Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
PART%4:%Build%An%Epic,%Scalable%Sales%Team%
100%
101%
If%You%Missed%Parts%1,%2%or%3%
What%You’ll%Learn%In%This%SecBon%
What makes a sales team that is scalable, resilient through ups & downs
and creates for itself all the great sales talent you need?
• Why your sales team attrition is WAY too high (Page 105)
• Sales role specialization: why, how & why not (Page 120)
Overview%
If you didn’t get a fancy title, would you still work for that CEO?
Step back before you copy down constant goal. Early in my career I #4) Pay Well For Success.
the prior playbook, and look at the hired the best people I could…but
numbers and funnel. What should who were just a little bit less better I don’t get CEOs or VPs of Sales
work the same? What might need or smart than me. That’s who are cheap as it relates to
to be changed or adapted or re- inexperience and insecurity and paying their sales people. It’s
created? makes scaling sales much harder. incredibly hard to find great sales
talent, much less hire and retain it.
Be objective and honest with The reality is that any hiring Pay them well. Trust me, they can
yourself, because it’s hard to admit shortcut you take now, means you go elsewhere, while the B & C
you might be wrong, need to are going to have to work 10x more players stay.
change your plan/playbook, or later to compensate for any
even admit that you don’t know shortfalls, such as running too #5) Make Sure The CEO Fits.
what to do or sometimes feel lost! many of your reps deals because
they can’t close them themselves, Don’t take a job just for the title,
#3) Hire The Best. Period. having to coach too much, having investors or company. Pick the
high sales team turnover or missed wrong CEO to work with and you’ll
Surrounding yourself with goals. be miserable. Be honest about
superstar talent should be a what works for you before you
make a decision.
110%
Advice%From%The%VP%Sales%Who%%
Built%LinkedIn,%EchoSign%&%TalkDesk%(3/3)%
If any one key person (such as the VP Sales or CEO) is doing a lot of the
actual selling, you’re bottlenecked
#2) Backfilling and Helping His/ #4) Sales Strategy SO: don’t hire a VP Sales until
Her Sales Team What markets should we expand you are ready to scale and build
Helping coach reps to close deals into? What’s our main bottleneck? and fund a small, growing sales
(not doing it for them). Getting Where should our time & money team.
hands-on when needed, or in big go? What few key metrics do tell
deals. Spotting issues before they us the most about the health of our And any VP of Sales that doesn’t
blow up. Seeing opportunities team & growth? see this themself — probably isn’t a
ahead of the horizon. great long-term VP of Sales for
#5) Creating and Selling Deals you. Instead, he/she is either just a
#3) Sales Tactics Him/Herself great individual contributor, a great
Training, onboarding. Territories This is last of the Top 5. Important, builder … or a simply a flawed or
(you need them). Quotas, comp. yes for select deals. But last on the desperate candidate.
How to compete. Pitch scripts. list because if your VP Sales (or
Coordinating FUD and anti-FUD. CEO, for that matter) is doing the One challenge in hiring salespeople
Segmenting customers. Reports. closing rather than their team – is that they’re often extra good at
Ensuring they and the team can you’re bottlenecked. No scaling for “selling” themselves too…whether
get what they need from the sales / you, sir. or not they’re actually a good fit!
CRM system. Etc.
113%
The%Right%VP%Sales%For%Your%Stage%
Where you are in your growth curve affects what kind of VP Sales to hire
The%Right%VP%Sales%For%Your%Stage%
The problem with The Evangelist? You’ve hired 1-4 reps on your own. their titles by successfully growing
They’ve never actually built or But you have no idea or ability how something that was already
scaled or systematized sales. to scale & make it predictable. regularly working systematically –
They know how to think creatively not by being the one who
and cross-functionally. They’re fun This job is about taking “something systematized it.
to work with. But 9 times out of 10, is happening here-and-there and
this is a waste of a hire and your we’re not always sure why” to Here’s what happens with Mr.
time. Why? Because the founder/ “something is happening over-and- Make-it-Repeatable: Everything
CEO has to be the evangelist, over-again and we know why”. seems much simpler and clearer.
along with the first 1-2 reps you Almost immediately, revenue goes
hire. This VP Sales has to make it up. Because they know how to
happen. He can’t pretend or hide close, recruit, hire and coach. And
Type 2. “Mr Make-it- behind Powerpoint presentations or they know how to build the basic
Repeatable” (gets you from from “pipeline” dashboards. processes you need to make it
$1m to $10m) predictable.
