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1%
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The worlds filled with sales advice. Some great, These Ideas Helped
5%Ideas%That%Drive%Big%Growth%
Specialize'Your'Sales'Team% Drop'Sales'Team'Churn'To'<10%'
How%to%do%it,%big%or%small% Make%your%sales%team%scalable%
4%
About%The%Authors%
Aaron%Ross%is%the%#1%best[ Jason%is%a%Managing%Director%of%
selling%author%of% Storm%Ventures%and%writes%the%
Predictable+Revenue:+Turn+ #1%Saas%blog:%www.Saastr.com.%
Your+Business+Into+A+Sales+ %
Machine+With+The+$100+ Jason%founded%&%was%CEO%of%
Million+Best+Prac?ces+Of+ EchoSign,%the%webs%most%
Salesforce.com+(called%by% popular%electronic%signature%
Inc.com%the%Sales%Bible%of% service.%%Jason%led%it%from%$0%to%
Silicon%Valley).%%% $100%million+%in%revenues%and%through%a%successful%
He%built%the%outbound%prospecBng%sales%team%at% acquisiBon%by%Adobe,%where%he%then%served%as%VP%Web%
Salesforce.com,%which%has%helped%add%an%extra%$1%billion.% Services.%
% %
Aarons%married%with%ve%children%(growing%to%eight%soon%
Jasons%married%with%two%kids,%lives%in%Palo%Alto,%and%loves%
through%adopBon),%lives%in%westside%Los%Angeles,%loves%
running%every%day%without%fail,%and%anything%having%to%do%
motorcycles,%and%keeps%his%work%to%25[35%hours%a%week.%%%
with%Hawaii.%
5%
Bigger,%Beaer%
This ebook highlights powerful nuggets from the forthcoming sequel to the
#1 best-seller Predictable Revenue.
This ebook you hold contains highlights from the forthcoming full book,
The Predictable Revenue Guide To Tripling Your Sales, a sequel to
Predictable Revenue.
The Triple book builds on the original with more case studies, more
details, more apps, and more ideasas youll be able to see here.
6%
Select%Ideas%From%Predictable+Revenue+(1/3)%
Lead generation drives fast growth, not the size of your sales team.
Select%Ideas%From%Predictable+Revenue+(2/3)%
80% of the time, better & more predictable lead generation is the key to
unlocking faster, predictable growth.
Specialization Is Your Multiplier This ebook will have more details Of course you only want to hire
on specialization in the section, only great people, but the better
Prospectors should prospect, Your #1 Sales Multiplier: your lead generation is, the less
closers should close. Specialization. dependent you are on the quality of
your salespeople and sales
Specializing your sales roles is the On Scalable Growth process.
single most important thing you
can do to improve everything. Work harder" and "make more You can have the most perfect
calls" doesnt scale. Dont blindly sales process in the world, but if
The Four Core Sales Roles: do more of whats not working fix your lead generation lags, you will
the systems first, then put more struggle.
1. Inbound Lead Qualifiers energy into them after theyre
2. Outbound Prospectors working correctly. Conversely, you can have a terrible
3. Salespeople/Account sales process, but still do very well
Executives Great lead generation fixes a lot of if you have great lead generation.
4. Account Managers & sales problems.
Customer Success Managers
8%
Select%Ideas%From%Predictable+Revenue+(3/3)%
Which%Apps%Maaer?%
%
%
%
The original Predictable Revenue barely touched on useful sales &
marketing apps.
Since the book came out, the number of neat
sales & marketing apps has grown by one or two
bazillion.
Which%Apps%Maaer?%
Gainsight: A Customer Success Management SalesLoft: A fast-growing favorite app salespeople &
application to help teams more easily track & prospectors use to build targeted, high-quality lists
increase revenue with higher retention and upselling. (with emails & phone #s) from LinkedIn.
Hoopla: The #1 sales motivation app making it easy Showpad: A tablet / smartphone app for field
to excite inside sales teams into scoring more wins. salespeople, whether theyre visiting enterprises,
small businesses or manufacturing plants. Tablets
InsightSquared: An easy-to-use Sales Analytics change everything for the field!
solution that offers actionable insights into your
leadgen & sales metrics to improve decision-making Yesware: A sales acceleration tool that helps you
on how to triple your sales. understand what activities equal closed business by
tracking and analyzing email communications across
NewVoiceMedia: Cloud contact center solution that Gmail and Salesforce.com.
a) accelerates lead follow-up for sales, and b)
personalizes customer support & customer success
in Salesforce.
11%
To%Grow%Faster,%Hope%Must%Die%
How many reps or managers count maybes or long- For example, the app InsightSquared helps teams
shots to get them to quota every period? You know, reach the truth more easily and sell smarter with live
the deals that always could happen? Hope can charts.This Sales Strikezone chart makes it easy for
make you blind to seeing what is and isnt working a rep or manager to zero in on just a few of their best
or not; you need a reality check to make good opportunities to focus their precious time as the month
decisions. or quarter gets closer to the end.
12% IntroducBon:%%
Lead%GeneraBon%Is%Your%Gasoline%For%Growth:%%
Seeds,+Nets+&+Spears%
13%
Lead%GeneraBon%Absolves%Many%Sins%
The best way to triple new sales You can have the most amazing Salesforce.com pioneered the
isnt by tripling your salespeople sales process in the world, but if Customer Success Management
(the traditional method) but by youre not getting enough leads, services approach to systematize
tripling your qualified leads. youre going to struggle. this. Happy customers beget more
happy customers, and are your
You can have a Ferrari car, but it If you have a crummy sales best source of long-term revenue
doesnt move an inch without gas. process, but excellent lead growth and high profitability.
generation, youre going to do well!
