Groundwork for Success in Sales Development Coursera Quiz Answers

Get All Weeks Groundwork for Success in Sales Development Coursera Quiz Answers

Week 01: Groundwork for Success in Sales Development Coursera Quiz Answers

Practice Quiz: Discovering the Tech Ecosystem and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Answers

Q1. Originally sold as a stand-alone product that you purchased and owned outright, the shift to a system where you pay a subscription for digital access to software is what kind of tech business model?

MLM
SaaS
Franchising
Mass Customization

Q2. True or False? Before SaaS, software was sold as a subscription service in which software is accessed online.

True
False

Q3. The large majority of successful technology startups have engaged in many efforts to raise capital, turning an ingenious idea into a globally recognized company. What is the typical “end-goal” for a tech startup?

A sale (Merger & Acquisition) or going public (IPO)
Generating $1,000,000 ARR
Successfully signing the first client
None of the above

Practice Quiz: Demystifying Sales and Sales Development Answers

Q1. True or False: Sales is about building relationships, identifying opportunities, and helping companies reach their goals.

True
False

Q2. The sales development team is a critical part of the sales department at an organization because:

It constantly updates product features to stay on top of innovation
It delivers a seamless, efficient revenue machine for the business
It helps maintain customer retention

Q3. What sales methodology focuses on bringing insight to a prospect about an unknown problem or opportunity in their business?

SPIN selling
Challenger Selling
Cold Calling
Social selling

Q4. Imagine yourself just starting your role as an SDR for an early-stage startup company that recently raised their Seed Round. What can you expect in your role at the company?

Direct access to executives
Minimal tools and processes to work with
Participate in projects outside the scope of the SDR role
All of the above

Q5. True or False: The SDR role isn’t meant to help you grow within your company. It is common that if you become an SDR you’ll be in the role for 5+ years.

True
False

Q6. Place in order the typical stages of a startup life-cycle.

Pre-Seed –> Seed –> Series A –> Series B+ –> IPO
First-Round –> Second Round –> Third Round –> Public
Investors –> Venture Capital –> Hedge Funds
None of the above

Graded Quiz: Breaking into the World of Tech Sales Answers

Q1. The term “Unicorn” was coined in 2013 by Venture Capitalist Aileen Lee. In tech, this term refers to startups that are valued at more than 1 billion dollars. True or False?

False
True

Q2. Here are the typical stages of a startup lifecycle with one stage missing: Pre-Seed –> Seed –> Series A –> Series B+ –> _______. What is the name of the missing stage?

A sale/acquisition or IPO
Series D
Series Z
Seed

Q3. The acronym SaaS refers to Software-as-a-Service, a relatively new way that companies are selling software. True or false: This involves the customer buying yearly access to a cloud version of the program as opposed to outright ownership.

True
False

Q4. True or False: The only way to get a job in tech is if you are a software engineer and know how to code/program.

True
False

Q5. As tech companies grow and evolve, many are working towards a similar exit strategy. What is the final step in the startup lifecycle, one that marks the end goal that most tech companies would like to accomplish?

A sale/acquisition or IPO
Signing the first Fortune 500 Client
Reaching $10,000,000 in ARR
Raising the series Z round

Q6. Which of the following areas within tech has been a focus of recent growth and investment?

AI, Machine Learning, Big Data, and Cloud Computing
Mobile, Tablets, Smart Wearables, and the IoT
FinTech, MedTech, BioTech, and AdTech

Q7. Choose the best definition of tech sales.

SaaS selling involves open communication, understanding the client’s problems, and helping them see how a solution could benefit them.
SaaS sales are enterprise-level and require intense negotiations, and years of effort, and are almost always for contracts worth millions of dollars.
SaaS sales is a traditional transactional selling environment where one-call closes are common and buyers have plenty of resources with limited competition for them.

Q8. Which description of the tech sales process shows all steps in the correct order?

