactly what our partners at Influ2 just cracked with their new Audienscope feature.

Why Account-Level Intent is Like Ordering Pizza for a Wedding

Traditional intent data tells you "someone at this company is hungry." Contact-level intent tells you "David in accounting wants pepperoni, Sarah in HR is vegetarian, and the CEO is doing keto."

Which one helps you actually deliver value?

The difference is profound. When Gong analyzed over 500,000 sales calls, they found that personalized outreach based on individual buyer behavior resulted in 40% higher response rates compared to account-level targeting.

But most tools can't tell you which specific person showed the intent. Until now.

The Three Types of Contact-Level Intent That Change Everything

Influ2's Audienscope introduces three game-changing signal types that go way beyond traditional "they visited your pricing page" alerts:

1. Search Intent (The Zero-Click Revolution)

Remember when a Google search meant clicking through to websites?

With AI-powered search summaries and featured snippets, 65% of searches now end without a click. Traditional intent data misses this entirely because it relies on website visits that aren't happening.

But what if you could know when your exact target buyer searched for "enterprise data backup solutions" this morning, even if they never clicked on your site?

That's search intent detection. And it's bloody brilliant.

I can already picture the outreach: "Hi David, I noticed you might be researching enterprise backup solutions. Most CTOs tell us their biggest concern isn't just data protection, but recovery speed during critical incidents. Would you be open to a quick conversation about how companies like yours are achieving 99.9% recovery time objectives?"

2. Third-Party Content Engagement

Here's something that'll make you question everything: 67% of B2B buyers consume competitor content during their research process.

Your perfect prospect might be religiously reading your competitor's blog, attending their webinars, and downloading their guides. Traditional intent data? Completely blind to this.

But contact-level intent can detect when Sarah Johnson, VP of Operations at Target Company, just spent 15 minutes reading an article about "Digital Transformation Challenges in Manufacturing" on your competitor's site.

This is gold. Pure gold.

Instead of generic outreach, you can reference the exact content they engaged with and provide additional value: "Hi Sarah, I saw you're researching digital transformation challenges in manufacturing. That particular article missed a crucial point about legacy system integration that we've seen trip up 80% of manufacturing companies. Would you be interested in a brief case study showing how similar companies navigated this?"

3. Social Media Signals

LinkedIn has become the wild west of business content. Everyone's posting, sharing, and commenting on everything. The noise is deafening.

But what if you could filter through all that noise and only surface when your target buyers post about topics directly relevant to your solution?

When your prospect posts "Struggling with data silos between our CRM and marketing automation platform" – that's not noise. That's a buying signal wrapped in a bow with your name on it.

Signal Center: Making Intelligence Actually Actionable

Now, having better signals is only half the battle. The other half is making them actionable for your sales team without adding another tool to their already bloated tech stack.

This is where Signal Center comes in, and it addresses something that's been driving revenue operations managers to drink heavily: signal fatigue.

The AI Context Revolution

Instead of receiving an alert that says "Jamie clicked on an ad," you get "Jamie is researching marketing attribution solutions based on her engagement with content about multi-touch attribution models."

See the difference? One's a data point. The other's actionable intelligence.

Buying Group Visibility 

B2B decisions involve an average of 6.8 stakeholders. Yet most intent data treats each signal as isolated events.

Signal Center automatically groups related signals by account and buying group. So instead of seeing:

• "David viewed pricing page"
• "Sarah downloaded ROI calculator"
• "Michael attended webinar"

You see: "3 stakeholders from Target Company are actively researching solutions, with David (decision-maker) focusing on pricing, Sarah (influencer) calculating ROI, and Michael (user) learning about implementation."

That's the kind of intelligence that closes deals.

No Workflow Disruption 

Here's my favorite part: your sales team doesn't need to log into another platform. Signals can be delivered through Slack, email digests, or directly in Salesforce.

Because let's be honest, if your solution requires sales reps to change their behavior significantly, it's DOA. (Looking at you, every "revolutionary" CRM that died a quiet death in the 2010s.)

Why This Matters for Your Sales Development Strategy

If you've been following our previous posts about measuring outbound success beyond traditional metrics, you know we're big believers in awareness-driven approaches over activity-driven ones.