LEAD GENERATION IS YOUR
GASOLINE FOR GROWTH. 3 Types of Lead Generation:
Seeds, Nets & Spears
Yes - you do need a great product
or service and some happy 1) Seeds are many-to-many
customers, but thats not enough, campaigns; theyre based on
and none of that matters if you word-of-mouth and
cant proactively drive leads relationships. For most
from both new prospects and companies, this mainly will be your
current customers. happy customers who generate
referrals, high renewal rates, and
high upsell/cross-sell rates.
15%
Your%Gasoline%For%Growth:%%
Seeds,%Nets%&%Spears%
Lead%GeneraBon%Type%#1:%Seeds%
17%
What%Youll%Learn%In%This%SecBon%
How Gild dropped customer churn from 3-4% to <1% per month
When%Does%95%%=%Failure?+
Thatd be something to be proud of, until you do the math. Customer Churn (or Logo
Churn) of 15% or less per year
Thats 5% churn per month, or 60% per year. In other words, you (just over 1% per month.) This is
have to replace 60% of your revenue every year just to break based on the number of customers
even. who leave.
What if you have monthly 98% retention / 2% churn? Thats still Revenue Churn of 0% or less
25% a year, or a quarter of your revenue. per year. The customers who stay
buy enough new licenses or product
The best-run companies can see up to -2% churn per month (on a to cover revenue losses from the
revenue basis). Yes, thats NEGATIVE 2% which means they customers who left.
make more money every month.
HOW?
Because the customers who stay with them buy & spend more
over time than the company loses from other customers leaving.
21%
21%
6%Keys%To%Driving%
Growth%With%Customer%Success%(1/3)'
If youre a CEO, you need to take 2. Customer Success Is 5x More 3. Start Early, Hire Early
Customer Success as seriously Important Than Sales
as marketing, sales or product In Saas companies, a rule of thumb
development. Yes sales is critical. But sales is is having one Customer Success
only there at the very start of the Manager per $2m in revenue
1. Customer Success Is Your relationship. And to repeatedly hired in advance of that revenue,
Core Growth Driver close new customers, sales needs not after you have it.
Customer Success resources like
All great companies customers references. Silicon Valley companies with
come from one main source enough funding often now invest
Word-of-Mouthwhether the lead Generally, founders do a good job big at the beginning, with 2-4
comes via referral directly, or of doing whatever it takes to get a people on the team right away.
whether new customers are closed big deal closed but often a poor
with case studies, references or job of everything after that, Remember, a Customer Success
testimonials. because theyre off to help with the person, like a salesperson or
next fire, drama or Big Deal. marketing budget, is an investment
This is much more measurable in that should make you (a lot) of
recurring revenue models, where CEOs and founders dont focus money, not just a cost to be put off
we can track renewal rates, upsell on getting new customers in so as long as possible.
amounts & referrals. much that you ignore your current
customers. Get on planes to visit
customers as well as prospects.
22%
6%Keys%To%Driving%
Growth%With%Customer%Success%(2/3)'
Jasons 5+2 rule on this: 5. Customer Success Needs
* Every cofounder, the CEO, plus Financial Responsibility &
every Customer Success Manager, Metrics
* Must meet onsite with 5
customers a month (thats 60 per When your Customer Success
year), and function doesnt have financial
* Get 2 customer badges every goals, its value can get muddled.
year as a bonus (that is you visit
so often to warrant a badge.) One bad assumption is that a
great product will automatically
A phone call is not a meeting. By create happy customers, and you
visiting in person, regularly, your wont need to hire people to
company will learn more about actively work with your customers.
whats really working and not, earn
more trust, and those customers However easy or incredible your
will (almost) never churn. Its much product is, you need humans
4. Visit Customers In Person harder to tell a friend youre leaving talking to select categories of your
them than some faceless company. customers.
Unhappy customers dont (always)
complain before they leave. In- What if I have nothing to say? Just (Continued on the next page)
person visits can make all the show them your roadmap, and ask
difference in surfacing problems for feedback on it, and on issues
and in changing their attitudes. they are having today. That alone
will fill the meeting.
23%
6%Keys%To%Driving%
Growth%With%Customer%Success%(3/3)'
5. Customer Success Needs 6. Evolve Customer Success
Financial Responsibility & Goals & Metrics As You Grow
Metrics (continued from (Source: Gainsight)
previous page)
i. Traction ($0-$1m) What do
... The whole point of Customer customers want, and what do they
Success is to increase Net do with our product?
Negative Churn, so you need For example, at Gild (a case study
tools & processes to measure and coming on Page 27) Customer ii. Adoption ($1m-$5m) Why and
improve the function, including Success owns: how should customers include our
how the people on your team product in their daily business?
perform. 1. 90 Day Adoption
2. Feeding usage data & iii. Retention ($5-$20m) Why do
To justify investment (such as in customer feedback into the customers need to keep on using
headcount or tools) by a company, product roadmap our product after the honeymoon?
plus create the hunger a Customer 3. Renewals
Success leader and team need to 4. Upsells iv. Expansion ($20m-$100m)
deliver measurable results, Why should customers expand to
Customer Success needs to own And it makes it easy for the more seats, more features?
some financial results: usually at executive team and board to see
least a) retention rates & exactly how the Customer Success v. Optimization ($100m+)
perhaps even b) upsell revenue. functions contributing to Gild. Automation & improvements driven
by data.
24%
Why%Youre%UnderinvesBng%In%Customer%Success%
(The%Magic%of%Customer%Success%Revenue)%
Everyone in SaaS talks about The problem is that this doesnt go Total Lifetime Revenue From A
CLTV: Customer Lifetime Value; far enough. Standard CLTV Single Average SaaS Customer:
also known as LTV. (I try to avoid calculations dont account for
acronyms, but sometimes I just virality and "second order" Ok Sales closes its average
gotta use 'em). customers - the ones that come in Enterprise Customer A for $10,000
later, from the first customer a year. Nice.
