Sales Development Tools and Manager Resources

This page walks you through all the tools we use in the Sales Dev org.

Sales Development Tools

This page is to act as your guide to the many tools and best practices that the Sales Development Organization uitlizes.

Salesforce

Salesforce is our CRM of record. It integrates with all of the other applications in our business tech stack. Salesforce stores prospect, customer, and partner information. This includes contact information, products purchased, bookings, support tickets, and invoices, among other information.

Salesforce Training Resources

Lead and Contact Views

SDR Lead Views

  • S1 View - MQL’s and Hot leads that require quick follow up (i.e event)s, and Drift conversation leads for tenured SDRs
  • S2 View - Only leads that are active in a HT touch sequence and have a phone number
  • S3 View - Qualifying leads. These are leads that you are actively qualifying in a back and forth conversation either by email or through phone calls. Each lead needs to either be active in a follow-up sequence, have an active task, or have a future meeting scheduled which can be seen in a future “last activity” date.

BDR Lead Views

  • FY25 B1 - My Leads, Action Neeeded - Includes any leads that we have committed to follow up on ASAP. These are our highest converting leads and are a mix between High Priority andMQL’s PTP is now part of our scoring so there may be leads in there that have MQLd due to PTP so you’ll have to click into the lead to see more. High Priority leads belong to a High Priority campaign - you can find which one at the bottom of the page in the campaigns section.
  • FY25 B2 - AWA leads w/ LIM - Includes leads in your name and that match to your Actively Working Accounts. It’s best to sort these by Last Interesting Moment Date and consider the Lead Classification Score when deciding which to sequence. We do not surface leads that were sequenced in the last 14 days.
  • FY25 B3 - Change Owner AWA’s (Clone) - These leads are now in your name automatically (not leads you’ve necessarily chosen and moved into your name, the old B3 view had to be cloned which is no longer needed). This view however allows you to see leads that may not have been moved into your name because at the time, they did not meet criteria. These could be bc: the leads were in lead statuses of: Accepted, MQL, or Qualifying when you moved the account into Actively Working since leads with those statuses should stay with the owner. Leads that were in disqualified or ineligible are also not moved into your name. This view will allow you to get eyes on any leads that are not in your name. You then can review any LIM dates and decide to put leads into your name if no one is reaching out. Keep sorted by LIM Date.
  • FY25 B4 - My HT Leads W/ Phone - This view should be used when either you do not have enough daily call tasks in Outreach to hit your daily KPI or when your team wants to do a call blitz etc. It allows you to easily pull into Outreach and create additional call tasks for your leads currently in high touch sequences.
  • FY25 B5 - My Qualifying Leads - These are leads in qualifying status which means some sort of two way engagement happened between you two. Please review this section of our handbook for best converting follow up practices.
  • FY25 B6 - 6QA imported leads - You can find any leads in your ownership related to accounts that have just hit 6QA status in this view. 6QA means the account has been shown to have high intent signals and has similar signs to other accounts that have purchased from us. We have brought in appropriate titles from ZoomInfo so that when you move the 6QA account into Actively Working, you have some leads all ready for sequencing.
  • FY25 B7 - BDR Prospecting Last 7 Days - This view will surface leads that you created or refreshed from ZoomInfo or Cognism. (Please note that there is also a contacts view you will need to check should the person already be a contact in our system)

BDR Contact Views

Contact ownership is based on the BDR Assigned and Account owner fields. If you are the BDR Assigned on the account, you will be the owner of all contacts associated with that account. If there is no BDR Assigned, the account owner will be the owner of the contacts.

  • B1 View - Includes MQL’s, Hot contacts that require quick follow up
  • B2 View - Contacts related to Actively working accounts that you can choose to sequence - *give 48 hrs
  • B3 View - Active HT sequenced leads that have a phone number - to help with call downs
  • B4 View - Qualifying leads. Contacts that you are actively qualifying in a back and forth conversation either on email or through phone calls. Each contact in this status needs to either be active in a follow up sequence, have an active task or have a future meeting scheduled which can be seen in a future “last activity” date.

