Webinar
Recording: Managing SDRs Remotely
Slide Highlights: Managing SDRs Remotely
Additional Resources
GitLab’s Guide to All Remote
GitLab: Tips for Avoiding Distraction
GitLab: Tips for Avoiding Burnout
GitLab: Guide to Asynchronous Communication
Sam Nelson Live “Managing an SDR Team Remotely” Collaboration Doc with GitLab’s SDR Managers (Unabridged)
What are some impressive feats of GitLab?
GitLab is the world's largest all-remote company 1200 employees with team members located in more than 65 countries around the world (no offices)
Grown from 400 to over 1,200 people in the last year!
100,000+ organizations co-create with us - “everyone can contribute” (Complete DevOps platform delivered as a single application)
2,500 people contribute to our community edition.
GitLab enjoys an 85% year-over-year voluntary retention rate. All-remote contributes to our high retention of people, as they're able to take their career with them through life's changes.
Passed $100m in ARR this year
$2.75 Billion-dollar company (update, valuation now over $6 Billion)
What does your onboarding look like?
We use GitLab. Broken up into a Multi-channel onboarding program:
How to work in a remote company? This is often new for most new hires.
What is GitLab and our Marketplace?
How to SDR into the DevOps market?
Content is written, digital training, video content, quizzes and in person training.
Ramp Quota Schedule
Team dedicated to building/managing/delivering that content - Globally
Team onboarding buddy
Coffee chats with folks in different departments are included as part of the onboarding requirements to help acclimate them to our remote environment
What does a weekly schedule look like?
For me, a weekly schedule includes: team huddles (2x week for 20min -Monday and Friday mornings); Team call (30min Weds), Role Play session led/facilitated by a lead/tenured SDR (Thurs) and then a individual 1:1’s with each SDR (I stack mine on Mondays and Tuesdays) which allows me to have more work time towards end of week. There are also leadership, cross-department meetings, Company Calls, AMA’s, etc. threaded throughout.
For Matt: Daily team standups (daily - focus areas, wins, blockers, something personal), Weekly role play, Weekly Team meetings, weekly 1:1s, Marketing Org meetings, Company calls, AMAs.
How do you keep the culture? (Culture has A+ rating on Comparably)
Intentional about remote model: Company call, Marketing strategy meeting, AMA’s, All Hands, - stay in tune with company (meetings have agendas and we document all questions/responses, notes).
Our values impact our culture: CREDIT (Collaboration, Results, Efficiency, Diversity, Iteration and Transparency). We’re a Handbook-first company (SSOT) so that empowers/enables everyone to contribute
We embrace asynchronous workflows/communication
Assume positive-intent with digital communication
We’re proactive about looking out for burnout and mental health
What do you use to document processes?
Handbook! We all manage and contribute to it. If a process changes, we document there first. G Suite and GitLab Issues/Merge Requests help with this.
We communicate answers to questions by sharing handbook links to reinforce documentation.
We use short video trainings to walk through more complicated processes
How do you ensure SDRs are on task?
We measure output (results). GitLab is very results focused and that’s what’s celebrated (we don’t worry about logging hours - we focus on their results). Because of this, accountability is high. It’s important to be clear what the output is and monthly/quarterly results. Performance indicators help. We show indicators (KPI's) and discuss in 1:1’s.
Managers have dashboards that track SDR activity and results daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly and reports we pull in Outreach
Reps have priority lead views so that we can manage timely follow up
Hiring profile - very intentional (self-starters).
Managers share organizational best practices - especially when it comes to setting up SDR weekly calendars (time blocks) - this is especially crucial for new hires/individuals who have never worked remote before.
They understand their impact on the business (contributions to pipeline, revenue) and most people have a genuine respect for the opportunity they are being given. Work fits into life (not the other way around).
We ensure that we let SDRs shine at some point. If they have success we encourage group sharing of successes.
We keep our team sizes to about 8 SDRs
SDRs spanned all commercial segments in the early days, now we are split into three segments, SDRs dedicated to just one of these segments: SB 0 - 199, Mid-market 200- 1999, and Large 2000+ employees.
Tips for coaching remotely?
Create a dedicated workspace - this is less about having a fancy office and more about getting into a frame of mind where you’re focused and productive.
Structure your days and separate “Work” from “Home” time
Set boundaries about when you work and when you don't, and communicate that with your team. Whether that is blocking out time for lunch, gym or designating an absolute stopping time, it is important to draw that clear line for yourself. Because your work life and personal life are blending together, "5 more minutes" or "one more email" can turn into hours, really fast.
It all starts and ends with communication. Err on the side of overcommunication and encourage your SDRs to over-communicate (especially if they are working remote for the first time) and ask for what they need.
Written word can be misunderstood, so always assume positive intent.
Schedule 1:1 with team members once a week (better to check in more frequently, on Slack). For managers suddenly put into this situation, resist the urge to be the driver of pinging/messaging reps. Instead communicate w/ team upfront and create a designed alliance and/or working agreement - we are all remote now, if you need anything (hurdles/blockers), please feel comfortable pinging me/lean on me to help solve things. As a manager, the burden does go up (important to have SSOT/Rudimentary handbook to point people to) but you'll see trend lines and action accordingly.