Contact-level intent data is the ultimate awareness amplifier.

Precision Targeting at Scale

Remember the old days of buying lists and hoping for the best? (Please tell me you're not still doing that.)

With contact-level intent, your SDR can reach out to exactly the right person, at exactly the right time, with exactly the right message. It's precision targeting without the manual research that kills productivity.

Pattern Interrupt Mastery

We've written extensively about pattern interrupts and why they're crucial for breaking through the noise.

Contact-level intent gives you the ultimate pattern interrupt: relevant personalization based on actual behavior.

Instead of "I noticed you work in manufacturing..." you can lead with "I noticed you were researching legacy system integration challenges..."

One's generic. The other stops the scroll.

Sales Velocity Acceleration

When your outreach is based on real buying behavior rather than cold assumptions, everything accelerates:

• Higher response rates (because relevance wins)
• Shorter qualification cycles (because intent indicates need)
• Better meeting quality (because you're talking to engaged prospects)
• Faster deal progression (because timing is everything)

The Zero-Click Search Reality

Here's a stat that should terrify every marketer: Google's "zero-click" searches (where users get their answer without visiting a website) now account for 65% of all searches.

Your prospects are researching solutions, comparing options, and forming opinions without ever visiting your website. Traditional intent data based on website visitors is missing the majority of research behavior.

But search intent detection captures this invisible research activity. It's like having X-ray vision into your prospect's information gathering process.

The Compound Effect of Better Signals

When you combine contact-level intent data with your existing sales development efforts, the results compound:

Your multi-channel outreach becomes hyper-relevant. Your qualification frameworks become more efficient. Your pipeline becomes more predictable.

It's not about working harder. It's about working with better intelligence.

The Future of Sales Development is Signal-Driven

Look, I've been in this industry long enough to see plenty of "revolutionary" technologies that were anything but revolutionary.

But contact-level intent data? This feels different. This feels like one of those rare innovations that actually changes how we work fundamentally.

Because at the end of the day, sales is about having the right conversation with the right person at the right time. Contact-level intent data gives you all three.

Your prospects are already telling you what they need. They're researching solutions, engaging with content, and sharing challenges on social media.

The question isn't whether they're showing intent. The question is whether you're smart enough to listen.

What This Means for Your 2026 Strategy

If you're planning your sales development strategy for next year, contact-level intent data should be at the center of it.

Not because it's the latest shiny object (though it is pretty shiny). But because it solves real problems that have been plaguing sales teams for years:

• How to identify active buyers before they reach out
• How to personalize outreach without manual research
• How to time conversations for maximum impact
• How to focus efforts on prospects most likely to convert

The companies that figure this out first will have an unfair advantage. The companies that don't? Well, they'll be stuck with the old playbook while their competitors eat their lunch.

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In the latest episode of B2B Outbound, Chris and James sat down with Ben Robinson, founder of Playbook Systems, to discuss why traditional B2B data is becoming a commodity—and what smart sales teams are doing about it.

It's not about getting more data. It's about getting data nobody else has.

The Problem with Generic Data

Your sales team is probably using the same data as everyone else. ZoomInfo, Apollo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Ring any bells?

Ben cuts straight to the chase: "Everyone makes use of intent signals from these big data providers. But the problem is everyone's sharing the same intent data. So every time there's a new job mover, everyone is aware of the same job mover at the same time, and they get flooded with messages."

Translation: Your prospects are drowning in identical outreach because every sales team is working from the same playbook.

What Is "Unique-to-You" Data?

Ben's company specializes in what he calls "unique-to-you data"—information that's specific to your business and completely unavailable to your competitors.

Here's a killer example: Ben worked with an interactive content platform whose biggest enemy was PDF documents. So what did they do?

They scraped and analyzed their target accounts' PDF usage patterns:

• How many PDFs are they publishing?
• What tools are they using to create them?
• Are they becoming more or less dependent on PDFs over time?
• How heavy are these files? How many pages?
  

The result? 

They could reach out with insights like: "Hey, we noticed your marketing team is using 15 different tools to create PDFs across your organization. Here's why that's costing you more than you think..."