Outreach

Outreach.io is a tool used to automate emails in the form of sequences. Users can track open rates, click-through rates, response rates for various templates, and update sequences based on these metrics. Outreach.io also helps to track sales activities such as calls. All emails/calls/tasks that are made through Outreach.io are automatically logged in Salesforce with a corresponding disposition. See below for a list of current call dispositions, what they mean, and scenarios on when to use each of them.

Outreach Training Resources

Outreach Sequences

A user created series of touchpoints (calls, emails, LinkedIn) in order to communicate with a prospect and automate the user’s workflow

  • Primary Sequence: a sequence created by SDR leadership that should be used by all reps to follow up with inbound leads
  • High Touch and Low Touch sequences: a high touch sequence should be used for higher-quality leads. High touch sequences require you to add in more personalization and have more touch points across a longer period of time, including phone calls and LinkedIn Connect requests. Low touch sequences are typically automated and run for a shorter period of time. We define higher quality leads based on the volume of inbound you have to manage as well as whether the lead has has 1-2 of the following for MM/Large accounts:
    • Valid company email domain or company name
    • Phone number
    • Title related to our buying/influencer personas
    • 6Sense intent
    • Set up for company/team use checkbox equals true
    • Account has X # of Developers (MM/Large nuances)
    • LinkedIn profile
      • SMB lead may need to have 2-3 of the above1-2 of the above
      • Different teams may have nuances so please check in with your manager for their feedback.

Outreach Collections

Ways to organize similar sequences and snippets

Outreach Tags

A method of distinguishing sequences and snippets from others. Use tags to help narrow down which sequences you should be using in a particular situation

Common Tag Examples:

  • Primary- a sequence created by SDR leadership that should be used by all reps to follow up with inbound leads
  • High Touch/Low Touch- Distinguish if the sequence is high or low touch
  • Region- Can be used to show which region the sequence
  • GTM- The message trying to be delivered. Ex. Security, CI/CD ect.
  • Inbound/Outbound- Whether the sequence is meant for inbound or outbound prospecting
  • Language- What language the sequence is written in

Outreach Snippets

Content created for BDRS and SDRs to use to create hyper-personalized sequences, one-off emails, or to use for reaching out to prospects via LinkedIn.

ZoomInfo

Zoominfo provides our Sales Development Representatives and Account Executives with access to hundreds of thousands of prospects and their contact information, company information, tech stack, revenue, and other relevant data. Individual records or bulk exports can be imported into Salesforce using extensive search criteria such as job function, title, industry, location, tech stack, employee count, and company revenue. More information can be found on the Marketing Operations Zoominfo handbook page.

ZoomInfo Training Resources

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a prospecting tool & extended reach into LinkedIn Connections.

LinkedIn Training Resources

6Sense

6Sense is a targeting and personalization platform that we use to reach our different audiences based on intent data and our ideal customer profiles. 6Sense Handbook Page

6Sense Training Resources

6Sense 6QA Automations

We currently have in place an automation that will automatically move accounts that reach 6QA status from 6Sense to SFDC.

Specifically:

  • We have three segments (SMB, MM, ENTG) saved on folder 9a of 6Sense. Each of these segments tries to identify the top accounts we currently have on SFDC that are not being worked by our team.

  • Through 6Sense Orchestrations, we will automatically update these accounts weekly.

    • We aim for 200 records to be enriched every week.
    • We aim for a 90 day buffer period between records being enriched.
    • The SFDC field Sales Dev Automation will be enriched with the value of the respective segment (SMB, MM, ENTG)

  • From the moment these accounts get enriched by 6Sense, they will automatically show up on our pre-saved searches on ZoomInfo, one for each segment.

  • These saved searches will pull the relevant decision-makers per segment, and through ZoomInfo workflows do the following:

    • Automatically enroll SMB leads to the fully automated sequence here
    • Automatically add MM/ENTG accounts to the [SFDC dashboard here.] (https://gitlab.my.salesforce.com/01ZPL000000kAPN)
    • Automatically add a sample size of prospects from each 6QA’d account to the SFDC view titled B6 - My 6QA Leads.

