Setting up Successful B2B SaaS Sales Development Orgs with Lars Nilsson - Ep 53

Plus, is Talking to AI Avatars REALLY The Way to Improve Interpersonal Skills?

May 03, 2025

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Rejoice! The venerable and omnipotent Craig Rosenberg has returned (from shirking his duties) to contribute to this edition of The Transaction newsletter.

Gone (for now) are the poor-quality recommendations and ramblings of a 26-year-old producer desperately trying to legitimize himself as a real “marketer”.

None of that in this edition, just the good ol’ wisdom and recs from the exalted one, Craig Rosenberg, that you’ve come to know and ~~love~~ at least tolerate (otherwise, why are you here?)

Here’s what’s on deck this week:

Did someone forward you this newsletter? I’m sorry about that, but since you’re here you might as well subscribe…

What Craig’s Reading: How to Price AI from Pete Giordano

My team at Scale recently put on our annual GTM Summit. Overall, all the presentations were amazing so it’s really difficult to pick one out except…Pete Giordano turned his preso on pricing into usable content. AI pricing is vexing for many companies right now and Pete has created a framework that explains and simplifies.

Get the Framework

Recent Insights from Past Guests

Scott Albro — Scott’s Episode

Craig Note: Read this but don’t get any ideas…(:

Scott's Post

Sam McKenna — Sam’s Episode

Sam's Post

Chris Orlob — Chris’s Episode

Chris's Post

Latest Episode: Setting up Successful B2B SaaS Sales Development Orgs with Lars Nilsson - Ep 53

Not a long time ago, in a Silicon Valley not too far away, the sales infrastructure of almost every startup was an immature, undisciplined mess… Until a certain former printer salesman turned up in town…

Lars Nilsson is the Founder and CEO of SalesSource, but you probably know him from his legendary run as the VP of Global Sales Development at Snowflake. To Craig, Lars is “one of the masters of the universe in sales development and inside sales and business, and clearly very fit.” Lars joins co-hosts Craig Rosenberg and Matt Amundson to discuss how we got to the current state of sales training and enablement in B2B SaaS, why the GTM Engineer role is the next hire you need to make to improve your revenue team, and whether having B2B sales reps roleplay with AI avatars is the way forward or just a waste of time.

Also, Craig relives stories of his past mastication, Producer Sam fights yet another losing battle, and Matt warns everyone that “ we're going to go deep. We're going deep.”

Critical Takeaways

Recognize and elevate the Sales Development Representative (SDR) function within the organization. CEOs and senior leaders should regularly acknowledge the impact SDRs have on pipeline generation. Simple acts of recognition can significantly boost team morale and performance.
Create a systematic process to gather and disseminate insights and customer feedback from the front lines of sales. SDRs interact with numerous prospects daily, and their feedback can inform product development, marketing strategies, and sales tactics. Ensuring this information reaches executive levels can align the organization’s initiatives more closely with market needs.
Giving your sales team more ‘at-bats’ to practice and hone their craft results in better sellers. Leverage AI-based tools like role-playing bots to enhance SDR training. These tools can provide a scalable, less intimidating way for SDRs to practice their pitches and objection handling.
Encourage cross-departmental learning within your org. Facilitate opportunities for SDRs to learn from other teams, such as marketing, operations, and customer success. This cross-training can develop well-rounded employees and ensure smoother transitions when SDRs move into new roles within the company.
Consistently produce and share content that showcases successful customer stories and product use cases. Having a dedicated resource person, like the retired beat reporter who worked with Lean Data, can ensure continuous content production that drives engagement and educates prospects.
Encourage a culture where continuous learning and improvement are part of daily operations. Regularly update training programs and technology stacks, and stay abreast of the latest trends and tools in sales and marketing to maintain competitiveness.

Chapters

00:00 - Episode Preview
00:35 - Craig Eats like Cookie Monster
03:13 - Introducing Lars Nilsson, the Founder & CEO of SalesSource and Former VP of Global Sales Development at Snowflake
07:46 - The Genesis of Sales Development in SaaS & How it Expanded on Account-Based Marketing Concepts
13:23 - How Xerox Trained Their B2B Sales Team and What Startups Should Learn from Their Success
21:34 - The Emerging GTM Engineer Role & The Impact Its Having on B2B Sales Teams Using AI Tools
34:59 - Should B2B Startups Try to Replicate the SDR Academy from Snowflake
38:17 - How Startup Leaders Can Elevate the SDR Role & Why They Must Show Their Appreciation for this Critical Function
45:42 - The Importance of AI Roleplaying Tools for Training B2B Salespeople
54:11 - Startups Founders Should Play a More Active Role in Developing Their Go To Market Strategy

Epic Quotes

“ I just think that Snowflake with 300 SDRs today, maybe in two years, they'll have 50. But each one will be able to punch above, like they are five individuals because of all the automation.” - Lars Nilsson
“ One Go-To-Market engineer today is going to make five SDRs punch like they're 25.” - Lars Nilsson

Connect with Lars

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lanilsson/
SalesSource Website: https://salessource.com/

Shoutouts

Stuart Silverman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuart-silverman-32132/
Jason Lemkin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmlemkin/
Karan Singh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karan-singh-29269015/
Travis Henry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travisjhenry/
Brendan Short: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-short/
Pete Kazanjy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kazanjy/
Jason Vargas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonvargas/
John Barrows: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/
Becc Holland: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccholland-flipthescript/
Hyperbound: https://www.hyperbound.ai/
Ralph Barsi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphbarsi/
Morgan Ingram: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morganjingramamp/
Kevin Dorsey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kddorsey3/
Trish Bertuzzi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trishbertuzzi/
Tavus: https://www.tavus.io/
Avarra: https://www.avarra.ai/

By the way, here’s that clip that Producer Sam mentioned with Scott Barker (Scott’s Episode) trying to book a meeting with Avarra’s AI Avatar Sales Role Play.

Movie Poster Mock Up

When we first had the idea to have some fun with doing movie posters, Trading Places (Landis, 1983) was second of the three movies Craig suggested in under a minute (The first was 48 Hours, which is coming soon).

Follow the Hosts

Craig’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigrosenberg/
Matt’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-amundson-91657236/

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