As Ben puts it: "The really cool thing is bringing information to the attention of the prospects that they weren't even aware of."

Another Mind-Blowing Use Case

Here's where it gets really interesting. Ben shared an example from a benefits platform client:

They would scrape job postings from target accounts, analyze what benefits they were offering, then look at their competitors' benefit packages. The outreach?

"Hey Adidas, look what Nike's offering in their benefits package for sales team members. You're hiring for sales roles too—you're probably losing talent to them because they're offering more benefits."

This isn't just personalization. This is competitive intelligence delivered at scale.

Why Isn't Everyone Doing This?

If this data is so powerful, why isn't every B2B team using it?

Ben explains: "A lot of the times, in order to acquire this type of data requires a bit of technical acumen, knowing what scraping tools to use or building scrapers from the ground up, knowing when to use automation, which tools, how to prompt to analyze data using different large language models for different use cases."

Plus, "people don't even realize it's possible a lot of the time."

The Future of B2B Sales Teams

Ben predicts a massive shift in how sales teams are structured: "What used to require a large team of SDRs where a high amount of their time—20, 30%—may have been spent in prospecting mode researching, all of that time now need not be spent."

Instead? 

"One skilled go-to-market engineer with the right tools can conduct the same amount of research and data acquisition as an entire team of SDRs spending 30 to 40% of their time prospecting."

How to Get Started

Want to find your own unique data goldmine? Ben's advice is simple:

"Audit the sales team members that have a very good track record for cold prospecting. Understand exactly what it is that they're looking at on a given target account, what information they're looking for in order to determine if they're fit to go after."

The best data usually isn't one data point—it's multiple data points that let you infer something meaningful about the prospect.

The Bottom Line

While your competitors are fighting over the same stale data from traditional providers, there's a treasure trove of unique insights hiding in plain sight online. The companies that figure out how to mine this data will have an unfair advantage in their outreach.

As Ben says: "If it has a web presence, it can be found and it can be pulled out."

The question is: Are you ready to go beyond the same old data everyone else is using?

Ready to discover what unique data could do for your sales team? 

Listen to the full episode to hear Ben's complete framework for finding and leveraging data that gives you an unfair competitive advantage.

Connect with Ben Robinson on LinkedIn or check out Playbook Systems to explore how unique data acquisition could transform your outbound efforts.

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“It's the difference between companies that scale predictably and those that throw money at problems hoping something sticks.”

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After spending the last decade in the sales trenches and helping clients generate over £706M in pipeline, I've learned that RevOps isn't just another buzzword that'll disappear faster than your New Year's gym membership.

Here's what I wish someone had told me five years ago about building a RevOps team that actually moves the needle.

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What the Hell is RevOps Anyway?

“RevOps is when your revenue teams finally work together like a well-oiled machine.”

Revenue Operations is basically the grown-up version of "let's all just get along."

It's when your marketing, sales, and customer success teams stop operating like separate kingdoms (with their own currencies, languages, and weird territorial disputes) and start working together like a well-oiled machine.

Think of it this way: if your revenue process was a relay race, RevOps ensures nobody drops the baton. Because right now? Your marketing team is running full sprint toward sales, sales is looking the wrong direction, and customer success is still trying to figure out which race they're in.

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“Most companies are losing 40-60% of qualified leads during handoffs — that's not a leak, that's a waterfall”. 

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Why RevOps Isn't Just Another Corporate Initiative

“You can't wait for 'things to calm down'. They never do.”

I've watched too many companies treat RevOps like it's some nice-to-have project they'll get to "when things calm down."

But let’s be real - things never calm down.

Here's what happens when you actually implement proper RevOps though:

• Deal velocity increases by 30% (because nobody's waiting three days for someone to respond to a hot lead)
• Your sales team spends more time selling instead of hunting through 47 different spreadsheets
• Marketing can finally prove their campaigns actually generate revenue (revolutionary, I know)
• Customer success stops being the team that only talks to clients when something's broken

The Hidden Cost of Wing-It Operations

Before we dive into building your team, let's address what poor RevOps is actually costing you.

