🔥 Tom Slocum

The SD Lab

I help B2B sales teams fix outbound and build top-of-funnel engines that actually deliver

Over the last 18 years I’ve been on every side of the outbound game from full cycle sales to SDR, from ops to leadership I’ve built motions from zero, led teams in the trenches and turned broken outbound into predictable pipelines

Since 2022 I’ve partnered with sales leaders across SaaS, logistics, facilities and more to reset their outbound motion and get their teams back on quota

The Outbound Accelerator (8–12 weeks)
This isn’t theory. I embed with SDR teams to coach, train and rebuild their processes. Weekly live workshops. Hands-on sessions. Custom playbooks. By the end your reps aren’t just booking more meetings they’re booking better ones. Leaders leave with a team and a system they can trust to perform

Why leaders bring me in
18 years in outbound across multiple industries
Tactical expertise from someone still on the phones
Proven results: SDR orgs seeing 20–30% lifts in meetings booked within one quarter

From cubicle cold calls to helping companies like Kustomer and ServiceChannel scale outbound systems that last

Founder | CEO

lemlist

Brand Ambassador 

Nooks

Advisor | Brand Ambassador

Sendspark

Since June 2023 I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with Bethany the co-founder of Sendspark and Ben Wright in supporting, promoting and integrating Sendspark into my daily sales activities. As a brand ambassador I actively use Sendspark for all my video needs—from prospecting and proposals to trainings—and share my experiences through my LinkedIn brand.

Sendspark has become my go-to tool because it genuinely enhances how I connect with clients and prospects. It’s a tool I believe in and I’m excited to represent it. I also get to work closely with the Sendspark team to create engaging and fun content that showcases the power of their platform.

Check em out 🤘

Brand Ambassador

Gartner

Gartner Peer Community is Gartner's next generation online destination designed to increase value through timely answers and meaningful peer connections

I am a Founding Peer Community Ambassador to contribute insights on B2B sales, sales leadership and enterprise go to market among other topics

Peer Ambassador: B2B Sales, Sales Leadership & Enterprise GTM

LinkedIn Learning Community

Hand selected by LinkedIn as one of their 2025 Sales Beacons a community of the most impactful, consistent and credible voices in B2B sales

As part of their invite only Club Navigator program I contribute thought leadership around outbound, SDR development, cold calling and sales coaching helping reps and teams navigate the modern sales landscape

• Featured in the LinkedIn Sales Navigator blog and showcase content
• Regularly share real, tactical strategies that move the profession forward
• Collaborate with top sellers and creators to elevate industry best practices

This isn’t about influence its about impact and creating space for real ones doing real work to lead from the front

Sales Beacon – LinkedIn for Sales

Sendoso

• Collaborated with the team to help develop strategies for personalized engagement and relationship building

• Provided insights and brainstormed ideas to drive creative solutions and initiatives

• Work closely with the CEO and industry advisory group to shape the future of engagement

Strategic Advisor

Humantic AI

- Authentic Selling Evangelist 
- Advising the team on product and positioning
- Attending strategy meetings to share best practices and review current processes in place
- Evangelize and help define a new product category
- Consulting the team on sales and marketing funnel generation

Sales Assembly

As the industry’s only Scale-as-a-Service platform, Sales Assembly is the trusted partner for leading B2B Tech companies on their journey to Scale Better, Scale Faster, and Scale Smarter.

Featured Thought Leader

RevGenius

Member

During my tenure as Program Director, Community Manager and RevLeague Founder at RevGenius I partnered with Jared Robin and the RG team to orchestrate an extraordinary community growth journey from July 2020 to May 2022. Together we transformed a community of 2,000 members into a thriving force of 40,000+ members.

In October 2020 I took a bold stride by creating RevLeague. A micro-community within RevGenius. In an era marked by the isolation of remote work, RevLeague emerged as a dynamic haven for Sales Leaders, SDRs, and AEs seeking collaboration, support, and empowerment. We crafted a vibrant space where walls couldn't confine us. Enabling individuals to connect, share, and thrive.

Guiding RevLeague to over 2,000 members, I fostered a dynamic environment with weekly office hours, stimulating competitions, and collaborations with esteemed sponsors like Ambition, SalesScreen, and ConnectandSell. This journey was a testament to our collective drive to uplift and amplify the growth of sales reps in the evolving landscape.

With my contributions as a Program Director, Community Manager, and RevLeague Founder I embraced the opportunity to fuel connections, inspire growth, and foster an unwavering spirit of camaraderie within the RevGenius community.

