Sellers Hub · BD Playbook

Your BD Playbook

This one is yours to fill in. Read it start to finish, then make it your own: set your numbers, write your scripts, and bring it to your 1-1 with Virginia.

BD / Sales Rep · Reports to Virginia · Trainer / RevOps: Brett · ✓ saves automatically in this browser — a refresh won't lose it
Tools Nooks · GetSales · Loxo · Quo
01

Your first two weeks

The plan is simple: get you on the phones fast, with backup. You will not be left to figure out the dialer alone.

Week 1 · Day 1–2
Setup + role-plays with Virginia
Virginia runs your basic onboarding, the role-plays, and walks you through the systems. Read the discovery-call recordings she shares before you start so the real conversations are in your ear on day one.
Week 1 · Day 2–3
Live Nooks calling sessions with Brett
Brett sits with you while you dial. You make real calls, he listens, you debrief between blocks. This is the fastest way to get reps. Expect a couple of these sessions in week one.
Week 1 · ongoing
Build call volume
Get comfortable with the opener, the objection responses, and logging calls in Loxo. Volume and reps come first. Polish comes after.
Week 2
Run your own blocks
You drive your own call blocks, working live conversations toward booked discovery meetings. Brett and Virginia stay close for coaching and to help work any replies that come in.
Virginia — Founder / CEO · your manager

Your manager. She runs your onboarding and role-plays, shares the discovery-call recordings you should study, and coaches the sales motion.

Brett — Trainer / RevOps

Your trainer and RevOps lead, not your manager. Owns the systems behind the team: the dialer, the outreach tooling, the lists, the CRM. Your go-to for anything tool-related and for the live Nooks sessions. Builds the lists you call.

Carmen — Operations

Operations and support, she keeps the back office running: accounts and logins, tool access, reimbursements, onboarding and HR paperwork. Anything on the admin side, Carmen is your person.

You — BD / Sales Rep

On the phones, booking discovery calls, building the top of the pipeline. The whole system exists to put good conversations in front of you and capture what comes out of them.

One thing to know up front: cold calling is the engine of this role, and on this team it actually works. The phone is the channel that has reliably opened doors for us. You will get good at it fast because you will be doing a lot of it, with coaching, from week one.
02

What Sellers Hub does

Sellers Hub is a sales-recruitment firm. We find and place revenue-generating talent — the salespeople, producers, and GTM hires that companies struggle to find on their own — for growth-stage and established companies.

We commit to the search and work it properly, instead of throwing resumes at a wall and hoping. The engagement model flexes to the client and the role. What stays constant is who we go after: the people who are not on job boards, the strong performers who are well paid, not looking, and invisible to a job posting. That is the whole value. Anyone can forward you the people who are already applying. We find the ones who are not.

You are selling that promise on the phone: we headhunt the salespeople your prospect can't reach through the channels they already have.
03

Who we sell to — the 3 ICPs

An ICP is an "ideal customer profile" — the type of company we go after. These are our three main ones. They aren't a hard fence, we can still go after whoever makes sense, but the angle shifts a little for each, so get comfortable with all three.

1. Manufacturing

Why we own this: Virginia has 10+ years placing salespeople for manufacturers. This is the lane we know best — you are selling from a position of real, earned credibility, not a cold start.

Who we call: VP of Sales / VP Sales North America / Chief Commercial Officer / GM of the US subsidiary. Two flavours: mid-to-large global manufacturers of complex, technical products (often foreign-HQ with a growing US arm — think Bystronic, Horn USA), and PE-backed industrial platforms buying and building a portfolio.

Avoid: HR and internal recruiting. They are dead ends here. Enter through the sales line.

Buying triggers: expanding into new US territories, launching a new product line, a VP Sales or key rep just left, post-acquisition rebuild, a parent company pushing US growth.

Fee: typically 25% of first-year base.

2. Insurance

Who we call: two shapes. Owner / President / Managing Partner of a small-to-mid independent agency (highest conversion — the owner is the buyer, decisions are fast). And Chief Growth Officer / VP Sales at a larger super-regional brokerage.

The role we fill: producers — the revenue-generating, book-building salespeople. Not service or admin.

Buying triggers: a producer left or took a book (trust event), succession pressure on an aging team, territory or new-vertical expansion, a producer role sitting open for months.

Fee: typically 25% of first-year base.

3. Offshore / Global Talent

Who we call: founders / CEOs and Heads of Sales at small-to-mid US businesses and B2B software companies (roughly 15–80 employees, post-revenue), plus real-estate and service-based businesses.

What we place: global GTM talent — SDRs, BDRs, junior-to-mid AEs, sales assistants, marketing support — at a fraction of US payroll cost.

