SellingSherpa

B2B Sales Best Practices

Salesloft Rainmaker 2017 Trip Report

I. Account based engagement (ABE)

  1. ABE starts with account segmentation/prioritization (aka territory strategy)
  2. Ensure your execs connect with peer execs at prospect/client companies
  3. Embrace referrals as the #1 outbound strategy
  4. Understand regional variation in touch frequency; in the USA, 8 to 10 touches over 20 business days is acceptable but would not be in most of AsiaPac.
  5. Personalization at scale:
    • Content is king; context is G-d. Don’t just send an e-Book; share the key takeaways that matter to a given individual.
    • Deliver personalized value in EVERY touch
  6. Start calls with, “The reason for my call is…”
  7. Emails and presentations must start with WIIFM message that is (a) short (b) attention-grabbing (c) targeted/specific (d) inspires curiosity (e) results driven (f) based on your unique competitive advantage = results you have a delivered for a similar client (g) based on what others say about you (h) conversational (i) positive

Ex: John Barrow’s is “I train sales forces how to sell. I recently worked with X Inc. who realized a Y% improvement in …”

  1. Tactic to reactivate prospect who goes dark: “Did I lose you?” as email subject line
  2. Tactics are constantly changing so follow the data
  3. Share how much time you will take; ex: “I know you are busy. Can I take 2 minutes to ask you 2 question (or to share such and such value)?
  4. Targeted (individual) outreach is always best. Tailored (to persona) is acceptable. Templated (generic) should be avoided.
  5. Don’t ask, “What are your priorities?” Instead, do you research and confirm. At the very least, say “When I talk to CMOs, they say x. Are you focused on these too?”
  6. Quantifiable, results-based case studies are the best marketing materials.
  7. Know what triggers stimulate demand for your product

II. Leadership / Management/Professional effectiveness

  1. SalesLoft Core values:
    • Customers first
    • Team over self
      (note: a & b are = “servant leadership”
    • Bias toward action
    • Focus on results
    • Glass half full
  2. To be great, you need (a) accountability to targets (b) adherence to best practices
  3. The best ideas come from observing customers
  4. Sales leaders must provide (a) deal-level coaching (b) insistence on process excellence (c) analysis of performance on KPIs
  5. A-players take notes and take action to apply what they learned; B-players take notes; C-players don’t take notes.
  6. Losers have goals; winners have systems.
  7. Dedicate one day per quarter to deeply review and update the sales process; include top reps in the exercise.
  8. Start with WHY when rolling out change (WIIFM)
  9. Physical environment has a big impact on inside sales energy
  10. Time management
    • Rely on dedicated time-blocking
    • Prioritize – say yes or no intentionally
    • Allocate more time than you think you need to projects or tasks
  11. Run objection handling role play 1x per week
  12. Understand the unique personality / motivators / strengths / development goals for each of your direct reports
  13. Adapt to others’ communication style: DISC or driver / analytical / considerate
  14. Great interview question: “How did you prepare for this interview?”
  15. Learn to (a) hire well (b) manage up
  16. How to get promoted (a) be great at your job (b) network by reaching out to a wide variety of mentors and ask for their advice on tackling specific problems (c) “ride-along” with others in internal and external meetings
  17. Give AEs frequent (real time if possible) visibility into how they are doing on their KPIs
  18. Build a brand around yourself (ex: Morgan of “SDR Chronicles” on YouTube)
  19. Periodically ask reps, “Are you happy with the coaching & feedback you are getting from your manager?”

Sales ops

  1. Sales ops is responsible for success on (a) revenue pipeline (b) people pipeline. They must give (a) management the data they need to make decisions (b) AEs the tools and processes they need to succeed.
  2. Sales ops should tightly align with strategic sales goals/efforts. Sales ops bonuses should be tied to corporate sales goals.
  3. Tactically, sales ops should focus on (a) qualification criteria (b) TAM / ICP / Personas (c) touch patterns / cadences (d) sales & marketing SLAs (e) ROEs & handoffs (f) processes – territory, comp, quota, account planning, etc. (g) training & certification (h) tools & systems (i) data analysis
  4. People pipeline:
    • Strive to recruit and hire A-players (esp. based on attitude, character/grit)
      * Manage expectations when recruiting! Set expectation of a culture of results and of constant change/experimentation.
    • Onboard/ramp with precision; train with certification
    • Set a “well-lit” career path
    • Indoctrinate into the corporate culture & the important of the brand
    • Recognize performance (and be clear on underperformance)
  5. Build a dedicated outbound contact gen/clean function to maximum engaged selling time
  6. KPIs
    • Sales funnel: [ (# contacts) x (oppty qual. rate) x (avg. deal size) x (win rate) ] / [sales cycle duration]
    • # contacts added to cadences per day
    • Meaningful interactions
    • # of internal deal planning / coordination meetings
    • Cost of sale (inclusive of time)
    • Amount of coaching time
    • Adoption of tools
  7. Favorite sales ops tools mentioned (a) Insight Squared analytics (b) Gainsight customer success (c) Confluence KMS
  8. Be very cautious about adding more fields to your CRM that sales people need to fill out; anything you add should have personal benefit to the AE
  9. When developing sales processes, sales ops must participate in calls/meetings
  10. Sales ops should maintain a public “ticketing” system with SLAs based on priority

 

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