Find new prospects > Outreach on multiple channels to create first contact > Perform a needs assessment to understand their problems > Position the value of your product as a solution to this problem > Handle objections and address questions from the prospect > Set the next steps and push the deal forward (closing)
Find new prospects > Perform a needs assessment to understand their problems> Outreach on multiple channels to create first contact > Handle objections and address questions from the prospect > Position the value of your product as a solution to this problem > Set the next steps and push the deal forward (closing)
Find new prospects > Perform a needs assessment to understand their problems> Position the value of your product as a solution to this > Outreach on multiple channels to create first contact > Handle objections and address questions from the prospect > Set the next steps and push the deal forward (closing)

Q9. Which departments are directly involved with helping the sales team reach their revenue goals?

Product, Marketing, Engineering
Operations, Marketing, Development
People, HR, Talent

Q10. What is the basic difference between the work of an inbound and outbound SDR?

Inbound representatives respond to questions from customers, while the outbound representatives run meetings with people who need additional support with their integrations.
Inbound reps actually spend their time away from HQ, working to get inside other companies’ offices for a face-to-face meeting. Outbound reps try to generate enough interest in a prospect to take a meeting.
Inbound reps follow up on inquiries from prospects to see if they are qualified for a meeting, while outbound reps try to generate enough interest in a prospect to take a meeting.

Q11. What roles are involved in the different parts of the sales organization (from pre-sales, sales, or closing, to post-sales)?

SDR, SDR Manager, SDR Director
SDR, Account Executive, Customer Success Manager
SDR, Account Executive, Solutions Engineer
SDR Manager, COO, Chief Revenue Officer

Q12. What is the main goal of the sales development team?

Increase customer retention by communicating with your company’s clients
Respond to customer feedback by updating product features
Develop strategic sales plans to help move negotiations forward
Source new sales pipeline in the form of prospects that could benefit from the solution your product offers

Q13. Business has moved online, and much of it is conducted via email. As a top-tier SaaS seller, why is it important to check your email first thing in the morning?

Responding quickly increases the chance of having a positive interaction.
deals are always in motion in a 24-hour global economy. Especially with prospects in multiple time zones, you can expect to receive emails at all times of the day.
It is best practice to check your email in the afternoon as it can get in the way of cold calling.
Both the first and second answers are correct

Q14. The amount of guidance and support an SDR has varies based on company size. At a larger, more mature SaaS organization you can typically expect to find:

A clear understanding of the company’s (ICPs) and people (buyer personas) that purchase the product
Close interactions with marketing to ensure value-driven content alignment
Successful email messaging that has been tested and refined.
Call scripts and common objection lists
A focus on coaching, honing sales techniques, and career/professional growth
All of the above

Q15. Why is trust such an important aspect of any business deal?

As a salesperson, you must operate with integrity, and cultivating open, communicative, and trustworthy relationships is the key to winning a client’s business.
Like most products, the software sold in a SaaS deal is a one-time product, so the client has to believe it will help them immediately.
People won’t buy from someone that they don’t like, so you need to do whatever it takes to gain their trust in order to close the deal.

Q16. With all the tasks that are tied to sales development roles, what should the main focus be for a top-performing SDR?

A bulk of the day should be strategic meetings with coworkers.
Outreach, calls and emails, and then prospecting, with a little bit of supportive research and a team meeting or product training.
Developing new marketing content to generate leads.

Practice Quiz: Fueling Your Growth Mindset Answers

Q1. Which of the behaviors below is associated with a growth mindset?

Growth Mindset: Frustrated over not finding instant success, you move on to something new.
Growth Mindset: After learning that a colleague has set more meetings than you, you give up — there is no way anyone else could meet or surpass their accomplishment.
Growth Mindset: Instead of challenging yourself and spending the time to send amazing, personalized, and value-driven emails, you use automated bulk-email sequences in order to spend more time on your coffee breaks.
Growth Mindset: After watching the strong start of a new SDR and how good they are on the phones, you set some time aside with them to ask about their approach and get feedback on how to improve your own.

Q2. According to Carol Dweck in, “The Power of believing you can improve” individuals with fixed mindsets were “gripped by the tyranny of __________,” instead of “luxuriating in the power of ____________”.

now; yet
politics; knowledge
choice; Ownership
The latest Survivor episode pretends that Game of Thrones ended in season 7

Q3. Question: Imagine yourself as an SDR for a high-performing tech company. You just got off of a difficult call with a prospect who seemed rude and quickly hung up on you. How would an individual with a growth mindset approach this situation?

