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The Evolution of Sales Roles: How Should We Adapt?
There’s a lot of chatter about the “death” of the predictable revenue model. Sales experts have declared cold calling “broken” and email “over,” yet many companies still use these tactics with success. The truth is, while these strategies aren’t dead, they’re evolving and sales roles need to evolve with them.
What Is Predictable Revenue?
If you’ve been in sales for a while, you’ve likely heard of Predictable Revenue, the book that established the primary sales playbook that dominated for the past 15 years. When I started as an SDR, the approach outlined in this book was just beginning to gain mainstream traction.
The classic process went something like this:
1. Use a database like ZoomInfo to build lead lists based on your ICP (ideal customer profile).
2. Upload leads into Outreach.io or SalesLoft for automated sequencing.
3. SDRs followed up with warmish leads through cold calls.
4. Once a lead was engaged, book a demo with an AE.
These tools became the foundation of SDR workflows, but the landscape has shifted.
Let’s look at what’s changing and how sales roles must adapt.
Why the Old Playbook Isn’t Enough Anymore
1. Everyone is doing it. Automated emails with basic personalization have become so common that they no longer give you a competitive edge.
2. Phone habits have changed. Few people have desk phones anymore, and personal mobile numbers are harder to access. While gatekeepers are less of an obstacle, many prospects simply don’t answer.
The New Ecosystem: Strategies for Success
The adjustments sales reps need to make depend heavily on their audience.
Let’s break it down into two key segments:
Selling to SMBs
If your target audience is smaller companies or junior individual contributors, your total addressable market (TAM) is massive.
These prospects are often more forgiving of average messaging if it’s relevant to their needs.
What Works:
1. Smarter Filtering: Tools like Clay can refine your contact lists based on signals to find the most relevant people to reach out to, and pull data that enables AI to generate semi-personalized messaging. *key differentiator. We used to personalize with basic snippets: {{Company Name}}, {{Location}}, {{Title}}, but now we really need to go a step further and find more meaningful references like: "Saw you speak at X Event," or "Read that Company Name is investing more into Y category". Tools that track signals + leverage AI can help you elevate personalization at scale.
2. Personalization at Scale: Use tools like Instantly to manage large-scale email outreach. With multiple warmed-up domains, you can reach a broad audience efficiently while avoiding spam filters.
3. Relevance Over Perfection: Focus on reaching as many ideal contacts as possible with messaging tailored to their pain points—don’t worry about making every email a masterpiece.
4. Cold Calling: If your deal size justifies it, cold calling can still work. However, avoid over-researching; successful cold calls are more about your energy and ability to connect than having every detail prepped.
Selling to Enterprise
Selling to senior buyers at larger organizations is a different game.
Your TAM is smaller, and the stakes are higher, poorly executed outreach can damage your brand.
What Works:
1. Deep Research: Understand the company’s structure, their existing solutions, and where your product fits. Highlight your unique value proposition in a way that's highly specific to them.
2. Build a Personal Brand: Establish credibility before you reach out. Even if prospects haven’t engaged with your content directly, a polished and active LinkedIn profile positions you as a trusted professional.
3. Engage Creatively: Back at Snapwire (now StudioNow), one of our largest customers came from delivering a pizza along with examples of our photography to convince a food delivery platform to take a meeting.
4. LinkedIn Comments: Show genuine curiosity about industry posts and share your perspective, this is not a place to pitch your products. Be thoughtful and genuine.
5. Referrals and Events: Attend industry events and leverage your network for warm introductions.
6. Tailored Content: Create bespoke materials for key prospects. A well-crafted video or slide deck can make a strong impression. We love Loom, SendSpark, and Screen Studio for video creation. Gamma or Canva are both great for decks... then just package all those links and files in a client resource kit 😜
The Future of Sales Roles
As predictable revenue models continue to evolve, so too must sales roles.
Whether you’re leveraging AI for large-scale outreach or building trust with senior stakeholders, the key is adaptability.
The question isn’t whether traditional methods are dead, it’s how to use them in smarter, more strategic ways.
SMB = GTM Engineers
Enterprise = Sales Project Managers + Content Creators
