Focus Points
- Highest priority opportunities [focus] | pipeline | 20% of opportunities that provide 80% of the $s
- product-customer-fit, product-market-fit | 10x product/10x sales representative gains
- Selling insights, “pain points,” etc.
- Profile: who are we looking for? Sellers, 10x growth, impact, confidence, close opportunities …
- Hire slow, fire fast …!
- Confidence: salespeople …, scar tissue, pattern recognition …; sales is a science; process is there to work against [efficiency] …
- Quality of the candidate; deal attribution … aptitude, attitude, do they ask good ?s; delve into the why(s) …
- Pipeline – prioritize towards vision.
- Roadmap | Playbook [a well-worn playbook]
- Process: learn, pivot, walk.
- Processes, sales tools [tools to succeed], skills, …
- Signal – test in market [products]
- Want “logos” (1st sales) credibility, reference, feedback, work with us, …
- See around corners …
- Deal champions – test à go to executive buyer (earn)
- Pitch deck: why we exist, what we are solving for, what it’s like to be working with us, what do they need?
- Implementation, onboarding, open dialog
- Deal cycle
- Business value assessment (numbers, $s, narrative)
- Rose colored glasses (NO), be skeptical, ask questions, …
- Sales qualification – “GO DEEP,” discovery, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level pain point discovery … Converting, “pain,” solutions …
- MEDDPICC: Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Paper Process, Identify Pain, Champion, Competition
- Action plan – “PAIN” [solve for]
- Discounting (value), part of the purchasing process, “referral and logo use” in return for said …
- Sales leaders – mentor – see blind spots, creativity, adaptable, …
- Hiring – hire great people: hunger, hustle (outwork), humility, heart [grit] | tangibles & “intangibles” …
- Talent density, legacy state, “fast horses run together” theory {car!} Outwork people!
- Questions: 10x, why (vs. what), how; reasons for decisions, probe …
- Sales interview: sell my decision (sales product), sell my product to me, pitch yours vs. pitch ours, challenge, must perform, know segment, how to sell, knows sales process …
- Hand hold during the deal cycle – In the boat with you; we all succeed together …
- Process: i) get to know them (why), ii) case study [sell my product to me]
- Qualify the person quickly (30-minutes), are they the right caliber, have they closed the right level of deals, do they have the right level of experience, have the right gravitas to hold themselves in executive meetings …
- Test for aptitude
- 1-hour go deep on the “whys,” include other stakeholders, a challenge with team, experience, fit, can they cut it, … [risky situation, so be thorough]
- Package: compensation structure (equity), cash compensation, impact, revenue generating …
- Buy/bought into long-term goals? Must have.
- Quota: goal – realistic & achievable; path 0, 1, 2, etc.
- #1! Pipeline generation for quota achievement
- Cold outbound is key! Phone, email, “hey, we have a solution to help them! Prospecting …
- Onboarding: structured learning, unstructured learning, shadowing, 1-on-1 coaching, drink from the firehose …
- Land and expand
- Deal reviews (Yes), dynamics, map organizational details …
- Losses: competition, price (value), outflanked, wrong product, … | closed-won/closed-lost
- Handoff account to “customer success team” for implementation (ie, introduce C.S. and operations teams)
- What does good look like?
- Fundamentals: cold calling/emailing, pipeline generation, qualification, etc.
- What’s Dying: in-person meetings, in favor of white boarding, online collaborations, [CEO]
- Hire well! Raise the bar – ie, don’t settle for B players!
- Why did it happen?
- Pipeline coverage – covers churn!