Program Director | RevLeague Co-Founder | Community Manager

Your Future Homie- In- Law | Founder @ The SD Lab | Sales Consultant | 7x Strategic Advisor | 4x Sales Leader | SDR Coach | #empathyactivist

Hey I’m Tom I help B2B leaders, SDR teams and founders fix broken outbound when pipeline is dry and reps are stuck spinning

After 18 years in sales from 400+ daily cold calls in a cubicle to building $3M+ in pipeline from scratch I’ve built a repeatable system that gets outbound back on track

Here’s how I help

Weekly workshops (theory + tactical execution)

Rebuilt call flows, messaging and targeting

Sequencing + workflow installation

Call reviews with live coaching + scorecards

Fast performance gains tied to KPIs

Client Wins

Kustomer → 50%+ lift in meetings → 100% SDR attainment in 3 months
ServiceChannel → 30% SQL lift with sharper messaging + coaching
Rockledge, Distran → 10–20 meetings/month booked after outbound reset

I’ve also worked with brands like ServiceChannel, Kustomer, Apollo, ZoomInfo, Smartlead, Surfe and more to coach teams and represent their tools

Outbound isn’t dead it just needs fixing

👉 Want sharper messaging, predictable pipeline and reps who book meetings?

Book an Outbound Strategy Tour (Featured below)

Or join my newsletter (7K+ readers) for free outbound playbooks (below)

Founder

The SD Lab is a top-of-funnel sales consulting agency. The SD Lab offers customized services to help businesses optimize their sales process and achieve measurable results. The SD Lab offers a 14-week Revenue Acceleration program, Custom Sales Playbooks, and Team Coaching packages that cover all things Top of Funnel. If you're looking to optimize your sales process and achieve sales success, The SD Lab is here to help. Let's work together to transform your sales approach

Ronen R. Pessar

I Help New Leaders Thrive, Not Just Survive | When Emotions Unblock, Performance Will Unlock

We build and run your in-house outbound systems and team to outperform your competitor’s SDR teams at a fraction of the cost. Have each Rep in 40 conversations per day. Every day. 

💋I DON’T KISS AND TELL💋
[BUT MY CLIENTS DO]

💙 “I bet the house on Outbound Operators in ’25. By April, just four months in, we had already surpassed all of ’24’s SQLs. It’s like black magic.”
— Sol Broady, Head of Corp Dev @ MCI(Hired 4 SDRs instead of 34)


💙 “You smoked them. That’s over. They got the boot. You crushed them. You guys are the winners for SDR.”
— CRO, $300M+ independent digital marketing agency (600+ employees)
^ after a bake-off against another SDR firm. (Hired 1 SDR instead of 12)

Outbound Operators delivers a managed outbound system you fully own in-house. 

Built on Buckets™️, it’s the most CAC efficient pipeline engine on the planet.

🚀 WHAT YOU GET: 

ALL things SDR done for you: 
* Recruit + hire top SDRs
* RevOps (tech stack build)
* Onboarding + coaching 
* Strategic guidance

Ramping in 1–3 months, your new SDRs will consistently create more qualified pipeline at a lower CAC/TCO than hiring, training, doing tech setup/RevOps, and managing SDRs yourself.

Result: 
25–40 live decision-maker conversations per rep per day.

Our model is simple: You own it all in-house. We design it, run it, and hand you the keys. 

• One or two experienced SDRs placed in your org
• Powered by Buckets (our proven system)
• Producing pipeline = to 10-20 SDRs

Why clients choose us:

1) Faster ramp: 1-3 months to full output (vs. 9 to 12 months for typical SDRs)

2) Low CAC and TCO:Avoid $450k-$1.2M+ in wasted trial-and-error SDR teams with headcount bloat and bad strategy.

3) More output, 10x quicker, with fewer reps (PE friendly): 25 to 40 live decision-maker conversations per rep, per day.

4) We prove it before you commit. In a single 90-minute proof of concept we'll get 20+ live conversations with your buyers right before your eyes. 

The equivalent to 3-4 weeks of work for 1 SDR done in 90 minutes.

🔥 Stop lighting cash on fire with SDRs. 
🔥Plug in a system that works.
📥 DM me here on LinkedIn
🧑‍💻visit www.outboundoperators.com
📆 find time to chat: https://tinyurl.com/4h4vf35p

PS: Not ready to bring the whole kit and caboodle in-house quite yet? 

Ask about our network of fractional cold callers for hire!