The angle: a trained, English-fluent rep who can actually build pipeline, at 40–60% of US cost. When you see a US-posted role that could be done remotely, that's the opening — call and offer global hiring as the option.

Fee: 35% of first-year salary for a direct hire, or a monthly subscription model.

Why we win in all three: these companies are hiring people to sell hard, technical, relationship-driven products. That is a hard profile to recruit for, and most generalist recruiters can't tell whether a candidate can actually sell into that world. We can. That is the difference you are selling.
04

The sales process — how a lead becomes a client

Your one job is the top of this funnel: turn dials into conversations, and conversations into booked discovery meetings. Everything downstream follows from that. Here is the math the whole business runs on (route to revenue).

StageConverts atWhat it means
Dial → Conversation5–10%10–20 dials per real conversation. Volume is the lever you control.
Conversation → Discovery meeting~10%About 10 good conversations to book one discovery call.
Discovery → Signed client~17%Roughly 1 in 6 discovery meetings becomes a client.
Client → Placements×2The average client gives us about 2 placements.

Those are the firm's averages. In the next section you put in your own targets and the page runs this math backwards for you — so you can see exactly what your goal costs in daily activity.

Don't grade yourself on signed clients in week one

Clients are a lagging result of a lot of dials. Grade yourself on the leading number: are you hitting your dial volume and turning enough of them into real conversations? Do that and the meetings follow. The system tracks the rest.

05

Build your plan

this is what you bring to Virginia

Put in your own targets. The page works out what it takes to get there — clients, meetings, conversations, and dials, all the way down to a daily number. The conversion rates are pre-filled with our real numbers; change any of them to model your own.

Your targets

Conversion rates our numbers — edit to model yours

What it works out to

Revenue you'd generate
Your commission
Clients to sign
Discovery meetings
Real conversations
Dials (the year)
discovery / week
dials / week
dials / day
06

Scripts — yours to write

These are starting points, not a teleprompter. The manufacturing cold call uses an "executive briefing" approach — you lead with a market insight, not a question about their open roles. You teach the prospect something about their world before you ask for anything. That is what separates you from the ten other recruiters who called them this month. Read each sample, then write your own version in the box under it — the way you'd actually say it.

How to say it: conversational, the way you'd actually talk. Read the sample, then write your own version below.

Cold-call opener (Manufacturing)

15 seconds

No gimmick. You name yourself, name what you do, and make clear you are not calling about a job opening. You are offering something useful.

Sample

Hey [name], [your name] with Sellers Hub. I work with manufacturers in the [their space] space on sales hiring. I'm not calling about an open role, I wanted to share something we're seeing across your market that might be useful, even if you're fully staffed right now. Got a minute?

Write your opener

If they give you time — drop a trend (60–90 sec)

Pick one of these. Each is a real force hitting manufacturing sales hiring. Say it plainly, then stop talking.

Sample — the demographic angle

Here's what's coming up in every conversation I'm having with [their space] companies right now. The people who can actually sell technical products and run a long enterprise cycle are aging out. About a quarter of manufacturing sales talent is over 55, and the younger reps are all going into tech instead. The companies staying ahead of it are building a bench before someone retires, not after.

Sample — the invisibility angle

The best salespeople in your world aren't on job boards. Roughly 70% of top sales talent is passive, they're well paid and not looking. So when you post a role you get the 30% who are actively searching, and a chunk of those just got let go. The strong ones never see the posting. That's the gap we work in.

Write the trend you'll lead with

The one exploration question

After the trend lands (it will, it's their world), ask one thing, then listen.

Sample

Which of those is hitting your team the hardest right now?

The pivot to a meeting

Sample

I put together a short briefing on what's working for manufacturers in your space, the talent picture and the math on what an empty territory actually costs. It's about 20 minutes. Even if we never work together you'll walk away with something useful. What does [day] or [day] look like?

Write your pivot to the meeting

Voicemail (20 seconds)

Sample

Hey [name], [your name] with Sellers Hub. Quick one, I work with [their space] manufacturers and I'm seeing a talent crunch in technical sales that's catching a lot of companies off guard. Wanted to share what we're seeing. My number is [your Quo number]. I'll try you again [day].

Write your voicemail

Objection responses

Don't argue. Reframe. These are the ones you will hear most. Say them in your own words.

