Welcome to the GTM Launchpad newsletter! Each week I will share a sales play to help you grow your business, level up your sales game and succeed in the trenches

Monday Check In

Let’s be real….the SDR to AE handoff is where a lot of good pipeline dies

We call it a “handoff” but most days it feels more like a hot potato 😆

The rep finally lands a convo, pushes it over to the AE and boom… the context, the energy and the deal all vanish in the handover

After three years working with 40+ sales teams inside The SD Lab I can tell you:

The best-performing orgs treat the handoff like a relay not a toss

When that baton gets passed smooth… trust transfers, context transfers and the buyer never feels the break

When it doesn’t… you end up with confused AEs, ghosted prospects and deals that fizzle before they ever get to stage two right?

So this week y’all we’re fixing the handoff

Here’s what the top teams are doing differently right now 👇

Sponsor of the Week - Notion AI for Business

Quick shoutout to the tool that finally got my ops out of chaos mode

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What’s Working Right Now (and What Isn’t)
in the SDR → AE Handoff

I’ve watched more deals die in the gap between SDR and AE than from any bad cold call

and the wild part?
It’s rarely about effort
It’s about handoff

I’ve seen it at ServiceChannel, Kustomer, Distran… great teams, strong reps but when the handoff’s cracked, momentum dies. The buyer goes from feeling seen to sold to

That’s where pipeline disappears

Here’s what separates teams who close the loop from those who keep blaming “bad leads” 👇

1️⃣ Alignment beats assumption

Most handoff drama isn’t personality it’s definition
What actually counts as qualified?
When an SDR calls it “hot” and the AE calls it “fluff” that’s not a rep problem it’s a system one

Fix: Get both sides in a 20 minute sync. Define what “ready to buy” looks like… triggers, titles, pain points, deal stage. Document it in your CRM not a Slack thread

2️⃣ Context > quantity

Passing a lead isn’t the job. Passing the story is

If your AE opens a call with “So,what brings you here today?” you already lost

The best orgs send screenshots, snippets and vibe checks. The tone of the convo, what clicked, what stalled because buyers don’t care about your process..they care that you were listening

Fix: Build a simple call note template (we used this at SD Lab)

• Current situation

• Authority

• Need

• Current vendor

• Committed next step

Make that your standard not a favor

3️⃣ The Double Discovery Rule

If your SDRs never sit in on an AE’s first call they’ll never learn what “good” looks like

Have them join! Don’t talk, just listen
It builds empathy, sharpens qualification and gives the buyer continuity

Fix: Add “shadow 1 AE call per week” to your SDR training plan. Small change, massive impact

4️⃣ Feedback Fridays

End every week with a 15 minute sync
What converted? What flopped? What patterns are we seeing?

Pipeline health isn’t built in dashboards it’s built in dialogue

Fix: Run a joint “deal rewind” each Friday. SDRs learn what turned into real opps. AEs remember what good qualification sounds like

🚫 Where Teams Fall Apart

• Incomplete info → AEs walking in blind, buyers repeating themselves

• Lagging follow-ups → SDR booked it, AE ghosted it, buyer gone

• Goal misalignment → SDRs chase meetings; AEs chase revenue; nobody’s comped on collaboration

The Move This Week

If you lead a team audit your next 5 handoffs
Are they passing context or just contacts?
Are your SDRs invited to the first AE call?
Do they debrief afterward?

Fixing this doesn’t take software it takes structure

That’s how you turn “handoffs” into handshakes

Alright we just unpacked how to tighten the SDR → AE handoff and stop losing deals in the gap

If you want to double down this week I’ve pulled two resources that’ll help your team put this into action. One you can watch and one you can read 👇

Explore. Engage. Evolve.

🎥 Video of the Week: The Ideal SDR to AE Handoff | Predictable Revenue Podcast

Why It’s Useful

• Expert Insights: Chad Sanderson, a sales leader at Predictable Revenue, shares actionable strategies for improving the SDR to AE handoff process
  

• Real-World Examples: The video includes practical examples and frameworks that have been successfully implemented in sales organizations
  

• Actionable Takeaways: Viewers will learn how to establish clear communication, set expectations and create a seamless transition between SDRs and AEs

📚 Book of the Week: The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson

While not solely focused on handoffs this book provides insights into effective sales strategies that can enhance the SDR to AE transition.

