I keep running into a specific kind of BDR manager. Good at the job. Runs real call reviews, knows their pipeline cold, follows up on everything. Not phoning it in even a little.
And their reps still book meetings that go nowhere. Still get passed over for promotions nobody can really explain. Which makes no sense until you actually sit in on the coaching and realize the manager is doing everything right, just aimed at the wrong thing entirely.
It's almost never an effort problem. It's a calibration problem. That's the whole post this week. Plus a Severance recommendation that says something slightly worrying about how I feel about work, and one genuinely stupid joke I will not be apologizing for.
This Week on the Blog
New Post · Manager Coaching
Your BDR Managers Are Coaching Toward the Wrong Version of the Job
Danielle is a good manager. Rigorous call reviews, sharp pipeline inspection, tight forecast cadence. And every instinct she's coaching toward is calibrated to a version of the job that's quietly being automated. The fix isn't more effort. It's recalibrating what she's listening for inside the reviews she's already running. Seven things a 4.0 manager actually inspects, including the account prioritization question almost nobody coaches.
Read the full postThe Asset · Free Tool
The 4.0 Coaching Scorecard
The exact scorecard I'd hand a manager to run a real coaching session against. The seven inspection points from this week's post, weighted, with prompts for the conversation after each score. Account prioritization. Handoff quality. POV depth. Autosaves per rep. Shareable link. Pull it up in your next 1:1.
Read the full postRun This Monday
The handoff review that recalibrates a manager in one sitting
Do not hand your manager a new framework. Hand them a mirror. Sit down together and pull the last five meetings their rep handed to an AE.
- 01
Read the notes out loud
Open the notes on each one. Read them out loud. Out loud matters, it's harder to skim past how thin they are.
- 02
Ask one question
Could an AE run a relevant demo from this? Not a generic one. A relevant one, built around what this specific buyer said.
- 03
Keep it calibration, not performance
What's missing? What would change the AE's first two minutes? That answer is the new coaching standard, and the manager arrived at it themselves.
11 vs 9
A rep who books 11 meetings and converts 4 is not outperforming a rep who books 9 and converts 7. One is creating opportunities. The other is creating calendar events. Coach the conversion, not the volume.
The math nobody puts on the dashboard
Unsolicited Recommendations
Show · Severance
A show about people who surgically separate their work selves from their personal selves, which is either a dystopian nightmare or a feature request I would pay extra for, depending on the week. The pacing is immaculate. The dread is artisanal. Season two earns every minute.
Apple TV+
Book · The Mom Test, Rob Fitzpatrick
Technically a book about customer discovery for founders. Actually the best book on how to ask questions that get you real answers instead of polite ones, which is the entire job of a discovery call. Short, sharp, and it will quietly ruin every leading question you have ever asked a prospect. In a good way.
momtestbook.com
Podcast · Maintenance Phase
Two hosts debunk wellness fads and diet culture nonsense with research and an unreasonable amount of charm. Nothing to do with sales. Everything to do with learning how to spot a confident claim with no evidence behind it, a skill that translates suspiciously well to evaluating vendor pitches.
maintenancephase.com
Coming Next Week
The trilogy finale, written for the reps
We covered how the function should evolve and how managers should coach it. Next week is for the BDR in the seat right now whose company hasn't built any of this yet. What do you actually do when you want to level up and nobody around you is building the path? That one's personal. Keep an eye out.
One Bad Joke · Except It's Not
I asked AI to write my follow-up email. It ghosted me.
Finally. Something relatable.
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