How Anandhu Cracked a US Market B2B SDR Role with a Top SaaS company?

So my name is Anandu Raghunath. For the last 4 to 5 years, I was into marketing and sales. I just came back from France after 4 years studying and working there. I did 2 masters over there, and for 2 years I worked as sales and marketing rep. I was working as a manager for the last 1 year there. And before that as well, I was completely into marketing. So the reason I came back from France is I wanted to completely dive into outbound sales. And I wanted to specialize in SaaS as well. I wanted to get into SaaS industry. Yeah. So that was the main reason I came back because there it's like language barrier is pretty huge. So that's why I came back to India to completely focus on outbound sales.

Why outbound sales? Why in particular? Because nobody says after working in sales, unless they have seen some success stories or unless they know somebody or unless, unless you know something, probably I don't, like what prompted you that, hey, I want to do only outbound sales?

So earlier I worked for B2B and B2C companies in marketing and sales, but I enjoyed sales a lot. Like it always gives me that challenge. Okay. Every day feels like, okay, I'm achieving something. So every time I close a meeting, I feel like, okay, there is some meaning in my life, meaning in what I do. And when I was doing marketing, it was like going consistently, like, okay, like it's like kind of safe job. Every day is going the same, working environment is the same. But sales, you have to keep updating yourself, keep upskilling yourself, keep changing your tactics. You have to be updated every single day and you have to be very challenging and persistent. So that gives that adrenaline rush. So that's why I wanted to do sales because that makes my life also more interesting.

Okay, so you are an adventure man. Why do you think that did not exist in B2C? I thought B2C would have more adventure because you are closing more deals because those might be lower ticket size and then you also have the thrill of closing something on the phone. Why do you believe that B2B has more thrill for you?

I'll talk specifically about B2B SaaS. So I want to get into B2B SaaS because I'll have that relationship with the customer or the prospect like in a recurring basis. So once I close a deal, it's not ending there. Every year it keeps happening in a quarter or half yearly or yearly, it keeps happening that relationship and gives a thrill. And when I get into B2B SaaS, even in my first job also, I can reach and I can connect directly with the VP of a company or direct of a company, like high-profile people, like C-suite. So that was not the case in B2C, at least from the work environment I was having, like from where I worked. So that was one of the reasons. Yeah, because I feel like if I engage with high-profile people or people with more experience, then it'll reflect directly with my experience and my personality and my character.

Got it. So you first booked the call with us in March. Tell me, tell me, how did you find us?

First of all, I got your contact through my friend Agash, he was your, like, I think a year ago he was your top performer and he got hired like pretty fast after that in Zuri. So like, he's pretty good.

Yeah, he's doing really well.

He shared, he shared his experience. He said School of SDR was his base, his fundamental, that gateway, uh, uh, SaaS sales. So that's how I joined. Honestly, like, even though he referred, like, I was a little skeptical. I was like, okay, this will be just like another course.

Okay.

I can buy the certificate and I can show to the companies that, okay, I did that. I have some SaaS exposure, but like, like we both know that was not the case from day one. You grilled me like anything.

So yeah. You said you were a little skeptical. So what, what was actually going on in your head? Because I'm assuming that's the case with everybody.