You can see a detailed analysis of referring their friends.
how to calculate Lifetime Value by Then, in Year 2, average Enterprise
David Skok at Saas Metrics 2.0. In other words, your average CLTV Customer A adds $2,500 in
should be higher because the first additional licenses, for $12,500
And then, everyone goes on to customer should get extra credit for total in Year 2.
calculate some magic metric telling helping bring in their friends to your
you how much to spend on Sales company. Then in Year 3, they add another
and Marketing, usually some 25%, or $15,625 total.
fraction (1/3 or so) of your CLTV, or By underestimating the value of a
about the first year's worth of customer, you may underinvest So: direct revenue over the first
revenue from a customer. Sounds overall in acquiring them. Or - three years = $38,125 from that
fine, so long as you have the more commonly - you invest too First Sale.
money to fund it. much in Sales and Marketing and
not enough in Customer Success. Now most customers last longer
than 3 years, but lets stop there for
now
24%
25%
Why%Youre%UnderinvesBng%In%Customer%Success%
(The%Magic%of%Customer%Success%Revenue)%
Now: Second Order Effects So the first sale is actually worth So sure, figure out the perfect ratio
$60,000 with the second order of Sales and Marketing costs to
* At the end of Year 1, your revenue - if youre making your CLTV to share with your board.
champion quits Enterprise customers super duper happy.
Customer A, but goes to Enterprise Because the second order effects
Customer B to do the Exact Same So your all-in CLTV, including compound. This is where Seeds
Job. And buys your product again. second-order revenues, could be becomes a growth driver. Theyre
(This happens about 10% of the 2x your current estimate. essential to fast, profitable growth.
time.)
Use%Your%Damn%Brain%
So what if youre not the CEO? No matter Do more of what works. Stop doing or
what your title is, be an entrepreneur, not an change what isnt working. (Its funny how
employee. often people dont do this.)
Dont wait around for others to make something Stop talking and thinking about it and
happen take the initiative. just DO IT or at least do something.
Test lots of different things; run experiments. Dig for the truth (not what you want to
hear).
Have a plan, but hold it lightly.
Just try it.
DONT'GIVE'UP.'
35%
Stay%Tuned%For%Part'2'
Thanks for reading Part 1. Part 2 will be about Nets lead generation,
including inbound marketing & growth hacking.
To automatically receive each free chapter as soon as we release them, and
to get additional case studies and other private freebies (like a separate
ebook just on the metrics of Seeds, Nets & Spears), make sure youre on
our mailing list at www.PredictableRevenue.com/triple.
PART%2%
PART%2:%Inbound%Marke3ng%aka%Nets%
37&
If&You&Missed&Part&1&
What&Youll&Learn&In&This&SecCon&
Marketings goal is to generate leads and revenue, not make you look pretty
The 15/85 Rule & Achieving Market Escape Velocity (Page 50)
Growth Hacking Tips From The Man Who Coined The Term (Page 64)
40&
Gasoline&For&Growth:&Nets&
Gasoline&For&Growth:&Nets&
First&&MarkeCng&Fails&(1/2)&
Build it & they will come: great movie quote, bad marketing strategy
Inbound Marketing has been a Because the practice is so common Fail #2: Being Corporate (Boring
popular movement in b2b lead now, inbound fails are more & Jargony)
generation for the past 5+ years. interesting than how to do it
Theres a 90% chance youre Do you feel compelled to write
either already doing it, thinking Fail #1: Post and pray like this systemic ineffective
about doing it, or are feel guilty for activity obstructs sellers from
not doing it. OK, were blogging! Why dont achieving optimal close rates?
people care? You have to work at
But - if you really havent heard of getting the word out through SNORE. People write this way
it, the gist of it is to create distribution. The simplest effective because they are afraid of being
marketing that people love. solution is finding complementary rejected, or want to sound smart.
partners who will share your stuff But it just ends up being confusing
So publish educational or with their own relevant audience. and boring.
entertaining content online, then
people will find it (and thus you), Action Tip: Make a list of relevant Whether its a controversial opinion,
and theyll want more and come blogs/websites or complementary visuals, stories, your voice or
register as leads and buy your products, then reach out to get to anything else, bringing a personal
stuff. (A great basics overview is know them & perhaps work touch to content makes it more
here at Hubspot.) together (help them first before interesting and engaging to
expecting them to help you.) readers, so the facts will stick.
43&
First&&MarkeCng&Fails&(2/2)&
Market:+Whats&Your&Needy&Niche?&(1/2)&
Dont let the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) muddy your market & message
When your company is struggling Example #1: LeadGenius Then they narrowed (focused) even
to generate quality leads, first ask more, to on-demand prospecting &
yourself if youve found a Needy LeadGenius started out as a lead generationand sales took
Niche. company called Mobileworks, who off! It became easy for companies
did crowdsourcing. Whats that to understand how they could help.
Whats A Needy Niche? mean? Exactly few people who
werent friends-of-a-friend, or super
Of all the kinds of companies who Early Adopters, got it.
could use youand all the kinds of
buyers who should want you They were burning cash like crazy
which ones need & want you so when they narrowed their niche to
much that theyre willing to expend outsourced virtual assistance. By
their attention, energy & money to narrowing (focusing) on a tighter
buy and use you? market & service, they got to
cashflow neutral in only 60 days.
Finding a niche isnt about thinking
smaller its focusing, making it
possible to target & find the right
people and more easily showing
them how you can help.
