Inside Sales Experts Blog

This is Water. This is Selling.

Matt Bertuzzi — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:15:00 GMT

Have you seen the video built around David Foster Wallace's 2005 This is Water commencement address? It has been making the rounds and is currently at 4.5M views (nearly .3% of Gangnam Style fame).

I was talking with a group of BDRs the other day and, for some reason, I kept thinking back to the video.

The BDRs were sharing frustrations with the day-to-day challenges of their role. The list won't surprise you:

Frequent rejection
Gatekeepers
Bogus contact info
Calling in on customers because someone didn't update Salesforce.com
Finally getting a live phone connect only to be told "Nope. Not interested."
Great prospects who go dark
Etc.

But the reality is - those challenges aren’t getting in the way of selling. They are selling.

Take a look at the video below.

Although DFW talks about the petty frustrations of daily life (traffic jams, crowded stores & long checkout lines), it makes me think about the routine frustrations of selling (like the short list above).

Now I know that for sales people, a 5+ minute video seems the equivalent of reading every entry on Wikipedia. But give it a try. If you lead a group, share with your team. If you're a rep, share with a few colleagues, post to Chatter, etc.

Selling is rewarding work - but it can be a grind. No one is served by ignoring this fact.

This is selling. This is a people business.
This is the noble, frustrating, amazing, often brutal profession we chose.
This is the game. This is water.

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Connect with Matt on Twitter and Google+

Inside Sales & the Exempt vs Non-exempt Mess

Trish Bertuzzi — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:24:00 GMT

(NOTE: I am hoping to start a discussion around this issue, not offer legal advice)

At least once a month, I have a conversation with a sales leader who is trying to understand the exempt v non-exempt status of their inside sales teams. I always tell them two things:

There is logic and then there is the law – and in this case they are mutually exclusive
This is a decision you have to make internally in partnership with HR and legal counsel

If you are not aware of this ridiculous and outdated standard let me share some background. The question deals with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act in conjunction (and often conflict) with state labor laws.

Legal opinions - a Sales Manager's best friend!

The issue boils down to time-tracking and payment for overtime. In short, nonexempt employees are entitled to overtime pay. Exempt employees are not.

Here's an explanation from Hopkins & Carley, a Silicon Valley legal firm.

Under federal law, the inside sales exemption applies only to employees who
(a) earn more than 150% of the minimum wage,
(b) derive at least 50% of their income from commissions, and
(c) work in the “retail and service industry."

Employers are engaged in the “retail and service industry” within the meaning of the Fair Labor Standards Act if they derive at least 75% of their annual sales revenue from goods or services not for resale and are recognized as a retail or service establishment in their industry.

So you are probably thinking “OK, our ISRs are paid over ~$24K on salary basis so we just passed the test.” But wait, not so easy…

Sales is Sales; except when it isn’t

According to Department of Labor’s FLSA Overtime Security Advisor site:

The FLSA contains an exemption from the payment of both minimum wage and overtime pay to any employee employed as an Outside Sales Employee, as that term is defined by the Regulations, Part 541.

Further, this may or may not be contradicted by local, state laws. Home offices may or may not be considered an employer’s place of business. Draws may count as commission, or may count as salary.

This. Is. A. Mess.

I decided to do a quick poll of my network to see how companies are handling this issue. Here's what I found:

Treating inside sales as non-exempt is the leading approach – but not decisively.

Non-exempt by-products

I will tell you, that those who classify as non-exempt have communicated quite a number of challenges.

Culture – Is there a different ‘feel’ between being an hourly vs. salaried sales person? If an organization has both field and inside sales and they both carry significant quota but are paid differently, does it result in a culture clash?
Competitive hiring – In this crazy climate for hiring inside sales people, if a great rep is looking at two opportunities and one is hourly and the other salary, they tend to select the salary position. Does hourly carry a stigma?
Overtime – Non-exempt requires the payment of overtime. So, do reps “punch” in and out? What about remote workers? Since they are not in the office, per se, are they then exempt?
Flexibility – Many organizations have taken flex time to a whole new level. They offer bonus vacation time as long as you are making your number. Well, if that means you work 70 hours one week and none the next what does that do to the equation?

I think we can all agree that this is a 'challenging' issue. Common sense is not in play here (my personal opinion).

So what say you? When commenting please feel free to do so anonymously if you so desire. No one needs to know which way your company went on this issue - unless you want them to of course.

OK, gotta run. I have to go punch out now. ;)

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Connect with Trish on Twitter and Google+

Outbound Prospecting: by the numbers [New research]

Matt Bertuzzi — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:38:00 GMT

If your Outbound Prospectors target 1000 accounts this quarter, how many opportunities will they put into your Sales organization's pipeline?

Ask me that questions three months ago and I would have said, "It depends." Today, I'm confident with a response of 32.

Last December, Pete Gracey from AG Salesworks approached me with a crazy idea. His pitch was roughly, I have 35+ BDRs prospecting for three dozen technologies and generating mountains of Salesforce.com data. Any interest in digging into it and seeing what we find?

My reply: Let's do this.
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So after 3 months of whiteboarding, triple-checking of arithmetic, a few shouting matches, and 3.1 gallons of coffee - Pete & I are ready to release the results.

The cheat sheet infographic below, gives you the highlights.

You can download the full ebook here: Outbound Index - Issue #1. It walks you through the data, methodology, findings & our analysis.

I hope this gives you a jumping off point for discussions within your organization.

If your team is outperforming the Index, print this out, walk down to your CEO's office, and demand a raise. You deserve it!
If your team isn't, take a look at our KPIs, dig into your own, and see where you are off.

Either way, please let me know what you think. Yours in outbound,
Matt

Click image for full size:

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Connect with Matt on Twitter and Google+

ABCs of Hiring Recent Grads for Sales

Matt Bertuzzi — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:06:00 GMT

The other day, I was talking to a friend who leads a team of sales development reps (outbound prospectors).

She was mentioning how tight the market is for reps with 1-2 years of experience. To paraphrase her predicament:

I need reps who are senior enough that they can & will do the job. But who are junior enough to unlearn bad habits before they calcify.

I asked, “Have you looked at hiring recent grads?” As it just so happens, we are in the thick of career fair season for many colleges & universities.

She asked if I had any tips. My reply: nope.

So over the last few days I’ve been giving it some thought and wanted to share what I’ve come up with.

Hiring Recent Grads: what doesn’t work

First, the bad. Much of our traditional questions, at least as they relate to selling, are ineffective. “Tell me about a time you pitched an idea to a peer group” is very different from “tell me about the last time you booked a meeting from an outbound call.” [Side note: here’s a great audio interview with Kevin Gaither on his philosophy for interviewing.]

What this means is that you have to ask different questions to get you to the same results.

Next, the ugly. I’ve seen and (ahem) been guilty of making a few ‘go’ decisions based on little more than the candidate being:

Assertive
Tall
-and-
Having played sports in College

I’m not sure where that heuristic comes from, but when I think about the best sellers I know – few fit that mold.

Hiring Recent Grads: what could work

Now, the good. I recently finished Dan Pink’s new book To Sell Is Human. I absolutely loved his outsider’s perspective on selling.

What I found most interesting were Pink’s new ABCs of selling:

Attunement – can they take someone else’s perspective?
Buoyancy – can they stay afloat in an ‘ocean of rejection’?
Clarity – can they help others identify problems they didn’t realize they had?