When I audit prospective clients (and trust me, I've seen some things), here's what I consistently find:

The Data Disaster Zone

• Marketing thinks they generated 500 leads this month
• Sales says they only received 300
• Customer success has no idea what promises were made during the sale
• Finance is wondering why the revenue projections are always wrong

The Handoff Horror Show

• Marketing qualified lead comes in at 3 PM Friday
• Sales doesn't see it until Tuesday (because weekends, obviously)
• Lead has already moved on to a competitor who called them within 30 minutes
• Everyone blames everyone else

The Technology Tower of Babel

• Marketing uses HubSpot
• Sales swears by Salesforce
• Customer success built their own system in Excel (I wish I was joking)
• Nobody can tell you which customer is actually profitable

One client told me they were spending £50K annually on sales tools that didn't talk to each other. Their sales team was manually copying data between systems. In 2024. Let that sink in.

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How to Build a RevOps Team That Actually Works

Step 1: The Reality Check Audit

Don't start by hiring people. Start by figuring out where your revenue engine is currently on fire.

I use what I call the "RevOps Emergency Triage":

The Bleeding Test: Where are you losing the most money right now?

• Is it leads disappearing after marketing hands them off?
• Sales reps spending half their time on admin work?
• Customers churning because onboarding was a disaster?

The Speed Test: How long does everything actually take?

• First response to a new lead
• MQL to SQL conversion
• Proposal to signature
• New customer onboarding

The Truth Test: What do your teams actually think is broken? (Pro tip: Ask them individually. You'll get more honest answers.)

I once did this audit for a client who thought their main problem was lead quality. Turns out, their leads were fine. Their sales team just wasn't following up because the CRM was so clunky they avoided using it. Six months of blaming marketing for the wrong problem.

Step 2: Stop Trying to Boil the Ocean

The biggest mistake I see? Companies trying to fix everything at once.

You know what happens when you try to implement 15 new processes simultaneously? Nothing. People get overwhelmed, revert to their old ways, and you're back to square one with less budget and more cynical teams.

Pick ONE thing. The one thing that's costing you the most money right now. Fix that first.

For most companies, it's the MQL to SQL handoff. Marketing says a lead is "qualified," sales disagrees, lead gets ignored, everyone points fingers.

Start here: Get marketing and sales in a room (yes, physically in the same room if possible) and agree on what "qualified" actually means. Not in theory. In practice.

What job title? What company size? What specific actions did they take? What questions did they ask?

Write it down. Make it measurable. Test it for 30 days. Adjust.

Boom. You just did RevOps.

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Step 3: Your First Hire (And It's Not Who You Think)

Everyone thinks they need to hire a "RevOps Director" with a fancy resume and a bigger salary than your sales manager.

Wrong.

Your first hire should be someone I call a "Revenue Detective." This person is part analyst, part project manager, part diplomat.

What they actually do:

• Dig into your data to find where revenue is getting lost
• Map out your actual processes (not what's in the employee handbook)
• Get teams talking to each other without starting World War III
• Implement quick fixes that show immediate ROI

What they DON'T do:

• Build complex attribution models (yet)
• Redesign your entire tech stack
• Create 40-slide PowerPoints about "alignment"

I've seen companies transform their revenue operations with someone making £45K who just cared enough to ask the right questions and follow up relentlessly.

The fancy stuff can come later. First, stop the bleeding.

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Step 4: The Technology Trap

Here's where most companies screw up: they think RevOps is a technology problem. It's not.

RevOps is a people and process problem that technology can help solve. But if you start with technology, you'll end up with expensive, shiny tools that nobody uses properly.

The Punch! Tech Stack Philosophy:

1. Fix the process first
2. Find the simplest technology that supports the process
3. Get everyone actually using it
4. THEN optimize and add complexity

I watched a client spend six months implementing a sophisticated marketing automation platform. Know what happened? Their sales team ignored all the leads because they didn't trust the scoring algorithm. The process was broken, not the technology.

Start with these questions:

• How are we capturing leads right now?
• Where is that data stored?
• Who needs access to it?
• What do they actually do with it?
  
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Step 5: Making Teams Actually Work Together

This is the hard part. Not the technology. Not the processes. Getting humans to change how they've been doing things for years.