53&
Market:+Whats&Your&Needy&Niche?&(2/2)&
Dont let the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) muddy your market & message
Example #2: Carburetor And sales took off. As Usually its for the same reason
VoltageCRM, they struggled instead of focusing on 1-3 killer use
Carburetor (Carb.io) started out as signing any customers after almost cases, theyre trying to speak to too
VoltageCRM, building sales two year. As Carburetor, they many types of buyers.
forecasting tools for software signed two dozen customers in
companies. months, and expect to hit a $1 That Fear Of Missing Out (a fear of
million run rate in less than a year. leaving money on the table, of
People were interestedbut not saying no to opportunities) has
enough to buy anything. So they Well get into more detail on the opposite effect, by muddying
pivoted, into Outbound Sales LeadGenius & Carburetor in the your messaging so that no one
Automation, doing the outbound next chapter on Spears lead understands what you can do for
prospecting for companies (using generation: outbound prospecting. them.
the Predictable Revenue Cold
Calling 2.0 methods & framework). For Bigger Companies Learn To Say No
They found a Needy Niche: Commonly, when a big company It takes courage to seemingly give
companies who wanted to whos done mostly inbound up a bigger market to narrow your
generate leads from outbound marketing starts outbound niche. But in order to become an
prospecting, but either didnt want prospecting, or starts marketing a easily-understandable need to
to do it themselves or struggled new product, they struggle. your market, you have to.
hiring & training prospectors.
54&
Messages:+To&Create&Compelling&
Content,&Know&Your&Buying&Stages&
A beautifully simple way to think about what types of content buyers need
When youre creating content for For example, Marketo created #3) Late Stage Which? - Your
marketing, make it useful to your content that taught people how to prospects are getting ready to buy,
ideal customers as they progress become better marketers. deciding which path do we take?
through their buying stages.
#2) Middle Stage How? - Your Now your content should be heavily
For example, we spoke to Jon audience wants to learn more about you, why youre better,
Miller (CMO Marketo) who uses about how to implement what you different, how you can ensure
three simple buying stages: Early, do in their business. Your content resultsincluding why you are
Middle and Late. Using them should help educate them on their better than the uber-competitor do
simplifies sorting out which content options and how to deliver nothing.
you need where, and to spot gaps. promised results. It should help
people thinking about a purchase to Where Marketers Go Wrong
#1) Early Stage: Why? - These make better decisions.
customers are actively learning, By creating too much me me me
but not buying (yet). Why should Marketo created content such as content for these Middle Stage
they care about your category? structured evaluations, to help buyers, and little or no content for
Why change? Your content should marketers learn more about a the Early Stage ones.
be entertaining and useful whether category and the space, multiple
people buy your stuff or not Definitive Guides (such as the
dont make it about you, your Definitive Guide To Marketing
product or features. Automation), and analyst reports.
55&
Messages:+How&Neil&Patel,&&
Boy&MarkeCng&Genius,&Creates&Content&
More than ever, people want step-by-step, detailed guidance
Neil Patels the youngin behind the #3) Add More Details To Create
QuickSprout internet marketing More Desirable Content
blog, and founder of KissMetrics, a
marketing analytics company. The more helpful your content is,
Here are his content tips the better. Blog posts that lay out
step by step instructions of how to
#1) Write Content For Your do things like implement
Readers, Not For You Salesforce.com, break down
inbound marketing steps, create
Try to create content that solves sales scripts, do growth hacking,
their biggest problems. Dont write etc. do really well.
to make your boss happy, write to #4) You Dont Need To Blog
make your audience happy. This may be why youve seen a
Every Day Or Every Week
growth in things like The Ultimate
#2) Use Tools To Find Interests Guide To ____ and The Definitive
Make a plan and stick with it,
Guide To ____ they work.
whether thats posting daily, weekly
Tools like Qualaroo surveys and or bimonthly. Start with less
drip email campaigns can help you Speaking of which, to see an
commitment and then increase as
get smarter about tuning into what example check out Neils
you go if it makes sense.
your audience cares about. Definitive Guide To Growth Hacking
56&
Messages:+How&The&Founder&&&&
CMO&of&Marketo&Creates&Content&
A lot of people think it must be easy for me because I create so much
content, but its not.
Jons Creation Process What helped Jons Writing After
Marketo Had Money To Spend
Slow and methodically he says
- my words dont flow out quickly. I It didnt really get easier for me; we
spend a lot of time reading and just got more budget for me to work
researching. Ill copy and paste with a writer. I take my detailed notes
points I like into a big document and send it to a writer I trust to turn it
with my notes. As I get my own into a draft and then edit into my
ideas, I put them in there. voice, which is how I wrote most of
my Definitive Guides for Marketo. I
It takes me time to think and found that works much better for me
organize my material into an than just doing a call with a writer.
Jon Miller is the Chief Marketing
outline. The process is a slow slog,
Officer and cofounder of the
like pushing through molasses Dont Fight Your Weaknesses
marketing automation tool
My content is more of a synthesis
Marketo. Started in 2006, Marketo
than original content or thought Its easy to avoid writing & creating
went public in 2013 at a billion
leadership. Distilling ideas to be content. Pay attention to your
dollar valuation. He started
digestible is still very valuable weakness, to find ways to work
blogging for Marketo before they
content. around them rather than fighting
began coding.
them.
57&
Messages:+Make&It&Personal&(1/2)'
Messages:+Make&It&Personal&(2/2)&
The&personal&email:&
59&
Methods:&Puqng&It&Together&(&How&
SalesLor&Grew&Leads&5x&In&A&Year+(1/3)&
The power of partner / influencer marketing
SalesLoft was founded in fall 2011. Lesson #1: Influencer Marketing
Theyre a company who isnt falling
victim to the common inbound SalesLoft promoted the messages
marketing mistakes. of related thought leaders, through:
- A Sales Leader Video Series (both
In their first full year, 2012, they Aaron & Jason interviewed for it) Lessons #3: Live Events Matter
had 2,400 leads. The following - Infographics
year, 2013, SalesLoft grew - Book Reviews Nothing beats in-person!
inbound leads 5x, ending up with: - Webinars SalesLoft invented the B2BCamp
conference and Ultimate Sales
12,000+ inbound leads SalesLoft gained credibility and Conference to build community
191 sales opportunities sometimes experts promoted the (1300+ total attendees).