He highlights these traits as the 3 essential qualities that define a modern-day seller (ie someone who spends their days trying to persuade / influence / move others).

Does your recent grad possess the new ABCs?

Here are a few thoughts / questions you can build off to find out.

Attunement

Share with the candidate what you’re looking for in a new hire. Then ask: What can you bring to our team? Really listen to their response. Did they hear what you are looking for? Are they able see things from your perspective and to tailor their reply?
Next, bring in a 3rd person just to listen to this part. Give the candidate your version of your company's pitch and then have them give it back to you. After the fact, ask the 3rd person how similar they were. Is the candidate able to match/mirror/mimic on the fly?

The ability to listen, think on one’s feet, and ‘attune’ are critical for selling. So make sure they aren’t they type of person who is so focused on their perspective that they talking past everyone else.

Buoyancy

Ask: I know interviews are high-stress situations. How did you mentally prepare for today?
You’ll want to see if they are more self-pumping: “I am a machine! I will crush this!” or more self-questioning: “Can I do this? Yes. I’ve done things like this before. I need to make sure that I…” According to Pink, you are looking for the latter.
Also ask: Can you share a specific time you faced rejection? Why do think you were rejected? Listen for how they explain. Do they view the setback as external or personal? Temporary or permanent?
Follow up with: How did you rebound? Tell me about the next time you faced a similar situation.

The way they have thought through past rejections is probably a good indicator or how they’ll handle future ones. If they view past stumble as personal failings ("I blew it big time") or permanent conditions ("I’m just lousy at this"), they might not be built for the game of sales.

Clarity

Ask: Did you write a thesis? What was the central idea? (Or tell me about the last paper you wrote) Are they able to take their wealth of knowledge and communicate it to a layperson? Was it interesting and engaging?
Ask: What was the most interesting class you took? Why might I, a Sales Manager, find it interesting? Do they speak to the essence of the thing?

Selling is about boiling down complex things (a $100K software solution) into simple things (here’s what you're doing wrong and here's why you should give me 5 more minutes of your time).

But it’s also about provoking, teaching, and leading buyers. If they are able to persuade you that perhaps 19th century Russian lit is something you’d enjoy – you are talking to a salesperson.

Net Net

Hiring recent college grads is not for the faint of heart. Identifying raw talent without the cushion of a track record of success takes time, a well thought-out process, and, frankly, guts.

I hope this gives you an idea or two for identifying your next sales superstar. If you have any tips, advice, or questions to share, I’d love to hear them.

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Find Matt on Twitter and Google+

Photo credit: Bradford College Graduation

3 Inside Sales Trends to Watch (Part 2)

Trish Bertuzzi — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:10:00 GMT

Last week, I shared the first part in our series on trendspotting thus far in 2013. This week, Janet, Trish (yours truly), and Patrice share our perspectives on:

~60 days in, what's everyone seeing that is changing in 2013?

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The 3, 5, 7-or-more Legged Buying Team

Whether nostalgia or fact, selling used to be a lot simpler. Continuing the trend from 2012, buyers' decision making processes are more and more complicated.

Today, there is nearly never a single decision maker. Not only do we have to convince the budget owner (we’ll save you money, time, hassle, etc.), but we must also prove our benefit the end user (day-in the-life use cases), IT (this will fit within your environment, straightforward implementation, etc.), and finance (not only does this have a positive ROI, but it is more important than competing projects).

The key to generating widespread support within an organization is being able to have effective selling conversations with a broader audience. For Sales Leaders, this means your reps now need to have the tools, training and process in place to build & muster widespread support.

- Janet Stucchi

Outbound Calling is Alive and Well

This is the year outbound calling makes a comeback! Imho, inbound mania has peaked. We all get that pulling a prospect to you is better (and certainly easier) than having to push a conversation to a buyer.

Having said that, buyers are getting burnt out with the deluge of content we are sharing. We are all “thought leaders” now... welcome to diminishing returns!

Those who figure out how to tightly target an audience, craft persona-based process and messaging, and then execute & iterate - these will be the companies who win. Mark my words; it is the cold that is dead - not the calling!

- Trish Bertuzzi

Look Who's Social Now

Every Sales Rep worth their salt has embraced LinkedIn as part of their selling approach. But the emerging trend I’m seeing is prospects increasingly using LinkedIn (and other social sites) to vet Sales Reps for themselves.

For Sellers, it’s not just about using social to listen (one direction). Reps need to build profiles that establish their expertiseknowledge (bi-directional).

It is definitely time to talk to your Reps about their LinkedIn profiles. Do their headlines show their value to prospects? Are the group memberships they display aligned to their market?

After all, if you were a prospect, would you really want to take a meeting with Karen the Quota Crusher or Harry the New Business Hunter?

The flow of social information is a two-way street. Yes, you can learn more about your buyers, but so can they about you.

- Patrice Murray

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I hope you found this little excercise to be valuable. Please let us know: what changes are you seeing?

Also, if you want a starting point for conversations with your reps around utilizing LinkedIn, here's an ebook we recently released:

Find Trish on Twitter and Google

Green Shoots of a Sales Spring

Trish Bertuzzi — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 13:35:00 GMT

On one of our internal chatter groups, a member of The Bridge Group team posed this question:

45 days in, what's everyone seeing that is changing & improving in 2013?

I thought it would be interesting to share the responses from our team members (folks not often featured on this blog). Just a fun and hopefully thought provoking piece.

Note: we broke the responses into two parts, this is the first in the series.
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Voicemails are being… returned!

We all know our buyers receive dozens of sales voicemails on a daily basis. But something old has become new again: buyers returning some of those voicemails.

I’ve noticed that the voicemails that are inspiring action have the following in common: they avoid coming across as ‘white noise,’ they leave out the product puffery, and they are short and to the point. Think: sound bites that inspire.

When building messaging, most Reps will ask themselves, “What’s the big challenge my buyer is facing?” But the best Reps take it one step further. They ask, “Why aren’t they addressing it already? Where/how is their current thinking wrong or off point?”

Remember, each touch (voicemail, email, social) allows you to tell a different chapter in your story. It’s not about the action the buyer took or that you want them to take that is the core of your story. It’s about how you can improve their thinking so that they can build a better business.

- Laurie Page, Managing Partner

New Best Friends: Click-to-Dial & Local Presence

Sometimes just automating the most routine of tasks can create the biggest productivity boon! Here at The Bridge Group we walk the walk make outbound calls every day. We recently invested in a click-to-dial technology and I am so glad we did!

Even with limited budget, you can reap the rewards of click-to-dial (Skype is very effective for outbound prospecting). As an added benefit, your team can make calls from anywhere with internet access.

But if you really want to drive productivity, combine click-to-dial with “local presence.” Meaning when calling Boston, the prospect would see a local 617 area code and when calling Atlanta they’d see a 404 number.

This makes a big difference! I've seen that local number boost connect rates by 20-50%. If your outbound reps are still manually dialing the phone, think seriously about investigating a change.

- Cindy Littlefield, Inside Sales Consultant

Coaching Strategy Culture

Inside Sales Managers are being pushed to get new reps on the phone faster while constantly improving productivity & results. Reps are facing evolving products, competitors, markets & buyer behavior.

