Chris Cicconi

Chris Cicconi Inc

Fraction sales, leadership and business development.

Helping founders and early stage sales orgs build repeatable and scalable processes.

Powered by Gap Selling

Founder & Head of Sales

ARC Roasters

We make speciality coffee fun and accessible.

Co-Founder & Chief Caffeination Officer 

Unicrn

Founding Team Member & Jr Partner
Unicrn is a hand-selected collective of the best freelance sales, marketing, revenue operations, and enablement professionals from the world’s fastest growing companies.

Our mission is to quickly and seamlessly connect growing businesses with the right fractional talent to help everyone get farther, faster. Our GTM Pod system matches business needs with proven industry experts who strategize, document, and execute the GTM motion.

Head of Business Development

983 Media Productions, LLC

Working with 983 Media's founder to build partnerships with both potential clients, as well as other vendors, venues etc in an effort to deliver an exceptional eSports experience to all game developers and players.
Taking a leading role in helping 983 launch it's publishing arm - 983 Interactive. 
On air experience:
Host of "The Frontline" The Official Kards Podcast as well as all Official eSports events (a game by 1939 Games)
Gwent Qualifier Caster and Gwent Partner (a game by CD Projekt RED)
Production assistant for the Parallel World Championships

VP of Partnerships

Replicant

Led a team of 7 business development representatives selling an AI powered contact center automation tool to 5 core industries.
Generated over $48M in pipeline so far this fiscal year.
Promoted 2 BDRs to AE roles

Director of Business Development

Visier Inc.

Implemented a "Pipeline Acceleration Plan" to dig out of a pipeline deficit to meet the $59m OKR for the year, 3 months early.
This included growing the team from 6 to 12 BDRs and 2 BDR leads while implementing improved onboarding & framework to help them see success quickly.
The team set a record for the most pipeline generated in the 10+ year history of the company in July.

Senior Manager, Business Development

HRWize

Within this role, I not only handled the full sales cycle, but also hired, trained, developed and lead the full cycle sales team. HRWize is an HRIS system focus on small and medium size businesses of any industry, mainly within Canada, but with no limit to partner globally.

Sales Manager

Aerotek

While continuing to partner with my clients to deliver the highest quality of talent and service, I also manage our Professional Services division in Montreal. This entails both building out strategy and managing, coaching and developing our team of 10 account managers and recruiters to assure that we provide access to the quality candidates you need to support your business.

Continued to grow the divison to over $13M in revenue

Practice Lead - Professional Services

I became the first Account Executive for Aerotek's Professional Services Division in Canada. 
My role entailed business development and management of the fulfillment team for the Professional Services division. 
Lead a team of up to 6 individuals (recruiters & account managers) and grew the division from scratch to over $8M in revenue.
Archived 5 "President's Clubs" and multiple "Million Dollar Clubs".
Won the Director's Award in 2017

Account Executive - Professional Services

I specialized in technical staffing through Aerotek CE® (contract engineering), a division of Aerotek.

Technical Recruiter

Aerotek® Inc. is a leading provider of technical, professional and industrial recruiting and staffing services. We are part of Allegis Group® Inc., the second largest staffing company in the United States.

Sourcing Specialist

Sports Experts

I was responsible for training employees on the technical aspects of products, supervise them, open and close the store and register.

Keyholder

Paying it Forward 👉 One Day at a Time

Salesperson 💸 --> Coach ✍️ --> Leader 🙋‍♂️
Sometimes a content creator 🎥 - always a goofball 【ツ】

I love building things, but not physical things.

I have a passion for building teams, networks, processes, procedures and revenue but most importantly people. 

This had led me to helping founders pivot from founder led sales to a sustainable and scalable sales engine.