Chief Executive Officer

1 - I build SDR teams to hit pipeline goals as a fractional leader (bespoke consulting)
2 - Cold Call Training (live and course)
3 - Message-market fit: 100% done-for-you email and cold call campaigns. 

**coming soon: Cold Calling Bootcamp**

Ronen 🧡 Pessar

I'm about to p*ss off my entire industry.

But someone has to say it.

Parallel dialers ruined cold calling.

Sales engagement platforms ruined cold email. 
And LI automation tools are getting shut down…

We've scaled spam, but not conversations.

The outbound "trends" we see?

→ 1 random convo every 30–65 dials
→ Numbers spam-flagged before lunch
→ Prospects annoyed before they even say “hello”
→ Multichannel “do more” (aka spam-the-TAM) as a strategy

It feels productive because the dial count is high.

But honestly, it's just expensive noise.

We ditched parallel dialing, mass emailing, and “social selling."

Our quality convos jumped from 0–2 → 25–40/day (per rep). With fewer reps. Same hours.

8–12 conversations per hour.

Cold calling isn’t dead.

But the way most teams are doing it is.

If you care about pipeline, stop scaling waste.

Build for signal, not noise.

PS: Can someone make this make sense? Plz.

JSESSIONID

linkedin.com/feed/

li_at

LinkedIn

In outbound, meetings don’t matter | Cofounder @ Outbound Operators

Scare a salesperson in 2 words ⬇️

I'll go first:

Q 4

🚨I'm hiring for a 6-figure Senior SDR 🚨

This role is a career-maker. Read on.

🥇 Company: quack.ai
📍Fully remote (USA or Canada only)  

💰 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽: OTE: $100,000 - 120,000
[Salary: $50k -60k | Comm: $50k - $60k, uncapped]

🫵 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀:
• Cold Calling only 
• Can handle 40 live convos every day
• 𝟯 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱

To get the job, you'll cold call with us, live. 

If you're ready to show off your skills on the phones.
Apply here: https://lnkd.in/d8NhfmnF

PS: Know a killer cold caller? Tag a friend!

Open article: Outbound Operators - Sr. Sales Development Representative (SDR) at QuackAI by outboundoperators.recruitee.com

Outbound Operators - Sr. Sales Development Representative (SDR) at QuackAI

My favorite strategy when someone's ghosting?

Hit em with a late fee

Not sure how to go about it? I'll give you an example ⬇️ 

When I was 10 years old, I lost a tooth. 

Usually, when this would occur, I'd expect a few bucks under my pillow when I woke up the next morning. 

But this night in the early 2000's was different. 

There was no dollar when I woke up. 

Tragic? A little bit. 

What'd I do next though? I hit the tooth fairy with a quid-pro-quo: 

"If you don't give me the cash tonight, tomorrow night your fee will go up to $24.00"

A 2,400% interest rate 

The tooth fairy didn't DARE mess with me again. 

And you better believe that dollar showed up under my pillow the next night. 

Follow me for more tips like this

(2) Notifications | LinkedIn

not making cold-calls, but teaching ppl how to cold call?

hell no

not posting on LinkedIn, but teaching people how to go viral?

also hell no

not sending emails, but sharing best email practices... 

very hell no 

"Well Ronen... coaches don't play ya know"

Listen, it's not personal. The game changes. 

and you have to be in the trenches to stay relevant...

am I wrong?

Cold-calling fact:

Calling people who pick up the phone is better than calling people who don't. 

"No shit, Ronen. Thanks for the groundbreaking advice"

I'm serious though. 

If a prospect picked up once, they’ll pick up again.
You can always call them back.
You can always have another conversation.

Once that happens, everything changes:

1) You never need to “war dial” and risk pissing them off.
2) No single call really matters. Stop pushing. You’ll get another shot.
3) There’s no such thing as “the right time or day” - it’s always the right time.
4) Never leave voicemails before you have a conversation. It's a warning shot. 

Once you start calling people who actually answer the phone…
Cold-calling stops feeling cold.

LinkedIn Login, Sign in | LinkedIn

"Ronen, there's NO WAY that your reps are getting 20-35% connect rates when cold-calling"

I get one of these dm's once a week. 

So I decided to drop a value bomb on ya'll

The biggest issue with cold-calling in 2025? 

Nobody's picking up the damn phone. 

Well, at least the people you're calling aren't. 

Reps at Outbound Operators are having 40 conversations per day, with 20-35% connect rates on any given day. 

It isn't rocket science. 