The challenge is that even amazing training has, at best, a 1 in 4 shot of sticking.

Everyone agrees that coaching is the missing link between what’s learned in the classroom and what’s embraced on the phone. But Managers forced to push more & more paper, have less & less time for coaching and reinforcement.

The emerging trend I see is Managers prioritizing and scheduling Weekly Call Clubs, Pitch Practice or Call Calibration Sessions. Reps are given pre and post work that includes listening to their own recordings - so that they have an active role in their development. These sessions are becoming the core of what Managers do and are no longer the first meetings to be cancelled when paperwork calls.

- Gail Milton, Senior Consultant

What positive changes/adjustments are you seeing?

Here's to a fruitful Sales Spring!

3 Big Ideas for Sales

Matt Bertuzzi — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:18:00 GMT

I was digging through Evernote earlier this week and stumbled across a file titled: Killer DF12 Sessions for Sales.

I vaguely remember creating it after Dreamforce 2012 and decided to take a look at a few of the videos I'd clipped. I’m so glad I did!

Out of the dozens of sales cloud sessions now on youtube, I want to share 3 quick clips that deliver three major ideas.

#1 - Coach to Move the Needle

Mark Roberge, HubSpot’s VP of Sales, shares a bit about how he develops leaders and reps in his 250 person sales org.

To set up the clip, Mark is talking about his team of 20 (mostly 1^st-time Managers). He lays out the case that one thing newly promoted Sales Managers tend to get wrong is trying to coach too many things at once.

The big takeaway for me is that rep development doesn’t happen by serendipity. Many sales organizations have a coaching 'strategy' in place, but as the saying goes, culture eats strategy for breakfast.

If you want to know, really know, if you have a coaching and development culture, take a look at the calendars for your Front-line Managers.

I have a hard expectation on my team that you are going to get better, every month. And I want all my Managers to not be pushing paper and pushing forecast, I want them to maximize the time that they coach.

-Mark Roberge

#2 - To Sell, First Unteach Your Buyers

Brent Adamson, Managing Director of CEB, presents some of their research as laid out in The Challenger Sale (warning: check your volume Brent gets loud).

To set up the clip, Brent is laying out the case that selling isn’t about teaching customers something new & valuable if and when that doesn’t lead to them buying from you.

View the clip

The big takeway for me is that the key to change (and isn’t that what a sale really is?) isn’t changing behavior – it’s changing thinking. Far too often as sellers we do the dance, find great pain/gain fit, and then… nothing.

More often than not this is because our prospects readily admit they have a solvable problem, but the pain of change hurts worse than the gain from making it go away.

We show them how good the world could be. And we should them three other customers who went down that journey and here’s how great their lives are...

And they look at us and say, ‘I hear you and I believe you. But I’m not going to do it because it’s too hard.'

-Brent Adamson

#3 - Rethink Gamification as Engagement

I was in the room for this one and was totally blown away by salesforce.com’s Chief Scientist JP Rangaswami. Count me a JP fanboy.

In this clip, JP is laying out the case for what engagement means and how aspirations and feedback loops impact performance.

View the clip

The key takeaways for me were around gamification as a mechanism to encourage discretionary performance and drive specific behaviors that can’t be ‘gamed.’

Sales is perfect for this. Feedback loops like leaderboards, wall of shame, stack rankings, etc. are built into our culture. The key will be complimenting those feedback loops with aspiration, mastery, and peer social feedback.

The importance of understanding why gamification has a role to play in the Enterprise is because it is perfectly reasonable to assert that we could get higher levels of performance by learning from people who know how to create engagement and applying those lessons in a context that doesn’t know how to do that.

-JP Rangaswami

What do you think? Any other points that hit home with you?

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Find Matt on Twitter and Google+

LinkedIn Fundamentals for Sales Reps

Janet Stucchi — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:02:00 GMT

I'm sure you've noticed that over the last 6 weeks LinkedIn has been rolling out new profiles for all users.

In light of the major refresh, I thought it a great time to address the most frequently asked question I hear on Social Prospecting™:

What separates the most effective Sales Reps on LinkedIn from the rest?

So together with Lynn Hidy from UpYourTelesales, we set out to deliver an answer. We found that that the best social prospectors:

Gear their profiles towards their buyers, their market & the value they bring
Make growing their LinkedIn network a priority
Are plugged into the LinkedIn Groups where their prospects participate
Are just plain better at searching LinkedIn

We put our thoughts together into an ebook: The Fundamentals of LinkedIn for Sales Reps. Here's a quick preview:

You can access the full 37-page ebook (no registraion required) below.

Feel free to share it with your teams. We've included a checklist at the end of the ebook. It should help you work with your reps to make sure they have the fundamentals of LinkedIn well in hand.

Making the Transition: From Lead Gen to Closing Business

Matt Bertuzzi — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:47:00 GMT

I saw this question on LinkedIn the other day:

I was immediately reminded of something I saw from Chris Corcoran, Cofounder of memoryBlue. Chris was kind enough to let me repost the following:
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Lead Generation to Inside Sales – Are You Worth The Risk?

Many high tech salespeople earn their stripes in lead generation for the complex sale. It’s a low risk way for companies to test and train sales professionals without allowing inexperienced reps to blow deals. However, most lead gen reps don’t view the role as the zenith of their professional sales career; instead they have their sights set on the next rung of the ladder. Contrast that with companies, and more specifically sales managers, who are hesitant to hire someone for a closing position unless the sales professional has experience closing deals.

Fair or unfair, you’ll have to win the chicken or the egg argument—how am I supposed to get closing experience unless someone gives me an opportunity to get closing experience—because managers may see you as a project that they don’t need on their already overcrowded plate.

In order to win this debate, you’ll need to prove that you’re a sales professional worth betting on.

Here’s how.

Record Your Calls.

Peyton Manning is considered one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of football. The New York Times wrote an article “Peyton Manning’s Case for Being the Best Ever” detailing how he out-prepares the competition each week and chronicles his legendary film study habits.

In order to outpace the pack, invest time each week breaking down recordings of your prospecting calls. Pick one or two calls each week and complete a detailed call evaluation where you dissect the call. My team selects their strongest call and weakest call of each week for this exercise.

Share your call recordings and evaluations with your manager, the VP of Sales, or the strongest closing rep and ask them for their feedback and coaching.

This exercise will help you accelerate how quickly you improve your selling skills. If you want to eventually become the “Peyton Manning of Sales,” you’ll need to match his famous work ethic.

If your company’s telephone system doesn’t have this functionality you can get a USB call recorder for less than $200.

Get Face Time.

Lobby for a standing weekly 30 minute meeting with your manager to review your results and activities. Many sales reps hope that their management leaves them alone. Seeking out an audience with management is a rare role reversal that few desire. Plus it makes you accountable for producing results every week.

Identify the strongest closing rep at your company and befriend that individual. Birds of a feather flock together. Of course you’ll want to find out how that individual got into a closing role and ask for advice on how you can follow suit. More immediately, ask that individual what you can do to help them become more successful.

Offer to take your VP of Sales out for coffee, breakfast, or lunch and ask for advice on how you can succeed under their leadership. Insist on picking up the check. This small but not insignificant gesture signals that you value their time and are willing to invest in yourself.

Invest in Your Career.

