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George Cerny
Iterable VP, Growth Sales, B2B2C Sales & LATAM • November 16
To effectively define the metrics for which you should hold sales accountable, I look at a few things: 1. Understand the "Sales Math" of the business across some core universally applicable SaaS Sales metrics 2. Compare the performance of the top 1/3 AE's against the bottom 1/3 AE's and look for which metrics contribute the most to high performance. 3. Go deep in those categories and correlate the activities top performers do differently to achieve these results. Quantify these activities to define supporting metrics which will lead to success. To break this down, let's understand the foundational "Sales Math." This is the equation to hit quota. The equation is fairly simple, but everyone's vernacular is different. It is actually extremely important to have very well defined steps in the equation to get consistency across your entire team. For example, we use opportunity stages with clear exit criteria for the buyer & seller to provide consistent insight into our Sales Math. So I would actually use a Stage 1 Opp Created - instead of Discovery Call, and Stage 3 Opp instead of Demo. For the purposes of this article, I'll use general sales terms that each business should be able to use as a starting point and customize from there. Here are the metrics that go into the Sales Math equation: * Activities to create a Discovery Call * # Discovery Calls per quarter * # Demos per quarter * Discovery Call to Demo conversion ratio * # Closed Won Deals per quarter * Demo to Closed Won conversion ratio * Average Deal Size * Average Deal Cycle These metrics will allow you to create the math to hit quota. If the current team's metrics do not consistently lead to the results you're looking for, then the Sales Math may be aspirational. If your team is executing against plan, then this may be your actual current metrics. Regardless, this is what you should feel confident telling AE's is the realistic, attainable and surpassable way to hit quota. For example, it could look like: $250k Quarterly Quota Average Deal Size of $84k 3 Deals to hit quota Close ratio of 33% 9 Demos needed per quarter 60% conversion ratio of Disco to Demo 15 Discovery Calls needed per quarter 50 Activities to create a Disco 750 Activities needed per quarter* *one note on activity. It's a metric I'll always track to understand a baseline level of effort, but I will often leave this out of the Sales Math when dealing with higher complexity sales and more senior AE's. Up to you if this should be in your Sales Math equation. Now take your Sales Math, and map your high performers against your low performers to look for which metrics have a high correlation with success. This exercise can be extremely surprising, so be open to what the data shows you, and hold your strong opinions loosely. Let's extrapolate this exercise across two different scenarios: Scenario 1 - Enterprise Here's how the exercise played out when running it against a more enterprise business (numbers are directional): 1. Activity, Discovery Calls and Demos were almost identical across high & low performers. This told me that pushing "more activity" was only going to have so much impact on performance. 2. The Closed Won conversion of top performers was 46% vs. 25% for the low performers. This was a huge gap, and had major implications on the Sales Math. 3. The Average Deal Size of top performers was $160k vs. $70k for low performers. This is also a huge gap compounded the success or struggles of each group when combined with the stat above. So the key metrics to optimize were Average Deal Size and Demo to Close Ratio. We wanted to maintain our activity levels, but really lean into increasing ADS and strategies to help with Deal Execution. Based on this knowledge of what would have the biggest impact in high performance vs. low performance, we added in some metrics & activities that would contribute to these results: * Updated our account prioritization to ensure a focus on the top deals & tracked activity against Priority 1 accounts * We blocked off time each week to prospect into our top accounts & scheduled strategy sessions to help get more meetings with these accounts * We tracked # of Discos with P1 accounts * # of Demo's with $100k+ Opportunities For Deal Execution * We tracked multi-threading in each account * Have we made an executive connection? * We created a cross-functional meeting to lean into competitive differentiation strategy * We set a threshold for accounts that needed a key deal review & updated our process to improve efficiency and make room for more accounts reviewed each week. Scenario 2 - Transactional Here's how the exercise played out when running it against a more transactional business (numbers are directional): 1. There were two camps of high performers. Those with extremely high activity, and those with higher disco to demo efficiency. Our most consistent top performer was a combination of both. Low performers fell into a similar pattern of either low activity or low conversion of discos to demos. 2. Deal size and win rate didn't have dramatic differences outside of 1 AE who closed the largest deal in segment history. This wasn't repeatable so we eliminated that result instead of putting too much time in hunting whales. 