During our 1:1’s we use a privately shared GoogleDoc and keep notes of our conversations on an ongoing basis so that we can refer back to them. Important handbook links are included at the top of the 1:1 doc.
Team lead and manager workflow shadowing sessions are encouraged so that we can learn from each other’s best practices.
Encourage weekly calls between SDRs and their Sales reps. The best SDRs also slack daily with their reps and keep in touch working as a close team.
Consider more frequent, shorter meetings for teams to virtually touch base. This may be useful first thing in the morning and/or at the end of the day. In meetings, use video, so you can see one another. That’s going to help you feel connected and less isolated.
Make a point to talk to each SDR every single day. Even if it’s just a back and forth on slack or a quick check in on current focus & priorities
**If your whole team is suddenly working remote for the first time, this can be a big transition. Consider having a perpetual zoom conference link where you all hang out - simulate the office environment. In the here and now this helps with transition and aclimision.
Minimize distractions: resource
Collaboration is everything on our team (sharing chorus recordings, scripts, email and LinkedIn engagements, feedback) - everyone is trying to make each other successful.
What “fun” things do you all do together?
Coffee chats / AMA’s (ask me anything group calls)
Active Team Huddles via Zoom mobile! Get outside for a walk/fresh air while connecting as a team (share goals, challenges, wins, etc)
Team Yoga session via Zoom (chair yoga, breathing exercises, etc.) to reduce stress/anxiety and get everyone focused
Regional team role play sessions via Zoom
Baby Showers
Birthday celebrations on zoom (sing happy birthday, silly hats/costumes, happy hour)
Use giphy’s and emojis in our Slack communication
Use travel grant to see each other when in the area
What do you do for Spiffs?
Each regional SDR team has a budget for Spiffs where the manager can creatively come up with ideas to incentivize reps. (ex: Blitz Bingo, Corporate event attendance)
We have discretionary bonuses for notable contributions and we share these on a company wide Slack channel
What tools do you use?
GitLab, Outreach.io, Slack, Zoom Video, Drift, PathFactory, Vidyard, DiscoverOrg, LinkedIn, Chorus, G-Suite, Lusha, DemandBase, SFDC.
What types of slack channels do you recommend? (or not recommend?)
If you have global teams, then I’d recommend a channel for each region; at GitLab we have AMER, APAC and EMEA, as these regions are culturally very different and so each channel has relative information in them for those regions. I’d also recommend a global slack channel to keep the team in touch at a product level and sharing successful prospecting methods.
We encourage SDRs to share results of their Initial Qualifying Meetings (IQMs) in their local Slack channels including meeting notes.
We encouraged shared channels rather than private slack messages because chances are if you have a question, others can benefit from the answer as well.
“Thanks” channel to give recognition
“Sequence approval” channel especially for newer SDRs who may need feedback and thumbs up on their setup/messaging
What are things to watch out for?
Loneliness in the early onboarding days
Burnout
Distractions
Exclusive language (ex: “guys” when addressing a group of individuals)
Document! (at GitLab we use issues, google docs for agenda, etc., we write everything down)
Unrecorded meetings, if you do run meetings, always record to be inclusive and allow others to listen if they were unable to attend
Assumptions - don’t assume someone has read a Slack communication, team members leverage emojis to showcase that they have read through the information. Some teams have started using quizzes/polls to make sure company or org updates have been received
How do you move quickly?
Iteration: Everyone can contribute! We release incrementally (when things are still very MVC at times) and iterate as we go! Communication is asynchronous which gives us all a level of focus.
Transparency: Consensus and Hierarchical culture - DRI (directly responsible individual) - person who does work makes decision (nothing is under the radar)
Handbook first. We document everything and communicate it to team (company-wide)
Collaborate: Divvy up planning and operational responsibilities. Have an objection you need help overcoming? Ask the team! A new sequence you want to test out? Share it with the team and ask for feedback!
Silver linings? https://www.inc.com/brian-de-haaff/3-ways-remote-workers-outperform-office-workers.html
Forcing function to have documentation for all processes/best practices
No more time, stress, or money wasted on a commute.
You have more flexibility in your daily life (for kids, parents, friends, groceries, sports, deliveries)
Source and hire the best talent - You're able to hire great people no matter where they live (Also, All-remote naturally attracts self-motivated people)
Less exposure to germs from sick coworkers.
With employees located all over the world working asynchronously, contributions can continue even when one time zone's working day is over.
You get to know more about your team members because frequently pets, family and friends make an appearance during video calls
You visit a new country every 9 months for the company summit! We’ve done Cancun, Crete, Capetown, New Orleans so far!
Names of contributors:
Hannah Schuler, Michael Hamilton, Ramona Elliott, Elsje Smart, Matt Malcolm, Evan Whelchel, Nichole LaRue