Closing the Pipeline Gap: Full-Cycle AEs are Back in Fashion with Jamie Shanks

The sales prospecting landscape has seen a dynamic shift over the years. Remember when the full-cycle sales model gave way to the SDR/AE split? It was a game-changer - at the time. Fast forward to today, and we're witnessing a resurgence of full-cycle AEs.With the rise of digital tools, will full-cycle AEs reclaim their spot as the “best” approach to prospecting and sales? While they offer significant advantages in streamlining processes and enhancing customer relationships, challenges like time constraints for prospecting remain. However, certain industries and organizations find this approach more fitting and less problematic than sales development and sales being separate.Today we’re joined by Jamie Shanks, CEO of Pipeline Signals & Get Levrg and a pioneer in the category of social selling, to dive deep into the resurgence of full-cycle AEs, their contribution compared to SDRs, and their future in sales. Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:42) How Jamie pioneered Social Selling(06:57) The evolution of the SDR role(10:39) Prioritizing ROI in your sales team(15:33) Best-in-class companies always have AE(20:17) Prospecting with a destination in mind(22:34) Outro Quotes:“The SDR role was meant to be a feeder ground for sales. If all it is now is a copywriting job, then the DNA is completely different than what it was.““I can't think of a single customer that didn't demolish their SDR team once the CFO got their grips on the numbers.”“We've had customers be like we spend a gazillion dollars of paid media and all this stuff for marketing, and my AEs haven't seen a leave in 3 months.”“Use a waterfall calculator and figure out what amount of lead flow will the average AE need to do. If you don't set that foundation upfront, Then the AE will prospect, but without a destination in mind.” Hit the subscribe button on your favorite podcast player so you don’t miss the next episode.______________________________________________ Get instant access to AI Sales Prompt Pro, our new premium Notion database with the best ready-to-use prompts for chatGPT. Grab it here and join our community for only 50€/year: https://skaled.com/insights/ai-sales-prompt-pro Registrations are OPEN for ‘Sales AI Unleashed’, a webinar series w/ Kevin Dorsey. Join 1000+ sales leaders who are mastering AI and chatGPT during our free live sessions. Sign up here: https://bit.ly/sales-ai-unleashed-series If you’re a leader and want to integrate AI into your org - book some time with me to talk about how we can build a custom system for your needs:https://savvycal.com/Jake-Dunlap/modern-leader Sign up for the Modern Leader newsletter for more tips and talks from Jake:Email: https://skaled.com/modern-leader-sign-upLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/modern-leader-newsletter______________________________________________ Connect with Jamie:LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jamestshanksInstagram: https://instagram.com/jamietshanksWebsite: https://pipelinesignals.com Follow Jake:LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jakedunlapInstagram: https://instagram.com/jake_dunlap_Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaketdunlapWebsite: https://jakedunlap.com