In this phase, you have some This is the unicorn that every early
customers. Not a ton, but some. company ready to grow needs. The
You have some in-bound leads. problem is most VP Sales struggle
in this phase, because most got
115%
The%Right%VP%Sales%For%Your%Stage%
Interlude: Be careful hiring VPs Sales from Big (Or Hot) Companies…
These prior two stages were about Joining salesforce.com when it was Easier meetings with executives or
getting off the ground to having at $1 billion in revenue, even as a investors. Easier hiring. More
“Something”, and then turning that manager? Yes, it’s SaaS … but the manpower & budget support for:
into a repeatable system. sales processes & challenges at $1 everything. A “real” marketing team
billion+ just are so different from an & budget, admin support and lots of
It’s extremely unlikely that any VP early company. inbound leads. Someone who’d
Sales candidate from write sales collateral for them.
salesforce.com, SuccessFactors, When someone has only worked
Oracle or whatever currently Hot or for a Big (or Hot) Company with a It’s not their fault — but often they
Big company can possibly fill either Big (or Hot) Brand, they have an just won’t understand how to do
of these early stage roles. unfair advantage in everything either of these early phases. It
they’ve done there. How much was doesn’t mean they CANT do it, just
They will all almost certainly fail. it them, versus the Big (or Hot) be very, very careful in hiring them
Brand? Rising tides and all. and don’t let the resume blind you –
Why? or your investors.
Plus, oftentimes they are
They never even remotely did it. unknowingly dependent on all the Now for VP Sales Types 3 & Type
free gifts they got before… 4…
116%
The%Right%VP%Sales%For%Your%Stage%
Type 3: “Ms. Go Big” (go from It’s hard to find these candidates What changes can I make to the
$10m to $40m) but you can find them. Get them team to get the dashboards up?
Now we’re talking about pouring it from a company that just went How do I get more resources?
on. When a VP Sales comes into through this phase. More budget? Who can I hire,
a decently funded company with and who can I fire? How do I get
$10-$20m in annual revenue… it’s But don’t expect 95% of these rid of the bottom 10%? Where
mostly a process already. The candidates to be able to do the should the Sales Kickoff be this
main pieces are working, so you earlier phase (getting from $1- year, and what sort of suite can I
mostly do the same things, but $10m), if they didn’t do it before. get? What events can I do
more. behind a secret rope for my Top
Type 4: Mr. Dashboards 50 prospects?
Hire the right people. Increase This is unfortunately what you get a
junior hires to further specialize lot of when you try to recruit out of Look, at some point, you may need
and develop a big talent pool. the Big Cos. This guy really Mr. Dashboard. That’s fine. A
Make field sales work. Tune your understands how to sell up. How to manager of managers of
Customer Success programs. make an internal presentation. And managers. But whatever you do,
Grow outbound prospecting. Get he often looks pretty good in a suit. don’t hire them until you are past
the lead generation engine Your board will probably love him. Unstoppable. Because unless he
cranking with the VP Marketing. But really, all he does all day is look or she did it for real before they
at and think about Dashboards and were Mr. Dashboard — they have
meet with his Managers. no idea how to get you to and past
$5m, or $10m, or $20m.
117%
The%Hubspot%Sales%Machine:%%
RecruiBng%&%Coaching%EssenBals%
Mark Roberge & Hubspot built a $0-to-$90M sales machine in 6 years
Mark Roberge is the Chief If those four things happen,
Revenue Officer of Hubspot, and then they’ll be successful in
an active speaker/writer on the achieving their mission…and it’s
science of scaling a sales team. been working so far. Here are
more details on how Mark’s sales
He describes his mission as machine hires & trains…
“Predictable, scalable revenue
growth.” (We can’t argue with that.) ** It’s All About Recruiting **
Mark’s 4-Part Strategy: Especially for small teams looking He wanted to hire people who’d
to scale is to put the effort into shown past sales success as well
1) Hire the same type of hiring, and make it your top priority. as people with untapped potential.
successful sales person. Mark spent 40% of his time on
2) Consistently train them the recruiting in his first couple years. After hundreds of interviews and
same way. hires, they found 5 indicators of
3) Provide each salesperson with Interview Strategically - Mark future success:
the same quantity & quality of developed criteria for hiring for • Coachability (#1!)
leads. sales success – even if people • Prior success
4) Have the salespeople work the didn’t have a sales background. • Work ethic
leads using the same process. • Curiosity
• Intelligence
118%
The%Hubspot%Sales%Machine:%%
RecruiBng%&%Coaching%EssenBals%
How can you put your reps into customers’ shoes, to create empathy?