Qualified

Qualified is the Sales Dev Org’s tool we use to chat with visitors on the GitLab website. Currently the SDR teams primarily respond to inbound chats and visitors using Qualified. The BDRs also have the ability to initiate chats with known leads from their actively working accounts.

Chorus

Call and demo recording software. Chorus tracks keywords, provides analytics, and transcribes calls into both Salesforce and Outreach. Chorus will be used to onboard new team members, provide ongoing training and development for existing team members, provide non-sales employees with access to sales calls, and allow sales reps to recall certain points of a call or demo. At this time, US Sales, US Customer Success, US SDRs will be considered recorders. Non-US Commercial and Non-US SDRs can request recorder access once they have completed the GDPR training course. Non-US recorders will also need access to the EMEZ Zoom Group. Everyone else can access the tool as a listener if they wish.

Chorus Training Resources

Crayon Competitive Messaging Resources

Crayon hosts competitive messaging resources that are maintained by GitLab’s product marketing team.

This is where you can find messaging related to GitLab vs some of our competiors such as GitHub, Atlassian, and Azure DevOps

Sales Dev Manager Resources

FY24Q3 Manager Tool Certification

We have an end-to-end process and tool walkthrough that walks manager through all the knowledge and information they need to know to be able to use our tech stack, both for inbound and outbound processes. The full walkthrough of this training is documented on the issue here. Moreover, abbreviated notes of the training can be found here.

General leadership principles

This page will serve as a training resource and operational guide for current and future managers. All Sales Development Managers should follow the general leadership principles set out in the handbook.

Manager Onboarding

Onboarding is essential for all Sales Development Managers at GitLab. As part of onboarding, a Becoming a GitLab Manager issue will be created for each manager when they join, or are promoted. This issue is intended to connect new managers with the crucial information they need, and ensure they have access to all the resources and training available.

Outbound BDR Process Manager Onboarding

The BDR process that we have defined here in GitLab is meant to provide a repeatable set of steps that an outbound BDR can follow to achieve results. It is very important for an onboarding manager to align themselves as quickly as possible to this process as it is a proven method that will help them manage their team in a efficient and data-driven way.

The BDR Process is explained step-by-step in the main SDR handbook page here

For a newcoming manager, we provide the Manager attention needed boards that will be your main tool in understanding where your team is aligned to our BDR process, and where they need assistance.

To help structure your usage of the above, you can follow the steps below during your first month at GitLab while the document here will be your main go-to resource

Action Benefit
Clone the W&H Dashboard and edit each report to be exclusive to your team’s names Gives you a SSoT that you and your team can easily reference
Review the dashboard with your team, and discuss how the data on it connect to the BDR KPIs Allows you to understand your team’s level of maturity and each team member’s current level of alignment to existing processes
Take note of any discrepancies or points of feedback from the team, either transcribe them to 1:1s for individual conversations or to the SDR Issue board for org-wide improvements Enables you to filter between discrepancies that are caused because of a team member’s lack of diligence that should be improved upon by the individual OR for discrepancies that were caused by an org-wide operational shortcoming that should be improved upon on a global scale.
Set realistic expectations with the team about adherance to org KPIs and set a review mechanism to go over them on a reccuring basis Helps maintain a repeatable structure of accountability for your entire team

General Sales Development Leadership Resources

Resource Purpose
Leadership Handbook Tools and resources to assist people managers in effectively leading and developing team members at GitLab
Compensation Review Cycle (Compa Review) How to review our Compensation Calculator and carry out the Compensation Review Cycle
Sales Dev Manager Onboarding Checklist Make a copy and complete this checklist to ensure you know your team’s tools and processes
360 Feedback Opporunity for managers, direct reports, and cross functional team members to give feedback to each other. Schedule and all information on this page.
Workday All team member HR information
Transitioning to a Manager Role at GitLab New manager resources and what to expect

Lead Routing & Alignment Resources

Resource Purpose
SSoT Sales > Sales Development Territory Alignment Sheet Can be found in Manager Home Base sheet. Single source of truth document for Sales Development to AE/SAE/Territory Alignment
Territory Change Request Issue Board Use the territory Change Request Issue Board and the BDR_Territory_Change Sales Development Issue Template in order to request a territory change for your rep.
Sales Dev Internal Onboarding and Transition issue template This issue template is to be used when a new teamember is joining the Sales Development Org for the first time or they are transitioning from SDR to BDR or vice versa.
BDR Territory Change Request issue template Use this issue template when you would like to request territory changes for your BDRs.
Sales Dev Exit Handover Template This template is meant to be used for team members that are departing from a team to hand off their pending tasks to their peers.