110 customers content. Plus, SalesLoft builds
$400k+ in recurring revenue relationships (how do you think
they ended up here?) Tip: Community events build
And in 2014 recognition, loyalty, and helped
Lesson #2: Simple Lead Signups solidify SalesLoft as a thought
That was 2013. In the first six leader. Frequently, the outbound
months of 2014, from inbound SalesLoft made the free product team gets VP responses like: Oh,
leads SalesLoft is already at a $2 SUPER simple to sign up for. (More I've heard of you, you put on that
million run rate. details in on page 65). event in December...
60&
Methods:&Puqng&It&Together&(&How&
SalesLor&Grew&Leads&5x&In&A&Year+(2/3)&
Lesson #4: Maintain a Drumbeat Lesson #5: Use outbound
of 3-4 Weekly Blog Posts techniques with inbound leads
If your business is struggling to Sean says, by far, one of the most EXAMPLE: SalesLoft On Smart
find growth through typical neglected opportunities is creating Signups
marketing channels like paid a must-have experience with your
Google ads, email marketing, product from the start. We made our free product SUPER
simple to sign up for. And, when
affiliate programs and SEO, someone signs up we use oAuth (a
perhaps its time to take a new tack This must-have experience is what tool that pings social networks like
with your marketing efforts. takes a product from being a nice LinkedIn) to auto-populate their
to have, to one that your First & Last Names, so we only ask
them to fill out two fields: 1)
As the market gets more crowded customers absolutely cant live Corporate Email Address (no
& prospects attention spans without. gmail/yahoo/etc allowed), & 2)
shrink, companies are getting What CRM they Use.
creative in making it easier for When products hit this point,
prospects to become quickly suddenly, users get the value Then, through oAuth we can also
acquainted with and in love with proposition; theyre excited to refer grab their Company, Title, Industry,
social media URLs, geographic
your product to get to Wow! their friends, and happy to pay to location, # of LinkedIn connections,
faster. keep using it. etc (all behind the scenes without
them having to do anything).
The term for this in Silicon Valley is Only after youve identified a group
Growth Hacking, coined by Sean of people who passionately care This allows us to run sophisticated,
Ellis, CEO of Qualaroo and about your product can you really automated, lead grading/scoring
too because we have a lot of data
founder of the neat site start to scale your growth. about signups.
GrowthHackers.com.
65&
Methods:&Growth&Hacking&Principles&
with+Sean+Ellis+of+GrowthHackers.com+(2/3)&
#1) Triple Down on Whats Example: While at Dropbox we Going after a broad market is great
WorkingThis may sound too abandoned Google AdWords for raising money, but terrible for
obvious, but do you have a because it cost us $300 each to getting customers to sign on the line
marketing activity that works well or acquire customers who only spent that is dotted.
better than the others? (You may $99. The faster we grew, the more
not have any idea!) Start by money we lost. Example: Circle of Friends was
analyzing what works and how you growing like a weed with viral
can improve your best program. So we shut off AdWords and built a Facebook invites, but saw a problem
customer referral program that gave as usage started to wane. They
#2) Stop Doing Whats Not existing users extra space (which discovered moms were their power
WorkingMarketers spread cost us nothing) for inviting their users, with more frequent logins,
themselves too thin. You probably friends. This hack helped Dropbox to writing longer and more engaging
are spending too much money on grow to 4,000,000 users without messages, and referring more
stuff thats just not working. Dont be spending any money on ads. friends.
afraid to just cut them to zero, if they
arent your top few programs. #3) Identify the Customers that They pivoted & refocused the entire
Love Your ProductWho are the company to become Circle of
Have Facebook ads or Google top 1-10% of your customers that Moms, which doubled their 2 million
AdWords that arent generating a cant live without what you sell? Get
monthly active users to 4.5 million,
positive ROI? Turn them off. specific! Then invest heavily in and led to an acquisition by
Reinvest your time and money back going after just that particular mini- PopSugar.
into your best program. slice of customers.
66&
Methods:&Growth&Hacking&Principles&
with+Sean+Ellis+of+GrowthHackers.com+(3/3)&
#4) Slow Down Now To Speed Up So we added a link to a paid product Example: AirBnB took a creative
Later Growth hacking means on the landing page and instantly approach with Craigslist. AirBnB
coming up with hypotheses about saw a 3x improvement in tapped into Craigslists massive
what you think will improve your conversions, and continuing to tweak volume of traffic by developing a
business and then testing them in the design, ended up improving that clever bit of code that allowed
reality. You must think & work like channel by 10 times. AirBnB users to cross-post to
a scientist. Craigslist.
