Remote Sales Development Representative

The Company:

Our mission is to make education affordable by helping institutions increase alumni giving. The idea started from our founders’ own struggle with the lack of scholarships when they were students. Watch this TEDx talk from Kalyan to learn more.

We are a bootstrapped company that has grown to be a leader in the alumni software space in the US. We’re slated for even faster growth on the path to becoming market leaders through a unique strategic partnership with Blackbaud (read more here & here)

Our customers are universities and high schools and in most cases, we’re working with staff in the alumni relations and fundraising office at these institutions. The value prop for them at a high level is simple - “Engage more alumni and raise more money from them”. 90%+ of our customers are from the US currently but we’re starting sales in UK and Canada this year so we’ll start to see some more customer regions this year. Our team is based in India and the USA. The India team is based in Bangalore and the US team is fully remote.

The Opportunity:

Almabase is looking to hire an Enterprise Sales Development Rep (SDR) to join their growing sales team. As an Enterprise SDR, your role will be to seek new business opportunities by identifying, contacting, and developing relationships with important stakeholders in advancement teams across the top public and private universities in the US and Canada.

Once a prospect has sufficient interest and wants to explore our solution, you will introduce them to an Account Executive (AE), who will be responsible for handling that relationship until they sign a contract.

Work Timings

Please note that you will be selling into the US market and will be expected to work during US hours - 4 PM to 2:30 AM IST (approx.)

Responsibilities:

Identify and reach out to decision-makers at relevant universities using various outreach channels including emails, phone calls, LinkedIn, and partner networks. You will be provided a list of target accounts for which you will have to own outreach.

Your primary responsibility is to perform account mapping, engage various stakeholders within the advancement team, understand their needs, provide them with helpful information, and handle those relationships until they are interested enough to explore our solution. You are also expected to assist the prospects with the evaluation process with the Account Executive by being resourceful and prompt with responses.

Use and update the CRM (HubSpot) to maintain and report on your activity and outcome metrics. Participate in regular meetings to share progress, identify blockers, and improve performance.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Number of Conversations — MQLs and SQLs

• Pipeline Generated

You will be supported by:

A dedicated research team creates a database of potential customers, so a majority of your time will be focused on outreach and engagement, not on researching and finding contacts to reach out to.

A marketing team that is constantly creating case studies, educational content, and newsletters to support your outreach.

Requirements:

Our ideal candidate has at least 2 years, but not more than 4 years of B2B SaaS sales experience. The candidate should be confident, have excellent communication skills, have a keen sense of outbound best practices, and be a wiz when it comes to account research/mapping and personalization.

Roadmap for Year 1 at Almabase:

0-2 Months:

• Onboarding — Get familiar with Company Culture, Processes, and People.

• Training — Learn about the Problems we solve, the Products, and the People we sell to. Up your email and call the game to communicate value.

• Ramp-Up — You will be gradually handed accounts and start outreach.

2-6 Months:

• Reach out to 100% of the accounts you own.

• Build rapport with prospects, and identify their challenges and pain points.

• Get comfortable having a free-flowing conversation with your prospects.

• Understand the challenges and pain points of the folks you will be talking to. Getting accustomed to their jobs to be done will make you successful.

6-12 Months:

• For accounts already reached out to, strategize ways to land and expand (easiest point-of-entry). Tag team with the Account Executive team to drive bottom-of-funnel conversations.

• Join prospect-facing meetings with other SDRs in a consultative role, communicating ideas and pitching value.

• Based on your interests and performance, we’ll start discussions about additional responsibilities you’d like to handle and roles you’d wanna grow into depending on the need and fit.

What will make you successful in this role?

You’re already aware that hitting your goals in the SDR role depends entirely on your discipline, communication skills, and being numbers-oriented. In addition to that basic SDR skill set, you need to be adept at:

Articulating our Value Props - You need to have conviction and clarity on the value our solution offers to potential customers. This will enable you to pitch confidently and also handle objections raised by the prospect.

Building Relationships - Unlike high-volume B2B sales, our focus at Almabase is to connect personally with your prospects. Those who are natural conversationalists, humorous, and quirky can do this well. In addition, knowing how to make sure you’re adding value to your prospects is what will help you in the long run.

Account Mapping - Navigating large universities can be quite an obstacle. Your best bet is to make sure you form an accurate understanding of how the advancement team works - who pulls the strings, who can be our champion, who will be a blocker etc.