GitLab Resources

Resource Purpose
Adding yourself or someone else to the team page Video to assist new hires with updating their blank team page placeholder
Update manager or SDR role in Salesforce To update a manager or Sales Development role in Salesforce, submit a single person access request or bulk access request depending on the number of roles that need to be updated.
Create or update members of a Slack user group A user group is a group of members in a workspace who often need to be notified at once — for example, @managers. To update who is in one of the Sales Development groups, submit a single person access request or bulk access request depending on the number of people that need to be added. Fill out the requested info and delete any remaining info that isn’t needed. Under ‘Account Creation’ put Slack User Group: @ Name (i.e. @Managers). You can also use the bulk AR to request the creation of a user group and list the users who should be in it.
Add someone to the Sales Development Gmail alias Submit a single person access request or bulk access request depending on the number of people that need to be added. Fill out the appropriate info and delete any remaining info that isn’t needed. Under ‘Account Creation’ put the Sales Development email alias
Make an edit to the handbook Guide for how to edit the handbook. *Note: all new hires must do this as part of their onboarding
Add a new page to the handbook This GitLab Unfiltered video will walk you through how to create a new handbook page
Create a new job family For each job at GitLab, the job family is the single source of truth for the expectations of that role. If you need information about when to create a new job family vs when to use an existing one watch this video
Resolve failed pipeline when creating an MR Quick overview of how to go about identifying why a pipeline might be failing for a merge request to the handbook page
Sales Development Onboarding Job Specific Task Section This task section will automatically be added to the general onboarding issue for new SDRs based on their role when hired.

Tracking & Monitoring Resources

Resource Purpose
SDR Issue Board Used to track GitLab issues involving the SDR team. This is a global issue board.
SDR Event Tracker Issue Board Used to follow upcoming events globally
SDR Sisense Dashboard SalesDev Analytics Hub Dashboard

| Lead View Descriptions | There are Manager Lead views in SFDC mirroring the SDR and BDR views which are described on the linked Handbook page on the left. These views need to be checked regularly by managers to ensure all necessary leads are being worked.

Action Needed Boards

Teams Boards
AMER BDR TEAMS AMER BDR Action Needed - AMER BDR Manager Attention Needed
EMEA BDR TEAMS EMEA BDR Action Needed - EMEA BDR Manager Attention Needed
APAC BDR TEAMS APAC BDR Action Needed - APAC BDR Manager Attention Needed
Global SDR Inbound Teams SDR Global Action Needed - SDR Global Manager Attention Needed

Sales_Dev_fyi Channel Information

Post Naming Convention

  • Posts in #Sales_Dev_fyi should have a header that lets the Reps know who the post is for, what type of post it is, and the urgency of the post.
  • It is requested when a post in the Sales Dev FYI channel pertains to you that you leave a 👀 emoji on the post to let management know that you read it

Format: Audience | Type | Urgency Example:

  • Audience

    • All of Sales Development
    • All SDRs
    • All BDRS
    • Specific Teams/Positions
      • Ex. AMER Large Land East

  • Type

    • Enablement - (Mandatory, Optional)
    • Operations - (Process Change, Tools, Sequences, Reports, System Changes/System Updates )
    • New Event/Initiative/Resource
    • Survey
    • Org Wide Announcement

  • Urgency

    • 🚨 Action Required - urgent, action required with a due date
      • Example: Mandatory enablement launch
    • 🧠 Need to Know - urgent, update directly impacts audiences’ workflows/processes
      • Example: Sales Dev process change
    • 📊 Feedback Requested - less urgent, action requested (with or without long-lead due date) but not required
      • Example: Survey from Product Group
    • 👀 Review - less urgent, does not directly or materially impact audiences’ workflows/processes
      • Example: New customer story or new competitive resource

