Get answers from sales leaders
Alicia Lewis
Culture Amp Senior Sales Director • January 12
The most successful AEs that I've worked with have a long list of key attributes that set them apart from the rest. These attributes include * responsiveness * curiosity * resilience * authenticity * collaboration * rapport building * not being afraid to fail * thriving on challenges Important tactical skills which I see in top reps are around strong sales execution behaviors. Skills such as thorough preparation, stakeholder management, ability to multi-thread, drive urgency, and create contingency plans are how Account Executives consistently win deals. They also make sure to never take their foot off of the gas when it comes to prospecting. They know its the only way to ensure they have the pipeline needed to execute. It’s this combination of sales execution skills and the attributes associated with a relentless drive to exceed goal and build strong relationships which enable reps to consistently be at the top of the leaderboard.
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Shahid Nizami
Braze APAC Vice President of Sales • January 10
LIke most professions, you can not lead a team well if you haven't done the job yourself. Must Haves : * You should have been a quota carrying sales rep for at least 3 to 5 years before you can transition into sales leadership. * Have a good understanding of the product. You don't want to be in a meeting with your sales rep where you are not able to answer the use cases and functionalities of your profuct to the customer without any hesitation * Good understanding of the market you operate in * Ability to motivate the team and shield any unnecessary pressure from top management * Good analytical skiils would always help you to identify trends in the market place as well as your own internal metrics * Listening skills : They are both important as a sales rep as well as a sales leader. * Focus on Culture :Though some people might put this under "Nice to Haves", I strongly feel that being focussed on culture and building a strong team culture helps a sales leader a lot. Nice to Haves * Some experience around areas of business development and customer success is always helpful * Project management skills can come in handy as you go up the hierarchy and need to work across cross-functional teams
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Charles Gryor Derupe
accessiBe Director of Enablement • February 7
This answer is purely based on opinion, so please keep this in mind. I believe that any new tactics and strategies need to be relevant to the sales methodology set by the enablement team. Why? Reps, especially those that are "green" to the field, need a repeatable, consistent skill development structure. Additionally, this methodology should be where onboarding, ongoing reinforcement training, and content should map to. Adding new sales tactics and strategies are most effective for experienced reps who have already mastered their own selling methods. This doesn't mean you shouldn't or can't share some cool articles or resources for these new tactics and strategies - especially cool non-enablement resources and tools they can use to implement those methodology-mapped skills. A good example of this is how to sell through social media, where selling skills like good discovery, creating interest, and driving the next steps, etc. can still be incorporated into this new selling channel. Sharing knowledge should be part of the Sales culture. However, enablement programming should prioritize established methodologies for consistency and to make your impact measurement as easy as possible.
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Roee Zelcer
TikTok Head of Sales, Products & Services • February 9
Essentially, scaling a successful sales team all comes down to the people you hire. The members you are adding as part of your team will define the team culture. I always aim to hire people that help create a culture that fosters innovative thinking to enable growth and progress. Similar to adding ingredients to a recipe, scaling should be done slowly and steadily. Try to find the right people who share the passion, vision and values that you foster within the team. At a later stage, after you have found and hired the right people for your team, make sure you are creating a structure that will enable all team members to grow. Eventually, you will scale up to a point where you will need to develop managers within your team. Make sure that you are nurturing the right people that have the qualities that you look for to make them leaders.