Moving Quickly - Being able to act quickly on intent signals, and information from prospects, and being proactive in planning the next steps is key to getting conversations going in the Higher Ed space.

Pro-active Learning - As thought leaders in the space, Almabase continuously shares learnings from our work advancing the mission of our partners with the community. To be able to maintain the quality and depth of your conversations with your prospects, you need to have a learning mindset.

Sincerity, Honesty, and Accountability - At Almabase, you are not going to be micro-managed. Team members who are true to themselves and display ownership have always seen faster growth trajectories and achieved their goals.

Being Experimental and Goals-oriented - Being numbers-driven does not mean mindlessly repeating a routine until you meet your goal. It is necessary to experiment on your own to understand what is working to help you achieve targets and double down on those while ditching things that are not working for you. Those who iterate quickly are more likely to hit their targets.

How will we set you up for success in this role?

We will provide you with:

• A detailed training to give you a head start in the world of alumni relations and educational fundraising. We’ll also talk about the competitive landscape, and provide you access to hundreds of recorded conversations, emails, and existing marketing materials. Our CRM is a treasure trove :)

• A playbook of how we do things currently. This includes how to use the CRM (HubSpot), call scripts, email templates, and SDR Best Practices.

During the first 8 weeks, you will have one-on-one calls with each person in the sales & marketing team to get to know them. You will also be involved in roleplays with the current sales team to prepare you better for the actual calls.

Our audience is generally very friendly and generally more receptive to conversations than most other industries. Part of their job is to build relationships so they’re naturally more open to new relationships.

You will be involved in a weekly one-on-one with the Associate Director - Sales Development to discuss feedback and the scope of improvement, apart from regular mentoring by the rest of the sales team.

Why should you join Almabase?

SaaS is set to explode in India and inside sales is one of the most critical functions for any growing SaaS company. Over the years we have developed some of the best practices in inside sales, especially outbound sales development. In this role, you will get to learn a lot and become a highly skilled salesperson. This role is the perfect way to grow into an Account Executive role too.

Beyond all of this, knowing that the work you do every day improves affordability of education for millions of students is highly motivating - it’s what keeps us going too.

This is what our team members enjoy the most about Almabase:

• Freedom & Responsibility: If you are a person who wants to take up challenging work & push your personal boundaries, then this is the right place for you. This article does a fantastic job of articulating the growth mindset we’re trying to develop - link.

• Great Salary & Equity: For our top performers and leaders, we grant stock options. As Almabase continues to grow, you’ll have a real opportunity to create wealth for yourself and your family. We’ll ensure you are financially well-off in the end.

• Holistic Growth: Building a career doesn’t have to be at the cost of missing out on your personal front. We believe that professional success is worthwhile when the personal goals are nurtured with equal importance. We will support you on that journey of yours.

• Strong Culture: We have a culture that we’re proud of. Read more on how our team feels about the company on Glassdoor (here). When you work at Almabase you get to work with amazing people that will help you grow to become the best version of yourself.

• Transparency & Trust: An environment that trusts each individuals’ ability and creativity to achieve the best outcome for the team. High levels of transparency to help you get exposure to what’s happening across the business.

• More than just work: One big secret to our success (shhh… this is just between us) is finding the balance between work and play. We have plenty of activities throughout the year that help build esprit de corps – whether they are intense cricket/football/basketball matches, or fun-filled music/dance/trivia/game nights.

• Food & Snacks: You’ll never have to worry about your hunger pangs. We provide tasty home cooked food & snacks at all times of the day.

• Health Insurance: We offer health insurance for you and your dependents.

• Mental Health is a Priority: Unlimited therapy sessions and mental health support to help you feel better, get better and stay better.

• Unlimited leaves & flexible work hours: There is no ceiling to the leaves or restraint to your working hours. Our only policy is that you use your good judgment.

• The comfort of home: On a tiring day, if you want to take a break on a bed or if you want to jog & take a shower at work or play your hearts our on PS5, you can do it all at Almabase.

• Remote-work friendly: Allowances to setup workspace at home and recurring allowances to make you happier and more productive. Subscription to an emotional wellness coach, team bonding activities like quizzes, games, and more.

If all of this sounds exciting to you, join us for an exciting and fulfilling ride at Almabase!