  • Example Sales_Dev_fyi channel post titles

    • [All of Sales Development] | [Enablement - Mandatory] | [🚨 Action Required]

    • [All BDRs] | [Operations - Outreach Process Cleanup] | [🧠 Need to Know ]

    • [EMEA Enterprise Land] | [Operations - New Outreach Event Sequence] | [🚨 Action Required ]

    • [All of Sales Development] | [Survey - People Group Survey Reminder] | [📊 Feedback Requested ]

Field Marketing <> BDR Collaboration Process

Our FM/BDR collaboration process is a method that we follow in the spirit of maximizing cross-functional collaboration. We have created an issue template for Field Marketers to populate, which in turns gets managed from the Kanban Board here.. The premise of the issue template and board is to streamline communication between our teams. The issue template very clearly articulates all next steps required of this process while it also tries to leave space for us much AdHoc collaboration as required for each specific event.

As a BDR Director you will be tagged first in this issue as the primary DRI, while as a BDR Manager you will be involved in this issue on a case-by-case basis by your regional Director. All next steps of this process are clearly mentioned in the template for the issue so please follow each step in turn. The Sales Dev Operations team is also tagged and will be there to monitor progress and offer help if requested.

On folder #5 in the 6Sense segments list, you’ll find the templates for the main three categories of accounts that we have. These templates are meant to be cloned and edited for your teams as per the guidelines below and will assist with coaching on 1:1s and team calls, as well as driving more predictable pipeline building.

Currently Actively Working Accounts Template

  • This report will cross-reference your team’s currently AWAs against 6Sense intent data, and will highlight the best ICP accounts currently on your team’s pipeline.

CE/SFDC Accounts not in Actively Working Status

  • This report will highlight the best ICP accounts on our existing database, that are not actively being pursued by your team.

Greenfield Accounts not in Actively Workin

  • This report will highlight the best ICP accounts that are NOt currently on our existing database. Please note that due to the complexity of our sales territories, there may be edits required on filter #8 (Address). There are multiple variants for City, Country or Region that can be used to accurately display each team’s territory. Please feel free to reach out to the Ops team to help you determine these and generate the best reports possible.

Sales Dev Territory and Role Reports

Sales Dev by Salesforce Profile and Role -

  • Sales Dev Ops profile is the only profile with the ability to help add a member to opps beyond stage 0 (we can’t add SDR/BDR to closed won opps however)
  • Certain roles have certain permissions ie. Team Lead roles are able to transfer leads. Director level roles are able to help when account assignments are incorrect by updating account address and employee size information.
  • Roles determine visibility based on the region (AMER, APAC, EMEA). Example: a BDR with EMEA in their role, will be able to see all accounts where the account territory owner has EMEA in their territory role name.

Sales Dev Territories by Team role/member associated with each territory -

  • This allows you to see what members/roles are associated with each territory. When you need a change in BDR assignment to a territory, please sharethe territory name with Sales Dev Ops, not the name of the account. Search for the account owner name and tell Sales Dev Ops which territory/territories require that BDR to be assigned.

Onboarding

GitLab People Connect Team members will create the onboarding issue and start completing the onboarding tasks, no later than one week before the new team member joins. People Connect Team members require a minimum of 4 business days (with the new hire timezone as the basis) before the new hire’s start date to complete all onboarding tasks. This issue will be automatically assigned to you. As a manager, you will also have tasks that need to be completed prior to the new team member’s start date.

The general onboarding issue will also automatically add a ‘Sales Development’ section under ‘Job Specific Tasks’ based on the role of the new SDR. Both you and your new hire will have tasks to complete in this section.

With the creation of this issue, an access request (AR) will also be automatically created for a new team member on their second day at GitLab. This AR lists the role based entitlements (pre-defined groups and system-level access that are granted automatically to team members depending on their role) your new hire will need. *See what is being auto provisioned on this AR here.