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George Cerny
Iterable VP, Growth Sales, B2B2C Sales & LATAM • November 15
By far the most over-hyped KPI is total pipeline created. This is certainly a key metric to track week over week as a health check, but it provides little insight into what's actually going on. The problem with total pipeline created, is at no point should the conversation end with that KPI. If it's low - why? If it's high - why? Was it one large opp? Was it a bunch of baby opps? Was it quality pipeline? Was it from one AE/Segment/Business Unit - or is everything firing on all cylinders? At best it provides directional guidance to tune into major variances and inspect. At worst it provides false confidence in a pipeline that won't get you to goal. Typically addressing total pipeline creation falls into one of two camps: 1. Mention & move on. These are meetings where the metric is called out, compared to last week and it's either * Good - "great job, let's see if we can stretch this 10% higher next week" * Bad - "we really need to prioritize pipe gen this week. Get on it." 2. Paralysis by analysis. These meetings show the metric, and then dive into 40 slides with individual permutations of how everything performed over the past week; leading to information overload and very little insight into what actually needs to change. This is why instead of just tracking total pipe creation - we want to take a three-pronged approach: 1. How are we tracking towards our pipeline generation goal (which is a leading metric against future bookings)? 2. Identify the factors that are contributing to the current results. 3. Define strategies to optimize the path to goal The standard discussion described above hits the first objective, skips number 2, and the only strategy is often "do more." We could write an entire post on steps 2 and 3, but here are a few variables that can take your basic "total pipeline creation" reporting to the next level * # of opportunities created & average opportunity value. This controls for the one big opp skewing results. You generally want more big deals, but don't want to have to rely on only one big deal to hit the goal. This helps monitor quality & quantity. * Split by region/segment/AE's - this allows you to identify people and parts of the business that are doing well and understand why (do more of it, share learnings, double down). It also ensures that those who aren't doing well don't hide behind overall success of the business and get neglected. We want to identify why they're struggling, and ideally get them unstuck to improve performance. * Pipeline by opportunity source - attribution can lead to some sticky conversations, but tracking where the pipeline is coming from is necessary to improve the overall output. This isn't meant to start a blame game, but you can't optimize something you don't measure. So if AE's, SDR's, Marketing, Partnerships, or PLG is slacking - what can we do about it? If something is working incredibly well - how can we do more? * Pipeline conversion metrics - how is the pipeline that's coming in converting through the funnel to closure? Are disco to demo conversion rates improving, declining or staying the same? What about win rate? Any new trends where we should ride the wave? Anything that's not working which we should stop doing? These metrics will give you a much deeper understanding of the factors that contribute to current results and lay a strong foundation so you can define strategies to help optimize results. With a strong team and partners in marketing, partnerships, SDR and RevOps leadership - you're a brainstorming session away from having your best pipeline generation quarter yet.
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Maria White
Cornerstone OnDemand Vice President Sales Enablement and Education • April 6
Staying up to date on industry trends and sales enablement best practices is something that needs time to absorb the information to analyze if your organization needs to adjust any of the current or future programs. Below I have outlined a few ways to stay up to date on both industry trends and best practices. Industry Trends Sales Enablement is accountable for providing the GTM customer-facing teams with the current information and training to assist them in their customer engagements. Below are some of the Industry Trends to review based on your business needs. * Vertical Markets - Sign up to industry papers, forums and magazines to stay ahead * Personas - Sign up to any CSuite forums, magazines and blogs to stay informed of the thinking * Technology - Sign up to the technology forums that align with your solutions, preferably your own company's customer early adoption, or customer forums or developer communities * Purchase Industry Benchmarking Reports : Forrester or Gartner to assist in your efforts There are alot of vendors that offer enablement and insights for the enablement practioner. Below are the top three enablement professional networks that would help you. SalesEnablement Pro ATD (Association for Talent Development) Sales Enablement Society (Chapters are local in your area)
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Brandon Love
Salesforce Regional Sales Director • October 11
