This page is to act as your guide to the many tools and best practices that the Sales Development Organization uitlizes.
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.
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.
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.
A user created series of touchpoints (calls, emails, LinkedIn) in order to communicate with a prospect and automate the user's workflow
Ways to organize similar sequences and snippets
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
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.
Please review the BDR or SDR process and conceptualize what iteration does a new sequence bring to our existing library, from the moment you have clarified your intent please follow the steps here to request a new sequence, we'll work with you to develop the best possible iteration we can.
As you begin building your new sequence, make sure you are following the proper guidelines:
Example - FY24 IB WW SMB SDR Free to Paid HT EN
Once you have set your sequence up with the proper name, structure, settings and email messaging, return to the issue and tag your manager for approval. If your manager rejects your sequence, you will need to make the necessary changes to gain their approval. If they have responded with their approval, you are cleared to move forward with setting your sequence live.
Go into the sequence settings and toggle the bar in the upper left from gray (paused) to green (active). You are now ready to use your sequence.
When deciding whether to approve or deny the activation of a new sequence, make sure the sequence follows all proper guidelines, including:
If all of these conditions are met, go back to the issue and add your approval. If the rep needs to revise anything before they can set it live, leave a comment explaining what they still need to do before they can begin using their sequence.
Managers then need to add a tag of “manager approved” on the sequence in Outreach
30 day check - is the sequence meeting performance benchmarks?
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.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a prospecting tool & extended reach into LinkedIn Connections.
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
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.
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.
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.
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 Watch and Help Dashboards 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 terriotory Change Request Issue Board and the BDR_Territory_Change Sales Development Issue Tempplate in order to request a territory change for your rep. | |
| Sales Dev Internal Transition issue template | Use this issue template when you have a Sales Dev team member is moving from one team within our SDR org team to another. More information can be found in the internal trasition section below. |
| BDR Territory Change Request issue template | Use this issue template when you would like to request territory changes for your BDRs. |
| Resource | Purpose |
|---|---|
| How to update the org chart and team page | Update the org chart to ensure the correct memebers of your team roll up to you. Ensure each member of your team has your slug listed next to the reports to line. You can also update the team page information from the team.yml |
| 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. Keep in mind if this is needed due to someone transferring teams within the Sales Development org, this is already part of the Internal transfer issue template. |
| 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 |
| Rename a handbook page | Update the name of the URL to a handbook page |
| 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. |
| 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 | Dashboard to monitor SDR leads and meetings |
| MQL & SAO Performance vs. Target Sisense Dashboard | Monitoring MQL and SAO performance in comparison to our goals |
| AMER Large Watch and Help Board - EMEA/APAC Large Watch and Help Board - SDR Inbound Watch and Help Board - MM Watch and Help Board - PubSec Watch and Help Board | Monitoring Contact Requests, Qualifying Leads, IQMs, and Paused/Failed Sequences |
| 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. |
Format: Audience | Type | Urgency Example:
[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 ]
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
CE/SFDC Accounts not in Actively Working Status
Greenfield Accounts not in Actively Workin
Sales Dev by Salesforce Profile and Role -
Sales Dev Territories by Team role/member associated with each territory -
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.
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.
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:
If an SDR will be out for a prolonged period of time, please follow the proper processes and complete the SDR leave checklist.
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.