Hit me up if you want to talk sales, fractional leadership, 👟or ☕️.
--------------------
I was once given an opportunity that has allowed me to build my wonderful career.
I want to make sure others have the same chance.
#payitforward

Content Creator

Host of "The War Room: The Kards Pre-Game Show" by 983 Media (a game by 1939 games)
Host for all Kards Official eSports events, including the World Championship Series
Host of "The Frontline" The Official Kards Podcast by 983 Media
Gwent Qualifier Caster and Gwent Partner (a game by CD Projekt RED)

Chris 🦄 Cicconi

I lost 150lbs this year! 

What a ride it has been.

Except I didn't, but AI can make the pounds melt away in 30 seconds or less.

LinkedIn is already filled with enough smoke and mirrors
The "8 figure playbooks" (only $99!)
The made up close rates (seriously, I close at 108%)
The engagement bait "Comment 'clown shoes' to unlock my sales secrets"

Now that we can fake physical reality too....It's getting harder to separate reality from fiction. 

Social media is already a mental health minefield, and it will only get worse when AI can fake fitness, success, and bank accounts. 

Critical thinking isn't just a soft skill anymore, it's a survival skill. 

So don't believe everything you read (or see) on here 🙃

Building Sales @ KnowledgeNow | Still Fixing GTM. Still Roasting Bad Takes.

Imagine getting outed for liking your own post...

By a cold email where they mention you liked "Chris Cicconi's post"

Folks, the bar is so low you can walk over it without even noticing....

I should respond that "Chris Cicconi is an absolute 🤡 " and you probably shouldn't quote him in your cold email.

Cold calling is just as much what you say as how you say it.

You can have the perfect script, but if you don’t believe you’re talking to the right person, your tone gives you away.

You hesitate.
You sound uncertain.
You accidentally ask the CEO “uh….is Bob there?” 

Giulio nails it in this video.
Don’t waste time confirming, just dive into the message.

The problem? 
Most reps don’t trust their data enough to do that.

We’ve been conditioned to double-check because we’ve spent YEARS calling the wrong people.

Back when everything went through a receptionist (yes, I’m old), you always knew who you were getting.

Now? It’s all mobile dialing and half the numbers are wrong.

That’s why I use FullEnrich
Their coverage and accuracy gives me the confidence that I’m actually speaking to the right person. So when I dial, I’m not guessing. 

For a proper cold call, what you say has to match how you say it.
Having the right data is what makes it possible. 

Anybody had success with confirming who you're speaking to?
Or do you traditionally jump right into the message and assume you have the right person on the horn?

Brand partnership • Building Sales @ KnowledgeNow | Still Fixing GTM. Still Roasting Bad Takes.

Thanks for proving my point LinkedIn.

I posted on Friday about how I lost 150lbs this year complete with a before and after selfie.

Except that I didn't, the selfie was AI and all I wanted to highlight was how good AI has become.

And my comments were filled with wonderful people supporting this massive life changing event. 

Not sure if it speaks more to AI being credible or people only reading the hook of LinkedIn posts, but my point was still proven.

Don't believe everything you see, read or hear.

Thanks for proving my point

Warning: Boomer take incoming 

I'm happy I started my sales career with minimal technology.

I had Salesforce and old school LinkedIn and that was about it...

Why? 
I had to enter my own notes into Salesforce (and Siebel before that 🤮 )
I had to dial by hand - punching all 10 numbers in with my fat fingers
I had to learn how to write a proper email
I had to learn how to ask prospects and clients for their cell phone numbers

And I could go on and on, but I truly believe that it has allowed me to learn the fundamentals and appreciate all the new tech.

I can power dial, find mobile numbers with the click of a button and have something automate my CRM notes 🤣 

...I still write my emails by hand because AI ain't it. 

What process or technology dates you as a professional?

In honour of US Thanksgiving, I have a hot take.

Stuffing is the superior side.

It doesn't need to be cooked in the turkey.
It can even be with a base of boxed Stove Top.
Spruce it up and it can't be beat.

Gravy makes it better.
Putting olives in it ruins it.

And you will not be able to convince me otherwise.

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends.
We need more excuses to eat stuffing.

You're allowed your opinion.
That doesn't mean I have to share that opinion.
And I'm not wrong for disagreeing.