I've found that the secret isn't motivation speeches or team-building exercises (though a good pizza party never hurt anyone). It's making it easier to do things the new way than the old way.

Example: Instead of forcing sales to log into a new system to get lead information, push that information directly into the tools they already use. Make the right way the lazy way.

Another example: Instead of asking marketing to change their entire reporting structure, show them how the new process will make their campaigns look more effective (because they'll actually be more effective).

People don't resist change. They resist being made to feel stupid or having their work become harder.

The Metrics That Actually Matter

Forget vanity metrics. Focus on the numbers that directly impact your bank account:

Primary Revenue KPIs:

• Pipeline velocity (how fast deals move through your funnel)
• Customer Acquisition Cost by channel
• Revenue per employee
• Customer lifetime value by segment

Leading Indicators:

• Time to first response on new leads
• Percentage of leads contacted within 4 hours
• Number of meaningful conversations per week
• Proposal-to-close conversion rate

The Punch! Secret Metric: Multi-stakeholder engagement rate. In B2B sales, you need to engage multiple decision-makers. Track how often you're having conversations with more than one person at target accounts.

This metric alone can predict deal success better than most scoring algorithms.

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Common RevOps Mistakes

Mistake #1: Perfectionism Paralysis

I've seen companies spend 18 months building the "perfect" system while their revenue suffered. Done is better than perfect. Always.

Mistake #2: Technology Before Process

If your process is broken, technology will just help you fail faster. Fix the fundamentals first.

Mistake #3: Ignoring External Partners

If you work with external agencies (ahem), integrate them into your RevOps planning from day one. We've seen too many companies treat their outsourced partners like afterthoughts, then wonder why handoffs are messy.

Mistake #4: Treating RevOps Like IT

RevOps is a business function, not a technical one. Your RevOps leader should understand strategy, not just spreadsheets.

“One client told me they were spending £50K annually on tools that didn't even talk to each other.”

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The Bottom Line on RevOps

RevOps isn't about having the fanciest tech stack or the most sophisticated attribution model. It's about getting your teams to work together efficiently so you can grow predictably.

I've seen companies triple their revenue with nothing more than better communication and cleaner processes. I've also seen companies spend hundreds of thousands on RevOps initiatives that failed because they focused on complexity instead of fundamentals.

Start simple. Fix the obvious problems first. Hire people who care more about results than titles. Focus on processes before technology. And for the love of all that's profitable, get your teams talking to each other.

Your future self (and your bank account) will thank you.

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I was having coffee with Mark, a former SDR who'd just handed in his notice at a well-known tech company. Two years of grinding, crushing quotas, and consistently hitting his numbers. The kind of rep any sales leader would kill to keep.

"I'm done," he said, stirring his oat milk latte with the exhaustion of someone who'd been running on fumes for months. "I can't do another day of 100 cold calls just to get hung up on by people who think I'm selling them insurance."

Mark's story isn't unique. It's epidemic.

The average SDR tenure is 1.5 years. That's not a statistic—that's a warning siren that most companies are choosing to ignore while they frantically post job openings and wonder why their pipeline keeps drying up.

But here's what most sales leaders miss: the problem isn't that SDRs are getting soft. The problem is that we're burning through talented people because we've built a system that treats humans like expendable revenue machines.

The Hidden Cost of SDR Churn 

Let's talk numbers, because apparently that's the only language C-suite executives understand.

When an SDR quits, you're not just losing a person. 

You're losing:

$47,000 in replacement costs (recruitment, onboarding, training, ramp time)

3-6 months of lost productivity while you find and train their replacement 

All their pipeline knowledge (those warm prospects they were nurturing? Gone.) 

Team morale (nothing kills motivation like watching your best performer walk out)

Last year, I watched a client burn through seven SDRs in eight months. Seven. Their CEO kept asking why their pipeline was inconsistent while spending more on recruitment than they would've on a full outsourced SDR solution.

The math is brutal: if you're replacing SDRs every 1.5 years, you're essentially running a very expensive training academy for your competitors.

Why Traditional SDR Management is Broken 

I've been in sales long enough to remember when "smile and dial" was considered cutting-edge strategy. 

