A tactical framework for modern sales leaders
Brought to you by FullFunnel
1. Trap: Recruiting Inefficiency
Problem:
Most internal recruiters don’t understand sales—let alone how to screen for cultural, technocratic, or behavioral fit. As a result, your sales leaders end up wasting valuable time re-screening bad-fit candidates.
Solution:
If you're recruiting in-house, develop a sales-specific scorecard with testable criteria for coachability, sales communication, and tool fluency. Better yet—build a recruiting process that doesn't depend on your closers doing interviews.
Pro Tip: External recruiters charge 20% of first-year salary but rarely save you time.
2. Trap: Weak Ramping & Onboarding
Problem:
Buddy systems don’t scale. A chaotic onboarding process leads to longer ramp time, hidden attrition, and massive opportunity cost.
Solution:
Build a fail-fast, succeed-fast onboarding system. Within the first 5 days, reps should complete structured product quizzes, mock calls, and value-narrative simulations. By Day 5, you should know who makes the cut—and who doesn’t.
Pro Tip: Document every step of your onboarding once, and reuse it for future hires.
3. Trap: No Qualitative Performance Insight
Problem:
Most teams track dials and meetings—but not the quality of rep behavior, pitch delivery, or value narrative comprehension. This leads to misdiagnosed pipeline issues.
Solution:
Use tools like Trellus or TripleSession to assess reps during onboarding. These AI tools let you simulate real calls, track pitch performance, and eliminate subjective coaching guesswork.
Pro Tip: If a rep isn’t booking meetings but is delivering the pitch well, it might be your ICP or message—not the rep.
4. Trap: Redundancy Failure
Problem:
You’re one bad hire away from falling behind quota. Most orgs hire just enough reps. But what if one flames out?
Solution:
Overhire by 20–30% in ramp periods and filter hard. Expect some drop-off. It’s not pessimism—it’s smart resourcing.
Pro Tip: Design your process to create winners, not just identify them.
5. Trap: Early Stage Attrition = Glassdoor Landmines
Problem:
Most negative Glassdoor reviews come from SDRs fired within 2–4 months. These reviews are often public, emotional, and damaging.
Solution:
Don't hire until you've pressure-tested a rep in a risk-contained environment. Temp-to-perm is a smart way to delay Glassdoor exposure until you're confident in the hire.
Pro Tip: FullFunnel absorbs this reputational risk. You can too—if you're willing to be ruthless about performance filtering.
6. Trap: High-Churn Labor Models
Problem:
US-based SDRs churn every 12–15 months. They're often looking for a fast promotion, a raise, or to leave.
Solution:
If you're not running a feeder program, consider offshore labor. South African SDRs work US time zones, speak English natively, and offer 3–10x durability in the role at 50–70% of the cost.
Pro Tip: Comp parity with US entry-level still delivers life-changing wages in SA—and deep loyalty in return.
Final Thought:
This framework is what we use internally at FullFunnel for our Grow clients. You can absolutely do it yourself—but it’s not cheap, fast, or easy. If you’d rather shortcut the pain, let’s talk.
How to Solve Trap #1: Recruiting Inefficiency
1. What This Trap Is Costing You
- Sales leaders wasting time on unqualified candidates.
- Pipeline delays due to unfilled or bad-fit hires.
- Burnout from trying to manage recruiting on top of revenue responsibilities.
2. What "Good" Looks Like
- Sales-specific recruiting scorecard.
- Structured hiring funnel with automation.
- Minimal sales leader involvement until final stage.