3. Average Deal Cycle for top performers was 39 days vs. 52 days for lower performers. Top AE's were closing deals faster, which allowed for more time to close more deals. From this data we defined additional metrics and activities to drive better results: * Upped the baseline activity volume expectations - there is a diminishing point of returns, but higher volume was almost always a component of success. We raised the bar, but also coached our highest volume AE's to lean more into their efficiency metrics instead of pushing to just do more. * Managers went deep on quality of discovery calls coming into the funnel * Title & Seniority level of Prospects - lower conversion was correlated with lower titles. * Was the company in our Ideal Customer Profile? Quality of company greatly impacted conversion * Why now? Did we offer someone a gift card or just bug them until their defense was worn down? Or was this call predicated on funding, a new hire, an inflection point in the business, intent or some other business catalyst? * Managers inspected quality of prospecting messages * Managers inspected quality of discovery calls * We rallied around creative promos to help the team close deals faster * We replicated decks top AE's were using to build value and establish trust faster In both Scenario 1 and 2 - we started with the baseline Sales Math, and through comparison of top performers vs. low performers we were able to lean into the 2 key metrics that had an outsized impact on performance. We then defined key activities and additional metrics which we could hold the team accountable to, that we knew would correlate towards greater success across the team. How easy was that? :)
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Shahid Nizami
Braze APAC Vice President of Sales • January 10
The biggest reality of sales is that you are as good as your current quarter. No matter how well you may have done in the previous quarter, the meter comes back to zero at the beginning of the new quarter/new year. I have been in sales for more than 2 decades and have seen numerous quarter ends/month ends. The trick to avoid burnout is to ensure that you disconnect from work every now and then. I try to take 5 days off every quarter to re-energize myself and get back on the grind. I also keep on taking up a new hobby which also is a great way to destress yourself without having to go on a week long holiday. At present, I am learning how to play the guitar :)
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In my experience, the best sales candidates are not necessarily people with the most years of sales experience. I've noticed the best sales candidates all have these qualities in common: * Insanely Driven and Hard-Working (folks who are intrinsically motivated to double down on KPIs to exceed their goals if that's what it takes) * Adaptable (people who can think on their feet, and adjust their sales motion/process to best hit their sales targets) * Inquisitive (excellent salespeople know that the key to selling is listening, not talking. So people who are naturally curious about their clients' pain points are generally much better at prescribing solutions and highlighting impact for the client) * Self-Sufficient with Outbound (the top 1% sales talent I've seen will always find ways to exceed their number beyond what's given to them. They know how to go creatively source for leads and go outbound to feed themselves, and not just rely on an inbound pipeline)
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Eric Martin
Vanta Head Of Sales • November 29
This is a great question and a task that I was asked to take on for Vanta twice over the past two years - first helping us break into the mid-market, and later helping us break into the enterprise. My first piece of advice is to make sure that there's cross-functional alignment in your company around the desire or need to move upmarket. It's really important that the entire company is on board with this decision. From there, I'd have representatives from GTM and EPD take a long hard look at any "upmarket at bats" that your company has had to date, listening to Gong calls, reviewing Salesforce data, etc to see what's working and what isn't working. You'll want to have the best assessment that you can have on whether or not your product is ready to move up market, where the gaps are (or might be), and whether or not those gaps can be resourced and built. You'll also want to make sure that you have the best initial pulse possible on who your upmarket ICP is. i.e. How are they similar or different to your current ICP? You probably won't know this initially, but you'll figure it out. Finally, you'll want to make sure that you're being thoughtful with how you (in sales) are going to approach generating and working these deals - probably setting aside a small team of sellers to help with the testing. Moving upmarket is generally a tough assignment from my experience and one that really only has a shot of "working" or "feeling good" if your company allocates real cross-functional dollars and resources to it.
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Jessica Holmes
Adobe Director, Adobe Sales Academy • August 30
Moving from a Manager to a Director means that you have the skillset to not only take action on tasks or initiatives given to you, but to be the one that provides the strategy and vision that creates the initiatives and tasks. Being proactive in identifying risk or future problems, thinking through possible solutions and what is best for your business, employees and customers, is key to moving from managing to directing. As a Director, you become more concerned with the broader business outcomes and how your team(s) impact those outcomes, as well as you take ownership in providing insights to the business to influence and determine the strategy. You can start to build these skills as an individual contributor. Don't wait for a leadership opportunity to learn when to speak up and provide information that can help the business, don't wait for someone to call on you to help solve a problem. Be proactive, think broader than your job, and be willing to do work that you're not compensated for to achieve the overall business goals.
