Zach Landres-Schnur is the Head of Sales Development at LiveRamp. Over the past decade, he’s seen the company grow from 150 employees to nearly 1,500 globally.
He sat down with Luke of Modern GTM to discuss the seismic shifts happening in outbound sales, playbooks that work for him, and more.
On the death of automated sequences.
The playbook from the early 2020s—those static sequences and cadences—that's a thing of the past.
I want my team thinking heavily researched, heavily personalized outreach. That's what's winning for us and for other SDR leaders I talk to.
We'll have cadences that are basically just blank. It's like, "This is just a placeholder for you to do your research and then write something." Just because someone fits a persona doesn't mean you can send them an email—you might as well toss it in the trash.
The actual email structure is still simple: observation, relevant piece of information through our research, value prop tied to that first sentence, and then a soft call to action. Usually three sentences, maybe four.
But the quality is WAY up.
On building real points of view.
This is usually the hardest part for new SDRs—connecting account insights to our value proposition.
We have an order of operations.
At the account level: What do we know from their financials? Recent earnings call? Big company bets?
Then connect that to the person level. What's their function? What do they care about? What’s in it for them?
The struggle isn't understanding that a company is focused on acquiring new loyalty members—that's easy. Where they struggle is connecting that to our value prop. How do those two things tie together?
And in the end, it comes in a simple email structure:
Observation
Relevant piece of information through research
Value prop tied to that first sentence
Then a soft call to action.
One, two, three sentences, maybe four.
On AI's role in sales.
AI is going to eliminate that stale, automated cadence SDR approach. But AI helping a person be more strategic about breaking into accounts? That's my bet for where the top sales orgs win.
AI agents writing emails for you was helpful maybe six months ago. Now it's table stakes.
Where I'm looking to go with AI is getting even deeper. How can we find those little nuggets of gold that you can't find with a Google search? Like if the CEO of Nike was on stage at CES and said something specific—how can we get that intelligence into my team's hands instantly?
It could become table stakes in three months, but right now, that's the missing piece.
On interviewing for great SDRs.
Here's the first barrier: can you effectively outbound me or one of my managers? If they can get our attention, they can likely get a prospect's attention.
We'll also put them through a presentation. Can you walk me through that order of operations for developing a point of view and breaking into an account? That's becoming absolutely critical.
Then there's the soft skills—the hunger, the grit, the hustle. Are they going to roll up their sleeves and work their tails off for what can be a thankless job at times? We'll ask about times they've really struggled, had their back up against the wall, or were way behind on quota but still got to goal.
Former athletes often work well. They've been coached, they know the effort it takes, and they understand what it means to be part of a team working toward something bigger.
That’s it for this week!
Thanks for wanting to know more today than you did yesterday! If you liked this edition, forward it to your a friend who would like it too 🤝
Find more Modern GTM interviews here.
Learn how Origami helps sales teams here.
‘Til next time!