They sayYou say
"we use contingent firms" Most of our clients tried contingent first. The catch is the incentive, a contingent firm can't afford 100+ hours on a search with no guarantee of payment, so you see the same active people recycled across a few firms. Would you send your taxes to four accountants and tell them the first one done gets the fee?
"your fee is too high" Our fee on a $120K role is about $30K. A $500K territory sitting empty loses around $2K every working day, so three months of vacancy costs more than our whole fee. And a bad hire costs salary, training, ramp, and another search on top.
"we can find people ourselves" You absolutely could. The real question is whether the people you need are findable through the channels you already have. 70% of top sales talent is passive, they'll never see your posting.
"we're not hiring right now" Totally fair. When a search does come up, can I send you a quick overview of how we work? That way you'll know what we do before you need us.
"send me some info" Happy to. Can I ask first, is there a specific role you're thinking about, or is this more general interest? I'd rather send you something relevant than a generic brochure.
"we've had bad experiences with recruiters" I hear that a lot. That's exactly why we stand behind every placement, the guarantee keeps our incentives aligned. We can't afford to do bad work when our reputation is on the line with every search.
"what makes you different from the other recruiters who called this month?" Fair question, and I won't give you adjectives. Our replacement rate is 1%, 90% of our clients come back for more searches, and we only source passive people, the ones who aren't answering job ads. It's about the quality of the hire and the guarantee behind it, not access.
The objection you're worried about — and how you'll answer it
07

Outreach templates

samples to adapt, then make yours

The phone is the engine, but written touches warm prospects up around your calls and catch the ones who don't pick up. Same rules as the scripts: short, human, no fluff. Read the sample, write your own under it. Keep cold emails under 70 words, and no links in a first cold email — earn the reply first.

Cold email

under 70 words
Sample — subject: technical sales hiring in [their space]

hey [name],

[your name] with Sellers Hub. we headhunt salespeople for manufacturers like [company], the strong ones who aren't on job boards.

reason I'm reaching out: [specific trigger — new US territory, a rep left, parent pushing growth].

worth a short call to see if it's useful? even if the timing's off, you'll get our read on the talent market in your space.

Write your cold email

LinkedIn connection request

under 300 chars
Sample

saw [company] is [trigger — building out US sales / growing the team]. I work the manufacturing sales-hiring side, mostly the people who aren't on job boards. happy to share what we're seeing in your space.

Write your connection request

LinkedIn DM (after they connect)

Sample

thanks for connecting [name]. quick context, we headhunt sales talent for manufacturers, the passive performers most postings never reach. if hiring a producer or a sales lead is on your radar this year it's worth a short call. if not, no problem, I'll leave you the market read either way.

Write your DM

Follow-up bump

add something new

Never "just checking in." Every follow-up carries something new — a fresh data point, a relevant role, a specific offer.

Sample

hey [name], one more data point since I reached out: [new trend or stat]. if filling that territory is still on the table this quarter, I can put together a short briefing specific to [company]. want me to?

Write your follow-up
08

Proof — why prospects say yes

When a prospect pushes back, third-party-credible numbers do more work than enthusiasm. These are the verified Sellers Hub stats you can use. Lead with them. Don't inflate them.

1%
Replacement rate
90%
Of clients come back for more
80%
Of placed reps hit quota year one
<60
Days to placement (avg)
120
Day replacement guarantee
150K+
Contacts in our database
The guarantee is a real closer. However we're engaged, we stand behind every placement for 120 days. If it doesn't work out in that window, we replace the hire. Most prospects expect a recruiter to disappear after the invoice. We don't.

Clients you can name

These are real, named clients. Use them casually — "one of our clients, a packaging-equipment manufacturer..." lands better than reciting a logo list. Only claim what is below; do not invent a placement or a metric for a client.

Manufacturing
Bystronic

Global capital-equipment manufacturer (Switzerland HQ, US subsidiary). We placed sales-engineering roles and a key account director after they struck out on job boards for months. The Segment A archetype.

Manufacturing
Horn USA

Global precision-tooling manufacturer, growing its US operation. We recruit territory sales managers for them.

Manufacturing Repeat
Paxiom Group

Returning client, a 10-year relationship. We place regional sales reps for them. The proof that good placements bring clients back.

Insurance Anchor
Trucordia

Our anchor insurance client. Multiple producer placements, a returning relationship, and a live case study you can send (link below).

Tech / Logistics
BlueCargo

Port-logistics software company (bluecargo.io). After striking out with job boards and referrals, they brought us in, and we placed their SDRs and an account manager. A clean tech-sector example.

09

Your tools

These are the tools that run your day. You will be hands-on with Nooks and Loxo immediately; GetSales and Quo round out the outreach channels, and the Hub ties it all together. Brett owns the setup, so if anything is off, that's your first call.

10

Where you want to be

fill this in, then walk Virginia through it

This is the part you present in your 1-1. No wrong answers — it's your read on where you're headed and what you want to own. Fill the blanks, share your screen, and talk Virginia through it.

My focus — first 30 days
Where I want to be in 90 days
What I want to be known for here
Questions for Virginia