Vicki here doesn't like being on the receiving end of permission based openers.
That's cool, not everybody does.
But it works for some people.

Should those people stop because one person cried about it on the internet? Absolutely not. 

I do agree with her last point though, be natural, be kind, be yourself and if you deliver a PBO really well, do that too.

My pet peeve?

Meeting somebody for a virtual coffee chat.

A couple days go by and all of a sudden my inbox welcomes their newsletter to it.

Just because you have my email from a calendar invite doesn't mean I want to read your newsletter.

In fact, after spending 30 minutes with you, it's probably the opposite.





...I know I saw my pet peeve as me opening line, maybe I should have written "one of my pet peeves" 🤷

I don't believe in gatekeeping coffee.

...or sales for that matter.

What do I mean?

Sure, I roast my own coffee.
Yes, I prefer a single origin Ethiopian prepared with a V60

But when somebody orders a "Double, double" (look it up, it's a 🇨🇦 thing) from Tim Hortons and looks at me expecting a disapproving look, they won't get it.

It's your coffee, you do what you want with it, you're the one drinking it.

It's the same in sales. 
I like leaving voicemails when I cold call.
I might even use a PBO every now and again.

So when somebody posts that they don't believe in leaving voicemails? 
That's cool, I believe you're leaving money on the table, but it's not my money. 

Where I draw the line? 
When you tell people how they should act.

You might not leave voicemails but don't go running around saying other people shouldn't either.

Just like I won't tell you that Starbucks coffee is basically roasted beyond death and tastes like cigarette butts to me. 

Because they still serve 10 million customers a day and I'm one person with my own preferences.

So Qwilr messaged me the other day and said...
"Hey Chris, we have this Super Mario inspired - "

And that's where I stopped them. 
Because anybody who has seen the giant Lego Bowser and Lego NES in the background of my Zoom calls knows that jumping on this was a no brainer.

I got to relive the highlights (...and lowlights) of my career in all the glory of 8 bit, music included. 

While I'm not entirely sure if Bowser roasts on BBQ night - I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

This was a blast and I love the creativity they put into everything they do.

Check out the link in the comments to play through your own career! 
For better or worse 🤣

Sh!t's simple.

Human's just like to overcomplicate things.

Yes, this is both about sales and not about sales.

I've lost a good amount of weight this year and people have asked
"How did you do it"
Simple --> Calories Out>Calories In.
Hard Part --> Cookies are delicious

The same applies to money, want more savings?
Simple --> Money In > Money Out 
Hard Part --> Getting more money and life being expensive AF

Want to do well at sales?
Simple --> Don't be a 🤡 
Hard part --> The primal desire to say things like "I hope this email finds you well" and "Just following up on this" 

In all seriousness, we want to complicate things with crazy supplements, something called the Smith Manuever (it's a 🇨🇦 money thing and I don't even know that I understand it)  or creating a 47 step automated outbound sequence. 

And we don't even have the basics down yet.

We all want to feel special, or that we're further ahead than we are.
Take a step back, check your ego and focus on the fundamentals.

The bar has become so low sales folks.

And this isn't a knock against this dude giving his talk.

The crazy part about it is that he had to say:
"Prep 1-2 questions for your meetings" 

I can't understand what that isn't just understood. 
To be honest 1-2 questions is still underprepared in my books.

Your prospects have limited time and you have even less time with them, if you can't be bothered to prepare for your meeting, maybe it's best to cancel and save everybody some time...

Can we stop "vibing" with AI please?

Why can't we just, do the thing? 

Actually, Vibe Coding is pretty cool, because I am zero technical.

But Vibe Selling? 
Can't we just sell?

Nothing AI has spit out, thus far, has been worthy of being put in front of another human being in a sales environment. 

Vibe Selling. Vibe Marketing. Vibe Investing. Vibe Product Management (yes I've actually seen this). Vibe Snacking (to be fair, THIS is my forte). 

It's become a buzzword worse than companies slapping "AI" on their product just for stock price bump. 

