Title Details

MAX ALTSCHULER is the CEO and founder of Sales Hacker, Inc. He's always been fascinated with sales, psychology, technology, and entrepreneurship and considers himself an entrepreneur first and a salesman second. He was the first sales hire at Udemy, an online education company, and built the process that launched the instructor side of its marketplace.

Author’s Note xi

Introduction xiii

Why Sales, Why Now? xiii

Who This Book Is For xiv

Where This Book Fits In xv

What This Book Is Not xv

Chapter 1 Developing Your Sales Stack 1

Where Do I Start? 1

Qualifying Leads 2

What’s Your Sales Stack? 4

Chapter 2 List Building: Part 1: Finding and Defining Your Ideal Customer Profile 7

Easy, Nontechnical Web Scraping 10

Deeper Insights into Your Competitors’ Customers 12

Targeting Key Executives, Influencers, and High-Potential Buyers 15

Chapter 3 List Building: Part 2: Defining Your Total Addressable Market (TAM) 17

Enrich Your Customers 18

Meet Your Future Customers 20

Make It Actionable 21

Refine and Optimize the Entire Process 22

Company Databases 22

Chapter 4 List Building: Part 3: Getting in the Door 27

Top-Down and Bottom-Up Targeting 27

Lean on Your Industry Allies 32

Using Twitter to Generate Warm Leads 33

Chapter 5 Uncovering Contact Information 35

Remove Duplicates Early On 35

Pulling Contact Information Directly from LinkedIn 37

E-mail Verification and Enrichment 38

Chapter 6 Lead Research 41

Trigger Event, Alerts, and Researching 43

LinkedIn Advanced Settings and Sales Navigator 44

Chapter 7 Segmenting 49

Where to Start Segmenting 50

But What about Whales? 52

Chapter 8 Outbound E-Mailing and Messaging 55

A/B Testing and Optimizing E-mails 56

Determining Your Perfect Cadence 59

The Services That Power Outbound Sales 61

Sales and Customer Success 68

Quick Tips on Messaging Psychology 68

Chapter 9 Sales Outsourcing 73

Preparing to Hire Virtual Assistants 74

Hiring Virtual Assistants 74

Strictly Sales Development Support 75

Training Your Virtual Assistants 80

Chapter 10 Customer Relationship Management Software 83

Integration Software 85

Chapter 11 Nurturing Leads and Sparking Engagement 89

Using Social Media to Trigger Buyer Activity 89

Make Sure to Follow Up 91

Reactivating Leads 91

Chapter 12 Preparing for and Holding Your First Sales Call 93

Getting and Staying Prepared 94

Properly Qualifying the Prospect 97

Scripting Calls 98

Forget PINs and Access Codes 100

Quick Tips in Sales Psychology 101

Set the Agenda and Stay in Control 102

Let the Passion Out 102

Chapter 13 Navigating the Buying Process and Closing the Deal 105

Rules of Negotiating 105

Creating Equality in Negotiations 106

Don’t Jump to Discounting 107

Handling Objections 108

Demos, Proposals, and Collateral 109

E-Signature Solutions 112

Chapter 14 Business Development 115

The Art of the Introduction 115

Asking for Referrals 120

Chapter 15 Bonus Sales Hacks 123

E-mail Signature 123

Out-of-Office Reply 124

Mix in Some Humor 125

Frenemies 126

Stay Relevant on Twitter and LinkedIn 126

Other Unique Solutions for Hacking Sales 127

Chapter 16 The Wrap-Up 131

Resources and Programs 135

Sales Hacker Programs 135

Suggested Reading for Sales Hackers 135

Acknowledgments 137

About the Author 139

Index 141

“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 & marketing apps out there to cut through the clutter and show us some creative & practical ways to automate sales drudgery. Well done sir!”--Aaron Ross, Built Outbound Sales at Salesforce; Co-founder,  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; Co-founder 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 to together quantify and scale sales dramatically faster than ever before. Kudos, and thank you, to Max."--Jason Lemkin, Co-founder 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,oDesk. 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 world’s top tech 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

"One lesson I learned early in my career is to never be satisfied. Whether you're the #1 sales rep at your company, recently received a promotion into management, or are the CEO of Fortune 500 company you can always be pushing harder and performing better. Hacking Sales is an education in the new era of sales that will help sales orgs grow and innovate in ways they didn’t know they could.”--Sam Blond, VP of Sales, Zenefits, the fastest growing SaaS company in history

“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, Co-founder and CEO, SalesLoft

“Max has spent the last 5 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 it 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 has created the best practices in this book that are essential for any sales team.”--Jaspar Weir, Co-founder 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, Co-founder and Head of Sales, Scripted