In partnership with

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

Its Monday, its May and you’re leading humans

Not metrics. Not dashboards. Humans

And if you're in middle management SDR Leaders, Team Leads, frontline coaches this issue is especially for you

Because here’s what I keep seeing: Too many managers are stuck in between

→ Trying to coach down
→ Trying to manage up
→ And getting pulled in a million directions

This week’s issue is a wake up call

Because the best SDR leaders I know right now?
They’re doing two things

1. Getting in the trenches with their team
Not just listening to calls but making them
Not just reviewing emails but writing them

2. Learning the ops side like a CRO-in-training
They’re using AI to spot coaching moments. They’re owning their workflows and tech. They’re not waiting to be told how to lead they’re figuring it out by doing

Lets break it down 👇

Sponsor of the Week - Master’s in Marketing

Unlock the Social Media Tactics That Work Right Now

Is your social strategy ready for what's next in 2025?

HubSpot Media's latest Social Playbook reveals what's actually working for over 1,000 global marketing leaders across TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube.

Inside this comprehensive report, you’ll discover:

• Which platforms are delivering the highest ROI in 2025

• Content formats driving the most engagement across industries

• How AI is transforming social content creation and analytics

• Tactical recommendations you can implement immediately

Unlock the playbook—free when you subscribe to the Masters in Marketing newsletter.

Get cutting-edge insights, twice a week, from the marketing leaders shaping the future.

Download The Report

SDR Leaders this is your season to step up

Last week I did 3 things most managers avoid

→ Covered a rep’s call block
→ Listened to over 20 cold calls
→ Sat down and rebuilt a call track from scratch

And here’s what I took from it

Coaching from the dashboard is a lie

You can’t lead a cold call team if you haven’t

→ Been hung up on this quarter
→ Heard the tone shift when a buyer leans in
→ Felt the silence when a CTA flops

Leadership isnt about commentary
Its about clarity 😤

If you’re leading an SDR team here’s your blueprint for this week

1. Run a call block with your team
Even if its just 15 dials. Do it in the bullpen. Let them hear you. Let them see you get shut down and bounce back

2. Review 3 rep calls using AI the right way
Grab a transcript and run prompts like

→ “Where did the rep miss a chance to ask a better question?”
→ “What triggered the buyer to open up or pull back?”

AI tools like Sybill, Fathom or Fireflies are only powerful when paired with human ears and context

3. Audit your Ops
Too many managers are sleeping on the backend. You don’t need to be RevOps but you should know

→ What tools your reps are actually using
→ Where the friction is in their workflow
→ How to improve it without waiting on a CRO to tell you

This is your job now
→ Coach like a peer
→ Think like a builder
→ Lead like someone who gives a damn

You want to be VP next year? Start acting like it this week

Explore. Engage. Evolve.

🎥 Video of the Week: Meet Tom (Screenspace Interactive Demo)
This isn’t just a demo. Its my full story, my mindset and how The SD Lab works behind the scenes

Perfect if you’ve ever wondered "what’s this dude actually about?"

📚 Book of the Week: The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier
If you’re trying to be more than a manager—this is the blueprint. Short, simple, and perfect for sales leaders who want to ask better questions and stop micromanaging.

Bonus Sales Tactics 🤑

1. The "Get In the Reps" challenge
Pick one sequence your reps are running. Call 10 contacts yourself. Share the recording. Debrief what you learned in Slack or a team meeting

2. AI backed coaching cheat code
Grab any cold call transcript and run

“Give me 3 missed coaching opportunities in this transcript and what questions a manager should ask the rep to address them”

3. The Ops self audit
Pick one tool in your stack this week. Audit it

→ Are reps using it?
→ Is it helping or slowing them down?
→ Could AI workflows simplify things?

Then go bring one insight to your RevOps or leadership team
Be the bridge, not the bottleneck 💪 

🧩 Download the SDR Ops self audit cheat sheet (PDF)

Run this with your team this week
Just real questions to help you lead better
Click here to grab it👇

🗣️ If this issue hit home forward it to an SDR leader who needs to hear it

This one’s for the folks building from the middle 💪 

The people you lead are real humans with fears, dreams, doubts and full lives beyond the dial tone

You want to lead? Show up. Dig in. Ask better questions

This is a weird season for outbound

→ Tools are changing
→ Teams are leaner
→ Expectations are higher

But its also the perfect season to grow into the kind of leader your team brags about

Lets build that version of you together

Tom 🤙

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

- Tom Slocum ✌️

Step Into The Lab

If you’re tired of spinning your wheels on outbound and need a real sales engine that drives results The SD Lab is built for you

Here’s how we help B2B orgs and SDR teams level up fast ⤵️

1️⃣ Outbound done-for-you – We handle your outbound lead gen booking up to 10-20+ sales qualified meetings a month so your team focuses on closing not chasing. We provide the talent, the tech stack and a process that works

2️⃣ The Revenue Accelerator – 8-12 week consulting, enablement & sales training program built for orgs and sales teams that want to

✅ Book more sales qualified meetings (20-30% lift in SQLs)
✅ Close more deals (better handoffs = better conversions)
✅ Sharpen their process (cold calls, email, social, all dialed in)

3️⃣ Custom Sales Playbooks – Need a structured sales game plan? We’ll build you a tailored playbook in 45-60 days that fits your ICP, messaging and outbound motion

4️⃣ Targeted Sales Workshops – Whether your team needs a cold calling clinic, outbound messaging tune up or social selling boost I run one-off training sessions that deliver actionable, immediate results

Want to see what this could look like for your team? Let’s talk

FORWARD TO A FRIEND 👉 [Click Here]