Hacking Sales: The Playbook for Building a High-Velocity Sales Machine

CONTENTS

Cover

Praise for Hacking Sales

Title Page

Copyright

Author's Note

Introduction

Why Sales, Why Now?

Who This Book Is For

Where This Book Fits In

What This Book Is Not

Chapter 1: Developing Your Sales Stack

Where Do I Start?

Qualifying Leads

What's Your Sales Stack?

Chapter 2: List Building: Part 1: Finding and Defining Your Ideal Customer Profile

Easy, Nontechnical Web Scraping

Deeper Insights into Your Competitors' Customers

Targeting Key Executives, Influencers, and High-Potential Buyers

Chapter 3: List Building: Part 2: Defining Your Total Addressable Market (TAM)

Enrich Your Customers

Meet Your Future Customers

Make It Actionable

Refine and Optimize the Entire Process

Company Databases

Chapter 4: List Building: Part 3: Getting in the Door

Top-Down and Bottom-Up Targeting

Lean on Your Industry Allies

Using Twitter to Generate Warm Leads

Chapter 5: Uncovering Contact Information

Remove Duplicates Early On

Pulling Contact Information Directly from LinkedIn

E-mail Verification and Enrichment

Chapter 6: Lead Research

Trigger Event, Alerts, and Researching

LinkedIn Advanced Settings and Sales Navigator

Chapter 7: Segmenting

Where to Start Segmenting

But What about Whales?

Chapter 8: Outbound E-Mailing and Messaging

A/B Testing and Optimizing E-mails

Determining Your Perfect Cadence

The Services That Power Outbound Sales

Sales and Customer Success

Quick Tips on Messaging Psychology

Chapter 9: Sales Outsourcing

Preparing to Hire Virtual Assistants

Hiring Virtual Assistants

Strictly Sales Development Support

Training Your Virtual Assistants

Chapter 10: Customer Relationship Management Software

Integration Software

Chapter 11: Nurturing Leads and Sparking Engagement

Using Social Media to Trigger Buyer Activity

Make Sure to Follow Up

Reactivating Leads

Chapter 12: Preparing for and Holding Your First Sales Call

Getting and Staying Prepared

Properly Qualifying the Prospect

Scripting Calls

Forget PINs and Access Codes

Quick Tips in Sales Psychology

Set the Agenda and Stay in Control

Let the Passion Out

Chapter 13: Navigating the Buying Process and Closing the Deal

Rules of Negotiating

Creating Equality in Negotiations

Don't Jump to Discounting

Handling Objections

Demos, Proposals, and Collateral

E-Signature Solutions

Chapter 14: Business Development

The Art of the Introduction

Asking for Referrals

Chapter 15: Bonus Sales Hacks

E-mail Signature

Out-of-Office Reply

Mix in Some Humor

Frenemies

Stay Relevant on Twitter and LinkedIn

Other Unique Solutions for Hacking Sales

Chapter 16: The Wrap-Up

Resources and Programs

Sales Hacker Programs

Suggested Reading for Sales Hackers

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

Figure 1.1

Figure 1.2

Figure 3.1

Figure 5.1

Figure 6.1

Figure 6.2

Figure 7.1

Figure 7.2

Figure 8.1

Figure 9.1

Figure 9.2

Figure 10.1

Figure 11.1

Figure 12.1

Figure 12.2

Figure 13.1

Figure 15.1

Praise for Hacking Sales

"Companies that embrace technology and data in their sales process will build the world class sales organizations that win. Hacking Sales creates an actionable, cutting-edge sales process that can scale with your sales org and the ever-changing world of technology."

—Mark Roberge, Chief Revenue Officer, HubSpot

Max's sorted through the maelstrom of sales and marketing apps out there to cut through the clutter and show us some creative and practical ways to automate sales drudgery. Well done, sir!

—Aaron Ross, Built Outbound Sales at Salesforce; Cofounder, Predictable Revenue and Carb.io

"Hacking Sales succinctly shows sellers how to use new technology and sales tactics to up their game."

—Elay Cohen, Former SVP of Sales Productivity, Salesforce; Cofounder and CEO, SalesHood

"Max has become a dominant force in the next wave of sales: the use of technology, training, and best practices to turn sales into a true science. Sales can truly now be hacked much in the way we learned in the last generation to hack marketing into a quantitative growth engine. Hacking Sales has uniquely captured these changes, bringing together sales thought leadership and leading next-generation technologies together to quantify and scale sales dramatically faster than ever before. Kudos, and thank you, to Max."

