Clara Johnson is now our Head of Training at Outbound Squad!

Clara Johnson is now our Head of Training at Outbound Squad!

‍

I'm excited because:

‍

- Clara was a President's Club rep and a top leader at Outreach and Catalyst

- She's leading a training team that is doing much better than I could do by myself

- Most importantly, she's a solid human who embodies one of our core values: excellence

‍

We met up in Chicago to record some content.

‍

This one's all about AE pipegen and self-sourcing and how to make it happen at your org.

‍

If you're just getting started building AE self-sourcing into the culture, here's what I suggest:

‍

✅ 1) Rub shoulders.

‍

Front-line managers get in the pit with their AEs every week. Make calls together into tier-1 accounts and their toughest-to-reach prospects.

‍

✅ 2) Weekly get sh*t done sessions (GSDs).

‍

My best clients do 1-2 60-minute GSD sessions with their reps. They get on a call for an hour, pick a PG play, then execute together.

‍

✅ 3) Arm AEs with the right tools

‍

Too often I see a sales org with BDRs using a sales engagement platform, but the AEs have to outbound manually from their inbox. Give AEs the same access to sales engagement tools as you do for your SDRs & BDRs. You have ZERO accountability if you can’t measure outbound activity.

‍

✅ 4) Top-down involvement

‍

CRO and VP of Sales should participate in outbound efforts by giving public shout-outs in Slack for reps landing meetings through outbound. They should celebrate effort, share stories, and motivate the team. And in my STRONG opinion, they should do a little bit of strategic outbound themselves.

‍

✅ 5) Data

‍

Get best-in-class email and phone data. You can’t expect AEs to make dials without access to solid email addresses & mobile numbers. TitanX is a great resource here.

‍

✅ 6) Enable front-line leaders

‍

Too often I see groups of front-line managers who don't know how to outbound. How could you possibly expect an AE to prioritize PG when you don't know how to teach it? Enable front-line leaders on how to incorporate PG into 1on1s, how to develop/coach reps, and how to outbound themselves.

‍

✅ 7) Prioritize low-hanging fruit

‍

Teach AEs how to use LinkedIn Sales Nav to stay on top of newly hired execs, job changes, previous clients moving to new accounts, etc. Make it easy to PG.

‍

✅ 8) Manage up or manage out

‍

Lastly, if you have reps who don't want to outbound—and they're not hitting target—you have to be willing to part ways. The team that got your org from point A to point B may not be the team that gets you to point C.

‍

~~~

‍

Creating a PG culture with AEs doesn't happen overnight. But hitting your number as we head into 2026 won't be possible without it. Start now.

‍

‍

‍

‍

Catch our full conversation here.