The traditional SDR model is fundamentally flawed because it treats symptoms, not causes:

The Volume Trap: 

"Make 100 calls a day" sounds impressive until you realize it's optimizing for activity, not outcomes. I've seen SDRs hit call targets while generating zero quality conversations. It's like measuring a surgeon's success by how fast they can make incisions.

The Spray-and-Pray Approach: 

Give them a list of 10,000 contacts and hope something sticks. This isn't strategy—it's gambling with expensive resources.

The Motivation Mirage: 

Pizza parties and leaderboards might work for a month, but they don't address the core issue: SDRs burning out because they're fighting an uphill battle with terrible tools and even worse processes.

The Skills Gap: 

Most companies hire SDRs and expect them to figure it out. It's like hiring someone to perform surgery and handing them a butter knife.

Here's what nobody talks about: the best SDRs don't quit because they hate sales. They quit because they hate feeling like failures in a system designed to make them fail.

The Burnout Warning Signs Your HR Team Won't Tell You About

In my experience working with SDRs, I've seen a pattern: the warning signs of burnout are always the same. The scary part? Most managers miss them completely.

The Enthusiasm Death: 

Remember how excited your new hire was in week one? If they're going through the motions by month three, you've got a problem. (Side note: if your onboarding process consists of "here's your laptop and your list," you're part of the problem.)

The Question Drought: 

Good SDRs ask questions. Lots of them. When they stop asking how to improve, what's working, or why certain approaches matter, they've mentally checked out. They're just waiting for a better offer.

The Excuse Factory: 

When previously honest reps start making excuses for missed calls or blown follow-ups, they've lost faith in the process. And once that happens, you've lost them.

The Meeting Decline: 

If they're suddenly "too busy" for coaching sessions or team meetings, they're already interviewing elsewhere.

The brutal truth? By the time you notice these signs, it's usually too late. The best SDRs are already three interviews deep with your competitor.

10 Ways Smart Businesses Retain Their SDRs

I've spent a lot of time figuring out what makes some companies great at keeping their SDRs. After seeing what works and what doesn't, here are the 10 strategies that separate the winners from the wannabes

1. Treat SDRs Like Revenue Generators, Not Call Machines

We know that focusing on conversation quality over call quantity is what separates a good sales team from a great one. The difference? SDRs feel like professionals, not telemarketers.

At Punch!, we take this a step further with our data-driven approach to outbound. Our SDRs aren't making cold calls to random lists—they're calling pre-vetted leads through our Priority ABX™ technology. When your reps know they're calling someone who's already showing buying intent, their confidence and conversion rates skyrocket.

2. Recruit, Reward, and Retain on Company Values

Here's what nobody talks about: skills can be taught, but values can't. The best companies hire for cultural fit first, skills second.

We hire, reward, and retain based on core values, not just performance metrics. When someone aligns with your values, they don't just hit targets—they become ambassadors for your mission.

3. Create Clear Career Progression Paths

The best companies don't hire SDRs to stay SDRs forever. They hire future account executives, customer success managers, and sales leaders.

HubSpot nailed this early with their clear 18-month progression path from SDR to Account Executive, complete with skills assessments and guaranteed promotion opportunities.

At Punch!, every employee gets an established career journey showing exactly how they can progress. No guesswork, no politics—just clear milestones and development opportunities. 

Our average SDR tenure of 2 years proves this works.

4. Invest in Technology That Makes SDRs Superhuman

This isn't about buying the latest shiny tool. It's about strategic technology investment that amplifies human capability.

Our SDRs have access to top technology, including Orum Salesfloor integration for real-time coaching and continuous development.

If your SDRs are spending more than 30% of their time on administrative tasks, you're wasting their talent and your money.

5. Implement Dedicated Coaching Programs

Most companies think a monthly team meeting counts as coaching. It doesn't.

We provide regular coaching sessions (2 per week minimum) combined with our Pod system structure—every client success manager has a dedicated sales development manager with their own SDR team. No one gets lost in the crowd.

6. Create Internal Training and Development Programs

Generic sales training is like using a butter knife for surgery—technically it's a tool, but it won't get the job done.