The Challenger Sale argues that classic relationship building is a losing approach especially when it comes to selling complex, large-scale business-to-business solutions. The study found that every sales rep in the world falls into one of five distinct profiles and while all of these types of reps can deliver average sales performance only one—- the Challenger….delivers consistently high performance

Bonus Sales Tactics 🤑

1️⃣ Shared CRM View
Have SDRs and AEs live in the same deal record no silos
Everyone sees what’s said, when and why

2️⃣ Slack “Handoff Thread”
Create a shared thread for every booked meeting. SDR drops the context, AE reacts live after the call. Keeps alignment real-time

3️⃣ The Win Recap
When a deal closes, SDR drops a 30-second video(psst Sendspark) on what they learned from that buyer. AE does the same. Two clips,one culture, shared learning

Inside The Outbound Underground

The community’s been buzzing this week — Malak and Justin ran a 🔥 live teardown session where we rebuilt SDR → AE messaging flows from scratch and even ran live role plays

We’re now at 119 members strong and every week we’re seeing more leaders drop in to sharpen their teams and steal some plays

If you’ve got SDRs or AEs who need more than “rah-rah” pep talks send them our way.
We’ve got real enablement, tools and coaching happening in Slack every week

👉 Join The Outbound Underground it’s free to hang out, paid tiers open up coaching + our full enablement stack (ConnectAndSell, Apollo, Sybill, Sendspark, Expandi and more)

PS: Missed Friday’s Drop?

We launched The SDR Survival Kit …50+ of my best frameworks, cold email prompts, objection-handling lines, call openers…and even two GPTS… all bundled for $99

Dozens of sales leaders and SDRs grabbed it this weekend and are already putting it to work

👉 Grab your copy here I’ll send it directly to you today

Final Thought

A seamless handoff isn’t about data…it’s about trust

When the SDR → AE motion clicks it feels like one voice carrying the buyer through every step. Not two strangers reading the same script

This week take 30 minutes with your team
Play back one handoff
Listen to how it actually feels for the buyer

You’ll know immediately where the drop off happens

Fix that and you won’t just save deals
You’ll save your reps from pointing fingers

See you in the trenches

— Tom

Thanks for reading. See you again next week at 8 am MST!

- Tom Slocum ✌️

How can The SD Lab help you?

If your outbound pipeline is stuck we fix that

The SD Lab works with founders, sales leaders and enablement pros to install outbound systems that actually generate pipeline

Here’s how we help teams level up fast 👇

🚀 The Revenue Accelerator

2 to 12 week outbound consulting sprints for B2B orgs with 10–20+ reps

✅ Lift SQLs by 20–30%
✅ Coach reps with real call reviews + AI scorecards
✅ Rebuild outbound messaging + targeting
✅ Deliver a scalable system your team can own

👉 Best for: Series A-B SaaS orgs, new SDR teams, stalled pipeline

📓 Custom Sales Playbooks

4 to 8 week builds of cold call flows, email copy, objection handling and targeting strategy

You bring the ICP, we build the message and motion
Final asset = plug-and-play playbook your team can use or scale

👉 Best for: founders, enablement leaders, agencies building outbound

🎯 Targeted Workshops + Power Hours

Live tactical sessions for your team. No fluff, just results

💥 Cold call clinics
💥 Email teardown sessions
💥 Social selling & DM strategy
💥 SDR workflow optimization

👉 Best for: fast enablement, rep upskilling, team offsites or new hire ramp

🧠 Outbound Underground

Our private Slack community for reps & rising sellers

🔓 Weekly office hours
🔓 Tech tool perks
🔓 Peer feedback, templates and real talk

🎟️ Join here » — free & paid options available

Curious what this could look like for your org?
Book a 20 min strategy chat no pitch just clarity 👇

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