Their prior success doesn’t have to They experience the actual pains Hubspot uses a matrix-driven sales
be in sales. Hubspot’s got an and successes of Hubspot’s coaching model. On the 2nd day of
Olympic gold medalist & a guy primary customers: professional each month Mark meets with the
who’s a professional comic who marketers who need to generate sales directors, who each oversee
made it to Comedy Central. leads online…so salespeople are a few managers and have about 40
These are people who went after able to connect on a far deeper sales reps underneath them.
something and achieved it. That’s level with prospects and leads.
what you’re looking for. Because Mark takes coaching
After a month, new hires pass a seriously, these meetings force a
** A “Real” Training Program ** 150-question exam + six different coaching culture to the whole
certification tests on the HubSpot organization.
Too many companies have a product, sales methodology, and
training plan of “go shadow some the concept of inbound marketing. Good coaching is both caring for
people.” your reps’ success and trying to
** Take Coaching Seriously ** find out the one thing (not 10
Hubspot’s salespeople spend their things) at a time to work on that’s
1st month in a classroom-style The biggest impact on sales going to make the biggest
setting. To gain an understanding productivity comes from how difference.
of the product, they create a blog effective your managers are at
and a website from scratch. coaching their people.
119%
More%Simple%Hiring%Tricks%
Your%#1%Sales%MulBplier:%SpecializaBon%
Your%#1%Sales%MulBplier:%SpecializaBon+
Want+more+details+on+each+role?++Check+out+Why+Salespeople+Shouldn’t+Prospect+
122%
SpecializaBon%Snapshot%@%Acquia%
Be generous, not stingy, with comp through a transition makes it easier for
everyone to keep working as a team
Lessons Learned By removing confusing comp #3) Create A Collaborative, Not
conditions, salespeople and Competitive, Sales Environment
#1) Simplify Comp: Past comp partners collaborate and close
plans had a ton of rules and much more because everyone’s Fun or friendly competition is
regulations around the kinds of interests are aligned. helpful & energizing. Hurtful or
deals that would be eligible for ‘real’ competition kills your team.
quota. Clio was trying to drive the #2) Overpay Salespeople During
right behaviors with those rules, The Transition By shifting to territories +
but they created too much specialization, the sales team didn’t
confusion and obstacles. During the restructuring, Clio paid feel anymore that it was a zero sum
the team a flat fee / fixed bonus for game.
For example: Clio used to have a three months while gathering data
lot of rules and conditions with and figuring out new quotas & Jack says they now have an
channel partner deals, and often goals. Clio wanted the team to feel “unbelievably collaborative sales
salespeople didn’t benefit at all if a comfortable helping switch to the team” that helps each other close
partner closed a deal. Now, $1 of new model, without distracting deals, roots each other on, trades
revenue is $1 of revenue wherever them. tips and best practices & sale
it comes from. techniques. Beforehand, this never
happened.
129%
Geqng%The%Most%Out%Of%Salesforce.com%
(Or%Any%Sales%App)+
5%Sales%Metrics%That%Explain%Everything%
with+Fred+Shilmover,+CEO+of+InsightSquared+(1/4)+
5%Sales%Metrics%That%Explain%Everything%
with+Fred+Shilmover,+CEO+of+InsightSquared+(2/4)+
5%Sales%Metrics%That%Explain%Everything%
with+Fred+Shilmover,+CEO+of+InsightSquared+(3/4)+
5%Sales%Metrics%That%Explain%Everything%
with+Fred+Shilmover,+CEO+of+InsightSquared+(4/4)+
BrightPearl’s%Two%Favorite%Sales%Analyses%
This analysis pinpoints which stages give which reps the most problems, for data-driven coaching. It helped
BrightPearl’s managers to increase new sales hires’ revenue by 32% in their first six months over past hires.
