Helen D'Abreo

Good question. I have seen these people in my time as a leader as well. However, not all sellers fall in to this bucket, so KPIs should be in place to support the rest of the team and encourage consistent behaviors. I have seen sellers that are more junior in their sales career or new to a business ask for KPIs (reflective of the top sales performers within the team) so that they can add more structure to their day/week and help them formulate a plan that will eventually get them to a positive q ...Read More

KPIs that are looking at the length of a sales cycle can identify bottlenecks in the pipeline and highlight opportunities that have been in the pipeline for too long. For example, an opportunity that has been in the pipeline for over 90 days could suggest a lower win rate if your average sales cycle is usually 30 days. From there, you can then dig further in to specific opportunities to understand whether the opportunity has been properly qualified or genuinely will take longer to close, as the ...Read More

Consistently reviewing and analyzing KPIs can be crucial in helping your sales team adapt to change. For example, if you are moving in to a new market the KPIs will not look the same as the sales KPIs from an established market. Momentum will develop over time. Adding rigor around the need for ongoing KPI analysis is an effective way to help your reps pivot and adapt on a regular basis and will help your reps become more successful in changing markets. In return this will mean they become more r ...Read More

Expanding and developing your network in the vertical you would like to break in to is key. A referral will always be more powerful than applying direct to roles without a recommendation. Join networking groups that are focused on the vertical you would like to break in to. Develop any essential skills that you are lacking. Take courses and gain certifications that are relevant to the vertical you would like to break in to. Follow industry news - stay up to date on trends, news and key players i ...Read More

I strongly believe that a mindset of preparation and curiosity is essential. We must always be prepared for the unexpected and look forward to the challenges that arise, as overcoming them is how we broaden our experience and sharpen our consultative skills. In an enterprise context, the strategy is to first manage expectations up-front with all stakeholders. For every new challenge, we must breakdown the problem into manageable pieces, mapping out not just the tasks but also identifying the rig ...Read More

In order for us to keep up with the AI evolution in sales we need to build AI in to the training of sales people and the sales processes. It needs to be managed in an easily digestible way, so on demand content could be an easy way to keep the sales teams engaged and informed. An organization needs to embrace and promote internally the value of using AI across the roles within the organization and stress the value AI can have on accelerating productivity and improving processes rather than be fe ...Read More

Having been someone who has expanded an office in a new region I can certainly empathize with anyone who is in this situation at the moment and I totally understand the hard work that goes in to getting a new market off the ground and eventually hitting goals. In this scenario I would recommend taking the time to understand the cultural buying norms of the new market and not assuming this new market will look immediately like your top performing markets. It takes time to understand a new market ...Read More