Call the prospect back and yell at them so they know how it feels.
Take a break from calling for a few hours since now is clearly a bad time.
Empathize with the prospect, how busy they might be, and the challenges they are facing, then look at what you might learn from the interaction to be more successful with the next call.
Send the prospect an email telling them why it is important to take the call with you and what they are missing out on.

Practice Quiz: Becoming Rejection Proof Answers

Q1. SDRs will experience a ton of rejection, which some people might look at as failure. Someone with a growth mindset, however, views rejection as an opportunity to learn and work toward mastery. What is something you could learn in the following situation: After making 1,000 calls in your first month as an SDR, you’ve only booked 10 meetings. You anticipate that, if you have the same results next month, you are going to miss your quota.

Although not enough to get to quota, you can still learn from the success you have had! Look at the job titles of people that you’ve set meetings with, think about what value proposition resonated with them, and then refine your process to focus on these individuals and the specific problem that they seem to care about solving. Think about the objections you’ve heard, and talk to other SDRs and AEs to figure out the best way to handle them. Have your manager review 2 calls, one good and one bad, so they can critique your approach and give you feedback on how to do better the next time.
Since it seems like calls aren’t working, switch entirely to email for the next month and see if you have better results in sending 1,000 emails.
This result seems like it is activity-related, perhaps a volume issue. Clearly, you weren’t making enough calls. For the next month, focus on calling twice as much so you can make 2,000 calls, in order to guarantee that you’ll set 20 meetings and hit your target.
Both the first and second answers are correct

Q2. Professional challenges, especially those in the fast-paced and driven tech world, can seem overwhelming, and at times insurmountable. However, in your own life you’ve likely worked hard, challenged yourself, and overcome numerous obstacles to reach the goals you’ve set. Select the following aspects of resilience that would make a salesperson more effective? (Choose all that apply.)

A Goal Orientation – Setting SMART goals, understanding the steps necessary to achieve them successfully, and then holding oneself accountable to do the work.
Grit – Sometimes, an SDR will get a rude email from a prospect sent to the whole team on CC, be yelled for interrupting their dinner, and miss goals, and have a hard talk with the boss about what happened. It takes grit to stay positive, remain goal-oriented, and keep working hard even when it seems like everything is going wrong.
Dedication – Being in sales isn’t a 40-hour-a-week job, especially not in tech. It takes dedication to work the long hours needed to be successful, to spend the time learning a product to truly understand how it helps customers or to write 10,000 emails until the value proposition flows easily.

Q3. As gratifying as success can be, the near-wins, or failures to those of us who aren’t Sarah Lewis, can push us to continue trying. Failure can propel the dedicated down the path of practice, reflection, understanding, and mastery. Select which task(s) below challenge a new SDR. (Choose all that apply.)

Writing succinct, company-specific, value-driven emails.
Handling multiple difficult objections from a prospect while on a cold call
Hitting quota
Social selling with a genuine, natural presence supported by a carefully cultivated digital brand

Q4. Having passion and sustained persistence applied toward long-term achievements, with no particular concern for rewards or recognition along the way, can be defined as:

Grit
Excitement
Laissez-faire
Hard work

Q5. Rejection hurts. It stings. It can even bring us to tears. But in a professional environment (and for someone with a high EQ), it is important to control your emotions. Which of the following strategies may be useful as you work to become “Rejection Proof”?

Take a deep breath, remain mindful, remember that we cannot control our environments, but we can control how we react to them
Focus on the the silver lining: a positive, a learning, a good moment
Increase your resilience by remaining goal-oriented and taking a moment to remember what you are working towards
The restorative effects of nature: go on a walk, get outside, and grab some sun
Developing healthy habits to improve mental toughness: eating well, getting plenty of sleep, maintaining a consistent exercise routine
All of the above

Practice Quiz: Holding the Keys to Self-Confidence Answers

Q1. Sales takes grit, determination, and perseverance. But a positive attitude can help lessen the impact of the up-and-down sales emotions; such as the highs of a close or meeting set, and the lows of missing your target or not receiving a response to a well-crafted and involved outreach campaign. What are some other ways that optimism can help a salesperson succeed?