In the “before and “after” sales funnels below of a rep, you can see on the left where the sales rep is struggling (look
for the steep drop-offs). The sales rep started with only a 5% Win Rate. With targeted coaching, the rep ended up
winning almost twice as many deals – 30 deals vs.16 before – from half as many opptys - for a 4x better Win Rate.
For example, by zeroing in on improving demo and qualification skills, he doubled (67% vs. 38%) his effectiveness
at moving prospects from “Present Solution” to “Technical Fit.”
BEFORE:' AFTER:'
137%
Analysis%#2:%PrioriBze%With%%
A%“Sales%Strikezone”%Heat%Map%
BrightPearl%reps%oren%juggle%30+%deals%per%rep%at%any%one%Bme.%%This%“Strikezone%Report”%helped%sales%reps%increase%
revenue%28%%in%a%few%months%by%helping%them%instantly%separate%out%the%high[probability%deals%from%low[probability%
ones.%%It%plots%open%opportuniBes%in%a%rep’s%pipeline%(the%blue%dots%seen%below),%which%are%overlaid%on%a%“heat%map”%
displaying%the%Win%Rate%for%historical%opportuniBes%of%the%same%age%and%deal%size...%
%%%%%
%
138%
In%The%Field?%%Where’s%Your%Tablet?%
Field Sales Is Still Sexy Social Doesn’t Replace In- Why Buy ‘Em For Your Field?
Person
Building a killer sales model isn’t 1. Easy, Simple, Clean: Laptops
about being ‘the cheapest’ or Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can be very cumbersome, cluttered
moving as much out of the field only create the illusion of human and even ugly. Laptops take longer
and into “inside/remote”…but connection, not the real thing. to open, power up & search…while
finding the right balance of inside & Unless those online connections with a tablet, whip it out & go!
field sales for your situation. translate to a phone call or an in-
person meeting, they rarely matter 2. Always Up To Date: Ensure
Inside sales has been growing and in fact can be harmful as that field reps have the most up-to-
MUCH faster than field sales for distractions. date content automatically with
years, but don’t forget field sales tablet apps. When you publish new
can be wonderfully effective, Make sure you treat social media content via email or a portal, all
whether with local businesses, as a complement to calls and your newest stuff is guaranteed to
manufacturing plants or any well meetings, not a replacement. be lost in the clutter.
planned onsite meeting.
Tablets Are Changing Everything 3. Instant Objection Handling:
We’d be suspicious of any With easier access to more and
company with a “100% inside” or So while this may be a “duh” to you better content on a tablet, a
“100% outside/field sales” model – in the field - an even bigger impact salesperson can more easily
it smacks of extremism either way. than internet / online services like answer any objection a customer
Where does it make sense for your salesforce.com - are the millions of has right there on the spot, rather
sales or success people to tablets being put into the hands of than saying “I’ll get back to you”
increase in-person visits? remote salespeople. and risking their momentum.
139%
How%Electrabel%Created%10%Extra%
Hours%A%Week%Per%Salesperson%(1/2)%
There’s still no better way to learn fast, build relationships & differentiate
than with in-person meetings
Electrabel is a ~5000 person Collateral Hell
division of GDF Suez (a $100 A main problem for salespeople
billion+ power company). was the profusion of customer
Electrabel produces and sells content and collateral, often
electricity, natural gas and energy outdated, and in different locations,
services to retail and business such as electronic versions on
customers. shared drives and (somewhere) in Electrabel wanted to make it simple
for their reps to access a
email, or paper versions stashed in
Less Admin, More Selling closets and car trunks. marketing-managed library of all
their content & collateral on their
The energy markets have been
iPads/tablets.
chaotic the past few years, and Salespeople found it very
Electrabel needed to reorganize its cumbersome to pull up just the right
Electrabel bought tablets,
sales team to be more flexible, information at the right time to
waste less time and have more, share with their customers. developed a mobile approach &
decided to use Showpad as their
better sales visits, through:
main mobile sales app.
• More useful time with customers And each salesperson printed 2300
• More consistent sales messaging pages (!?) per year on average.
