Coaching Salespeople at Harvard w/ Lori Richardson

Hello and welcome back to the Collin Cadmus Podcast. Today I’m joined by Lori Richardson.

Lori finished high school at 16 and went to the University of Washington where she received her degree in education. She then became a teacher but was quickly discouraged by the limited earning potential and found her way into B2B sales where the sky's the limit.

She started at the bottom in SDR and BDR roles, became a full-cycle rep, and then worked in sales leadership for over 18 years before launching her sales strategy firm, Score More Sales, where she helps mid-sized technology, distribution, and services companies grow front-line revenues.

She’s a widely known and respected voice in the community, the host of the Women Sales Pros podcast, an advisor to many companies, and a Sales Coach at Harvard Business School, so I’m excited to get her thoughts on all that’s changing in B2B sales and find out what she thinks is working and what isn’t as we prepare for 2025 and beyond.

Before we get started, if you’re watching on YouTube, please take a moment to subscribe to the channel, like the video, and leave us a comment if you have questions or feedback. If you’re joining us from Spotify or Apple Podcasts, please drop us a review and let us know what you think of the episode. This stuff really helps to grow the audience.

Without further adieu, let’s dive in and get her thoughts.

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TOPICS:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:57 Outbound Sales is Broken

00:10:33 Growth-at-all-Cost

00:18:48 AI in Sales

00:23:14 Sales Quota Attainment

00:28:11 Data for Growth

00:36:01 Tactics That Work

00:40:04 Best Sales Tools

00:41:50 Score More Sales

00:50:20 Women in Sales Scholarship

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QUESTIONS:

1. What’s broken with B2B outbound and how did we get here?

2. What’s happening to the Growth-at-all-Cost model?

3. What’s your take on AI in sales over the next 5-10 years?

4. What do you think is the reason for low sales quota attainment?

5. How should sales orgs be using data to fuel growth?

6. What tactics actually work today for outbound?

7. What are the best sales tools for reps today?

8. What is Score More Sales and who should check it out?

9. What is the Women in Sales scholarship you’re working on?

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LINKS:

Women in Sales Scholarship: https://hhs.purdue.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-Barbara-Giamanco-Memorial-Scholarship-1.pdf

Sales Education Foundation: https://salesfound