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Alicia Lewis
Culture Amp Senior Sales Director • April 25
* Lack of Relevant Experience: It’s concerning if a candidate's resume lacks relevant sales experience or is not tailored in a way to showcase how their experience is relevant to the open role. Including a personalized cover letter or tailoring the summary/objective of the resume to highlight relevant skills and achievements is important to show alignment. * Inconsistent Job History: A history of short tenures at previous companies can raise concerns about a candidate's commitment and reliability. Aim to demonstrate stability and longevity in your roles, and be prepared to explain any job changes or gaps in employment during interviews. Additionally, always make sure that your resume aligns with the roles on your LinkedIn profile. It’s not a good sign when either the resume or LinkedIn is inaccurate. It’s surprising how often we see misalignment. * Not closing the interviewer: When it comes to a sales interview, not being prepared to ask for the next step in the process or get buy-in on their candidacy is a huge miss. As a sales professional in a sales interview, you are expected to close. It shows you investment in the role and your ability to move a conversation forward. * Skipping thank you notes: It may seem a bit old school, but the best reps I’ve ever hired have all written extremely thoughtful thank you messages during the interview process. Take the time to reiterate your interest in the role and thank the interviewer for their time and insights. It’s a sign of strong follow up and rapport building skills and can further set you apart from the candidate pool.
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Maria White
Cornerstone OnDemand Vice President Sales Enablement and Education • April 7
How to convert ClassRoom Enablement into 'real world' experiences Effective account discovery can be the subject matter to be trained on. Normally these enablement sessions would use case studies based on potential experiences that could happen during the account discovery steps, giving insight but no "real world" examples. To convert your training you can do this in five simple steps. 1. Use an example case study - this is to expand on techniques for effective discovery. 2. Get each attendee come prepared with three accounts they can work on during the workshop. Create exercises that allow time for them to work on their own account discovery during the workshop. This will allow them to apply what they learned directly to their own accounts. 3. Get feedback from each group. What did they uncover during the exercise? Encourage feedback. 4. During their discussion allow the class to share their own approach to discovery expanding on their experience with the "own account" exercise. 5. Make sure you have a note of all the accounts they have worked on during the sessions to prove the value of these workshops. How to scale this across an organization in 3 simple steps. 1. After running a few sessions you should be able to prove the value of the workshop. Build documentation outlining the number of accounts that were worked on during the session and quantify the pipeline value. 2. Once you have secured agreement from stakeholders to run this workshop at scale get volunteers from the Sales community, you can then train them to assist in the roll out globally. 3. It is critical to schedule sessions in advance as well as having back up trainers ready just in case. Measure the success of the program and keep your stakeholders informed of the success of your program.
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There are many KPI's and metrics you can evaluate for pay raises. Ultimately this is situational based on your companies revenue targets, values and policies. I believe there are 3 key factors in justifying a pay raise: 1) Craft: Mastery of your craft and demonstrated ability of your roles key competencies. 2) Impact: Have you had an outsized impact on Revenue and your GTM organizations key objectives. Some of the key KPI's that I look at are Revenue Growth, Attainment, New customer acquisition and Deal size. Secondly is any contributions you have made off the dashboard to impact the broader team i.e. Process improvements, enablement and creating assets that can be used by the team. 3) Behavior: Demonstrating the right behaviours in how you conduct yourself. I.E. Grit, resilience, positivity etc.
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Grant Glaser
Salesforce Director, Sales Leader Excellence Coach • January 11
Getting feedback from sales (both leaders & sellers) is crucial. It'll help you assess success, relevance, and what you need to focus on next. It's easy to skip over & move onto the next project so make sure to prioritize feedback collection for every campaign, workshop, and training you support or lead. Easy ways to collect feedback: * Create short (10 or less) question surveys in a tool like Survey Monkey or GetFeedback * Schedule brief calls w/ a group of leaders & sellers post-enablement * Create a steering committee of engaged sellers & leaders who act as feedback loops during creation, execution, and follow-up
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Brandon Love
Salesforce Regional Sales Director • October 12
When it comes to determining the timeline for involving internal stakeholders in an opportunity with a customer, several key considerations come into play. Firstly, we need to ascertain if the customer has a genuine business problem that needs solving, if there's a dedicated champion within their organization, and if they have the budget allocated for the solution. Our internal resources are valuable but limited, so it's crucial that we allocate them judiciously. My AEs are tasked with the responsibility of validating that the organization they're working with not only has the capacity but also the capability to execute before we bring in additional resources. During our forecast discussions, I encourage my team to break down the steps they'll need to take to progress an opportunity, including the internal resources required for success, and ensure that the customer is aligned with this approach. While C-suite engagement isn't typically necessary for the opportunities my team handles, we consistently collaborate with customer success, IT, product, legal, and sales engineering teams. Salesforce has a unique structure where some individuals on each selling team focus on a single product. This means that AEs often serve as the initial point of contact, investing time in understanding and qualifying the customer's business problems before involving additional resources. This approach ensures that our efforts are targeted and efficient, maximizing the impact we can make for our customers.
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