But most people don't know how we're doing it. 

So I'm going to show you EXACTLY how our reps are:

• Getting a 20-35% connect rate when dialing
• Having 40 conversations per day with their ICP
• Booking more sales qualified opps than anyone else in the space

I lay it all out in a new video (step-by-step)

All you need to do:

Comment "Calls" 
(and make sure we're connected)

And I'll shoot it over 🤙

If SDRs disappeared tomorrow?

90% of companies would be gone in 12 months.

No meetings.
No pipeline.
No new revenue.

Just CEOs crying into their Series A funding.

But sure, keep setting SDRs up to fail with:

• a 2% connect rate
• a 98% failure rate
• a broken list from 2017

…and then blame them when you miss quota.

The disrespect is wild.

SDRs aren’t lucky to have a job.

You’re lucky they haven't walked out yet.


Today, I'm especially thankful for Sales Development. 

You should be too. 

Happy thanksgiving y'all! 
🦃

It should never take more than 3 days for SDRs to dial.

You don't have time to waste with non-productive weeks (or months).

• 1-2 days: on the phones
• 1 month: at 80% to quota (or better)
• 2 months: already at or exceeding quota

a typical SDR ^
At quota between months 1-2

Get outta here with that '3 weeks of onboarding' trash

On his FIRST day Gabriel Rojas already set one. 
👏 amazing first day, Gabe!!! 🎉

also... 
he had 14 connects 
on 47 dials
[30% dial to connect]

which means, 
1. learning happens very quickly
2. results happen very quickly 
   
Day one, yall.
Should look like this.

If it doesn't... https://lnkd.in/dHEq-sCj

We scaled Outbound Operators to $1M+ ARR in <18 months

If I was going to do it all over, here's what I'd do different:

1 - offer financing with buy now, pay later options for early-stage companies who are a bit more spend conscious. everyone wins. (we do this now)

2 - double down on documenting process + working with VAs... delegation is a game changer (buy back your time by Dan Martel changed my view on this)

3 - focus on balance, not ruthless, brute-force never ending hustle... my mind and body burn out VS staying energized

4 - say no to about 80% of the things I said yes to: bad clients, terms not aligned with what we do best, random marketing stuff, and so much more

Biggest thing on this list is the last one. Distraction comes in many shapes and sizes, and they get thrown at you every day. 

The more focused you can stay, the faster you'll scale. 

To infinity and beyond 🚀

Board meeting math is hilarious.

CEO: “We need more pipeline.”

CRO: “Let’s hire 12 SDRs.”

Board: “Approved.”

Three months later…

12 SDRs + 9 tools + $1.2M in burn

= 3 meetings that never showed.

Everyone: “So $4,735 per meeting is… fine, right?”

PS: What’s your favorite way to set $1.2M on fire?

In the last 2 weeks, I recorded:

→ 30 short videos
→ 10 podcast episodes w/ Ryan
→ And I’m just getting started.

Why?
Because the truth about cold calling needs a louder voice.

Its the number 1 channel for predictable, scalable revenue going into 2026.

Too many outsource to agencies that don’t know their market.

So I went on a sprint.
To build the clearest, most actionable library on outbound sales anywhere on YouTube.
Real tactics. Real calls. Real talk.

If you want to:
• Build a real outbound machine
• Have reps that can actually sell
• Or just stop burning cash on SDRs

Check out the channel.
You’ll get better with every episode.

https://lnkd.in/gSZY9Z4A

📍 YouTube: Ronen Pessar

Use a gimmicky call opener and your prospect won’t respect you.

No respect, no conversation. 
No revenue. 

Sure, gimmicks get attention, but…

They lower your status.
They destroy trust.

I use this opener. 
It works 98% of the time. 

“Hi <name>. This is Ronen Pessar. You weren’t expecting my call. It’s actually the first time I’ve reached you. I was hoping you might help me out for a brief moment.”

98% of the time they say.

“Sure.”

If you want the full script, check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gMSZtAfH

My anti to-do list 

(Specifically in sales)

1) Don't waste my time with pikers (aka tire kickers)

2) Gimmicky call openers 

I say this because I use to do it. I thought I sounded cool, but I feel like it's a 10/10 way to make yourself look like a fool.  And yes, gimmicky call openers do make me want to throw my phone out he window. 

3) Lengthy follow up emails that prospects won't read. 

Follow up emails need to be short, to the point, and easy to read. If they're long, people won't read them and you just wasted 30 mins of precious dialing time. 