Yes, AI has plenty of uses in the sales world and in the world in general, but can we stop labeling it "just because"?

I usually hate the whole discounting process in sales. 

Ironically, the end of year discount is something I can support.

Why?

Because you're actually getting something out of it. 

The biggest problem with discounts is reps are handing them out like candy in an effort to close the deal, without rhyme or reason. 

But sales is a negotiation and pricing should be too. I'll happily give a client a discount if that means they can:
-Start earlier
-Start later
-Skip some steps in the approval process
-Pay sooner 
etc.

I give you a discount and I get something in return.

At the end of the year, getting revenue in to hit your number/company number is totally fine in my books (especially in my world of working with small companies)

Because you are trading off a discount with a contract being signed and/or payment being made before the end of the year.

The only caveat? Stick to your guns. If it doesn't happen and it gets pushed into the new year, the discount has to come off.

Reps who ask the tough questions close more deals, faster. 

The sad part? The questions aren't even that tough.

I was on a call this week with a client we were presenting a proposal to for an additional project.

Everything seemed to line up budget, scope etc

They're good clients, we've worked with them for years, so the presenter leaves it off with:
🗣️ "So let us know once you talk to your boss to get approval and we'll be ready to go"

Me, having PTSD from being ghosted forever and always jumps in
🔊  "Could we set up a time to follow up next week once you talk to your boss?"

The response? 
🤑 "Why don't we just go ahead and schedule the kick off call and if something goes sideways, we'll regroup"

We wait from waiting to hear back to scheduling the kickoff call. 

No, not every deal will close that easily, but you better believe next time I'm just going to ask to schedule the kick off call proactively 🤣

Alan Ruchtein

CEOs: Broken pipeline & poor performer sales reps? I fix both for you in <60 days. You’ll hate how fast it works. | Modern Seller Program Founder

Your ability to book meetings, negotiate, and close deals with potential clients will determine how far you’ll thrive as a sales rep and leader.

This will allow you to:

📈 Build a career
📈 Hit your quotas
📈 Get recognition
📈 Get a promotion
📈 Get better offers
📈 Land sponsorships

However, booking meetings and closing deals it’s harder than ever:

❌ Prospects don’t return your calls
❌ Prospects don’t stop ghosting you
❌ Prospects don’t answer your emails
❌ Prospects don’t trust you as a seller
❌ Prospects don’t believe in your offer 
❌ Prospects don’t accept your LinkedIn Invite

All of these makes you feel miserable

You feel your manager’s pressure on your shoulder

And you start thinking that sales might not be for you.

Do you relate with this? Because I do - I’ve been there

This happens because the “old way” of doing sales doesn’t work anymore.

Sending 1000s of generic emails and praying they get back to you will kill your sales career.

Now, imagine having a proven system that allows you to systematically:

✅ Book more meetings
✅ Handle all the objections
✅ Move deals through the pipe
✅ Close higher tickets in less time
✅ Run discovery and demo calls like a pro

And, hitting your sales quota.

Wouldn't this be the scenario you would like to be in?

The good news - I can help you get there with:

➝ My weekly Newsletter with actionable sales tactics
➝ My daily sales practical examples in my Content
➝ My sales personalized program
➝ My 1-on-1 Coaching Sessions
➝ My team Coaching Sessions

Now, how serious are you about building your Sales Career?

Let's make it happen.

👉🏼 Shoot me a DM, or head over to my Featured section.

I'll see you at the top!

Founder

Get smarter with Startup, Sales & SaaS news straight to your inbox.
A weekly email focused on the evolution of Startups, Sales, and SaaS. A fun and human voice. Everything you need to know in less than 5 minutes. No BS.

77 AI Use cases every seller should know:

These are the workflows that separate average sales teams from elite modern ones, the real levers behind faster pipelines, cleaner forecasts, and higher close rates.

