Are there even enough hours in the day to do that many deals? The solution is: proactively drive larger opportunities strategically by engaging early with senior people, based on trigger events or insights, and help them build a business case for change; and work with “the machine” of your own organization to feed your pipeline with opportunities that can help you transact to keep the wolf from the door. The key elements of the sales and marketing machine Marketing generated leads from content publishing, websites, events, and alliances Sales development reps (SDRs) who are doing outbound like you but typically at a lower level in the target accounts and smaller-size prospects; they are sometimes called market development reps (MDRs) or inside sales reps (ISRs) and may seek to move leads from marketing qualified (MQL) to sales qualified (SQL) A formalized referral program with rewards for staff and customers Outsourced lead-generation and appointment-setting companies Your senior company executives or board members who have quality relationships and who can introduce you Partners and alliances who can provide you with referrals Build a plan to leverage the machine Create a business plan for your own success. Work the numbers backwards, from your sales target to average deal size to number of deals required to number of selling days available. You will need somewhere between two and five times the sales target in qualified opportunities. These are the averages, blended across SaaS sales development teams, surveyed in 2016: Twenty-one meetings per month Sixty-two percent conversion rate from meeting-to-opportunity Thirteen opportunities per month How many social and email outreaches plus phone calls are needed to achieve these results? Bring marketing to the party and get better results Let marketing know what resources and support you need to be successful, what events you need to attend, and what content will best attract early-stage leads. Be the fulcrum for sales and marketing actually working well together; treasure their MQL’s, and obsessively use the CRM and marketing automation platform. I once downloaded a state of sales report from the Salesforce website as part of my research for being a keynote speaker at one of their events. These questions are important because they can create “blue ocean” leads, where buyers are motivated by their problems or opportunities but they are early in their journeys and you have little competition.
The passive-aggressive war between sales and marketing must end, and marketing departments must own sales targets for lower-value commodities within the portfolio. Referrals are king, but no salesperson can make their numbers on referrals alone. Nor can you exceed sales target without the assistance of others.
As a seller, you can lead the way by relinquishing the busy fool activities of selling cheap commodity offerings in highly competitive sectors. You can move to value with elevated relationships and a strong narrative and agenda. You can engineer value and own the relationship rather than merely winning a sale.
I’ve sat with salespeople and helped them do the math for their year ahead. Divide the sales target by the current average deal size, then divide that by 11 months (allow 1 month for annual vacation and public holidays). I see people go white with fear. Are there even enough hours in the day to do that many deals?
The solution is:
- proactively drive larger opportunities strategically by engaging early with senior people, based on trigger events or insights, and help them build a business case for change; and
- work with “the machine” of your own organization to feed your pipeline with opportunities that can help you transact to keep the wolf from the door.
The key elements of the sales and marketing machine
- Marketing generated leads from content publishing, websites, events, and alliances
- Sales development reps (SDRs) who are doing outbound like you but typically at a lower level in the target accounts and smaller-size prospects; they are sometimes called market development reps (MDRs) or inside sales reps (ISRs) and may seek to move leads from marketing qualified (MQL) to sales qualified (SQL)
- A formalized referral program with rewards for staff and customers
- Outsourced lead-generation and appointment-setting companies
- Your senior company executives or board members who have quality relationships and who can introduce you
- Partners and alliances who can provide you with referrals
Build a plan to leverage the machine
Create a business plan for your own success. Analyze your territory, the suitability and market fit for what you sell, the competition, the resources available to you, and then create a plan in partnership with your sales manager and marketing team.
- Work the numbers backwards, from your sales target to average deal size to number of deals required to number of selling days available. This tells you how many deals you need to do in a week or month to achieve target.
- Then calculate the number of qualified pipeline opportunities required based on your proven conversation rate. You will need somewhere between two and five times the sales target in qualified opportunities.
- Then calculate how much prospecting activity is required per available day to achieve this in terms of emails sent, phone calls made and live conversations had with real decision-makers. Now you know how much prospecting activity you must do every day. If the number does not scare you, you botched the calculations.
Make sure the SDRs or outsourced lead-generation company can actually carry the conversation for proactive outbound by sitting with them and making calls together. Help them with their own sales strategy for blends that elevate the conversation and improve response rates so they can provide better quality leads for you and others.
Know what sales success looks like
What results should your sales reps be getting? Luckily, we have some decent surveys to rely on, thanks to Trish Bertuzzi and the Bridge Group. These are the averages, blended across SaaS sales development teams, surveyed in 2016:
- Twenty-one…
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