The top SDR was crushing it. Catherine had to ask what he was using
Catherine Gomis is a sales development representative at Anaplan, a SaaS planning platform serving enterprise organizations. With 1,001-5,000 employees and $448M in annual revenue, Anaplan helps finance and operations leaders model complex scenarios, forecast outcomes, and make agile decisions.
Catherine’s job: book demos with CIOs, VPs, and Directors at major enterprises. The kind of executives who are notoriously difficult to reach. The kind who have assistants screening calls and switchboards blocking access.
She was doing okay. Hitting her numbers. Contributing to pipeline.
Then COVID hit. Work-from-home became standard. Switchboards stopped working because nobody was in offices to answer them. Traditional prospecting infrastructure broke.
During the pandemic people were working remotely and it was impossible to reach them. You have the switchboard but no one was there. So, it was vital for me to have Lusha.
While Catherine struggled with this new reality, one colleague wasn’t struggling at all. He was getting results Catherine never thought possible.
Our top SDR was getting results I never dreamed possible. I had to ask what he was doing. And he said Lusha.
She started using Lusha. The results changed immediately.
70% of her meetings now come from Lusha-sourced contacts. Out of 10 demos booked, 7 come from verified mobile numbers and emails Lusha provided.
Most of my meetings I get now, I get thanks to Lusha. I’d say out of 10 meetings, 7 of those were booked with Lusha.
Not better results. Completely different results. The kind that make AEs ask questions.
The AEs at Anaplan are always asking me, ‘how did you get a demo with this company?’ The answer is ‘Lusha’.
Asked to describe Lusha in one word, Catherine chose: “Stepping-stone.”
Because that’s what it became. A stepping stone from struggling to reach anyone during COVID to booking demos with VPs at the world’s most recognizable brands.
When switchboards disappear overnight
Before COVID, SDRs had a playbook that worked—imperfectly, but it worked.
Call company number. Get transferred through switchboard. Navigate gatekeepers. Maybe reach the executive. Maybe book a demo.
Inefficient? Yes. Time-consuming? Absolutely. But functional enough to hit quota.
Then everyone went remote. Offices emptied. Switchboards went unmanned. Generic company numbers routed to empty desks.
During the pandemic people were working remotely and it was impossible to reach them. You have the switchboard but no one was there.
That infrastructure collapse didn’t change Catherine’s quota. She still needed to book meetings with CIOs and VPs. She still needed to generate pipeline for AEs.
But the traditional prospecting methods stopped working overnight. Impossible to reach them wasn’t hyperbole—it was the new reality.
Catherine needed direct mobile numbers and verified personal emails. Not company lines. Not office phones. Direct access that worked regardless of where executives were working.
So, it was vital for me to have Lusha.
Vital. Not helpful. Not nice-to-have. Vital—as in business critical infrastructure that determines whether you can do your job.
The colleague crushing numbers
While Catherine struggled with the new remote reality, one SDR on the team wasn’t struggling.
He was consistently overperforming. Getting demos with executives others couldn’t reach. Booking meetings that seemed impossible. Crushing his numbers quarter after quarter.
That kind of performance stands out. Eventually, Catherine had to ask.
Not complex methodology. Not advanced sales technique. Not secret prospecting strategies. One tool: Lusha.
That’s often how the best tools spread in sales organizations. Not through company-mandated rollouts or formal training programs. Through SDRs asking top performers: what are you using that’s working?
When someone on your team consistently outperforms, their tools become interesting. When they attribute specific results to specific infrastructure, you pay attention.
Catherine started using Lusha.
7 out of 10 meetings
Once Catherine had access to verified direct contact information, her booking rates changed fundamentally.
Most of my meetings I get now, I get thanks to Lusha. I’d say out of 10 meetings, 7 of those were booked with Lusha.
70% attribution to one source. That’s not partial contribution. That’s primary infrastructure.
Those 7 out of 10 meetings came from:
Direct mobile numbers that connected to executives working from home
Verified personal emails that reached decision-makers directly
95% data accuracy that meant outreach actually worked
Sales Navigator enrichment that kept workflow simple
Lusha is highly accurate, so I don’t need anything else, really.
When data accuracy hits 95%, the tool becomes reliable enough to depend on exclusively. You don’t need backup providers or multiple platforms. You use what works consistently.
Demos AEs didn’t think were possible
Enterprise software sales at Anaplan’s level means pursuing major accounts. Fortune 500 companies. Global enterprises. Organizations where CIOs and VPs are extraordinarily difficult to reach.
Catherine started booking demos with exactly those prospects.
Catherine has booked demos with VPs at the world’s most recognizable brands.
Not just any demos. Demos with decision-makers at companies the AEs recognized as strategically important but difficult to crack.
That question—”how did you get a demo with this company?”—tells you everything. AEs know which accounts are hard to reach. They know which logos represent significant pipeline opportunities. They know which executives typically don’t take calls from SDRs.
When an SDR books those meetings consistently, it stands out.
Catherine’s answer was the same every time: Lusha.
From nice-to-have to business critical
COVID forced a reclassification of sales tools.
Before the pandemic, sales intelligence platforms were helpful. They made prospecting easier. They improved efficiency. But traditional methods still functioned.
Once offices emptied and switchboards went unmanned, direct contact access moved from helpful to essential.
Vital. Business critical. The difference between booking demos and hitting quota versus complete inability to reach decision-makers.
For Catherine, that shift was clear:
Before Lusha: Struggling to reach anyone post-COVID, traditional methods broken
After Lusha: 70% of demos booked through Lusha-sourced contacts, AEs impressed with account quality
The tool didn’t just improve her numbers. It enabled her job to function during a time when traditional prospecting infrastructure collapsed.
When infrastructure becomes a stepping stone
Asked to describe Lusha in one word, Catherine chose: “Stepping-stone.”
That’s exactly right. Not the destination—the stepping stone that gets you there.
From struggling during COVID → to booking demos consistently
From missing quota → to hitting targets through verified contacts
From unable to reach executives → to 70% of meetings sourced through direct mobile access
From okay performance → to results that make AEs ask “how did you do that?”
Catherine discovered what her top-performing colleague already knew: when you have verified direct access to CIOs and VPs at major enterprises, booking rates change fundamentally.
70% of demos. 95% data accuracy. Meetings with VPs at world-class brands. AEs constantly asking how she got those meetings.
That’s not incremental improvement. That’s infrastructure that determines whether you hit quota or not.
When switchboards disappeared overnight during COVID, SDRs needed new infrastructure. Catherine found it by asking the colleague who was crushing numbers what he was using.
The answer was Lusha. The result was 7 out of 10 meetings booked with executives who used to be impossible to reach.
That’s a stepping stone worth using.