3. Step-by-Step: Build a Sales-Specific Recruiting Process
- Define Ideal Candidate Profile (ICP)
- Behavioural: coachable, gritty, clear communicator
- Technical: HubSpot/CRM knowledge, cold outreach tools
- Cultural: ownership mindset, pace tolerance
- Create Role Scorecard
- Rubric with weighted competencies
- Minimum pass threshold required to proceed
- Build a Funnel
- Resume + async video screen
- Skills test (cold email, call script)
- Structured interview (behavioral + scenario)
- Automate Filtering
- Use Clay.com or recruiting CRM + Zapier
- Make Data-Driven Decisions
- Disqualify fast, engage top performers early, no exceptions
How to Solve Trap #2: Weak Ramping & Onboarding
1. What This Trap Is Costing You
- Longer time-to-productivity
- Increased early churn
- Lost deals and missed quotas from slow-starting reps
2. What "Good" Looks Like
- Documented Day 1 to Day 30 playbook
- Clear milestones and skill checkpoints
- Structured content and live testing
3. Step-by-Step: Build a Fail-Fast Onboarding Program
- Map Day 1–30
- Day 1: Tools access, role overview, educational resources
- Day 2–4: Product, ICP, messaging drills, processes
- Day 5: Live AI roleplay test (e.g., Trellus), final evaluation
- Set Clear Performance Gates
- By Day 3, rep should articulate value prop
- By Day 5, rep should handle objections in AI sim
- Build a Training Hub
- Host playbooks, call scripts, recordings, FAQs
- Make self-guided + coach-supported
- Run a Test Gauntlet
- Use Trellus or TripleSession to simulate discovery calls
- Validate readiness through simulation and scoring results
How to Solve Trap #3: No Qualitative Performance Insight
1. What This Trap Is Costing You
- Wasted pipeline from reps who "sound good" but don't convert
- Misdiagnosing performance issues as volume-related
2. What "Good" Looks Like
- Qualitative review built into ramp
- Reps trained and tested early on narrative delivery
3. Step-by-Step: Measure Rep Quality Early
- Install Daily Roleplay
- Assign reps 1–2 daily prompts (value prop, objection, persona pitch)
- AI-Powered Listening
- Use TripleSession to analyze tone, clarity, message accuracy
- Score & Log Weekly
- Grade reps on 1–5 scale across pitch, clarity, message fit
- Flag coaching opportunities
- Map to Meeting Outcomes
- Cross-check pitch quality against booking rate
How to Solve Trap #4: Redundancy Failure
1. What This Trap Is Costing You
- You’re one rep short and quota slips
- No contingency for poor performers or attrition
2. What "Good" Looks Like
- Overhire during onboarding
- Design onboarding like a selection process
3. Step-by-Step: Build Redundancy Into Your Program
- Hire 20–30% More Than Needed
- Expect some fallout; plan for it
- Run Competitive Onboarding
- Rank reps daily on performance during ramp
- Fail Fast
- Remove reps who lag behind at the end of the first week
- Keep Bench Talent
- Maintain a pre-screened reserve pool (Flex-style)
How to Solve Trap #5: Glassdoor Risk from Early Churn
1. What This Trap Is Costing You
- Employer brand damage
- Public rants from failed reps
2. What "Good" Looks Like
- External probationary staffing buffer
- Churn happens before internal conversion
3. Step-by-Step: Protect Your Reputation
- Use a 90–120 Day Trial Layer
- Don't convert until they’re proven
- Over-Communicate Expectations
- Make it clear what performance looks like
- Let Go Fast & Clean
- Thank them, offboard politely, move on
How to Solve Trap #6: Churn from US-Based Labor
1. What This Trap Is Costing You
- Reps leave in 12–15 months
- You train them for someone else’s team
2. What "Good" Looks Like
- Long-term labor strategy tied to role type
- Offshore resources where role longevity matters
3. Step-by-Step: Design Labor Mix by Role Type
- Segment Roles
- AE feeder roles = US-based SDRs
- Stable SDR engine = offshore (e.g., South Africa)
- Align Incentives
- US reps want career paths
- Offshore reps want role stability, cultural respect, consistent comp
- Build a Global Team Culture
- Treat all reps as equals
- Provide career dev in both markets
Download all six guides or book a strategy call with FullFunnel to build your SDR org the right way—before you waste time, budget, or reputation.