• Less prep, admin and office visits
140%
How%Electrabel%Created%10%Extra%
Hours%A%Week%Per%Salesperson%(2/2)%
Their mobile strategy cut down admin so much, salespeople were able to
hold an extra five (5!) customer visits a week
Reps now can easily find the 3. Don’t Have To Build It 5. Measure Usage: Marketing can
collateral they need, and they Themselves: Yes, your tech group actually report accurately on what
know that it’s 100% current. would think it’s cool to build mobile content pieces are being used - or
apps themselves (and it’d be great ignored.
What’s So Great About That? for their resumes), but rather than
developing and maintaining an in- 6. Reps Can Sell In The Moment,
#1) Five Extra Customer Visits / house custom tablet apps, Not Later: A rep can instantly pull
Week: They cut down drastically companies like Showpad can do it up the few, best additional products
on the hours reps spent preparing cheaper, faster & better. or services a customer should
for and following up from meetings. consider buying and using (in fact,
4. Instant Objection Handling: If a 67% of the reps presented more
#2) Save Hassle & Money: prospect asks any obscure products than they’d planned on
Electrabel’s saving the time and question such as “How much power before the meeting.)
expense of each salesperson does it require?”, a rep can pull up
printing an average of 2300 pieces say, an Installation Guide, to
of paper (!?!) per year. answer the question on the spot,
rather than via email day(s) later.
141%
3%Keys%to%Successful%Sales%Contests:%
Make+Them+Fun,+Fair,+Visible+(1/2)%
Make sales contests badass, not boring, for your sales athletes
The experts at Hoopla, a company Whether it’s the # of phone 3. Make it visible. At a sports
that specializes in sales motivation conversations, demos or “sales- game, imagine if everyone waited
software (with customers like accepted opportunities”, focus until the end of the game or season
Glassdoor, Experian, Marketo, The contests on motivating these to celebrate a win? No instant
Sacramento Kings, and Zillow), ‘leading indicators’ rather than just recognition for a great reception,
have some tips on how to make the end result. basket made or goal.
contests work:
2. Make it fair. When you focus That constant energy from the
1) Motivate play-by-play. Imagine only on end results, it’s too easy for team / audience / coaches helps
if your favorite team’s coach only top performers to coast to victory keeps players amped up, right?
focused on motivating the team to regularly. They aren’t challenged
win (“win win win!”), but never and other players don’t feel like Did someone give a great demo
coached them on how to play they have a chance to win, so they today…hit an appointments goal
better. A burst of extra work helps, give up early. …score a renewal…recognize
but doesn’t lead to sustainable your reps early, often, and
improvement without better skills. Try other approaches, like publicly. Instant, visible
measuring progress toward goals recognition is highly motivating not
How can you focus them on as a %, which levels the playing only to the rep who made the sale,
getting better at taking the right field for new reps & reps with varied but gets the entire team fired up to
actions with the right people that territories & quotas. win.
lead to results?
143%
How%Glassdoor%Re[Energized%Their%Sales%
Team%To%Beat%Quotas%(1/2)%
Live leaderboards & contests helped increase the team’s sense of urgency
+ sales system adoption shot up
But putting in live leaderboards did 100% Engagement: The “fun / CRM Adoption: Nick says
more for Glassdoor than add some live / visible” format doubled Salesforce user adoption shot up.
extra initial excitement. It helped engagement. For example, Nick Why? If a rep doesn’t keep her
push the company’s sales ran a “March Madness”-themed stats current in Salesforce, he/she’ll
performance to new levels. For contest to track appointments set. soon lose her position on the
example: With the new system, 100% of the leaderboards.
team participated, compared to
Urgency: Reps at Glassdoor went 50% of the team in the past. As a result, the team went from
from hitting 85% of their goal of tracking 70% to 100% of its key
‘appointments booked’ to hitting Performance: By focusing reps on metrics in Salesforce. (Whoa!)
125%. “Reps who’ve been here key activities & goals, Glassdoor’s
awhile, who may have been reps started consistently beating
getting complacent, are sparked their quota; and even newly
again. ramping reps achieve 80% of
quota. “New reps immediately
I’ve heard them yell things like understand what they need to do to
“John, I’m coming for you!” says be successful, they can see it on
Nick. the boards, which is very
motivating,” Nick explains.
145%
Coming%In%2015%
• Key Metrics
• Making More Money
• Unique Genius
• Phone & Email Sales Techniques
• And more…