The sales trainers I know tell me there are two types of salespeople who attend their sales training: 1) the ones whose companies pay for them to go and 2) the ones who invest in themselves by paying their own money to go.

I’m told that less than 3% of sales reps fall into that second category.

Read.

Mark Twain nailed it over a century ago. Here’s my tweak to his famous quote: “The man salesperson who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man salesperson who can’t read them.”

There are dozens of great sales books out there. Reading and applying the material will sharpen your sales skills and help you demonstrate you can handle the responsibility of closing deals.

Produce Quality Results.

Develop a portfolio of highly qualified sales opportunities that ultimately close. Pay extra special attention to the qualitative aspects of your leads and try to carry these sales opportunities as far as possible prior to involving your closing teammates. Your goal should be to know more details about your sales opportunities than any other salesperson in your company. Try to “out qualify” not only your lead gen contemporaries, but the closing reps too.

Demonstrate that you can consistently surface, qualify, and drive the sales process to the point that the deal advances to the next stage of the sales process with clear and mutually agreed upon next steps.

Bottom line: amass a war chest of sales opportunities that are likely to close, regardless of who ultimately gets ink on paper.

“There is very little traffic on the extra mile.” – Unknown

If you’re given a list of prospects, augment it through your own personal research. If you have one name at a target prospect, find ten. Extend your research so you’ve got a compelling reason to speak with each person. Ask any experienced litigation attorney, and you’ll hear that cases are won or lost at trial because of what happens prior to trial. The same holds true in prospecting.

Invite yourself to participate in the initial meetings you surface. If you run into resistance, offer to join in “listen only mode,” provide detailed call notes to the closing rep and your manager, and perform all post call follow-up for the rep.

The good news is you can become an elite lead gen rep—one worth risking a closing role on—by simply doing all the little things that most lead gen reps won’t do. The choice, of course, is up to you.
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I absolutely love this. For me, the advice to read, ask & know more are hugely important for success in any profession. Gigantic thanks to Chris for the thought-provoking words.

What advice would you give to reps looking to make the transition?

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Find Matt on Twitter and Google+

Do This in 2013 & Boost Inside Sales Productivity

Matt Bertuzzi — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 12:20:00 GMT

As we wind down 2012, I want to share a quick snippet from the single best article I read this year on what it means to be a Sales Manager.

Chris Snell, Inside Sales Manager at Care.com, wrote:

My reps time is really valuable to them, and it has to be even more valuable to me. Invites to internal meetings, issues of customer service that they’re not equipped to handle, and requests from colleagues that take them away from their sales efforts – all of these things are distractions, and it’s really my job to keep my reps free from them.

You’re in sales, you understand the necessity of hitting your goals, you know that any time off of the phone building relationships and prospecting affects you financially.

If I’m not able to help keep my reps from these types of diversions, they’re going to feel it, and ultimately, so will the business. You see, I don’t really think of myself as a sales manager, but rather a guardian. I need to guard my team’s time so that they can focus on their goals.

So how do you best guard their time?

One idea is to give them a place to share exactly the issues that are taking them off the phone and away from prospects.

Salesforce.com COO George Hu shared how they did exactly that: they created a chatter group for ‘Airing of Grievances’.

(For those unfamiliar, Chatter is enterprise social network/collaboration platform within Salesforce.com. Here’s a 2 minute Chatter explainer video.)

I think this is pure genius

An “Airing of Grievances” group can offer:

An internal place for Reps to share frustrations
A platform for the entire sales org to crowd-source solutions
Visibility into issues that normally, would never land on the desk of the COO or VP of Sales

Don’t think: the worst of anonymous internet commenting.
Do think: professional, linked to your name & photo, and visible right up to Executive Management.

Listen, you trust your reps to conduct themselves externally on LinkedIn groups. I’m pretty sure they won’t betray that trust internally in a Chatter group.

What do you think? What else can Sales Managers do to act as time guardians?

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Find Matt on Twitter and Google+
(Photo credit: Digby & Rose)

Closing Year-End Business

Trish Bertuzzi — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 12:31:00 GMT

Last week, I joined a dozen or so sellers in a #SalesInsiders chat on “Closing more business by year-end.” I wanted to share some of the great ideas that came out of that conversation.

More business - less discounting

Upsell the deals you were going to close anyway. If you have a great relationship and you know the deal is going to close, ask if there is any budget they need to spend by year-end. Before you ask, make sure you have a product/solution in mind for them to spend it on.
Use your Executives to call prospect Execs to get a deeper sense of the deal and what can be done to close it by year-end. That is what your executive management team is there for. They are a resource for you - use them. (h/t to Jonathan London on these)

Ruthlessly trim your pipeline (esp. at year end) so you only work on deals that really move the needle. #SalesInsiders
— Matthew Bellows (@mbellows) December 6, 2012

Focus, re-focus & focus (one more time)

Look at your pipeline and grade each opportunity on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being “highly closeable by year-end.” Focus closing efforts on the 3s and 4s only. You don’t have time to waste.
Assume you don't know the complete decision making process for your deals. Create a checklist, review, call the prospect and fill in any of the gaps. Do it now!

MT @bridgegroupinc: Make the assump. you don't know the complete dec making process for deals in your pipe. Review & redo! #salesinsiders
— SalesLoft (@SalesLoft) December 6, 2012

Ask this one question

The shortest route to any point is a direct one. Here’s one of my all-time favorite questions: “If you were me, would you forecast this deal to close this month?”

Your prospects know you’re in Sales and understand you have to forecast. Just ask them this honest and simple question. You’ll be amazed at how direct they will be. Want to know if the deal will close by year-end? Ask the question.

RT @mbellows Salespeople are too timid in general. 2nd best answer is a quick no. #SalesInsiders
— Trish Bertuzzi (@bridgegroupinc) December 6, 2012

Your turn

Let me know what you'd add. Go ahead and share your advice for closing year-end business.

I know it's a crazy time of year. Good Selling to all the closers out there.

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Find Trish on Twitter and Google
(Photo credit: Fourth Quarter)

Making 'Call Coaching' Scale

Matt Bertuzzi — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:15:00 GMT

Last month a Sales Manager who had recently downloaded our Inside Sales research report sent me this note:

Matt,

I saw in your report, that 69% of Managers aren’t hitting the target of 3-5 coaching hours per rep per month. Guilty as charged.

The issue for me is that when I do live coaching I’m either a) listening to my reps leave voicemail after voicemail or b) joining a pre-scheduled call. It is rare that I actually get to hear something in-between (meaning a live connect and how it plays out).

What are you seeing other Managers do about this?

To be honest, I didn’t have a great answer. I’m a huge fan of call recording & review for scheduled calls (discovery calls, demos, proposal reviews, etc.). I’ve seen companies build great coaching process around those. Kim Reisman from OpenView Venture Partners recently offered advice on this topic.

Three Big Issues

But in terms of live (side-by-side) coaching, three big issues remain:

#1 - If focusing on outbound prospecting, at best, you are looking at 1 maybe 2 live connects in that hour. Taking 60 minutes from a Rep & Manager for what amounts to 6 minutes of coachable selling just isn't efficient.

#2 - When a Rep does connect with a prospect, there’s little chance they’ll remember exactly what they said that resonated.

-and finally-

#3 - There’s no way to institutionalize what great sounds like. If a Rep knocks it out of the park with a customer story, there is no way to share that example with the wider team.