I put together a 77-point Sales AI Cheatsheet covering every stage of the revenue engine:

✅ Identify ideal buyers fast.
✅ Protect forecast accuracy.
✅ Automate RevOps workflows.
✅ Enable buyers to move faster.
✅ Personalize outreach at scale.
✅ Automate outbound with context.
✅ Turn every call into a coaching loop.

Whether you're an SDR, AE, SDR, Sales Director, VP Sales, or CEO, this cheatsheet shows exactly where AI adds revenue, not noise.

Want the full hig-res PDF version?

Like this post.
Connect with me.
Comment “AI SALES” and I’ll send it to you.

Follow Alan Ruchtein for more sales systems, AI workflows & revenue frameworks.

70+ meetings/month. 3.2x reply rates. 
Less than 5 hours/week of manual prospecting:

My clients are getting these results after applying modern sales strategies.

No cold scraping.
No generic “just checking in” emails.
No SDR armies.

Just one difference:

→ We don’t guess who to contact.
→ We watch.

Every signal becomes a trigger:

- Viewed your LinkedIn profile
- Followed your company page
- Registered for a LinkedIn event
- Commented on an influencer’s take
- Left a G2 review on your competitor
- Liked a post about the pain you solve

Every message starts with:

→ “Saw you…”
→ “Noticed this…”
→ “Caught your comment on…”

That’s not cold outreach.
That’s timed outreach.

It feels warm.
It gets replies.

And it’s scalable.

✅ 4x more meetings
✅ 30%+ reply rates
✅ AI sorts the heat, reps just show up when the moment’s hot

This isn’t about working harder.

It’s about removing the guesswork and selling with precision.

Signal-led sales isn’t the future.

It’s the standard now.
It’s unified, AI-powered, and human.

Comment “10” if you want the top +10 cold email frameworks we use to book this amount of meetings.

PS: Don’t say I didn’t warn you when your reply rate spikes tomorrow.

How I book +70 meetings/mo for clients at 20% of the cost of having 4 reps performing at full capacity:

OLD WAY

-4 SDRs
-Multiple salaries
-Bloated tool stack
-Manual research
-Manual emails
-Manual follow-ups
-20–30 meetings/month (team)

NEW WAY

-1 Modern Seller (AI-powered)
-Lean, precise, high-output
-Modern tool stacks
-60+ meetings/month (one rep)

(Partial) Techstack used:

Maildoso: Email infrastructure
Clay: Enrichment & Research at scale
ChatGPT: Personalization & Messaging
FullEnrich: Waterfall enrichment for emails/phones
DeBounce: Data validation
Instantly.ai: Sending tool

And +10 other tools to complete the full tech stack and strategy ;)

You don’t need a better product, or a fancy new feature.

You need (and deserve) the right modern GTM AI sales system that relies on intent, data, information and relevant insights.

That’s how you book meetings at scale in 2025, not by spamming prospects.

If you want to build a real process once and for all, DM me “system” and let’s do it together.

You won’t believe how fast your calendar gets hammered with qualified meetings. (I’m not cheap, but I’m good!)

No surprise you’re not booking meetings through cold email. This is what you must do now:

⭢ Stay under 70 words long.
⭢ Pitch solutions, not products.
⭢ End decisively, skip “Thanks!”
⭢ Relevance cuts through noise.
⭢ Use social proof to build trust.
⭢ Write clear, skimmable content.
⭢ Speak to their goals, not features.
⭢ Interest calls to action drive replies.
⭢ Ditch buzzwords; use their language.
⭢ Subject lines make or break open rates.

𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸:

1. Observation
2. Curiosity / value-added
3. Soft CTA
4. PS

𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲:

"Subject line: ramp-up stress

Hey Robert, long ramp-ups create stress and don’t prep reps to perform.

Most focus on the product, not prospects. With only 29% of reps hitting quota, a better ramp-up is crucial.

Mind if I share how [competitor] cut ramp time in half and get reps hitting quota in 3 months after working with us?

Best"

If you want me to help you take your cold email game to the next level

DM me "email" and see if we are fit (2 spots left to work).