New Hire’s First Day

On your new hire’s first day, the assigned People Connect Team member will schedule a welcome email to arrive at 7:30am (local time of the new team member) on their start date detailing how your new hire can access GitLab and begin their onboarding process.

Manager Onboarding Checklist

Prior to Day 1
  • Complete ‘Manager’ tasks on the onboarding issue *Note: there are tasks to complete prior to your new hire starting
  • Schedule a welcome call at the start of your new hire’s first day to discuss:
    • Main focus should be completing as much of your onboarding as possible.
    • When you have available time feel free to move ahead as some onboarding task lists for the day won’t take you all day.
    • How to manage meeting invites in your inbox (there are a ton!)
    • You will receive numerous emails in their first two weeks asking you to register or activate your license to a specific tool we use, please go ahead and do all of this.
    • What you can expect in regards to onboarding at GitLab as an SDR
After new hire has started
  • Complete remaining ‘Manager’ tasks on the onboarding issue
  • Set up 1:1s

Career Mobility Issues

A career mobility issue should be opened 2 weeks before the transition date by the people connect team. If the aligned manager does not see that issue created 2 days before the scheduled transition date, the manager should reach out to the People Connect Team via the #people-connect Slack Channel.

People connect opens mobility issue if any of the following are true:

  1. If there is a change in department. Ex. SDR/BDR moves to the SMB Sales Team
  2. Someone changes from Individual Contributor to Manager
  3. Someone changes from Individual Contributor to Team Lead
  4. Someone Changes from Manager to Individual Contributor
  5. Someone Changes Teams

Leave of Absence

If an SDR will be out for a prolonged period of time, please follow the proper processes and complete the SDR leave checklist.

Manager Sales Development Leave Checklist

Offboarding

The full process for offboarding at GitLab differs based on whether it is voluntary or involuntary. These processes can be found on the offboarding handbook page.

Manager Offboarding Checklist

  • The people team will create an offboarding issue, complete all ‘Manager’ tasks on the issue. If you have any questions use the #managers #people-connect slack channels. You can also reach out to the assigned people ops team member on the issue.

Sales Dev Handover Issue

  • When a teamember is either leaving GitLab, leaving the Sales Dev Org, or transferring to another BDR team the departing team’s manager must created a Sales Dev Handover Issue

Sequence Creation

  • We follow the process outlined here for creating new content, when it comes to reviewing this content, the Sales Dev Ops team will follow a quarterly cadence of reviewing the sequences/campaigns that are on the In-flight column on the board here. We use the criteria below:

Sequence needs to be a globally applicable

  • Only sequences that could be used by any team member globally can be added to the Good Collection.
  • If a regionalized sequence can be translated to English, then the English copy of it will be added to the GC while the local variant will be added to the Team Collection.
  • Field Marketing event sequences and any other similar type will not be considered for the Good Collection.

Sequence needs to have completed the requirements set out on the issue descrption.

  • At least 200 people enrolled and/or having completed the sequence on a timely manner.
  • ( Sequence has over 5% reply rate AND No less than 50% negative sentiment rate. ) OR Sequence has over 5% meeting set rate.

Things to look out for when reviewing a sequence as a Manager.

  • Does the messaging of the sequence follow Command Of the Message?
    • Are all emails formatted appropriately with pain-probing questions and value propositions?
    • Are the relevant value drivers for the personas targeted by this sequence used?
  • Is there a proper mix of automated and manual touches?
    • Are 1-2 highly personalized emails used for High-Touch sequences?
    • Are there at least 4 call steps for High-Touch sequences?
    • For Low-Touch/Awareness campaigns are all touchpoints automated?
  • Are proper Outreach elements used?
    • Are automated variables used all on all emails?
    • Are manual personalisation variables used on manual emails?
  • Is the purpose of the sequence clearly articulated on the issue description?
    • Are there other sequences that are proven to work that could be used instead?
    • Is there a valid reason for this campaign? Will it contribute to results in terms of SAOs or awareness?
    • Is the target demographic clearly thought out?
Last modified April 17, 2024: Quick Tweaks to Sales Dev Tools Page (ae983f51)
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