Of course, I knew like you'll talk about SaaS sales. You will teach us about different frameworks, maybe some cold call scripts and how to write an email, how to do like sequencing, all these basic things you will teach in this one month. But honestly saying, in the first day itself, all my perception towards the course changed completely. Because like I understood this is not just one course where you prepare something and teach and then there'll be an exam and then it was not like that. It was like, if you have a passion, if you are persistent enough, you can survive in School of SDI. If you don't want to do, if you want to do that half-ass work, then you are out. Like I still remember from day one, Rahul was like, you are like, If you don't switch on your camera, you don't get to speak. You don't have the right to speak at all. So whatever is happening with your life, I don't care. You have to switch on the camera. You have to do the assignment. And you expect that quality as well. So you always push to give the best. Because I still remember like first few assignments, I was like, I didn't know what to do. Like I was not from SaaS. I didn't know how to sell. But you are expecting like, if the bar is like 50, you are expecting 100. So it was too difficult for me, but it was too easy for me at the end. So like I could even do a cold call or a cold email in my sleep also. So it was like that after 30 days. So that's how it was going. After this, the School of Best Year, this cohort 35, I felt like I didn't do a course. I had some work experience in a company in SaaS sales. So that's how I used to be. Even the few companies I gave interviews recently, so I was not scared or I never doubted myself whether I belong in this company or whether I can get into the company. I never cared about the package or the position or anything. I knew like I'm good at what I do and you made sure of that. I had the talent in myself, but you helped me reflect it in the front. You gave me that confidence. Yeah. So that was one of the biggest take from School of SDR because I became a professional after that one and a half or one month after that course. So like for each interview, even if it was with the HR or with the senior director, I felt like, okay, even if I join this company, I can start working from day one. Even if they don't give me like one month training, I know what I'm doing. If I can know the product deep enough, I can do well as an SDR in the company.

Thank you. That is really good feedback, Anandu, and thank you for reflecting that. See, you are a very motivated person in general, Anandu, and one of the questions I want to ask you is, what do you think you could have not done on your own? For example, I mean, given, given the way, you know, you are so relentless, you could have actually gone to YouTube. You could have actually even taken some self-paced courses. Let's say you were talking about like how they will probably give you certificate. What is it that you believe you were not able to do? And one key area where you felt, oh, you know what? I got my money's worth by joining School of SDR.

Basically nowadays we have access to everything. Even if you want to do engineering from home, we can do it. It's fine. So like I was the person, like if I want to join a company, I show them like what I can bring to the table. If they have I will show how I can innovate the product with a demo. So that's how I work. So even for sales also, I can do so many courses. I can practice cold call in front of the mirror. I can learn the basics from YouTube, all these things. But what School of SDR brought is you gave free, like for a simple example, for cold calling is one of the major part of an SDR, SDR role. So you gave blue access, unlimited access to all the students. You never complained. Even I asked like 3, 4 times to give more credits. So that was very huge. When you said about Bluefirst, I thought it's like, okay, we give the recording and gives feedback. It was not like that. So every day I did like more than 800 minutes of cold call in one month. And a few I shared with you as well. I felt like I was actually talking to a VP of engineering or a director of sales. Gives like, even they give so many rejections. So after each rejection and after each scenario, I kept improving myself. That's how I got the confidence to do a call call. So that reflected in my interviews as well. So when I did, when they tell me to do a call call, it was not a challenge for me. It was very easy for me. Like I got adapted to the scenario. So when School of SDR provided me such kind of tools, they were not just training me to do a call call. They were training me different scenarios also, different products, different companies, different softwares. So it was going on and on every single day. So that is one of the thing. Another thing is like, uh, Even Rahul, you were like, you were so amazing and so kind that you were available for me 24/7. You asked, cleared all my doubts, all my questions. Yeah, all my questions. Even in the class, whenever I disrupted the class, you're like, you didn't say anything. You just stopped it and cleared all our doubts. Not just me, everyone. And just like that, your mentor, Amir Masood, like he also like, I could call him anytime. I could book meetings anytime. So that you can't get when you self-prepare. So interacting with a human face-to-face, preparing core course and asking live feedback, it's very difficult. That is very difficult to find also like somewhere else. So those human interaction and real life learnings and people you bring to the course in the cohort, like they're sharing their experiences that you can't find like when you prepare on your own. So I think those kinds of things is. One of the biggest differentiators from like self-learning to School of SDL that you can't replicate.

