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Everyone applies to job applications - but rarely hear back.
There are thousands of applicants for every top SDR & AE role today. As I’ve written a ton before, just applying doesn’t work. It all comes down to visibility.
You don’t get interviews by applying, you get interviews by being referred.
This week’s article builds on my ongoing series: Rook’s Guide to Break Into Tech Sales. If you want to see volume #1: Vercel and #2: Anthropic you can do so there.
In those articles I give step-by-step guides on how to find promising sales orgs, applying, and then identifying key people to reach out to. This article will give you the messaging template to use when looking to get referrals calls.
The key to getting interviews is creating ‘signal’. It shows proof that you want the job, understand sales, and can do outreach.
After you’ve identified people to reach out to, it is time to get your foot in the door.
Here is the type of messaging I use via LinkedIn to get me conversations & even in some unique instances it got me referred right away.
Hi [Name] -
I’ve been following [Company] and noticed [observation]. I’m interested in the SDR role and think my background in sales aligns well.
I recently applied to the role and would love any advice on standing out in the process. Happy to provide any info you may need. Thanks!
-Rook
The reason that this type of messaging works is because of a few reasons:
- short & easy to read
- ties it back to the company and them specifically
- it sells the reply, not the call (that comes later)
- you are just looking for advice, it’s an easy ask
Let’s look at a real example to prove this worked for me:
sorry for the redactions - ♖
See how simple it is. I ended up getting an interview later that week because I was referred directly to the HR Director.
Now, I’m not saying it will always be that easy & direct. However, if you message enough people at the companies you are applying to, you will eventually get some hits.
If you want more real examples like this, I can walk you through them here.
I have found in my prior experience that LinkedIn does significantly better for this type of outreach than email does.
However, email is another channel you can use to your advantage.
You can either use the same framework above and just add more details or you can use the email framework I stole from TechSalesGuy. Credit where credit is due.
Hi [Name] -
I've been following [Company] for a while now and recently applied to the open SDR position.
Sounds like you're looking for someone that isn't afraid to cold call and knows how to create pipeline.
Here's why I'm qualified:
- example 1
- example 2
- example 3
Curious what steps I can take from here to move my application forward?
-Rook
This works extremely well for the Hiring Managers & GTM Recruiters. The reasoning is because you’ve done all the hard work for them already.
Your resume, qualifications, and proactive approach is all right there.
Highly recommend this as well.
Reminder: you won’t get replies on ~95% of these messages.
Continue to follow up. All it can take is one response to get your foot in the door.
This is your first sales cycle. Good luck.
If this resonated with you, and you’re struggling to get tech sales interviews, I can help you fix that here!
Until next week.
– Rook ♜
ps… I respond to all messages