If 90% of your reps missed quota last year, it’s not your people, it’s the playbook.
For a decade, everyone copied “Predictable Revenue”: BDRs build pipeline, AEs close, CSMs retain.
This playbook made sense in 2015, when more reps = more pipeline. But in 2025, more bodies just means more cost. Most BDRs are stuck in “LinkedIn-hell,” working 40 tabs, switching between Chrome extensions praying for a valid email, chasing prospects who don’t want to be chased.
Meanwhile, buyers are drowning in irrelevant outreach, forced through junior “qualification” before ever meeting an expert.
And it’s not just about buyer experience. Your own team spends less than 30% of their time actually selling. The rest? Admin, data entry, broken workflows, tool overload.
What Actually Changed?
The new revenue engine isn’t built on brute force. It’s built on systems.
Here’s the real shift:
While you were adding more BDRs, operators at companies like Gorgias, Pigment, and Ramp were building revenue engines, combining automation, AI, and GTM engineering to do what BDR armies never could.
Old World vs. New World:
Now, a handful of GTM engineers and one robust system can generate, enrich, and route more pipeline than 10 BDRs ever could. The AE isn’t just a closer—they own the full cycle, from first touch to closed-won.
No more awkward handoffs. No more “let me loop in the AE.”
Why Companies Still Hesitate
Aaron Ross, co-author of "Predictable Revenue," spent years arguing against the full-cycle AE:
“Too expensive to have senior reps doing prospecting.”
“Can’t generate enough pipeline without BDRs.”
“Impossible to scale.”
All made sense in 2015. But let’s look at what’s actually possible now.
Breaking Down the Objections
“Full-cycle AEs can’t manage their time.”
Really? When:
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70% of sales activities can be automated
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Enrichment, scoring, and routing? Handled by systems built by GTM engineers
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Tier 2 & 3 accounts? AEs just get meetings popping up in their calendar, or at worst, need to reply to interested leads responding to automated multi-channel campaigns running from their mailbox
“Full-cycle AEs are too expensive.”
Let’s do the math:
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One GTM engineer automates what 10 BDRs used to do.
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AEs only work qualified opps, already scored and summarized with AI insights.
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Lower total cost, higher conversion rates.
“You’ll never get enough prospecting volume.”
Modern GTM motion:
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Automated multi-channel sequences run from sales mailboxes for Tier 2 & 3 leads.
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AI-powered research and “best next action” recommendations for Tier 1.
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Every CRM update, website visit, new hire, or funding round triggers workflows that surface the warmest leads, or are stacked together to surface only “warm” leads.
Result: higher volume and better efficiency.
“You need to find unicorn AEs who can prospect and close.”
That’s true, if you expect them to do everything manually.
But with GTM engineers:
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AEs focus on high-leverage relationship and closing work.
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The “prospecting engine” surfaces the right leads, at the right time, with the right context.
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Reps sell. Systems handle the rest.
“But you can’t scale this model.”
Scaling now means:
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Systems and playbooks built once, plug-and-play for every new AE.
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Strong enablement and sales materials for every vertical and trigger.
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New AEs ramp in weeks, not quarters, with automation and AI assistance.
Training is focused on the full sales cycle and closing.
What Modern Sales Actually Looks Like
Forget building BDR armies. The top 1% are investing in GTM engineering to architect scalable revenue engines. It’s moving from humans at the epicenter of the machine, to humans as high-leverage components in the loop. The heart is the ENGINE.
With parallel dialers, waterfall enrichment, multi-channel automation, and AI agents, the new sales org is lean, fast, and actually enjoyable for buyers. It’s not about brute force, it’s about building systems that let AEs do what they do best: sell (i.e. bring value, not the topic here, but there is a shift from direct selling to provide immediate value to create trust)
Example: At Qobra, a single GTM engineer replaced the entire BDR function. Full-cycle AEs now own the pipeline, end-to-end. Productivity went up massively.
The playbook: parallel dialers (Nooks) to blitz through outreach, intent and signal data to surface the highest-opportunity accounts, and AI agents handling research, enrichment, and admin. Reps spend their time selling, everything else runs on autopilot. That’s what a true revenue engine looks like in 2025.
The playbook has changed. The tools exist. The blueprint is clear.
If you want to drastically increase the revenue generated per rep—and run a leaner, more effective GTM team—it’s time to build a system where AEs own the full cycle, fully enabled by tech and ops.
Don’t be the last operator running the 2015 playbook. Build the engine before your competition does.
Join the GTM people who are already miles ahead, building this vision.
MaxApr 30, 2025