It's just like that. Amazing. See, I'm sure there's somebody listening to you, Anandu, who might feel that they are in the same boat as you. They're probably as motivated as you, but let's say they, they are probably on the edge. Hey, why should I, you know, why should I learn new things? Also at the same time, it's a commitment, right? It's a 1-month commitment. Where you are going to invest money, time, everything, right? Your whole self. And you, you understand after going through the whole course, it's while, while we say it's 4 weeks, but it is like proper 4 weeks. It's not like 1 hour a day, you know, that kind of. Now, what is one message you will tell them? Why should they take the plunge of, let's say, even enrolling if they want to consider it?

Oh, for me personally, when I came back from France, before I talked to Rahul, even I told this to Rahul during our first meeting as well. I didn't know what to do. I was completely blind. Like I wanted to do SaaS sales, but I didn't I didn't know anything about that. I had zero knowledge. Even from class 1, I used to tell you that I don't know any tech. I don't have any technical knowledge. I don't have any proper sales knowledge. I don't even know if I get a job. So I would say just trust in yourself. Just give 100% to what you do. Like I would say 110%. If the situation demands you to do certain assignments or certain work, just go out of the box and do what you feel best. Don't think like it's something stupid or anything. So that is one thing I learned from you, Rahul. Like there was this course, School of SDR, you talked about sales, you gave life, real life scenarios and all these exercises, but you always pushed us to create your own tools, what you can bring to the table other than School of SDR. And that was not part of the School of SDR syllabus or anything, but you always pushed us to go out of the box, to think out of the box, what you can bring to the table. And I will tell you one thing. This thing, which I always do, like thinking out of the box and bringing my own thing, which I learned from you, that is the reason I got landed to multiple jobs in very few, few period of time because of that, because I created my own thing. I implemented those knowledge I got from School of Azere outside and I created my own knowledge into it and I was versatile about it and I never thought I'm doing something stupid. So even to the hiring managers, instead of thinking, okay, I'm doing something stupid or I am like I'm making something stupid. I just created something and I just implemented what I learned from School of SGR in front of them. That's it. So just be confident in yourself. Think out of the box. You can doubt yourself, but don't think it's not possible. Just be confident in what you do.

That's it. Awesome, man. Congratulations, by the way, on landing multiple offers. So where have you decided to join?

I got multiple offers and few of, few final rounds interviews are also there. But I decided to join TestSigma because that is very hot product in the market right now, and I'm super excited to join the company. So I'll be joining from June 15th.

Amazing, man. Yeah. I think it's a good company for sure.

So what I can bring to the table, I don't even know. I don't even know how to tell them. I think they will reach out to School of SDEA directly. I'm sure of that. Even few people like who I interviewed, like from Wingify, then at Core. Even Test Sigma, like few companies, they even mentioned about your name. They saw like Rahul Wadhwa name, like, who is that? I said, he's my mentor. So they're already aware of School of SDR. And even when I was interviewing with, when I was interviewing with the global sales leader at Netcode, like he mentioned, okay, like he was talking like 15 minutes about School of SDR itself. He was like, he was like one of his top SDR. I don't want to mention his name. Like he's from School of SDR.

I know, Sudeep. Yeah.

So, so deep. Yeah. So deep. Top SDR, like he's from the school of SDR. So that was one of the reasons I got first interview at that company. But yeah, the action speaks for itself.

Awesome, man. Yeah. This was helpful. Thank you so much, Anandu. I wish you all the best. And hopefully once you're ready to become an account executive and hopefully we have a course for you back then. Anyways, you know, we stay in touch. You have the Discord access and you have, you can ask questions anytime, even in the future, man.

And thank you for the LMS access lifetime. That is huge help.

Even for the referrals and like self-learning.

And you keep updating that so I can be updated myself as well. So thank you so much for that.

Yes, of course, man. Of course. You were a good student, no doubt. And I think you got what you wanted. So another learning for everybody, you need to set up goals at the same time, be willing to work for it because the competition out there is tough and you already saw that, but I think you beat everybody, even the experienced folks. So that is a success in itself. I wish you all the best. And yeah, I'll be in touch, man.

Thank you so much, Rahul.