Why AEs need to be generating their own pipeline
How to own your sales destiny as a new AE for an early-stage company.
DEAR STAGE 2: I just accepted a role as the first Enterprise AE at a Series A startup. They have historically grown through inbound SMB and lower MM customers, but are looking to move upmarket and hired me and one other AE to drive this new outbound enterprise motion. This is the earliest company I have worked for and I want to make sure that I hit the ground running. Any advice for my first few months in the role? ~NEW ENTERPRISE SELLER
DEAR NEW ENTERPRISE SELLER: Own your pipeline! That’s it. Marketing generated leads are great and having a BDR to support your pipeline growth, is a huge win. But ultimately you, as the AE, are carrying a quota and need to take control of your own destiny.
I jumped on the phone with Jacob Karp, an enterprise sales leader at Rubrik, last week to get his take on how to start on the right foot in a new role. Jacob has worked for some killer companies and after a decade+ in enterprise sales, he still believes AEs should be prospecting and driving their own pipeline.
When coming into a new role, Jacob and I agreed that you should start with the mentality that you will need to create 100% of your own pipeline. Yes, it’s possible that you will get paired with a rockstar BDR or marketing will over-deliver on leads from day 1, but you can’t assume that. Instead, you want to take the extremely cautious view that you are on your own until proven otherwise.
Jacob has spent a ton of time thinking about this and even built out a 29-step checklist for new AEs (you can get a copy here!). Spoiler alert - this isn’t rocket science. Jacob doesn’t have some magic button you can push to hit your quota. He is sharing tried and true tactics that, if you execute on them consistently, will help you hit your number. And consistency is the key - prospecting is a day-in and day-out job where you may not feel the impact for quite some time.
Here are the top actionable pieces of advice I took away from our conversation:
Plan for Success: Organize Your Week
It’s easy for prospecting to fall by the wayside. To avoid falling into this trap, commit from day 1 on the job. Jacob recommends blocking 2+ hours on your calendar every single day for prospecting activities - this includes researching accounts/contacts, outreach and nurturing accounts. Jacob also holds time each Friday to do two things:
Reflect on the week and analyze the results. Did you hit the metrics you wanted? Did you get the meetings you needed? What did you learn or what do you want to do differently next week?
Set the tone for the next week to ensure you come in Monday morning ready to execute.
Build an Internal Ecosystem of Champions
You may carry the quota, but sales is not a solo job. You need to build relationships across the organization with the people who can help you hit that number - from marketing and BDRs, to execs and customer success - you need to find the people with power, influence, knowledge, and the ability (and willingness!) to help. If you wait until you need a favor, it’s too late.
Jacob shares, “From day 1 I try to build relationships with people who can help both internally and externally.” To avoid feeling transactional in these early meetings, you need to come prepared. “When you ask someone internally for their time, it’s the same as prepping for a prospect meeting. Don’t interrogate them with questions, instead come in with a plan for the conversation and organize 3-4 things you specifically want to learn. I’d even recommend sending an agenda in advance.”
Jacob also recommends aiming to make every interaction a win/win. For example, if you’re shadowing a demo with an existing AE, offer to take notes, share feedback on the call or help with next steps. You might not have something to give back to senior leadership early in your tenure, but can make it really clear what you are trying to learn and maximize the time together.
Stay Top-of-Mind with Consistent Messaging
Yes, you should have a list of prioritized accounts and know the key contacts, but how do you make the most of this research? Prospecting is about timing. Your goal is to be top of mind when the time is right for your prospect, which means you need to play the long game.
Here’s what great looks like:
Write down your hypothesis of the business challenge or opportunity and distill it down into 2-3 more messages that you want to communicate to your prospect.
Continuously drip these messages to your prospect tailoring them by persona, department or seniority.
Don’t stick to a schedule. Instead, be organic with your touch points across channels (email them, send a LinkedIn connection, call, leave a voicemail, send a video or voice note, etc.) and build a drip campaign over 6+ months.
Get creative on how you can get in front of your buyer - ghost write messages for your executive team to send, travel to events you know your prospect is attending, etc.
Take the time to be really personal with your top accounts and curate content. If you are listening to a podcast you think might be interesting, your note shouldn’t be “here’s a podcast you might like”, instead say something like, “at 1:22 the speaker said X, and I believe…”
The Power of Persistence
If you’re feeling the pain of no response, you’re not alone. Jacob shared a story about a C-Suite executive he was prospecting last year and couldn’t break through to. However, he heard the prospect was going to be at an upcoming event and made the business case to fly there. While knowing it could be awkward, he took it head-on. She introduced himself and acknowledged he'd been prospecting him. The executive responded, “Your emails are in a folder to talk to when appropriate. I will call you when the need arises - you aren’t on my sh*t list.”
In another instance, Jacob had an Executive Buyer in a huge deal who didn’t talk to him for 10 months. They weren’t responding but he knew they were influential so he continued to send them a message every single month with a quick update of where he was with their team. It felt pointless, but 10 months in they finally replied and said “I really appreciate these updates and am ready to talk.” Sometimes it’s just about being relevant and top-of-mind until they’re ready.”
Stay committed to the process and you’ll be surprised by the momentum you’ll gain and results that will follow.
P.S. If you’re looking for more advice, Jacob has written extensively about this topic in his book, “Revenue on Repeat.” You can find more information about it on his website.