The Power of Booze, How to Crush Your December in Sales, Hurtin & Hollerin, Steal My Email Framework, & Sales is Everything

Before we dive into this week’s Pipeline Papi Press, quick word of advice. Never order an Old Fashioned from a Barcade.

We all know the type, those neon soaked millennial playgrounds that feel like a Dave & Buster’s but with craft beer and “retro” Subway Surfer arcade games.

Quick story: I met up with my SDR team for the first time this past week up in Canada where one of our offices is. First night I linked up with a fellow SDR and absolute instant chemistry. Imagine if Pipeline Papi met Pipeline Papi. At this point I knew the next few post work nights were going to be a bit of a degen fest which is where I admittedly THRIVE.

Had some great group outings with everyone but when things started winding down, we’d peel off into the snowy Toronto streets looking for the next spot to split a few G’s.

Last night of the trip, same story. One more turned into four more as we stepped into the only place still open: The Barcade. I’m a traditional guy, and the last drink of the night, especially the last drink of the last night HAS TO BE AN OLD FASHIONED.

The bartender with hair dyed some mix of blue and green under the glow of a Fruit Ninja screen looked at me with genuine pure panic. It had to have been the first ever non vodka cran drink ordered in that establishment.

At least 15 minutes later she finally comes back and hands us two drinks that looked like it was built from a Buzzfeed quiz. We took a sip and couldn’t but die from laughter. Poor girl. Waiter saw it all, laughed and brought us some Guinesse’s on the house instead. The final G splits. Way more fitting.

Hilarious night, and lesson learned. Never order an Old Fashioned from a Barcade. Couldn't help but laugh, deep down I was just glad I learned that lesson before doing something like that in front of my manager.

Welcome to The Pipeline Press, brought to you by Pipeline Papi, Lindy Boy, Quota Cowboy, Rookie Rep, & Ant Calabrese. Every Friday, you’re getting stories, tips, job openings, and a little lifestyle drip to keep the edge sharp and the mission clear. PROMOTION, QUOTA, EARNINGS. Follow us on X if you aren’t already, we are all very active in the tech sales space if you want to continue the convo or have any questions.

Let’s get into it.

The cold plunge and journal people have completely hijacked our corner of the internet. Everything these days is optimized, efficient, and/or automated. Here is what we need to remind ourselves of: SALES IS STILL A VIBES GAME.

Externally with your prospects and internally with your team. No amount of Slack collaboration or mindset journaling will replace what happens when you lock in and GET LOOSE with someone off (or on) the clock.

Just got back from a few days in Toronto with the SDR team and managers. During the day we collaborated and come afternoon time, the drinks started flowing. Beers, rounds, shots, chaos in a lot of ways, which was exclusively can be blamed on my doing. But hey that’s The Papi Way ^TM. But we talked about everything life, relationships, money, high’s and low’s. No matter how any of them perform moving forward, I’d recommend them for a job, a referral etc.

This is what sales and really LIFE is supposed to be about. Advancing with your PEOPLE.

I know it’s corny corpo speak, but after just a few days of this it really feels like I’m part of a team for the first time. And if it was like the OG days of in office 5 days a week and happy hour 3 days a week, I can really see how you could call it a FAMILY.

And for the record, we’ve got an SDR on our team that does Thursday afternoon call blocks with a little vino, and he’s atop the leaderboard quarter after quarter.

I’m not saying you need to throw down a tab every week or turn sales into a frat party. But I am saying the strongest connections I’ve made in this job and really in life, have come from letting my guard down and the real Papi show with a few(s) drinks.

So if you’re young in this game, Go out with your team as much as possible.
Say yes to that happy hour.
Link with your AE. Grab drinks with your manager. Get to know the people around you outside the CRM.

That’s how you become someone people want to bet on.

This can be a brutal job, have FUN with it.

It’s Friday in the 4HL. (Anybody? Anybody? …Bueller?)

You’re a sales rep in December, the worst month of the hardest quarter known to man. Half your team is blackpilling themselves into oblivion… and worse, they’re trying to blackpill YOU.

Make no mistake: this is the gauntlet. Prospects are slammed with year-end admin, budgeting, and holiday parties. New initiatives? “Talk to me in January.” It’s the easiest time of year to get ghosted.

But while Timmy Two-Meetings doom-scrolls TikTok and blames “the season” or “the economy,” YOU are building.

You’re building fresh lists in Apollo and Sales Nav.

You’re creating new contact pools.

You’re drafting and tweaking sequences.

You’re DOUBLING DOWN on the phone.

Fewer pickups? Cool. The average rep quits. Not us. We dial more. We email more. We triple activity if we have to. Meetings might be slow today, but you, my friend, are stacking the fattest January pipeline known to humankind.

And you never complain. Not to your manager, not to your teammates, not to Grandma (she still thinks “quota” is a type of Italian ham).

When someone starts whining, you change the subject or hit them with the classic: “Huh, I haven’t really noticed the slowdown.”

Life is mental gymnastics. The second your brain decides the game is rigged, it checks out. Flip the script. Convince it you’re in total control and it will work twice as hard to prove you right.

We’ve got two selling weeks left in December. I’m a few meetings from quota, so yeah, I’m emptying the clip. And I know you are too because your job, your livelihood, your family, and yes, your COUNTRY are counting on you 🙂

Let’s go, baby. No sleep ’til Christmas.

What’s good everyone, Happy freaking Friday. Boy did I need this Friday to come, it has been a LONG road to recovery for me recently. So, of course that will be the center of our theme for this week.

As ya’ll may have seen, I got a surgery done right before Thanksgiving that I’ve been needing for a while. Really needed to be done and thankful I finally did it, but it required me taking 2 weeks off and really taking my foot off the gas.