A Potential Solution

With that as the backdrop, I had a call the other day with Josh Freeman, CEO of TeamVisibility. Steve Richard had introduced us and spoken very highly of their technology in allowing Managers to “Better see, hear and coach their teams.”

Being a proud and true New Englander, I was skeptical.

But 10 minutes into the demo I was thinking about the email above. “What are you seeing other Managers do about this?”

Josh presented the concept of what I’ve come to think of as time-shifted call coaching. He calls it "reviewing the game tape."

Time-Shifted Call Coaching

The idea makes perfect sense to me. A Manager spending an hour sitting side-by-side, and waiting for a coachable moment, doesn't scale. Why not capture the 'game tape' as it happens and review after the fact?

I asked Josh to share a few clips to illustrate what it sounds like. (Note: Massachusetts is a two-party consent state, so you’ll only hear one side of the call)

A voicemail (sample)
An intro of their value prop (live)

Sales Managers, would you rather spend precious coaching time reviewing voicemails & live connects or wading through dial tones, gatekeepers & automated greetings?

Towards a Call Library

For me, the real power comes from Reps being able to select their own clips for review by the group - either in looking for constructive feedback or in disseminating a sales moment worth sharing.

I asked Josh how his team uses their technology internally. He shared:

We built out a Library as part of our normal review of game tape. Whenever we hear a call that we feel is Best Practice, we simply tag it and it’s shared with the entire team. That same clip also is archived to build a training library for new reps to use during the on-boarding process.

In addition to entire calls, we went a step further and broke down each call into key elements (intro, making a connection, elevator pitch, etc.). So we now have Best Practices for each individual element as well. It has been a very powerful tool for helping our reps get up to speed.

I see some real promise in time-shifted call coaching. For most, 69% according to our research, the current way of doing things just isn't getting it done.

I’d love to hear what others are doing.

Sales Managers, how are you call coaching today? What processes and/or tools are helping you scale your efforts?

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Find Matt on Twitter and Google+
(Photo credit: National Football Post)

How to Lose a Sale in 3 Emails

Trish Bertuzzi — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 12:55:00 GMT

If you’ve read this blog for any period of time, you know my thoughts on Sales Reps using email as the primary vehicle for communicating with buyers.

Not only can too many things go wrong (as you'll see below), but in reality a sale doesn’t start until someone has a conversation.

A colleague of mine, let’s call him Nick, sent me the following:

Trish – since I’ve seen some of your posts on ‘how NOT to do a cold call’ and related sales silliness, I thought I would pass this along. Here’s an example of a horrible sales experience with me as the buyer.

I thought this story might make good fodder for a post stressing the importance of qualifying, when live conversations make sense, and how to screw up a deal with email.

Here’s the email exchange

Nick replied that it was premature to judge fit a) before he had a chance to learn about the product and b) before the Sales Rep understood his needs, budget, etc.

Where did this all go awry?

Sales Rep’s first email:

The good: He started out well, offering a demo and suggesting a conversation to ensure fit.
The bad: He did no pre-call planning. If he had, he may have identified his concerns earlier and perhaps offered just an initial conversation - saving the demo for later in the sales process.

Sales Rep’s second email:

The good: He finally does some research and clearly is concerned about fit.
The ugly: Rather than stick to his original commitment, he decides to back pedal and use the old “price as a qualifier” sniff test. This technique just doesn’t play well over email. It comes across as downright rude and sounds like he is trying to kick Nick to the curb.

How did this saga end?

I reached back out to Nick and here’s what he had to share:

I eventually got the Rep on the phone. He continued down the ‘are you worthy’ angle…so I gave up on him.

The timing of your follow up is interesting – as I just signed a contract to spend mid 5-figures on a competing technology to roll out in 2013.

I hate it when a bad salesperson destroys my ability to consider a good vendor.

Don’t we all. Don’t we all.

5 Inside Sales / SaaS Metrics You Should Know

Trish Bertuzzi — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:46:00 GMT

We just published our 2012 Inside Sales for SaaS Metrics & Compensation Report. Just under 200 technology companies participated and we compiled 26 pages of data, insight & ideas.

For those of you who don’t have the time or energy to read the full report (and I hope you find both at some point), I thought I’d put together a few highlights.

Marketing delivers a higher percentage of pipeline for SaaS (57%) vs. non-SaaS (38%) companies.
SaaS Marketing groups contributed 50% more pipeline than their non-SaaS counterparts. This suggests, and anecdotal evidence supports, that strong and consistent “air cover” from the marketing organization is a critical success factor in the SaaS world. (pg. 6)
Tweet this stat –or- Share on LinkedIn
A third of SaaS sales groups either do not assign territories or use round-robin assignment.
Combined, Round-robin and No Territories accounted for 33% of responses - not an insignificant share. We took a closer look and noticed that, almost exclusively, those particular groups have the vast majority of their pipeline sourced by Marketing. (pg. 7)
Tweet this stat –or- Share on LinkedIn
Role segmentation rules in SaaS sales. 57% transition clients from hunter -> farmer immediately upon close.
There are obviously many factors at play in the decision to split the sales organization (churn rate, potential for cross/up-selling, # customers per rep). That being said, focus and accountability fit hand in glove. (pg. 9)
Tweet this stat –or- Share on LinkedIn
SaaS Sales Rep comp is trending up. The % of reps making $120K+ more than doubled from 2010.
On the other hand, in this year’s round of research, we found that Lead Gen and Inside Sales (non-SaaS) average comp hasn’t moved much since 2009. (pg. 14)
Tweet this stat –or- Share on LinkedIn
On average, Managers are spending 2.4 hours per rep on monthly coaching. We need to do better!
The folks over at the Corporate Executive Board have called 3-5 hours of coaching per rep per month the “magic” number. The vast majority of us (69%) are missing that mark. (pg. 23)
Tweet this stat –or- Share on LinkedIn

Please take a look at the report and come back to share your thoughts. Happy Selling!

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Find Trish on Twitter and Google+

Forecast Accuracy: Mission Critical or Malarkey?

Matt Bertuzzi — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 12:40:00 GMT

This post from Yesware CEO Matthew Bellows had me nodding in agreement the other day - Stop Guesstimating Your Sales Forecasts. In fact, this line had me shaking my fist at the fates:

The second reason for the sales manager's pain is that when it comes to gathering data about upcoming sales possibilities, companies and CRM systems rarely measure anything real. For most kinds of business- to-business selling, your CRM database is an outdated collection of anecdotes and guesses. The fewer the deals, and the longer the sales cycle, the less your "data" matches reality.

The stuff that does get accumulated in spreadsheets and CRM systems looks like data — there are dollar signs and probabilities next to prospect names — but it's not. It's really just the opinions, guesses, estimates and suppositions of your sales team.

Now that I’m reading Nate Silver’s new book about how even the best, brightest & most confident ‘experts’ are equally terrible at forecasting, I’m ready to open up my window and belt out a good old-fashioned “I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!”

A True Story

Just last week, a client asked me to help them calibrate the probabilities of their sales stages. It sounded like fun. I mean aren’t you curious about your own ‘Stage 2 – 50%’ opportunities? Of all the opps that reach that stage, are you really closing 1 out of 2?