Confidence is king, and you can feel it through the phone, on a Zoom call, or in an email.
There is so much to learn, about the product, the company, the industry, and, most of all, the customer. None of this is second nature, and approaching it with a good attitude is critical to becoming the best possible “sponge” of information.
Sales might not come naturally to everyone – a successful career in SaaS takes time to develop. You need to keep working towards a goal over long days, months, and years, but knowing what awaits you, the amazing perks that experienced AEs receive, for example, creates an optimism that keeps you going.
All of the above

Q2. You can do anything! No, not only a trite phrase our parents rotely recited to us as we grew up. Those parents were onto something – believing in yourself truly has the power to help you achieve success. People from Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama have spoken about the trials and tribulations in their own lives, while overcoming them. Please select some of the ways you can overcome a personal or professional challenge?

Examine your challenge from a new perspective
Look at how this challenge will help you grow or what you can learn from it
Understand how this challenge fits into your broader plan and can help you achieve a goal
All of the above

Q3. Like learning to walk, read, or ride a bike, you build confidence in yourself and your efficacy one step at a time. Please select some of the methods that you might employ to work on your confidence? (Choose all that apply.)

Reflecting on the accomplishments that you have achieved in the past.
Challenge yourself to get outside your comfort zone and work actively to enjoy the process
Change up your daily routine: take a new route to work, try a new coffee place, grab dinner at hip place on the other side of town
Focus on what you can gain from people and how to take advantage of them.
Spontaneously tell someone how much you care about them or what they mean to you.
All of the above

Q4. Reflect on the past and think about the “saboteurs” that have stymied your own efforts. How might you mitigate the risk from these negative forces in the future?

Push the thought of failure from your mind and don’t even think about the possibility of being sabotaged
Focus on inherently positive feelings like curiosity and compassion and let them pull you toward growth and achievement
Learn karate
All of the above

Practice Quiz: Developing a Metrics-Orientation Answers

Q1. Living in the information age can be gently described as chaotic. We are bombarded with information. As an example, the average person sees 5,000 ads every day, 10x more exposure than 50 years ago. As a high-performing professional in a demanding industry such as technology, you will be expected to focus in order to consistently reach your goals. Developing a metrics orientation can help manage achievement in which of the following ways?

Detailing exactly what you have to achieve to be successful
Metrics use a formal British system to examine performance instead of the American feet/inches
Breaking down goals into specific activities
Effectively managing your time to work towards multiple positive outcomes simultaneously
Using metrics to track performance gives you a quantitative measure of your success
All options but the second one

Q2. Being an SDR is no cakewalk. It’s a position that requires extensive training, solid industry knowledge, and a number of high-level interpersonal skills. Consistency in your activity is one thing that can help you carve out your niche as a successful SaaS sales professional. Why is consistently performing outreach to new prospects such a critical aspect of being an SDR?

Sales is a numbers game, so doing outreach every single day ensures that you are contacting enough people to create interest.
It’s important to only focus on existing leads. New prospects create distractions.
Managers will focus on bringing you new prospects, the SDR focuses on only contacting what’s given to them.
Outbound SDR’s only engage with prospects who call in.

Q3. SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. In sales, you are always working towards a goal: the day’s activity metrics, your monthly quota, that big promotion. With so many simultaneous responsibilities, it is important to directly strategize how to achieve your goals and lay out realistic plans and processes for doing so. But how will you track your performance against these goals? This is where metrics come into play. Which of the following examples correctly describe how an SDR would use metrics to follow their progress?

Tracking the number of positive conversations, total number of email opens, and the ratio of mobile as opposed to office phones in your prospects list.
Look at SDR activity like a waterfall. If you understand how many prospects you have to put in a cadence and outreach in order to set 1 meeting, you know the level of activity you need to do each month to reach quota. If it takes 50 prospects to get 1 meeting, and if your quota is 10 meetings, you need to contact 500 new prospects a month (50 people per meeting X 10 meetings a month).
Track the number of people who come to the meeting you set for your AE, the number of open opportunities for your AE, and the timing of your activity for most emails during the day.
Both options A & B.

