Zenskar - Manager - Business Development (4-7 yrs)

About this role:

What have we achieved so far with the outbound lead generation motion. We set up our outbound lead generation motion in May '24, with a founding cohort of BDRs working directly with the Head of Growth. Over the past 10-11 months, we completed the 0-1 journey with two sales cycles, through which we have converted high ACV paying customers who were sourced by the outbound BDR team.

The current team of 6 BDRs is an integral part of the company and has played a pivotal role in the 0-1 journey, demonstrating the ability to self-manage and iterate on outreach strategies. They set up the current tech stack, messaging and processes from scratch.

A large part of lead generation in the first 6 months was done through email and LinkedIn. We started cold calling in Dec '24 and it is already contributing to 50%+ of outbound lead generation. We expect cold calling making up for more than 70% of our lead generation at steady state.

Way forward:

- Outbound sales is a key revenue generation GTM channel for us and we are doubling down by expanding the team from 6 BDRs to 11 BDRs by July '25. We are looking for our first 2 managers who are excited to scale Zenskar's outbound lead generation motion from 1 to 10.

- You will lead the scaling up of the motion by executing and iterating upon our outbound sales strategy. If you are expecting a fully developed playbook that you can execute upon, Zenskar is probably not the right fit for you at this point We have the core pieces in place and expect that you will build on top of those pieces.

- You will directly work with the founders and the Head of Growth. In addition, this is a cross-functional role where you will work closely with the Inbound Marketing team, AEs, CS and Engineers to refine the sales strategy.

- The primary objective is to lead the BDR team to set up meetings with qualified prospects by optimizing our outbound sales machinery - iterate on campaigns, channels, messaging, tooling, recruit-coach-manage a team of BDRs:

- Own the Data Driven Sales Strategy

- Lay down the roadmap for 3-6-9 months and achieve the lead generation goals.

- Refine BDR output goals and incentive structure based on company goals and the team's past performance. Accordingly, set input activity and conversion metrics goals.

- Closely monitor input/output data, funnel metrics for each BDR across channels and campaigns. Identify and work on areas of improvement.

- Work closely with the founders, Head of Growth, AE to refine the sales strategy at regular intervals based on learnings at different stages of the sales process.

- Run opportunistic experiments on Enterprise accounts.

- Team Management and day to day execution.

- Hire, ramp up, coach and manage a team of BDRs. Each manager is expected to lead a team of 5-7 BDRs.

- Run the sales floor with daily and periodic reviews of data, cold call recrodings, objections, campaigns, account book, lead book, account research.

- Coach BDRs on cold calling, objection handling, AI led email writing, product-persona knowledge.

- Drive team morale through: weekly 1/1s with each team member, team-building exercises, gamified learning sessions, team outings, etc.

- Increase BDR productivity by identifying areas for optimization across processes and channels: account research, messaging, call/email/LinkedIn productivity.

- Drive CRM adoption and hygiene.

- Campaign Design and Messaging.

- Design and execute end-to-end campaigns with the BDRs. Ex: lookalike accounts of existing customers.

- Experiment with sequences and messaging across channels: call, email, LinkedIn etc.

- Incorporate feedback from prospect responses to refine messaging further.

- Tech Stack.

- Current Tech Stack: Hubspot, Outplay, Clay, FullEnrich, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Tracxn, Ocean, G2, Phantom Buster, Lavender, Mailmeteor, GPT, NotebookLM.

- We are an automation first company by DNA and have automated large parts of our sales workflows. You would be expected to further drive automation.

Key qualifications:

- 4-7 years of experience in sales or business development at a - B2B SaaS company targeting the US/ North American Market.

- 2+ years of experience working - as a business development manager- (or other relevant roles) managing a team of 4+ BDRs.

- Promoted internally after having played an outbound BDR/SDR role.

- Experience with leading an outbound motion that had cold calling as one of the key outreach channels.

- High degree of EQ to be able to understand each BDR, command respect organically and guide them.

- Solid hustle and entrepreneurial mindset; Thrive under the uncertainty that comes with an early stage setup.

- Excellent written and oral communication skills.

- Experience working with CRM, lead databases, sales engagement tools, ChatGPT, etc.

- Familiarity with CRM systems and proficiency in managing leads, pipelines, and automations.

- Willingness to get your hands dirty and work in the trenches with the BDRs.

- Strong first principles understanding of business fundamentals; Ability to empathize with the end user, and understand their pain points; Ability to understand the product at a granular level.

- Comfortable working late at night to ensure sufficient overlap with US prospects.

- Self-driven individual with high ownership and strong work ethic.

- Ability to build, manage and motivate a team.

Growth Trajectory:

- We strongly believe in internal promotions. For example: Our Heads of Growth, Marketing and Engineering have grown into the roles after performing exceptionally in their IC roles earlier.

- BDR Managers who perform exceptionally in scaling up the outbound lead generation motion could then grow further within the lead generation function or transition into other roles in the sales function based on their preference.

Location: Hybrid (Bangalore)