How Top SDRs Are Built – Ep. 24

In this episode of Prospecting Pros, John sits down with Chris Ritson to talk about the real path from SDR to AE and why that jump is a lot harder than most people think. Chris shares how his own career moved from SDR to AE to sales leadership, and why that experience shaped the way he now coaches reps and SDR leaders. The conversation gets into what actually makes someone successful in an AE role, why so many internal promotions struggle, and why leadership is not always the obvious next step for top SDRs. Chris also talks about ambition, career ownership, and the pressure younger SDR leaders are under in today’s market. It is a thoughtful, honest conversation about sales careers, growth, and figuring out what you actually want, instead of chasing the title that looks best on paper.

In this episode of Prospecting Pros, John sits down with Fletcher Cox to talk about his path from Oracle and startup sales into building Odessa, a cold calling agency focused on pay per meeting outbound. Fletcher shares why he still believes the phone is one of the best ways to break through the noise, learn fast, and actually hear what buyers care about. He walks through how his team thinks about list quality, messaging, and what makes a strong offer, plus why he avoids rigid scripts in favor of frameworks that help reps sound human. The conversation also gets into hiring, resilience, and why some of the best cold callers come from unexpected backgrounds. Fletcher also reflects on the mindset he built through long distance travel and how that same grit shows up in sales, entrepreneurship, and the day to day reality of doing hard things consistently.

In this episode of Prospecting Pros, John talks with Mateo from Exceed Solutions about his unusual path from attorney to outsourcing leader to software services CEO. Mateo shares how he got his start in Poland, grew through operations roles managing teams across multiple regions, and eventually helped turn Exceed from a seven person company with one client into a nearshore development partner serving more than 40 US clients. He also gets honest about what leadership actually looks like behind the scenes, why managing people is much harder than it seems, and how referrals, relationships, and staying close to clients have fueled Exceed’s growth far more than flashy tactics. It is a real conversation about scaling, building trust, and why genuine connections still matter in sales.

In this episode of Prospecting Pros, John sits down with Saeed, a longtime sales leader whose career started in Poland with a terrible CV, a bombed interview, and a founder who took a chance on him anyway. Saeed walks through his path from scrappy SDR and AE to head of sales and VP roles, including helping grow Hubstaff from around $4M to $31M in ARR by pairing strong inbound with smart sales process. He talks honestly about why management is way less glamorous than LinkedIn makes it look, why SDR work is brutally hard and badly underappreciated, and how brand and SEO can make “average” sales teams look elite. Saeed also shares why he walked away to spend more time with his kids, build his new product Zarta, and launch his podcast Messy Growth, focused on the real, not so pretty side of scaling companies.

In this episode of Prospecting Pros, John sits down with Aaron Norris, former AWS enterprise AE turned coach and advisor. Aaron shares how becoming a dad during lockdown reshaped his career, pushing him to design success that never costs family time. He unpacks the core idea behind his book: build a career that creates value for you, your customers, and your company at the same time. Aaron takes us inside Amazon’s culture, where the talent bar is sky high and learning never stops. He credits team wins over hero selling, and explains why leaving a marquee brand to go solo was both freeing and scary. The conversation touches on how AWS changed what sellers could impact, the self-serve approach to training, and why focus beats trying to master everything. If you want enterprise-level results without sacrificing what matters most, this episode gives a real playbook.