Fast-moving entrepreneurs often
It will slow you down to set up tests, forget to just ask customers what This increased visibility for AirBnB
run, measure & analyze them but they want. listings with people looking for
its worth it because you will get the vacation rentals, and resulted in
insights you need to repeat results & #5) Get Creative Yeah, Google both more bookings for current
scale. Adwords worked like a charm for AirBnB users, as well as tons of
your cousin Benny and drinking new AirBnB users. Many credit this
Example: Sean tells this story: At a buddy Tom, but that doesnt mean as the main hack that helped turn
former company, we found that the they will for you. Your customers AirBnB into a company valued at
visitors from a particular channel arent only found through Google more than $1 billion.
were signing up, but werent using Adwords, email or the AppExchange.
the product. We ran a survey on the
page to find out why. The answer Theyre all over the place; reading For More:
floored us. The visitors didnt blogs and forums, using services like Sean Ellis GrowthHackers.com,
believe our claims that the product eBay, Craigslist, and Facebook. plus he has an upcoming book:
was actually free. Unlocking Growth
67&
Methods:&How&Cirrus&Insight&&
Tripled&Their&Demos&Per&Day&
Cirrus Insight made demos much more efficient for Account Executives
Cirrus Insights a useful app that Cirrus sends a pre-defined series of The AE approves the meeting &
integrates Salesforce.com and drip emails to the prospects; drops GoToMeeting details in.
Gmail in a very neat way. particularly personal emails from Usually, the first time they speak to
the salesperson that include the customer is during the demo.
They creatively changed their free invitations and links to schedule a
trial system & saw: demo on their calendar using This allows AEs to keep their daily
- Demos grow from 2-3 to 8-10 a ScheduleOnce. schedules booked with demos with
day little effort on their part.
- Conversions of people who start Based on past data, they know if a
a trial then buy grow from 50% to user attends a demo, its very likely Note:
65% (even after a price increase) that user will convert.
- Churn dropped from 12% Normally we tell companies dont
annually to less than 9% If a user clicks on the link inviting send leads straight to salespeople!
them to schedule a demo, they are But this is a great example of an
What They Did taken to a page with the AE's exception, because the leads
calendar embedded in it, and lets Cirrus Insight auto-magically
As users start a free trial, Cirrus them pick an available time that passes to AEs are pre-qualified
Insight uses Pardot (a marketing works. (they have started a trial), and have
tool) and Salesforce to auto-assign a very high historical close rate.
them an Account Executive (AE)
based on company size.
68&
2015&
Watch for it! This ebook is being expanded & published in 2015
Stay&Tuned&For&Part&3:&Spears&
Thanks for reading Part 2. Watch for Part 3, about Spears lead
generation (outbound prospecting & Outbound Sales Automation).
This ebook series shares highlights from the forthcoming full book to be
published, which will include even more case studies, more details, more
apps, and more ideas.
PART%3%
PART%3:%Outbound%ProspecOng%aka%Spears%
70%
2%
If%You%Missed%Parts%1%or%2%
What%Youll%Learn%In%This%SecBon%
The mistakes 95% of salespeople make with cold emails (Page 80)
Why, even if you have more inbound leads than you can handle,
you may still want to do outbound prospecting (Page 81)
Lead%GeneraBon%Type%#3:%Spears%
Outbound prospecting was in the doghouse for years. Now its hot (minus
the brutal cold calling) because it can supercharge sales growth
Inbound marketing is wonderful, but if youre dependent on it & waiting Pros: Generates predictable results
for the phone to ring, you dont have the ability to go out and have once you have it up and running; a
conversations with ideal prospects who arent already calling you. scalable way to grow leadgen;
enables very targeted approach to
The original Predictable Revenue book outlined the Cold Calling 2.0 ideal prospects at executive levels;
fast is-it-working-or-not feedback
outbound prospecting approach that helped Salesforce.com add an
extra $100 million in a few years (and by now, much more than that, cycle; a dedicated prospecting team
more like $1 billion in extra recurring revenue). creates a pool/farm team of future
sales talent.
Likewise, Responsys used the same Predictable Revenue Cold Calling Cons: Not profitable for small deals
2.0 prospecting system to drive sales 10x in 5 years, from $20 million or customers; much less effective for
to $200 millionuntil Oracle bought them for $1.5 billion. services companies than for product
companies; hard for old school
Thats what outbound prospecting or business development gives sales cultures to avoid a dials a
you, with your people reaching out to specific targets, lists or kinds of day or boiler-room approach; many
companiesthe ability to go out and make revenue-generating execs still dont buying into the idea
conversations happen in a predictable way, on your terms. that salespeople shouldnt do the
bulk of their own prospecting.
75%
When%Should%You%Make%
Outbound%Your%Top%Priority?%
Inbound and outbound two great tastes that taste great togetherbut for
some businesses, one tastes better than the other
Inbound & outbound totally #2) Your value proposition is #4) Youre not trying to replace
complementary. Inbound gets very easy for a prospect to other peoples stuff: If youre
you (hopefully) lots of leads, and understand and say yes/no to: trying to call in and compete with
some will be wonderful but many We help train & certify your people Dropbox, to getting a company to
inbound leads are too low on the in ___ over the web, rather than in rip them out and replace it with your
totem pole - they have no person can you do that today? If service, is HARD. You have to
influence. With outbound, you can your proposition or messaging is have a damn good reason for them
go talk to who you want to talk to. too jargony or not relevant and to do it; a reason that youre 10x
confuses prospects, youre in better.
If you want to go big with outbound trouble. (This is also a key reason
sales, it works especially well if marketing services is harder.) Its MUCH easier to look for
opportunities where the buyer
#1) You have a product to sell #3) Youre different: You cant doesnt need to replace or trash an
(not services) thats expensive have 100 competitors selling similar entrenched system that works well
enough. At least $10k in lifetime stuff and expect to have easy enough. Whether you call this
value (and $20k+ is better). success with outbound. Theres too whitespace, green fields, blue
much noise (i.e. confusion), and oceans or magenta flowers, look for
Yes, Outbound can work with prospects cant easily tell why that kind of market or way to
smaller deals, but not profitably. youre better than other options. position yourself.
