Closing the Pipeline Gap: Full-Cycle AEs are Back in Fashion with Jamie Shanks

The Jake Dunlap Show

The sales prospecting landscape has seen a dynamic shift over the years. Remember when the full-cycle sales model gave way to the SDR/AE split? It was a game-changer - at the time. Fast forward to today, and we're witnessing a resurgence of full-cycle AEs.

With the rise of digital tools, will full-cycle AEs reclaim their spot as the “best” approach to prospecting and sales? While they offer significant advantages in streamlining processes and enhancing customer relationships, challenges like time constraints for prospecting remain. However, certain industries and organizations find this approach more fitting and less problematic than sales development and sales being separate.

Today we’re joined by Jamie Shanks, CEO of Pipeline Signals & Get Levrg and a pioneer in the category of social selling, to dive deep into the resurgence of full-cycle AEs, their contribution compared to SDRs, and their future in sales.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(00:42) How Jamie pioneered Social Selling

(06:57) The evolution of the SDR role

(10:39) Prioritizing ROI in your sales team

(15:33) Best-in-class companies always have AE

(20:17) Prospecting with a destination in mind

(22:34) Outro

Quotes:

“The SDR role was meant to be a feeder ground for sales. If all it is now is a copywriting job, then the DNA is completely different than what it was.“

“I can't think of a single customer that didn't demolish their SDR team once the CFO got their grips on the numbers.”

“We've had customers be like we spend a gazillion dollars of paid media and all this stuff for marketing, and my AEs haven't seen a leave in 3 months.”

“Use a waterfall calculator and figure out what amount of lead flow will the average AE need to do. If you don't set that foundation upfront, Then the AE will prospect, but without a destination in mind.”

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Connect with Jamie:

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jamestshanks

Instagram: https://instagram.com/jamietshanks

Website: https://pipelinesignals.com

Follow Jake:

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jakedunlap

Instagram: https://instagram.com/jake_dunlap_

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaketdunlap

Website: https://jakedunlap.com