*

🛍️ Modern Seller Program Get it here: https://lnkd.in/dR_CRPGc

+32% of your inbound calls go unanswered.
And +80% of those callers never call back.
Here’s how to solve it:

Last week, I shared that stat with a founder. Small team, lean setup, SDRs booked solid.

Midday calls were basically a roulette wheel: if someone was free, great. If not? Lost revenue.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth nobody says out loud:

If you can’t answer fast, you’ve already lost.

So we did what ELITE teams do: We tested AI.

Not to replace reps. To protect revenue.

Here’s what we built using CloudTalk:

→ An AI receptionist that picks up every call
→ Instantly qualifies the lead with high quality
→ Routes the hot ones to sales, or books them straight into Calendly
→ Logs everything to HubSpot automatically

No IVRs or “hold on” music. No “sorry, we missed your call.”

Results in 14 days:

- 57 new inbound calls captured
- 19 auto-qualified and booked
- 0 reps added

It runs in the background, 24/7. No “we’ll call them back later.” 

And the funny thing? Reps actually prefer it, because all the noise disappears and they can focus on real selling.

Here’s the principle I teach every team: AI shouldn’t replace reps. It should replace the tasks reps should’ve never been doing.

AI handles repetitive stuff. Humans sell.

The phone stack is the AI stack.

If you’ve got reps wasting time on “just checking” calls… or worse, missing them entirely, test this: https://lnkd.in/dHKteqHJ

PS: Tell CloudTalk you came from me and you’ll get an extra $100 in AI Voice Agents credits on your subscription.

I’ve helped +84 sales teams to “go AI”. Here’s why 99% of companies fail at doing it:

Over the past few months, I’ve reviewed sales setups from SDR teams to VPs of Sales and the same 4 mistakes show up every single time.

Here are The 4 Layers of AI Sales Mistakes 👇

1️⃣ Prompt-Level Mistakes:

You ask for “better emails” and get generic ones.

- No info
- No ICP
- No tone
- No details
- No context
- No insights

No nothing.

AI writes like it doesn’t know who it’s talking to because it doesn’t.

2️⃣ Process-Level Mistakes

No sync between ChatGPT, CRM, and outreach tools.

No detailed process on how your team should operate.

Without a connected workflow, every rep builds their own system and that kills consistency.

3️⃣ Strategy-Level Mistakes 

You measure “output,” not “impact.”

More prompts doesn’t mean more pipeline.

More calls made or emails sent doesn’t mean more revenue.

AI doesn’t fix bad messaging or a broken sales motion, it amplifies it.

4️⃣ Offer-Level Mistakes

Your prompts don’t connect to real buyer pain. You get “personalized” fluff that sounds clever but lands flat and AI can’t sell what you don’t understand deeply.

AI doesn’t replace good selling.

It scales it, if you build it right.

DM me if you want to solve these 4 layers and stop suffering from the AI FOMO! I’ll teach, train and help you build a powerful AI sales system.

Outbound didn’t suddenly get hard. Buyers got smarter and you didn’t.

You “use AI” sure but when I look under the hood, it’s still the same manual guessing game.

The teams actually getting replies?
 
They treat AI as infrastructure, not a shortcut and they nail all 10 of these 👇

1️⃣ Are you letting AI track buying signals before you even start outreach?
If you’re not… you’re basically guessing. That’s not prospecting.

2️⃣ Are leads enriched instantly so reps aren’t flying blind?
Because nothing kills relevance faster than missing data.

3️⃣ Does every outbound message actually start from a real POV?
AI should give you context → you turn it into clarity → that’s what gets replies.

4️⃣ Is your messaging adapting to behavior, or are you still running static sequences?
If it doesn’t react, buyers ignore it. Simple

5️⃣ Are reps still doing manual research?
They shouldn’t be. Intel briefs should hit their inbox automatically.

6️⃣ Are your emails rewritten for clarity and mobile?
Buyers skim. Most reps write novels. You already know how that ends.