It was so worth it, but it has definitely been something that’s tested my focus from work. And yeah, do I believe we all need to take care of ourselves and do what’s right for us - Of course. But, I’m also kinda here to make some money. And that doesn’t change whether we like it or not. To the point:

We all go through things, whether it’s physical, emotional, mental - It’s part of life. However, outside of life threatening situations there are 2 groups of people: Those that fight, and those that make excuses. This translates to work, because when these moments arise you’re either the person that completely let’s it go OR you are the person that carries the load. You want to be the 2nd person.

“I really don’t want to cold call right now”

That question arises often for most people, but are amplified when you are going through it. You feel stuck in the mud, and you MUST ignore it. Because for those of us in Sales, you don’t really have a choice but to grind. In my situation, I can’t really sit down and it’s definitely hard to work standing for long stints of time. I’m in a lot of pain that’s slowly gonna go away.

This, in your potential situation, could be a breakup, a loss of someone close, a fight with your girlfriend… It going to just be there, all day, and you need to compartmentalize that feeling and focus.

We’ve all heard of coworkers that had something going on, and it slowly ate away at their work and eventually led to them being let go. That is amplified in Sales because your raw performance is what’s being judged, and is ultimately affected.

Overall there’s not a ton of pure direction or advice I have for you from this week’s post other than motivation and insight from someone goin’ through it. I feel like in this modern society, the level of grit that the average person has is generally lower than past generations, so it needs to be highlighted. By being the person that not only endures, but can deliver when dealing with these situations makes you stand out amongst the crowd. And even more imporantly, you earn your own respect.

I hope ya’ll have an amazing, football filled weekend. I’ve got a year end quota to hit, and for the love of God I will not be denied! Stay blessed.

-QC

Hey everyone, I wanted to share my email framework that has been working really well for me recently.

I know Pipeline Papi has spoken about it before, personalization is tough. You will spend hours researching, personalizing, and sending emails that never even get a response.
However in my opinion it produces the best meetings. Plus if you are an SDR looking to become an AE you need to learn these skills.

Here is the simple framework:
INTRO
PERSONALIZED GOAL
CTA

Mind breaking stuff, I know. But let’s look at an example to see it come to life.

The beauty of this email is that you can read this in under 10 seconds and have it personalized to the prospect about their company, a goal they’ve been actively exploring, and steps they’ve taken towards that goal.

Things you need to have in order for this framework to work.

Decision Maker

Goals or things that matter to the account / team (if you aren’t 100%, take an educated guess)

Their tech stack (potentially the most important)

Steal this and shoot me a DM or email ([email protected]) on how it works for you.

Until next week.

Rook ♜
X: @rooktorep

I thought I understood hard work… until I went into sales.

Being an SDR, then an AE, and now stepping into entrepreneurship has shown me something I didn’t expect: sales doesn’t stay in the “sales” box. It bleeds into every other part of your life — your habits, your resilience, your ability to build, your entire identity.

The other day I saw a tweet about banking guys working from 9am to midnight. I’m not doing those hours — not even close — but it put things into perspective.

I used to think I was grinding.
Then I started ripping 200+ dials a day.

Sales has a way of humbling you. You’re forced to confront how much effort you’re actually putting in versus what you like to believe about yourself.

When I started in sales, I legit couldn’t book a meeting. It took me days. Same thing with closing, early wins were more luck than skill.

Then one day the gears clicked.
I figured it out.
And I got consistent.

I’m in that same phase right now with entrepreneurship, content, coaching, all of it. It feels uncomfortable because it’s new. You don’t know what you’re doing. But if sales taught me anything, it’s this:

You always figure it out one painful repetition at a time.

Communicating clearly.
Handling rejection.
Thinking on your feet.
Failing without crumbling.
Resetting after a bad day.

These aren’t “sales skills.”
They’re life skills.

The same mental toughness I needed to call 200 strangers a day is the same toughness I need now to build a brand, start a business, take risks, and create things from scratch.

Entrepreneurship is basically one long streak of:

“I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“That didn’t work.”

“Okay… let’s try again.”

Which is exactly what sales was.

You don’t always get the outcome you want. You get told no. You mess up. You adjust. You try again. That rhythm becomes normal.

And if you want to build anything meaningful, that rhythm is everything.

The last few years taught me way more than how to sell. They taught me how to push myself further than I thought I could. They taught me how to stay resilient. How to learn. How to figure things out when I’m uncomfortable.

And I know all of it is going to make sense as I keep building. The brand, the business, the coaching, the whole thing.

Because once you’ve broken into sales, you carry that engine with you everywhere.

Currently Hiring For

SDRs:

NYC - new grad top 150 school 60 base 90 ote uncapped and commission
NYC - 1 YOE strong preference in fintech - 110 base 130 k ote uncapped

SF - new grad top 50 school 80 base 100 ote
SF - new grad top 25 school or athlete or somewhere in the middle 80 base 135 ote

Main Companies: Office Hours, Meow, Solidroad, Simple AI, Vapi

AEs:

Sf/nyc - comm-midmarket-enterprise aes min 2 yoe as a direct seller at snowflake / figma / vercel type companies (technical product sales)

100-200 base 200-400 ote depending on segment being worked and Yoe.

Main companies: dust.tt, factory.ai, decagon, sequence, unify

Reach out to him HERE on X if you fit any of these descriptions

P.S. The Pipeline Papi SDR Bot is live. Your SDR copilot for custom cold call scripts, objection handlers, discovery questions and more, for EVERY Prospect. Built to make booking meets 10x easier.