I often hear a few common concerns from enterprise prospects. These usually revolve around worries about the price, potential risks, getting locked into a single vendor, and status-quo objections. Cost Worries: When prospects bring up cost concerns, I like to highlight the value our solutions bring. I show them how our offerings are designed to solve specific issues and bring tangible returns. Plus, I work closely with our financial experts to offer flexible pricing options and demonstrate the long-term benefits of their investment. Mitigating Risks: It's only natural for enterprises to be cautious about adopting new tech. To address this, I point to our track record of successful implementations, backed by glowing customer testimonials and case studies. I also stress how adaptable and scalable our solutions are, fitting seamlessly into their existing setup and future growth plans. Avoiding Vendor Lock-In: Some prospects worry about being stuck with a single vendor for the long haul. I reassure them by emphasizing our focus on interoperability and open standards. I highlight our wide range of integrations and partnerships, underlining the flexibility and freedom our solutions offer. This way, they know they can integrate with other platforms and technologies if they need to. Validating with Proofs of Concept: Given our emphasis on proofs of concept aligned with the customer's future goals, prospects often want to see real results. I suggest starting with a smaller pilot project or proof of concept that's tailored to their specific needs. This hands-on experience helps build trust and confidence in our solutions, often leading to broader adoption. By addressing these concerns with a mix of personalized value propositions, strong case studies, and adaptable implementation strategies, we can show how our solutions align with the prospect's big picture vision while easing worries about cost, risk, and vendor lock-in. This approach ensures that our tactical opportunities lead to long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships with our enterprise customers. Status Quo Resistance: Another common objection we encounter is a hesitancy to disrupt the status quo. Many enterprise prospects are comfortable with their current processes and systems, even if they may not be fully effective. To tackle this, I approach it as an opportunity for growth and improvement. I share success stories of similar organizations that made the leap from their familiar routines to our solutions, showcasing the positive impact it had on their operations. By highlighting the potential for transformative change, we can overcome the inertia associated with maintaining the status quo and inspire prospects to embrace innovative solutions aligned with their strategic vision. This approach empowers them to envision a future state that not only meets their immediate needs but also positions them for long-term success. By addressing these concerns with a mix of personalized value propositions, strong case studies, and adaptable implementation strategies, we can show how our solutions align with the prospect's big picture vision while easing objections about cost, risk, vendor lock-in, and status quo resistance. This approach ensures that our tactical opportunities lead to long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships with our enterprise customers.
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Sarah Mercedes (Osborne)
HubSpot Head of Corporate Sales, West Coast • September 3
* Commitment to Win/Figure it Out Factor * Total Ownership * Quick Learner The nuances of the role can be learned. Candidates with the above attributes will overcome any potential skill gaps and always find a way to be successful. When interviewing a candidate, I'm always looking for multiple examples of stories where these attributes are showcased.
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Marleyna Mohler
Attentive Sr. Director of Inside Sales • May 16
Staying up to date: It’s important to pick a medium that you like for content. Whether it is Linkedin, podcasts, email newsletter, or chat based slack groups, you want to make sure you are setting yourself up for success. If the content goes unread or unlistened to, you won’t build a consistent learning habit. Personally, I find the most value in content forums where you can engage and ask follow up questions, hear multiple opinions on a particular matter, and even reach out the the original writer for a 1-1 chat! Another underutilized source of knowledge for industry trends is content from Sales Development technology vendors. It’s imperative that they stay on the cutting edge, so following a few top vendors on Linkedin will allow you to see what future the tools are preparing for. Avoiding the noise: There can be a great amount of value in public best practices. That said, there is risk in assuming that something that works for someone else will also work for you, or for implementing changes to something when you are already seeing above-average results. For example, if your content is getting a 20% reply rate, you may not want to adopt the “best practice” that moved someone else's team from a 10% to 15% reply rate. Having your own benchmarks and running your own A/B tests can help you determine where you should be altering your SDR motion, and where you should keep yours in place. Then, you can proactively search for interesting ideas to test in areas you are performing below benchmark.
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Common mistakes include: * Focusing on why you want to work at X company, but not why you want Y job (it's arguably more important to show why you're drawn to the role that you will be doing every day rather than just the company you will be joining) * Not having any questions whatsoever for your interviewer at the end (it's important to show that you took some time to think through thoughtful questions) * Spending more than half the interview going through every single job you've ever had (essentially, reading off the resume). Perfect your elevator pitch for yourself. In just a few minutes, how can you tell your story effectively and succinctly? * Indicating that you've never had any setbacks, failures, or difficulties in your previous roles (no one is perfect so being able to speak to setbacks and what you've learned from them is important) * Not knowing much about the company, its products/services, value props of what you would be selling, etc. (little-to-no research done before the interview shows a lack of Investment on the interviewee's end)
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