7️⃣ Are you analyzing wins with AI to see what’s actually working?
Because “my gut says…” is not a strategy.

8️⃣ Is AI doing the grunt work so reps can spend their time on actual conversations?
This one alone frees up 5–10 hours a week. Every week.

9️⃣ Are objections being handled before the prospect even raises them?
Top teams don’t react. They prevent it.

🔟 Are reps trained to operate AI as a workflow, not treat it like some shiny tool?
This is the real separator between “using AI” and actually winning with it.

If you're not answering “yes” to at least 8 of these, you’re not AI-native, you’re just an AI simple user.

If you want to solve this, DM me “AI” and let’s see if we can work together on building a robust Sales-AI-driven process together

AI is tracking more about your pipeline than your reps are. Here are 15 metrics AI catches that humans ALWAYS miss (and why it matters):

Save this. Your competitors will.

1. Deal Stagnation Alerts

AI flags every opportunity that has been idle for more than 14 days and scores the risk based on the stage and silence duration.

2. Velocity by Persona

Know exactly how fast VPs, Directors, or Managers move between stages. Different personas have different speeds.

3. Pipeline Leakage Detection

AI shows where deals die (after demo, proposal, negotiation) and why they die using call transcripts and CRM analysis.

4. Sentiment Shifts in Calls

Tracks tone, pauses, hesitation, interest.  Buyers tell you everything without saying it.

5. Email & DM Emotion Tracking

NLP scores every reply as positive, neutral, or skeptical. You’ll know who’s actually leaning in.

6. Content Interaction Heatmaps

Which links, PDFs, and messages does your ICP click, read, or ignore.

7. Reply Rate by Value Prop

ROI vs. efficiency vs. cost savings: AI reveals which angle hits hardest.

8. Objection Type Frequency

Automatically tags “budget,” “timing,” “not a priority,” and trends it across calls. You’ll see patterns your reps never notice.

9. CTA Conversion Rate

“Quick reply” vs “Deck?” vs “15 minutes?” AI tells you which CTA closes by persona.

10.  Talk-to-Listen Ratio

Tracks rep talk time vs buyer talk time and correlates it with win rates. Top reps talk less. Always.

11. Discovery Question Depth

Score questions by quality, layering, and intent. This stops surface-level discovery.

12. Follow-Up Timing Impact

Same-day vs next-day. AI knows which timelines close faster (hint: timing leads to conversion).

13. Deal Confidence Scoring

82% close probability? AI calculates it using:
→ call signals
→ response patterns
→ champion strength
→ engagement

14. Risk Heatmap by Stage

Missing champion. No urgency. Budget unclear. AI surfaces risk BEFORE the deal stalls.

15.  Rep Forecast Reliability

Compare "rep gut feeling" vs reality. You’ll see who’s overconfident and who’s accurate.

AI isn’t replacing reps. It’s replacing every blind spot they’ve had for 20 years.

Join +6218 heroes at The Modern Seller FREE & TACTICAL newsletter: https://alanruchtein.com

And DM me if you want me to help you build high-performance sales & revenue systems.

If you still qualify your leads manually, STOP. Do this instead:

One of the sales teams I support was stuck in the usual loop

→ Hot leads sitting untouched
→ Manual routing causing rep fights
→ Objection handling all over the place

RevOps? Buried.
Engineering? “Maybe next sprint.”
Quota? Slipping.

So I stopped waiting. Opened Replit.
And started building live, with the team.

Here’s what we built, together, in under 90 minutes:

#1 — 𝗔𝗜 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗿 (22 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘀)

→ Pulls new leads from HubSpot
→ Scores by ICP fit, intent, and deal size
→ Routes hot leads instantly
→ Logs low-fit leads for marketing

Impact: + 31% demo rate & -43% response delay

#2 — 𝗢𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿 (31 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘀)

→ Reps log objections via Slack
→ AI tags by category + urgency
→ Links battlecards automatically
→ Flags recurring issues for managers

Impact: Cleaner feedback loops, faster coaching, better win rates

#3 — 𝗦𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸-𝘁𝗼-𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹 (30 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘀)

→ AE types “/quote” in Slack
→ AI fills in pricing based on CRM
→ Routes to manager + logs activity

Impact:  –68% quote approval cycle time

We didn’t write code.
We didn’t wait for approvals.