(Note: if you don’t care how we did it, skip this part)
We ran an Opportunity History Report for all closed deals in the previous 2 quarters. We calculated the ultimate stage the deal reached prior to closed:won or closed:lost. Then we calculated the number of wins that resulted from 100 opportunities reaching those stages.

Tale of the Tape

Having done the analysis, we found that the probabilities in Salesforce.com were correct +/- 24%. Translation: they downright stunk.

Now as you eyeball the table above, it might not seem like too much of a variance. But using these calibrations, we re-ran a weighted pipeline analysis for the group and found …. An overstatement of ~19%.

An honest look & one report later, pipeline for the group had dropped by nearly 1/5th. Ouch.

So Where Do We Go From Here

Short version, I’m not sure.

Long version, I’m with Matthew Bellows:

So this is a call to innovative sales leaders, sales operations people, technology and service providers, and the top companies of the CRM industry. Let's build the processes, the services and the tools we need to collect data instead of opinions. Let's learn to build forecasts based on what we do instead of what we say.

And most importantly, let's help our salespeople succeed instead of weighing them down with processes that waste valuable time and money.

Your Turn

I’m most interested in what you think.

Sales Reps, how many hours do you send on your forecast monthly?
Sales Managers, how much of your time do you spend collating, gut-checking & fiddling with data?
VPs, let's say an algorithm could score probability (but with 10% worse results).
Would you prefer a) your current forecast accuracy with dozens-to-hundreds of manhours monthy?
Or b) would you take the 10% accuracy hit and give those hours back to the sales org?

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Find Matt on Twitter and Google+

(Photo credit: Dade Freeman)

Want Sales Productivity, Be Fanatical in Hiring a Front-Line Manager

Trish Bertuzzi — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:47:00 GMT

Ask anyone and they’ll tell you, this Inside Sales hiring market is on fire. Companies are cannibalizing each other’s Reps with top-tier candidates pretty much sitting on a Lazy Susan and waiting to be served up to the next highest bidder.

Clients are constantly asking me, “How do we compete? What can we do to recruit A-players?”

Here’s my response, “If you want the best Reps, make a strategic investment in your front-line sales managers.”

The ever-wise Tom Peters shares:

The evidence is clear: Employee satisfaction and like variables are significantly, even overwhelmingly, linked to the employee's relationship with her or his first-line manager.

If you are evaluating candidates, here are 8 Inside Sales Manager interview questions that will tell you a great deal about your candidate.

Theme A: Orientation & Approach

1) “At your current/last company, who did you sell to?”

They need to be able to tell you, very specifically, what their ideal customer profile looks like. It’s a red flag if they respond with “Fortune 500” or “we’re a horizontal play.” Good sounds like “B2B software companies with between $25-250M in revenues and our primary buyers include the COO, VP of IT and the VP of Sales Operations.”

The more specific, the better. Rifles, people - not shotguns.

Good follow-up: “Based on what you know about us so far, what do you think our ICP looks like?”
Their answer will tell you how much research they have done on your business.

2) “Who developed the sales process for your team?” + “How have you ensured adoption?”

Your front-line managers need to be able to define, document and communicate a sales process that is repeatable and scalable. They need to get everyone on the same bus in terms of executing that process.

This is much easier said than done. What they share about how they executed will tell you a lot about their approach and thought process.

3) “Can you share information on the top 3 deals that are in your group’s pipeline?” + “If the rep for [ABC Opportunity] came to you and said ‘this deal is about to slip to next quarter,’ how would you respond?

You want to get a sense for how well they know the risk factors, business drivers, key people, etc. at play in their reps’ deals. Isn’t it important for your front-line manager to keep their finger on the pulse of the market?

So much of successful sales management is taking this “got a minute” question, figuring out why the opportunity is in trouble and coming up with a creative way to get past the issue and towards a win.

Note: you most assuredly don’t want to hear “I’d tell them to get me on the phone with the prospect.”

Theme B: People, People & People

4) “What does your hiring profile for sales reps look like?” + “How do you attract candidates?” + “How do you evaluate them?”

The prospective manager needs to be able to articulate their recruitment and hiring philosophy. Do they hire on gut? Do they have a personal scoring sheet (can they share it with you)?

You need to get a feel for if they are a reactive hirer or if they’ve made a commitment to interviewing on a continuous basis to develop bench strength.

5) “What does your on-boarding process look like?”

You want to learn the specifics of how they get new sales reps up to speed. Are they talking about immersing their reps in their buyers’ market and challenges? Or is it all product & process? Note: they need to embrace this buyer philosophy before all others!

Good follow-up:
“How has time-to-ramp changed from when you started in this position to today?”

6) "What is your approach to coaching?” + “How many hours would you estimate you spend on coaching (per rep per month)?”

Ask what types of coaching have they found most effective: Live call listening, post-calls debriefs, role playing, etc. Also, you want to hear how they provide feedback to their reps (verbal, documented, unstructured, thorough, etc.).

Good follow-up:
“Can you send me a recent post-coaching feedback document (with the names removed of course)?”

Theme C: Communication & Collaboration

7) “How have you worked with other functional areas: marketing, product development, customer support, etc.?”

It is critical that the manager doesn’t have an ‘us vs. them’ attitude towards other functions/departments.

If an issue is derailing their group, they need to go to bat for the team and address it. Excellent managers don’t fight the system, they make the system work – period.

8) “What are you getting today from Marketing in terms of leads, content and overall support?” + “What do you think you will need in this position?”

This will give you a sense for how much ‘air cover’ their current group receives from Marketing. How well does their expectation match your reality? It is key to get in front of any disconnects here.

These are just a few of the questions I’d want answered. What have I missed? What do you ask your candidates?

Find Trish on Twitter and Google+

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On a related note: Save the date!

Ken Krogue & I will be putting on a webinar on How to attract and evaluate the ultimate executive to run your inside sales team. There will be great content, a downloadable ebook and a giveaway for all attendees.

How to Treat Your Sales Hiring Like the NFL Draft

Janet Stucchi — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 12:18:00 GMT

Now that football season is upon us, I was thinking back to 3 days in April: the 2012 NFL Draft.

My husband is a huge football fan, former player and current fantasy team ‘owner.’ As you can imagine, the NFL draft is an event that is revered (by him) and dreaded (by me).

I'm no huge fan of football, but I do love the game of sales. So I thought I'd have a little fun by drawing some parallels.

The Scouting Combine

This is like a job fair on steroids. Team execs, coaches & medical staff evaluate and assess top prospects. When you think about it, it closely mirrors the hiring process.

Players present their athletic & medical history (think resumes), then participate in physical, psychological & IQ tests (think role plays, behavioral & skill assessments), then interview with the teams and complete a medical exam (think background check).

The best teams have a collaborative, rigorous, numbers-backed process for finding their ideal players. These organizations believe you get back what you put in to this process. Can you say the same about hiring at your organization?

Pre-Draft Strategy

Before heading to the Combine, coaches, GM & owners must lay out a strategy. Step 1 is identifying gaps in the existing team. Do they need offensive players (think new customer acquisition) or defensive (think protecting & preserving the customer base). Do they need special teams (think named accounts, strategic partnerships, etc.), or generalists with a broad range of skills?

If the team already has strength in key positions, they may want to look for raw talent that is coachable and has future potential. Or, they may want to look for locker room leaders who can mentor & keep rookies in check.