Q4. ABC: Always Be Closing. SDRs live and die by their quota. Salespeople never sleep. True. Questionable. Highly unlikely. But the reality is that salespeople work hard and are well-compensated for their efforts. An SDR manager might track the overall activity levels of their team, or the total number of meetings booked each quarter. An AE will follow the number of deals they have at each stage of the buying process, and the risks and chance-to-close of their opportunities. As an SDR, you will have your own metrics to track; what are these?

Activity Metrics – the number of calls, emails, and social media touches. Tracking these metrics sends a signal to the organization that you understand how modern, multi-channel sales works, and that it takes many touches (15+ usually) to get in front of a prospect with your value proposition.
Set Meetings: This signifies your performance to goal, or how close you are to reaching quota. This number keeps your boss happy and makes sure you get your full comp.
Pipeline: Looking at the sum total dollar amount of all the deals you are driving in a quarter helps track your personal performance over time, which helps to compare against the best SDR on your team.
All of the above

Practice Quiz: Understanding Your Working Style and Energy Patterns Answers

Q1. Whether you are aware of it or not, everyone has a working style that balances comfort and productivity. For SDRs who find themselves heavily engaged in research, enjoying writing, and creating strategic value, what would be a good main focus for your outreach?

Email outreach
Cold Calling
Video Creation
None of the above

Q2. Humans have natural rhythm to our life patterns, which vary from person to person. Some of us may wake up energized and do our best work first thing in the morning, only to crash in the afternoon. Others love to sleep in, and work long into the night when their creative energy is flowing. How can understanding your energy patterns be beneficial to the success of your role as an SDR?

Understanding your energy levels can help you arrange your schedule to produce the highest volume and quality of work.
You’ll learn how to work without sleeping.
You can take advantage of your most energized hours to focus on hobbies and stay away from work.
Understanding your energy levels gets in the way of productivity. Therefore, don’t do it.

Q3. Imagine yourself being in the SDR role and you recently finished making an hour of cold calls. What are some action steps you can take after crushing it on the phones to keep yourself productive for the rest of the day?

Take a walk and get fresh air.
Eat a snack and replenish your fuel reserves.
Chat with colleagues.
All of the above

Q4. Being in an exciting and fast-paced career in the tech industry can have an impact on your energy levels if you aren’t well-balanced. Please select the example(s) below for how one can manage their energy:

Get enough rest
Organize your schedule to complement your energy levels
Consistent exercise

Practice Quiz: Using the 80:20 Principle to Optimize and Prioritize Answers

Q1. Thinking of sales as a freeway and salespeople as the cars, different models tend to move at different speeds. Some of them are quick and efficient, perhaps a new electric car. Others move slower and require more time or resources to reach the same destination. Think about the 80:20 rule as a way to become the electric car. It can make you faster, better, and more effective at what you do. Tech sales jobs are demanding, and once you start a career in this industry you need to become an expert at managing your time, both in and outside of work. Determine which of the examples below would describe the way a top-performing SDR would use their time.

Cold calling in the morning as people get into work; following up with midday emails once their inbox is likely to be cleaned out; eating a healthy lunch; researching and prospecting in the afternoon once prospects stop responding to calls and emails; listening to a sales podcast to pick up new tips on the train home; sending out a few late emails to be top-of-mind the next morning.
Carefully scheduling all coffee, snack, lunch, and socialization breaks with co-workers to make sure you spend enough of your time working.
Schedule every minute of every day and refuse to change the schedule for anyone. New product training? Not interested. Meeting with your boss? Having lunch instead. New SDR needs some help? Sorry, time to send emails.
Only making time to call, send emails, and find new prospects to outreach. That’s all an SDR has to do anyway.

Q2. In the 80:20 rule, the “20” can be defined as:

Causes (or inputs) for any given event
Outcomes
Revenue
Distractions

Q3. According to the Pareto Principle, which example below shows how the 80:20 rule can be applied within a business setting?

20% of food causes 80% of sleepiness
20% of customers contribute 80% of a company’s revenue.
20% of retention efforts produce 80% of returning customers.
20% of managers make up 80% of the workforce

Q4. Engaging with prospects is a key part of the SDR role. It’s not only about setting yourself up for success but doing so for your Account Executives as well. What is an example of the application of the 80:20 rule to prospecting to ensure that it’s efficient and producing strong results?