Our SDR Academy provides specific training and certifications created internally, complete with videos, exercises, and quizzes tailored to our methodology and client needs. When SDRs master skills that are directly applicable to their daily work, they see immediate results.

7. Run with Transparency and Clear Vision

Nothing kills motivation faster than feeling like you're working in the dark.

We run on EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System), which means complete transparency around vision and traction. Everyone knows where we're going, how we're getting there, and exactly how their role contributes to the bigger picture.

8. Put Former SDRs in Management Roles

Here's a controversial take: most SDR managers have never been SDRs. They're managing a job they've never done.

Our managers have mainly all been SDRs, so they have real context to lead. They've been hung up on, dealt with rejection, and know what it takes to succeed. This isn't theory—it's lived experience.

9. Make Work Fun with Regular Games and Incentives

SDR work can be tough. If you're not actively making it engaging, you're part of the problem.

We implement regular games and incentives that go beyond basic leaderboards. Our MVP Club gives everyone in the company an equal chance to earn points—the top 10 team members every year get a fully expensed trip.

10. Align Financial Incentives with Success

Here's what most companies get wrong: they pay SDRs to show up, not to succeed.

We've implemented a commission structure that incentivizes SDRs when they exceed goals. It's not just about base salary—it's about rewarding excellence and making top performers feel valued.

Why Punch! Exists (And Why It Matters for Your Business:

We started Punch! because we got tired of watching talented SDRs burn out in broken systems. We built a company around a simple premise: what if SDRs had every possible advantage?

Advanced technology, continuous training, clear career paths, and the support of a team that's refined this process across hundreds of successful campaigns.

But here's what I'm most proud of: our SDRs don't burn out. They level up.

The companies that will win the next decade of B2B growth are those that stop trying to do everything in-house and start partnering with specialists who can deliver unfair advantages.

Your SDRs deserve better than a system designed to burn them out. Your business deserves better than the status quo tax.

The question isn't whether the current system is broken. The question is: how long are you willing to pay the price for ignoring it?

The Bottom Line

The SDR burnout epidemic isn't going away. It's getting worse as competition for talent increases and buyer behavior becomes more complex.

You have two choices:

Option 1: Keep doing what you're doing. Keep hiring, training, and losing good people. Keep wondering why your pipeline is inconsistent and your costs keep rising.

Option 2: Partner with specialists who've solved this problem. Get guaranteed results, predictable costs, and access to technology and expertise that would take years to build internally.

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Ever wondered why your outbound prospects ghost you faster than a bad Tinder date? You're not alone.

In this week's episode of B2B Outbound, hosts Chris and James sat down with Kevin Baumgart, founder of Set Sales and a sales veteran with over 20 years of experience. From selling copiers door-to-door in downtown Chicago to coaching high-growth tech companies, Kevin's seen it all.

Meet Kevin: The Sales Coaching Veteran

Kevin's journey started in the trenches – literally knocking on doors in Chicago with nothing but a briefcase full of business cards and a Rolodex for contact management. (Remember those?)

"I got kicked out of buildings and got locked in a stairwell on the 17th floor of an office building in downtown Chicago," Kevin recalls with a laugh. "Yeah, there's definitely some PTSD from that experience."

But that grind taught him everything. After cutting his teeth in door-to-door sales, Kevin transitioned into the startup world, helping early-stage software companies from pre-seed to series B scale their sales operations. Now, through Set Sales, he provides one-on-one coaching, fractional head of sales work, and custom training curriculum.

The #1 Challenge Every Sales Team Faces

When asked about the most recurring challenge he sees, Kevin doesn't hesitate:

"Opportunity creation. Lead generation. That new opportunity creation building that consistent pipeline."

It's not process optimization or closing techniques – it's getting quality opportunities in the door in the first place. As Kevin puts it, echoing wisdom from a VC board member: "Nothing happens until somebody sells something."

The Great AE Debate

This one's a hot topic. Should your star account executives be prospecting, or should they focus purely on closing?

Kevin's take is refreshingly practical: "Every org is different."