The key point here is that teams aren’t looking for just the single best player – they are looking for individuals who best address a need and fill a gap. Sales Managers should understand how the role to be hired fits into their overall strategy before beginning the hiring process.

Plan For Turnover

Unfortunately, hiring managers don’t have crystal balls to tell them whether a hire will be the right fit. NFL teams have the same problem. In fact, many teams will draft more players than needed so they can ‘test drive’ them and eliminate those that don’t show promise in the pre-season (think bench strength). This helps minimize the need to hold onto C-players just to keep the roster full.

Now I understand almost no one has the go-ahead to hire 3 reps to ultimately fill 2 slots. But keep in mind that bench strength may exist in other areas of the organization (think lead gen, customer support). And what about that killer candidate who accepted another offer? Have you called them to ask how the new position is working out?

In the NFL, player management starts with scouting, goes through the Combine, continues from pre into regular season, and persists up to & beyond a certain Sunday in February.

Similarly in sales, successful hiring is a continuous process – not an event.

As sales leaders, we need to know our culture, gaps and strategy, we must assess the available talent, and we must put candidates through a measureable process to be successful.

That's no mean feat.

But this 2012-13 NFL season, how many of us will spend more time managing our fantasy teams than managing our hiring process?

So, what do you say? Are you ready for some football?

(Photo credit: mjpeacecorps & play4brew)

Chief Revenue Officer: The Emerging Role

Trish Bertuzzi — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 12:15:00 GMT

I'm always excited to speak with senior B2B execs that really get both sides of the revenue coin (meaning sales & marketing). From time to time, I’ll interview such an Executive and bring you their perspective.

Today, I am with Keith Nealon, Chief Revenue Officer of M5 Networks, a provider of cloud-based business phone systems.

I’ve known Keith for a number of years as he has built, led and scaled winning B2B organizations.

Trish: Keith, you’ve mentioned that the integration of sales and marketing is critically important now more than ever. What makes you say that?

Keith: Three main reasons. First, buying has changed. It used to be marketing’s job was really about creating awareness and sales would create opportunities. That has been changing. Since buyers do more online before talking to sales, if they ever do, marketing plays more of a lead gen and intelligence gathering role in partnership with sales. Sales also needs marketing’s help deeper in the funnel to differentiate their solutions and manage their volume of opportunities.

Second, it’s easier than ever to measure literally everything across the customer buying cycle. That data needs to be shared and reacted to in real-time, bi-directionally across both groups.

Finally, market conditions change rapidly with most industries being up-ended by disruptive technology, or the barrier to entry being low by the use of SaaS technologies, so we need the factors and the people that drive our revenue funnels to respond faster to these dynamic conditions.

Trish: What are some challenges you’ve seen in the past from having sales and marketing separated?

Keith: There is often misalignment over what constitutes a lead or there might be no standardization on how to process and distribute leads. Essentially, the efforts of both departments are not oriented to a single goal and set of metrics.

Trish: How might that impact revenue?

Keith: Imagine, marketing is creating materials based on their view of the solution and isn’t necessarily using language that resonates with buyers. Sales, on the other hand, isn’t providing adequate feedback on leads being generated. So animosity is growing while improvements and corrections aren’t. There can be politics and personalities at play that can be destructive.

Trish: Currently, you’re responsible for both groups. What have you done to get in front of those issues?

Keith: I’ve made hires from companies where they are used to working in an integrated fashion, with definitions and SLA’s around lead quality and handoff processes. Also, the ability to interchange roles across departments has become more fluid. For example, sales operations can get involved much earlier in the lead gen process. You can place a marketing hire in sales enablement - where creativity can play an important role in a more process-oriented space.

Trish: How about day-to-day? How are you instilling a culture of alignment?

Keith: At M5, Senior sales & marketing roles attend every one of my strategy meetings and thus are consistently on the same page and more aligned than in silo’d organizations. The interplay of great ideas feeds back and forth across those lines. We can more rapidly update all integration points - like updating our ideal customer profile or how to qualify a lead, based on new product innovations or competitive threats.

On a more anecdotal note, I think sales members bring helpful process and structure to the marketing function and marketing members brings exciting creativity to the function of sales execution.

Trish: In your view, does an executive have to have spent time in both sales and marketing roles before taking ownership of either?

Keith: It’s helpful if they have. However, there is too much to learn these days and things change too fast. So it’s about bringing in the best people, who are focused on a common company cause, not a personal cause, and who understand that it’s about focusing on ideas, methods, tactics and strategies that drive results.

As long as that executive understands how buying has changed and is familiar with what a truly aligned sales & marketing org can looked like (even if the roles had been separate), then by providing the appropriate strategy and hiring strong managers they will succeed.

Trish: What if someone doesn’t own both groups?

Keith: It’s not essential to own both. There are many successful orgs where they are not aligned. I’m simply saying it’s more efficient.

Trish: What advice would you give to CEOs, or any exec, who might look at their sales & marketing groups and find them in conflict?

Keith: I’d offer a few pieces of advice:

Do not accept anything other than a very tight, trusting relationship between these leaders. If that’s not happening, fix it.
Measure everything. As the old saying goes “In God we trust, all others bring data”. Data is truth. You can’t hide from it.
Define an Ideal Customer Profile with sales & marketing participants. Review it semi-annually.
Define an SLA for lead handoff. Review it quarterly.
Twice a year, organize sales & marketing off-sites. Have well-defined agendas, review results to date and check for updated needs both sides have of the other.
Measure sales & marketing leaders on common goals (topline growth, SLA’s, win/loss ratios)
Have each leader step into the other’s role for one quarter.

Trish: Keith, thanks so much for this. I appreciate your taking the time to talk to us.

So dear audience, what say you? Are we making progress in the area of sales and marketing alignment or are we still in the dark ages?

6 Lead Generation Metrics You Should Know

Trish Bertuzzi — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 12:32:00 GMT

We recently published our 2012 LeadGen Metrics & Compensation Report. Just under 200 technology companies participated and we compiled 20 pages of data, insight & ideas.

For those of you who don’t have the time or energy to read the full report (and I hope you find both at some point), I thought I’d assemble a few snippets for you.

Did you know that 70% of LeadGen groups now report to sales? Major swing in that direction!
But those groups heavily focused on inbound qualification are more likely to report to Marketing. (pg. 5) Tweet this stat –or- Share on LinkedIn
The percentage of Companies hiring LeadGen reps with less than 1 yr of experience has doubled from '10 to '12. Good news recent grads!
The hiring landscape has certainly changed. Hiring for experience in lead gen roles is no easy feat and average experience at hire has dropped from 2.5 to 2 years. (pg. 8) Tweet this stat –or- Share on LinkedIn
It takes an average of 3.1 months for a LeadGen rep to ramp to full productivity. Sales-led groups ramp faster.
Counter intuitively, we found that inbound-focused reps have a longer average ramp than outbound reps – 4 months vs. 2.9. (pg. 8) Tweet this stat –or- Share on LinkedIn
Got social prospecting? 87% of LeadGen groups utilize LinkedIn. Just 27% use Twitter.
Facebook brought up the rear with 15% usage. Taken all together, 91% of groups reported using at least one social source for prospecting. (pg. 15) Tweet this stat –or- Share on LinkedIn
Avg. # of calls per day for a lead gen rep: 56. With dialer technology, there’s a 25% jump.
It isn’t surprising that groups using dialing technology would report higher daily activity levels. We did notice the biggest uptick in outbound-focused groups- reporting 59 dials/day (without) and 81 (with a dialer). (pg. 16) Tweet this stat –or- Share on LinkedIn
In a given lead gen group, 74% of reps are making quota. Up 17% from 2010.
After a big drop in 2010, yes – those were dark days, the reps at quota numbers are much improved. (pg. 13) Tweet this stat –or- Share on LinkedIn

The full report is chock full of great information. I hope you take a look and come back to share your thoughts.

