George Cerny

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 ...Read More

To effectively define the metrics for which you should hold sales accountable, I look at a few things: Understand the "Sales Math" of the business across some core universally applicable SaaS Sales metrics 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. Go deep in those categories and correlate the activities top performers do differently to achieve these results. Quantify these activities to define suppo ...Read More

Since nearly everything is quantified in sales, OKR's can sometimes come across as redundant and inconvenient to manage to the uninitiated. But OKR's are an amazing vehicle to drive focus on the core strategic initiatives that will generate greater success, and gain cross-functional alignment, visibility and support in achieving these goals. There are two major benefits IMO opinion in defining Sales OKR's: Clarity - the process of defining Objectives and Key Results, if applied with rigor and as ...Read More

We're moving away from Playbooks and moving towards Personalized Agentic AI Coaching - just as we're moving out of the darkness and into the light... 2020 was a powerful combination of the rise of remote work as well as the rise of AI & automation. Remote workers who used to sit next to a desk phone were no longer picking up. Cell phone prospecting wasn't yet a norm, and wasn't often well received. Email automation and content creation was easier than ever, and became the primary channel for ...Read More

While tech may have downsized lately, great sales professionals still have lots of options. The major driver of recent layoffs were to create more efficiencies in businesses; which leads to lower burn and more profitability. There are few roles as efficient and impactful on profitability as a top seller exceeding their quota. By nature these folks will always be sought after and have options - so retaining top talent should always be a priority. The biggest mistake I see in retaining talent, is ...Read More

"You can't improve what you don't measure" - Peter Drucker. When starting out in a new market, there can be lots of uncertainty. This uncertainty is the starting point, however, for a fun and exciting journey to figuring this new market out. But uncertainty can be the enemy of action, so you want to remove as much uncertainty as possible, as quickly as possible, so you can get out there and start driving results. A few places to look for data in the planning and early implementation phase to eli ...Read More

There's 2 key metrics to track around discovery:1. Disco to demo conversion rate - how many discovery calls convert to demos. The rule of thumb is you want to be between 50-70%. Every business is different, but typically if you're converting less than 50% you should take a hard look at your ICP and if you're targeting the right people/accounts. If you're converting higher than 75%, you should dig into if you're doing enough discovery and inspecting if there's a precipitous drop-off later in the ...Read More

A typical discovery call needs to be viewed as a finite, limited amount of real estate. Your goal is to maximize every square foot of that call and ensure there is value towards 2 primary objectives - 1. getting them interested in spending more time with you to evaluate your solution, and 2. Qualifying that they're a good fit for your solution, so you allocate your time appropriately.You should hone in on what questions are most impactful to those 2 objectives, and nix just about everything else ...Read More

A strong enablement culture is built on a strong foundation:1. Support from the top - it is critical the senior leadership is 100% bought in, believes in a culture of enablement, and walks the talk; participating in trainings, using the common language defined, and reinforcing concepts and frameworks when they engage with the field. 2. Hire for curiousity & growth mindset in your AE's - hiring people who want to learn makes it a lot easier to teach. You can train a skeptical, resistant sales ...Read More

I clearly remember a scene from - I want to say 60 minutes - that I saw when I was a kid. I didn't understand it, but I filed it away for some reason; like many lessons we receive but just aren't yet ready for in life. It was a small business owner who brought the camera crew into his house, down through the hallway and into his office. The reporter asked him about getting audited on his taxes, and he beamed confidence as he pulled out perfectly labeled and organized drawers in his filing cabine ...Read More