We typed what we wanted in plain English, and Replit built it.

Everything deployed instantly.
No OAuth mess. No Zapier chain. No dev blockers.

This is the new sales edge: If you know the process, you can build the system.

Start here: https://replit.com/mobile

2 emails, 1 meeting booked in 10 minutes.
The Email Forward Strategy (explained below):

Most cold emails get ignored.

But there’s a play that flips the script — and books meetings fast.

I call it The Forward Strategy.

Here’s how it works:

You’re targeting a mid-market SaaS org. Their CRO just posted on LinkedIn about missing revenue targets.

In the comments: pipeline quality comes up.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 1: 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗥𝗢

“Saw your post on rev targets. Teams in your space are tightening up pipeline quality by doing X, might be worth a look.”

You’re not expecting a reply.
You’re planting a signal.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 2: 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗣 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀

With one sentence on top: “Saw this from [CRO Name], figured you might want eyes on it.”

Why it works:

→ It looks internal. Like the CRO passed it down.
→ It feels relevant. No pitch, just intel.
→ It uses social proof sideways. Exec is the signal. VP takes action.

It doesn’t feel like outreach.
It feels like context.

Here’s how to run it:

Find a CRO public trigger tied to a pain you solve. 
Send them a cold email with a sharp POV.
Forward it to their VP with that one-line intro.

No faking. No fluff.
Just smarter sequencing.

It’s not mass automation.
It’s surgical outbound.

Want to make it land? I use FullEnrich to get all the right emails and data.

Because even the best play flops if you’re emailing the wrong (or no) person.

#fullenrichpartner

Brand partnership • CEOs: Broken pipeline & poor performer sales reps? I fix both for you in <60 days. You’ll hate how fast it works. | Modern Seller Program Founder

Your “AI SDRs” are just faster spam (or scam) and don't work. Here’s what an AI Sales agent that works should look like:

One VP Sales told me, “We automated our SDRs, now we’re just getting ignored faster.”

Why? Because they didn’t fix the motion, they just sped it up.

Same dead leads.
Same spray-and-pray emails.
Same cold lists from last quarter.

All they did was replace junior reps with AI that sells like junior reps.

Here’s what we built for a client using Alta | AI Revenue Workforce:

Inbound started spiking, mostly fintech teams.

The inbound AI agent (Alex) flagged the pattern instantly.
No form fill reports. No waiting 48 hours. Just signal.

The outbound agent (Katie) picked it up.
Built a list of 30 lookalike companies:

→ Same tech stack
→ Similar hiring trends
→ Matching ICP

Campaign launched that day: “We’ve been helping fintech teams tackling [pain] by doing [action]. Sound familiar?”

→ Follow-up: “Still relevant?” with a 1-line value hook.

Result: 4 meetings in 2 days. 2 came from auto follow-ups.

Here’s the kicker:
One VP came inbound, but timing was off. So we set a smart trigger: re-engage if they post an SDR role.

Three weeks later, trigger fires: “Hey, saw you’re hiring SDRs. Still thinking about pipeline coverage?”

→ 13-minute reply.
→ Meeting booked.
→ Deal closed 22 days later.

No human lag. No lead drop-off. No guessing.
Just one system, talking to itself.

Inbound feeding outbound.
Outbound reviving inbound.
All running 24/7.

That’s what AI in sales is supposed to look like. That’s the REAL AI SDR power.

If your AI SDR is still just sending cold emails, you don’t need a better copy.

You need a new system.

Want to quietly crush Q1 like this?

Try Alta | AI Revenue Workforce. Stop playing with tools that brag about being “AI.”

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Chris 🦄 Cicconi

Alan Ruchtein

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Chris 🦄 Cicconi's LinkedIn Performance

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