76%
Example:%Acquia%On%The%$100M%Track%(1/2)%
Example:%Acquia%On%The%$100M%Track%(2/2)%
Funnel Math: Pipeline & Four Things That Made Acquias #4) They focused on bigger deals
Revenue Expectations Outbound Program Take Off & opportunities: Acquia has a big
average outbound deal size, and
With each prospector generating #1) The top management team, the way the math works out with
15 Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) a including CEO, was on boar.d prospectors, the bigger the deals
month, and an average outbound you can find, the more total sales
deal size of $50,000 in Annual youll generate.
#2). They just did it, avoiding
Recurring Revenue (ARR)
analysis paralysis. It only took VP
WW Sales Tim Bertrand 37 days Main Apps Used:
Acquia expects each prospector to
from the time he read about * Salesforce.com
generate $750k pipeline a month,
and $720,000+ in closed revenue Predictable Revenue to having * Yesware.com for email templates
executive buy-in, prospector job & tracking across the whole sales
per year.
recs approved, & a signed team (see the next page for details)
Doing the math, and considering consulting agreement with * Cirrus Insight integrates
Predictable Revenue.
that many new hires on the team Salesforce.com & Gmail
are still ramping, Acquia expects to * SalesLoft for building clean target
add an incremental $60 million in #3) Acquia initially hired three lists
pipeline and 12-$15 million in extra excellent dedicated prospectors * InsideView for general list-building
revenue in 2014, and to hit $30 two in the US, one in the UK data & phone #s
million in extra revenue within a and their only job was to prospect.
year or two after. Not close deals. Not handle
inbound leads. But PROSPECT.
78%
Acquias%Favorite%Sales%App:%Yesware%(1/2)%
Acquias%Favorite%Sales%App:%Yesware%(2/2)%
What%If%You%Already%Have%More%
Inbound%Leads%Than%You%Can%Handle?%(1/2)%
Outbound & Inbound taste great together, like peanut butter & chocolate
even when youre overloaded with inbound leads
Just because you have a massive [Vital] Avoid Inbound Easier To Double
inbound lead operationdont Dependence & Reactive Teams After you've figured out the
write off outbound prospecting. Sales people who only get inbound messaging & steps, prospecting is
leads become dependent on them. a place where you can double your
Even Hubspot & Marketo, the results by doubling the team.
companies that started the When inbound leads slow down
inbound movement, have big (through fewer total leads coming in Increase Deal Sizes By 3-10x
teams of outbound prospectors to or if the sales team grows faster The average outbound deal should
speed up growth, increase market than the lead volume), they feel be 3-10x largerbecause you can
coverage, and to teach their sales helpless and dont know what to do. specifically target bigger
teams vital skills. opportunities and avoid small ones.
When salespeople have been
When it makes sense for your trained as prospectors, they Increase Market Coverage
business, adding outbound in as a develop a proactive mindset & skills Say you have 10,000 companies in
complement can make your needed to be entrepreneurial, to go your target market. How long will it
business grow faster & your sales make things happen instead of take before they all call you? With
team more capable & resilient. waiting around for something to outbound, you can ensure filling in
happen for them. any gaps left by inbound.
82%
82%
What%If%You%Already%Have%More%
Inbound%Leads%Than%You%Can%Handle?%(2/2)%
Starting from scratch, alone, can feel daunting They Found Experts Outside
WhatCounts%Favorite%App:%SalesLor%
Data is always a pain in the butt to SalesLoft has became their primary Then with a click they can pull the
deal with in lead generation. JJ prospecting contact-gathering tool, data into Salesforce.com.
makes each prospector with InsideView as a
responsible for his or her own list: complementary one used mostly for Its not a replacement (yet) for other
Each of our reps build their own getting phone numbers. data services like InsideView &
lists. Theyre accountable, have an Data.com, but a valuable
intimate knowledge of their They can use google like search complement to them.
territory, and cant complain that filters to find titles by regions or by
way about the quality of the list. industry verticals, building targeted SalesLoft has a lot of happy
lists for specific campaigns. customers who love it its a neat
WhatCounts originally used app and simple to start using.
Salesforce.coms Data.com service
(a respectable one) to get all their
data. But they werent happy with
the 30% bounce rate.
A%Cold%Email%That%Got%16%New%B2B%Customers%
with+Heather+R.+Morgan+of+Salesfolk+(1/2)+
+
A%Cold%Email%That%Got%16%New%B2B%Customers%
with+Heather+R.+Morgan+of+Salesfolk+(2/2)+
+
Why%Does%Outbound%Fail?%
Dont become road kill on the road to building a killer outbound team
On the flipside of some key areas Unrealistic expectations: Hey You sell custom or
that make outbound successful, guys, its been 30 days where are commoditized professional
here are the reason it fails our closed deals? It takes 4-6 services. ProServices are harder
months to go from scratch to than products to market and sell.
Outbound prospecting isnt a fit for consistent pipeline generation You vastly improve your odds by
every company - here are some and longer for revenue. Stick it out! going super-narrow with a niche.
reasons not to do it, or signs you
need to change your approach: The CEO believes all Its Boiler Room 101 there:
prospecting needs to be done Your outbound strategy involves
Its not a real management only by salespeople, & doesnt telling the team every day to make
priority: Management hires an believe in dedicated prospectors. more calls, send more emails.
intern to dabble, then forgets about
it, or are just too busy to give it Youre in a commoditized or You dont know your Ideal
time. Or they wont pay for even saturated market, and everyone Outbound Customer Profile, and
some basic data or apps you need. you call on already has something are spraying anyone and everyone
(Funny how companies will spend in place thats good enough. with a pulse. Any buyers you run
$5000 a month on paying into is mostly through dumb luck
someone, but not $50 a month on You dont have any way to sell (even a stopped clock is right twice
an app that person needs.) deals bigger than $10k - $20k+ a day).
(lifetime value).