—Jason Lemkin, Cofounder and ex-CEO, Echosign; Founder, SaaStr; Managing Director, Storm Ventures

Traditional sales methods have not kept pace with how customers want to buy today. Sales technology is finally catching up to the market and Max has created the ultimate playbook on how to sell in this era of Sales Acceleration.

—Gary Swart, Former CEO, Upwork; Partner, Polaris Partners

Max is at the forefront of this new age of selling and has done a fantastic job in this book outlining the process of building and evolving a sales approach and process with tools, tips, and techniques along the way. I recommend it to any sales rep or sales leader who is looking to play catch up or stay ahead of this ever-evolving profession we call Sales.

—John Barrows, Leading Sales Trainer for Salesforce, LinkedIn, Zendesk, Marketo, Box, and many of the world's top technology sales organizations

Max has packed this book full of actionable advice that will allow any sales professional to cut through the clutter and immediately improve results, by using proven techniques and tools. If you are an individual contributor or early stage founder looking to accelerate growth, reading this book will be the highest ROI you will get from your time today.

—Matt Cameron, Former Global Head of Corporate Sales, Yammer; VP of Sales, Kahuna

Sales is undergoing such a major transformation; some would say so much that the profession may be at risk. Max has responded by starting a movement where sales professionals can share and learn from each other regularly through thought leadership, events, community, and networking. This book is a critical must-have component to anyone who wants to stay ahead of this transformation.

—Emmanuelle Skala, VP of Sales, Influitive

Finally! A single, consolidated playbook to help start-ups define their prospecting strategy and sales philosophy. Max breaks down the areas to consider and the tools to evaluate in helping you maximize your resources. A great read for any VP Sales who's building their team out.

—Bill Binch, VP of World Wide Sales, Marketo

As sales becomes more scientific, sales teams need to stay up to date on all the new technologies and processes. Max Altschuler knows them all!

—Armando Mann, VP of Sales, RelateIQ

"Max is one of the original hackers, and like all hackers he's full of tips and tricks for you to follow and swallow to master the game of sales. It doesn't matter how much experience you have selling; you will most certainly gain some new knowledge by reading this book. It is chock full of unique ideas and approaches for you to use. This is a must-read for anyone just getting into sales.

—Doug Landis, VP of Sales Productivity, Box

Max Altschuler and the Sales Hacker team are always on point. They remain at the forefront of knowing what's hip, what's now, and what's driving revenue for today's sales organizations. The tools and technologies explored in this book will bring you to the front of the line—on your sales team, in your industry, and at your bank.

—Ralph Barsi, Sr., Director of Sales Development at ServiceNow

Over the last few years, the sales development field has strongly emerged as the biggest innovation to happen to the sales process. There are not many who are more educated on this than Max Altschuler. Max shares his insights here as one of the only real references you'll need to understand this emerging space. After a quick read, you'll be able to boost revenue for your business and double down on your knowledge of modern day selling.

—Kyle Porter, Cofounder and CEO, SalesLoft

Max has spent the last five years not only working in the trenches of B2B sales teams; he's also networked and collaborated with the most talented practitioners as part of his growing Sales Hacker movement. In this book, he has been gracious enough to share truly actionable strategies that just don't get written about in traditional cookie cutter sales books. For both sales leaders and salespeople, this is a must-read.

—Tawheed Kader, Founder and CEO, ToutApp

I've been lucky to have a first-row seat watching Max create a new school of sales over the past few years. His real-world experience, constant optimization, and questioning of traditional sales norms have created the best practices in this book that are essential for any sales team.

—Jaspar Weir, Cofounder and President, TaskUs

"Hacking Sales is the definitive guide to building a powerful sales machine that leverages the wide range of technology and data available today. Max has delivered a gift to sales reps and managers everywhere."

—Ryan Buckley, Cofounder and Head of Sales, Scripted

Hacking Sales

The Ultimate Playbook and Tool Guide to Building a High-Velocity Sales Machine

Max Altschuler

Cover image: © wowomnom/Shutterstock

Cover design: Simon Avery, www.idobookcovers.com

Copyright © 2016 by Sales Hacker Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Author's Note

The companies mentioned in this book are not in any way affiliated with Sales Hacker, Inc. We take no