For early-stage companies with limited resources, AEs might need to wear multiple hats. But as organizations mature, Kevin advocates for specialization:

"If I have a really solid AE that is so good at running the sales process and getting deals over the finish line, I don't want them to do one prospecting call. I want them focused on that all day, every day."

The key? Clear role definition from day one. No surprises, no "I've paid my dues" attitudes.

Outbound vs. Inbound

Here's where things get interesting. Kevin breaks down the fundamental difference between converting inbound and outbound opportunities:

Inbound prospects know you. They reached out. They can usually articulate their need clearly.

Outbound prospects? Not so much. They haven't raised their hand, which means your sales process needs to be completely different.

The Discovery Deep Dive

For outbound opportunities, Kevin emphasizes going way deeper on discovery than you might with inbound leads:

"So many sales organizations do a really good job of uncovering needs and pain points, but they don't dial in impact behind that need and challenge."

It's not enough to know they have a problem. You need to understand:

• The impact on the business
• The impact on the team
• The impact on your champion personally

The Demo Disaster

Kevin has strong feelings about generic demos: "I see way too many demos that are, 'Hey, here's the functionality' and they go through all the pieces of functionality and every demo looks the same. It irks me."

Instead, your demo should be laser-focused on the specific pain points and impacts you uncovered in discovery.

The Tech Revolution: What's Working

The conversation naturally turned to the latest sales tech trends. Kevin's excited about tools like Gong, Clari, and conversation intelligence platforms:

"The days of not being able to analyze and review calls and look at data in the sales process and understand shortcomings and where funnel bleed is... sales leaders have such a different role today."

On AI voice agents? Kevin's cautiously optimistic but realistic about current limitations: "The quality is not there. There's a massive gray area from a legality perspective."

The Virtual Assistant Game Changer

One trend Kevin's particularly excited about? The rise of virtual assistants for sales teams:

"Instead of hiring a $70,000-$90,000 sales ops person, now they can hire 4, 5, 6, 7 virtual assistants."

He's seeing account executives with dedicated VAs helping with pipeline management, CRM updates, deal analysis, and proposal generation – support levels that were unthinkable just a few years ago.

Kevin's Golden Rules for Closing Outbound Deals

When pressed for his top advice for converting outbound opportunities, Kevin offered two game-changing insights:

1. Master Your Discovery Process

"If I had to give one piece of advice, it would be focus on discovery. Script it out, message it out, understand everything that you need to uncover prior to that discovery process."

Kevin emphasizes that when he does win-loss analysis, it almost always comes back to something that happened (or didn't happen) in the discovery stage.

2. Define Your Next Steps (Seriously)

"I find way too many salespeople end a call and there isn't defined next steps. Most importantly, time on the calendar with an invite sent with them accepting that invite."

Kevin believes getting ghosted isn't entirely the prospect's fault – it's often because we haven't done our job defining clear, valuable next steps.

The Process Evolution Challenge

In a world where tools, tactics, and technology change daily, how do you keep your sales process fresh without causing chaos?

Kevin advocates for treating your sales process as "a living, breathing document" but warns against constant changes:

"Yes, we should make improvements. But I think we got to be calculated and dialed in and communicate with the team... that doesn't mean we have to jump on every new tool right away."

His recommendation? Quarterly reviews of process and tooling, with clear communication to the team about any changes.

The Bottom Line

Outbound selling isn't broken – but it requires a fundamentally different approach than inbound. Success comes down to:

• Deeper discovery that uncovers not just pain, but impact
• Structured processes that guide prospects through each stage
• Clear next steps that keep momentum alive
• The right balance of human touch and technological efficiency

As Kevin puts it: "Use the insight you've gathered from discovery calls and refer back to it the whole way through the process."

Ready to Transform Your Outbound Game?

Kevin's insights are just the beginning. If you're struggling with outbound conversion rates, inconsistent pipeline, or want to build a sales process that actually works, this episode is essential listening.

Want to connect with Kevin? Find him at setsales.co or reach out at kevin@setsales.com for coaching and consulting that turns outbound challenges into closed deals.

Listen to the full episode to hear Kevin's complete framework for outbound success, plus war stories from the door-to-door days that'll make you appreciate your current sales challenges.