95%
LinkedIn%ProspecBng%%3%Beginner%Tips% +
with+Josh+Turner+(1/2)+
Almost anyone youre trying to get More and more people will check One challenge is that these people
in touch with can now be found on YOU out as well on LinkedIn often call themselves different
LinkedIn. And there are (whether youre reaching out things. President, Owner, CEO,
consultants and companies who through LinkedIn or regular email), Founderthe list goes on and on.
specialize only in generating leads and frankly itll look suspicious or
from LinkedIn. Josh here is the questionable if they cant find you Fortunately, LinkedIn makes this
CEO of LinkedSelling & has some with your work email. easy on us. Using a search for
tips President OR CEO OR Owner OR
#2) Finding People With Founder youll get results for
#1) First Make Sure YOU Are Advanced People Search anybody that has one of those
Findable On LinkedIn words in their title currently.
Even with a free account,
Especially if youre in sales or an LinkedIns advanced people search If this search creates too much
executive, make sure you have a gives you lots of useful information. noise, then you can upgrade to a
profile that is reasonably up to date Premium account to get extra
it doesnt need to be fancy. Lets say youre looking for owners filters, such as on Company Size
of IT companies in the San (very important) and Seniority
And ensure your current work Francisco area. Level.
email is attached to the account.
96%
LinkedIn%ProspecBng%%3%Beginner%Tips% +
with+Josh+Turner+(2/2)%
For%The%Hardcore%(And%Managers)%
A collection of detailed outbound tips and tactics, especially for managers &
execs such as on
Management: Estimating ROI or Selling
How Lou Ciniglia of TheLadders Outbound To Executives:
Turns His Sales Team Around Aaron, I Want To Copy What You
From Struggling To Self- Did At Salesforce.com, How Do I
Managing. Do That?
PredictableRevenue.com/Outbound'
98%
2015%
Watch for it! This ebook is being expanded & published in 2015
Thanks for reading Part 3. Watch for Part 4, about how to build a sales
team that scales, including details on how to specialize your sales
roles.
This ebook series shares highlights from the forthcoming full book to be
published, which will include even more case studies, more details, more
apps, and more ideas.
PART%4%
PART%4:%Build%An%Epic,%Scalable%Sales%Team%
100%
101%
If%You%Missed%Parts%1,%2%or%3%
What%Youll%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 didnt 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 couldbut
numbers and funnel. What should who were just a little bit less better I dont get CEOs or VPs of Sales
work the same? What might need or smart than me. Thats who are cheap as it relates to
to be changed or adapted or re- inexperience and insecurity and paying their sales people. Its
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 its 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 dont 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 cant close them themselves, Dont 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 youll
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, youre bottlenecked
#2) Backfilling and Helping His/ #4) Sales Strategy SO: dont 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? Whats 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 doesnt
blow up. Seeing opportunities team & growth? see this themself probably isnt 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 theyre often extra good at
Ensuring they and the team can youre bottlenecked. No scaling for selling themselves toowhether
get what they need from the sales / you, sir. or not theyre 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? Youve hired 1-4 reps on your own. their titles by successfully growing
Theyve 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. Theyre 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 were not always sure why to Heres 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 cant 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, its 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
Its extremely unlikely that any VP early company. inbound leads. Someone whod
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 Its not their fault but often they
Big company can possibly fill either Big (or Hot) Brand, they have an just wont understand how to do
of these early stage roles. unfair advantage in everything either of these early phases. It
theyve done there. How much was doesnt 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 dont 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 Its 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 were 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 its But dont 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 didnt 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. Thats 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. dont 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 theyll be successful in
an active speaker/writer on the achieving their missionand its
science of scaling a sales team. been working so far. Here are
more details on how Marks sales
He describes his mission as machine hires & trains
Predictable, scalable revenue
growth. (We cant argue with that.) ** Its All About Recruiting **
Marks 4-Part Strategy: Especially for small teams looking He wanted to hire people whod
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 didnt 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 doesnt have to They experience the actual pains Hubspot uses a matrix-driven sales
be in sales. Hubspots got an and successes of Hubspots coaching model. On the 2nd day of
Olympic gold medalist & a guy primary customers: professional each month Mark meets with the
whos a professional comic who marketers who need to generate sales directors, who each oversee
made it to Comedy Central. leads onlineso 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. Thats level with prospects and leads.
what youre 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
Hubspots salespeople spend their things) at a time to work on thats
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+Shouldnt+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 everyones 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 didnt
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 didnt 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)+
BrightPearls%Two%Favorite%Sales%Analyses%
This analysis pinpoints which stages give which reps the most problems, for data-driven coaching. It helped
BrightPearls 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%reps%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?%%Wheres%Your%Tablet?%
Field Sales Is Still Sexy Social Doesnt Replace In- Why Buy Em For Your Field?
Person
Building a killer sales model isnt 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/remotebut connection, not the real thing. to open, power up & searchwhile
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 dont 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:
Wed 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 Ill 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)%
Theres 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. Dont 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 its 100% current. would think its cool to build mobile content pieces are being used - or
apps themselves (and itd be great ignored.
Whats 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 theyd planned on
Electrabels 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 its 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, its too easy for team / audience / coaches helps
if your favorite teams coach only top performers to coast to victory keeps players amped up, right?
focused on motivating the team to regularly. They arent challenged
win (win win win!), but never and other players dont feel like Did someone give a great demo
coached them on how to play they have a chance to win, so they todayhit an appointments goal
better. A burst of extra work helps, give up early. score a renewalrecognize
but doesnt 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 teams 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 doesnt keep her
push the companys sales ran a March Madness-themed stats current in Salesforce, he/shell
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 whove been here key activities & goals, Glassdoors
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
Ive heard them yell things like understand what they need to do to
John, Im 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