The B2B Playbook #187: Why Most SDR Teams Fail Before the First Call (and why it impacts b2b marketers)
Most B2B teams think outbound is just about activity. Book meetings, hit quota, move on.
But this week on The B2B Playbook, we sat down with Shawn Sease—aka The Professor of Prospecting—to expose why that model is broken.
Shawn’s seen it all. From old-school cold call sprints to modern GTM teams trying to do outbound in the age of AI. And he’s brutally honest about what actually works today.
Together, we unpack how to rebuild your sales development system around truth, timing, and trust—not just activity.
Here’s what we cover in this episode:
+ Why most sales development strategies fail before the first call
+ The power of cataloguing accounts (and why it's better than intent data)
+ How to build outbound systems that don’t collapse when your SDR quits
+ What real Sales and Marketing alignment looks like
Tune in and learn:
+ Why timing is a weak signal (and what to track instead)
+ How cataloguing transforms your outreach strategy
+ What great commercial architecture actually looks like
This episode is a must-watch if you’re a B2B marketer or sales leader who’s tired of outbound that doesn’t scale, and wants a better way to reach your market.
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00:00 The Professor of Prospecting: Who Is Shawn Sease?
04:18 Why B2B Outbound Is Broken
07:43 Cold Calls Aren’t Dead—But Your Strategy Might Be
11:12 The Real Job of SDRs Today
14:40 Why Buyers Aren’t Listening to You Anymore
17:55 How to Build Trust Instead of Noise
21:01 Is Your Go-To-Market Strategy Just Tactics in Disguise?
24:46 Cataloguing: The Secret to Smarter Outreach
28:05 Feedback Loops That Actually Align Sales and Marketing
31:36 Why "Booked Meetings" Are a Broken Metric
35:14 The Role of Customer Success in Sales Development
38:46 Outbound Needs a System—Not Just a Script
42:33 Stop Chasing Timing—Start Building Permission
46:10 What Good Commercial Architecture Looks Like
49:22 The Future of Prospecting: What's Coming Next
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S07 E187 - The B2B Playbook
#b2b #b2bmarketing #digitalmarketing
#b2bsaas #salesdevelopment #sdstrategy