4) Avoid energy vampires like the plague. 

Your energy is precious, so safeguard it. People can either suck the life out of you or give you energy. Choose to be around people that give you energy. 

5) Listen to everyone, but be careful who you take advice from

Sahil Bloom said "don't use someone else's map to navigate your reality."
Most advice is just what worked for that person. Think for yourself because more often than not, you already know the answer, you just need to do it.

Here's the EXACT voicemail playbook that turns 18.3% of my VMs to a callback (and meetings set).

[share this with your cold calling friends]


Step 1: Don’t leave voicemails.
Step 2: See Step 1.

😁

[I'll break it down in the first comment]

I will never use a parallel dialer again

I was a power user & fan for years, but that all changed for  1 consistent reason

More dials ≠ more revenue. 

Here’s why

Outbound sales is a long-term strategy, most results happen on follow up activities (not the first conversation)

Which makes sense because in outbound, the people you add to a list should be qualified, but there will be no urgency. 

Parallel/multi line dialers are a short term results tool. 

In the first 1-2 months, I will have lots of conversations and solid results. 

But then…

100% of the time that will tank and it will drop quickly. 

Because I will regularly connect with all the people who actually answer (on the first 1-5 attempts), and the prospects left on my list will NEVER answer. 

^ this is why most Nooks/Orum users will eventually have a conversation every 50 to 100 dials (1-2%) around month 3-4 of using the tool. 


TL;DR

Using a parallel dialer guarantees 1 thing…

that I call people who never answer the phone, a lot more often. 

Over 12 months, it will barely move the needle. 

Challenge me on this.

Want to book 40% more meetings in Q4?

Try this method:

Step 1: Offer your prospect $150 to take a meeting with your AE. 

Step 2: Offer your AE another $100 to take the meeting and add it into their pipeline

Step 3: Get paid $500 for a qualified meeting by your company. 

Step 4 (this is where it gets interesting): Raise $100K from angel investors, go to your local YMCA. Offer everyone $150 to pretend to be a prospect of a B2B SaaS company, and take a meeting with your AE. 

Step 5: Repeat step 2. 

Step 6: Negotiate a 10% increase in pay with your company because of how many meetings you're bringing in. 

Now, you have over $200k in cash, and can rinse and repeat until you reach your first milly. 

Then keep reinvesting profits. 

...and they say making money is hard 🙄

I'm sorry if this ruffles some feathers...

But most people that want to be successful, won't be. 

It's not because they're not motivated, it's because their actions don't match their words. 

Six figures. Fast-track to sales glory. A career with massive growth. Everyone wants that. 

But when it's time to pick up the phone?

ALL that motivation and talk disappears.

If you're not scared of 150 calls a day
If you love the idea of 40 live convos a day
If you're the type who wants a shot, to prove you're a dawg... 
(not JUST post about it...)

I’m hiring.
Offers going out asap.

[link in profile]

I have a bone to pick with sales coaches...

But not for the reason you think. 

Yes, I will admit. There are some legit coaches out there that will make you a better seller. 

BUT, the vast majority of people professing to "get you to $1M commission years"....

Have either 1) never done it themselves. Or 2) done it themselves, but worked at a company who's valuation shot up from $500M to $100B in 8 years.

They might be legit, but they were swimming downstream, working for a company that would've crushed either way. 

I think sales coaches have their place in making you a better seller. Especially if you've been a seller for years, and want to sharpen your skills. 

I do NOT think however, that SDR's should hire a sales coach. 

The only way to get better as as SDR is to DO MORE REPS. 

Have more conversation, fail more, and learn from better sellers around you. 

Don't waste your hard earned commission dollars on a coach. 

Please and thank you 💕

Hiring an agency is a horrible idea.

They will burn a whole in your wallet when you:

- don't have PMF
- don't know who your ICP is 
- don't have a solid marketing plan
- don't have your sales process locked down

Instead, hire an agency when you:

- have PMF
- have some brand awareness 
- have a sales funnel with predictable numbers

If YOU can't get your first five customers, how can you expect someone else to do it for you?

Agencies are NOT a go-to-market strategy. 

They are not a way to kindle a fire. 

But... they can be a great way to add fuel to it.   

Start the flame, then hire people to help you turn it a wildfire 🔥

PS: paying for appointments is insane. I can offer someone $250 to take a meetings, and flip that for $500, $750.. $1,000... who ever thought this was a good idea?!?

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🔥 Tom Slocum

Ronen 🧡 Pessar

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The Battle

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