Cold calling and not checking any notifications (phone, email, Slack) for 20% of the time will produce 20% of your meetings.
20% of listening to prospects on a call will produce 80% of feedback to hand over to your Account Executive.
80% of distractions will produce 100% results.
You will set 80% of your meetings with 20% of the lead personas on your list.

Practice Quiz: Making Habits Out of Tactical Strategies Answers

Q1. Consistency will help you reach and sustain the outreach activity levels that are necessary to reach your quota as an SDR. Setting aside time for specific activities by blocking off your calendar is a good way to start managing your time and staying organized as a professional. What are some other strategies you can implement to build good working habits?

Start early, and stay late. Most people can get more work done in the distraction-free hours of the early morning. Plus, it often gives you some 1:1 face time with the company leadership.
Get organized. Follow and track what you are doing, why you’re doing it, and the outcomes it is creating. Refine this process and become more effective.
Protect your time. Golden hours for calling, sending emails, and prospecting are important daily activities that will bring you success in the SDR role, but be careful not to sacrifice this time for outside interests.
All of the above

Q2. Optimizing your calendar creates clarity for what you’ll accomplish each and every day. Without structure, you will find that some tasks can slip through the cracks. What are a few ways you can optimize your calendar to ensure you’re crushing daily/weekly goals?

Color-code with multiple calendars.
Turn on notifications.
Block off time for specific tasks.
All of the above.

Q3. Time management is a huge factor to your success in the SDR role. In this role, it is very common that meetings with prospects, AEs and managers will pop up sporadically, and if you aren’t careful, you’ll find yourself losing time on the tasks that matter to hitting your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Following the SV Academy Time Management Handbook, please select some tips and tricks for time management and prioritization. (Choose all that apply.)

Strategically blocking out time on your schedule for specific activities.
Using the 80/20 rule to determine which activities bring you the most results in your role, and focus on them.
Carefully follow your success metrics to understand where you stand on any given day of the month, which can help justify your actions as you ponder about working from home, taking a long walk, or going out for lunch instead of eating with the team.

Q4. Continuous growth and learning is key to finding success in sales. There is always something new to learn about your product, industry, and customers. One habit that highly successful business people share is reflection, both intro and retrospective. As suggested by the SV Academy End-of-Day Reflection Template, what are three things to focus on as you look back on your day?

What went well today? What did I accomplish? What do I want to celebrate?
What didn’t go well? What can I learn?
Tomorrow, I will make sure to…
All of the above

Practice Quiz: Taking 100% Accountability Answers

Q1. SDRs have a commitment to the organization they work for. The role of a sales development rep is directly responsible for generating the pipeline of potential closeable revenue that will, over the course of the year, make up the bulk of the company’s income.

In sales, you are an individual contributor, and even though you work as part of a larger team, it is your responsibility to achieve your quota. This is referred to as “Taking ownership over your number” or “Owning your number”. With all of this being said, is it true or false that the role of an SDR is critical within the sales department?

True
False

Q2. Select the best description for the importance of leading with trust:

Leading with trust creates fear and makes people hesitant to speak up.
When people trust you, it doesn’t matter if you know what you doing or whether you are effective in your role because you have their faith
Leading with trust, warmth, and competence is a winning combination that creates qualified and competent leaders who are approachable, motivating, and open to change
Both Options B and C are correct

Q3. With endless digital distractions, a crumbling global economy, and uncertain futures, it can be easy to take on a victim mentality. Despite this, as a professional in one of the world’s most sought-after industries, you are expected to take responsibility for yourself, your commitments, and your future. How can adopting a mindset of radical responsibility help a salesperson reach their goals?

Being accountable for the success or failure that your actions have created. Usually in sales, missing a target isn’t due to bad luck or having a crappy territory, it is because you didn’t work hard enough. This is difficult to admit but can be an easy thing to fix if you are willing to do so.
Because radical thinking can help you to be innovative, and because the best SDRs create all of their processes from scratch
It can be difficult to be truly introspective, but as a salesperson, you need to be honest with yourself about where your strengths and weaknesses lie and then actively work on them, The SDR role isn’t a career where you can gloss over shortcomings or simply hope they go away; you need to be continually and actively learning to push yourself towards success. .
Both the first and third options are correct