You don't have to lower the bar

Not interested in hearing from Lean Leverage or Go Carpathian?

You wrote the job description:

Then you looked at the market.

US-based SDRs who check those boxes want $75K to $90K base, plus commission. The ones in your budget don’t have the reps. The ones with the reps aren’t in your budget.

So you start negotiating with yourself. Maybe three years is fine. Maybe they don’t need full-cycle experience. Maybe you lower the call volume expectations and hope they grow into it.

I see it every week. A SaaS founder on a discovery call with my team last week needed an SDR to target mid-market US enterprises in ad tech and fintech. 

Specific verticals, specific experience, high volume. The kind of hire where “close enough” costs you six months of pipeline.

Our answer was simple: you don’t lower the bar. You widen the map.

Here’s what that looked like for one of our recent placements.

Our client, a wellness company based in Miami, needed an SDR. 

Someone who could:

They wanted someone who checked all these boxes:

✔️Flawless English
✔️Their Energy had to match the brand
✔️And they needed someone who could explain complex product science on a Zoom call without reading a script.

We found their match in Cape Town, South Africa.

22 years old, 4+ years of B2B outbound sales. 

At his last role he was making 500 cold calls a day and booking 100+ meetings a month against a target of 60. 

He even got scouted by RingCentral out of another agency because he kept outperforming their own team. His show rate on booked meetings: 85%.

Our client hired him at $1,700 a month base salary.

That’s the right question. And it’s the reason our process exists.

Phase 1

First, our team of recruiters screen every candidate. Resumes, portfolios, work samples. We flag gaps and anything that doesn’t add up before you ever see a name.

Phase 2

Then our dedicated recruitment team ask the questions that matter: gaps in employment, salary expectations, availability, real experience matched against your job description. A real conversation to confirm this person can do the job you need done.

Phase 3

After that, we run live mock sales calls. We’re listening for filler words, English clarity, persuasiveness, and how they handle objections under pressure. A real simulation of what your prospects will hear on the other end of the phone.

Phase 4

Only then do the best candidates reach you. You meet several of them yourself on live video calls, real conversations, real energy. We believe in hiring for fit, personality, and company culture, not just skills on a page. So you get to see them in real time and pick the one that fits.

Phase 5

After that, we help you draft the offer letter, assist with onboarding, and back the whole thing with a 120-day replacement guarantee. If you’re not happy, we replace them at no extra cost.

The founders who build the strongest sales teams aren’t the ones who settle. They’re the ones who find talent the US market doesn’t know about yet.

This talent exists (you just need to know where to look, and we do). 

If you want someone close to home, we’ve got incredible US-based candidates, but if you want to explore a few more geographies, we can open you up to the crazy talent that exists in regions like South Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. 

If you’ve got a role that’s been hard to fill, one call and I’ll tell you exactly where to find the person you’re looking for.

Book your discovery call or reply to this email.

Until next time,
Nathan

PS: This One's Personal

A colleague and good friend of ours is going through cancer treatment right now.

To help cover his treatment costs, he's raffling a piece from his personal collection: a 3.3ct natural Rubelite Tourmaline. 

Cushion cut, pinkish-red, VVS clarity. Valued at over $2,400.

Here's how it works:

If you're able to grab a ticket, it genuinely means the world to us and to him.

→ Get a Raffle Ticket