Happy Selling!

Inside Sales Management - What Matters Now?

Matt Bertuzzi — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 13:33:00 GMT

It's official! Our 2012 Inside Sales Metrics & Compensation Report is now available. This report is focused on the inside sales (closing business) model.

Our fourth report since 2007, this year we tried something a little different. We asked survey participants:

How has managing inside sales changed in recent years?

Below, I've shared a few responses that really resonated with me.

A Shift In Management / Measurement

Inside Sales has changed from purely results driven, to metrics/efficiency driven, to a best blend of the two.
Managers have less and less time to work with their reps on managing their pipeline as they are overwhelmed with internal meetings and paperwork.

Buyers Have Changed

Customers are more informed and there is much more competition. More time than ever before has to be allocated to training reps on how to quickly and effectively demonstrate differentiation.
There’s less focus on "dialing for dollars" and more focus on "making the right calls". While cold calling/prospecting is necessary to succeed, it’s also important to know why you're calling.
Email has become a powerful means of communicating. Prospects can control conversations and refuse to engage in live conversation. As managers, we need to rapidly improve how are Reps are establishing credibility and connections with prospects. Conversations are still king, teaching reps to understand this is difficult.

The Talent Lifecycle

There is bigger need to recruit with more filters; PC/Net literacy; Phone Skills, B2B Sales Experience. These are table stakes for being successful.
Identifying good inside sales reps (hiring) and ramping new hires (getting them productive quickly) is a challenge.
Reps are expecting more with a better job market. Hiring, motivation and retention are more challenging.

What Matters Now

The difference between "field sales" and "inside sales" is shrinking due to the massive amount of information out on the net. Now, you don't have to be face to face with the prospect/customer as much as you had to in the past. Inside sales is a becoming the mainstay/cost effective sales channel for more and more companies.

So, what do you think? How has managing inside sales changed for you in recent years?

Also, please feel free to take a look at our Inside Sales Metrics & Compensation Report. I hope you find it helpful.
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Find Matt on Twitter and Google+

A Brilliant Sales Email [Share this with your team]

Matt Bertuzzi — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:48:00 GMT

The other day I received a prospecting email that really impressed me.

The seller, Josh Mellott from Manticore Technology, was putting me through a well-executed prospecting process – combining voice and email touches.

I, like most prospects, was ignoring him. Until he sent me this note:

(Click to view larger)

I appreciated his diligence and wanted to let him know I wasn’t a prospect for him. I responded:

(Click to view larger)

It was what Josh did next that really impressed me

Before I share his response, I have a question for you. Faced with this email, how would your reps have responded?

In my experience, responses fall into one of three categories:

The D.B. Cooper – gone without a trace
Reps will disengage, mark for nurture and are never heard from again.
Sales Effectiveness: 0/3
Buyer Annoyance: 0/3
Net return: 0
The Bulldozer – entirely ignore the objection
So happy to have an actual email reply, the rep will rush to close on a meeting. Any trace of the objection will be buried under client quotes, benefit statements, ROI metrics and anything else that happens to be at hand.
Sales Effectiveness: 1/3
Buyer Annoyance: 2/3
Net return: -1
The Reframer – the fine art of objection response Jujitsu
Rather than ignoring the objection, or burying it under a mountain of other data, the reframe is about acknowledging, redirecting & teaching the prospect to see something in a new light.
Sales Effectiveness: 2/3
Buyer Annoyance: 1/3
Net return: 1

I hope I haven’t tipped my hand too much as to which category I prefer.

And now, Josh’s response

(Click to view larger)

That’s it.

In fewer than 40 words, Josh acknowledged my objection, redirected my line of thinking and showed me a perspective I’d hadn’t even considered.

This is what a Reframer does. And this is powerful selling.

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Find Matt on Twitter and Google+

Visualize Your Team with This Free Tool

Matt Bertuzzi — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 12:31:00 GMT

The other day I ran into this article from Harvard Business Review, Motivating Salespeople: What Really Works.

This bit caught my eye:

[To know how to best motivate reps,] the first step for any company is to get a clear understanding of its own performance curve. Ideally, this would be done through sophisticated econometric methods, but an approximation can be obtained as follows:

If you simply calculate each salesperson’s performance against sales targets and then create a histogram of those data.

I loved the advice to chart your own performance curve as an easy-to-digest, visual representation of current state.

But honestly, who here has the time & inclination to build out a histogram to see their performance curve?

Being intrigued, I did it for you.

Why this matters!

The authors provide several tactics for motivating reps that require understanding your company’s curve as a first step.

Are you “normal”? Roughly 20% A, 60% B & 20% C
-or-
Are you star-or-laggard heavy?

You no doubt have a gut feel for who your stars are, but have you objectively assessed how many A, B & C players you really have?

Again, from the article:

We’ve reported here on research that reveals that salespeople at different points on the performance curve will respond to different incentives, and we hope that managers will think about the implications.

So before you design your next incentive, contest or comp plan, take 90 seconds and be sure you know the makeup of the group you’re designing it for.

What you can do?

Use this Sales Team Histogram Generator (.xlsx) to see the shape of your group’s performance curve. I’ve included two tabs:

a sample sheet with normal distribution (20/60/20)
-and-
a blank sheet for your use

I hope this exercise give you a slightly different view of your team. And, perhaps, new ideas for motivation will stem from new perspective. Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments.

Good selling!

Sales Strategy for Startups [Video]

Trish Bertuzzi — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 13:44:00 GMT

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to spend some time with the folks at CriticalMass in Cambridge, MA. It's a start-up space and community for early stage entrepreneurs – my favorite kind of people!

The audience was smart, passionate business owners who wanted to start framing how they should think about sales. Don’t forget there is a difference between having a vision and then knowing how to execute from a sales perspective.

I thought I'd share the talk with you in a new format we are trying out (combined PowerPoint, video & cartoon). I hope you find it (just under 6 mins) interesting.

Oh, btw, if you've already launched your go-to-market strategy you might want to take a peek just as a refresher.

Thanks and let me know what you think!

(Photo credits: system58, heraldtimesonline, timizzer, openviewventurepartners)

A Worksheet To Start The 2nd Half of 2012

Trish Bertuzzi — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 17:30:00 GMT

The following is a guest post by Matt Heinz of Heinz Marketing. Matt's career has focused on revenue acceleration via sales & marketing strategy, demand generation and sales pipeline & process improvement. Enjoy!

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It’s the start of the month, start of the quarter, and we’re now halfway through the year. Which also means you’re halfway towards hitting your original 2012 goals. Right? Right??

Maybe, maybe not. But Monday is the first [real] day of the new month, new quarter, and the rest of the year. No matter how great or how bad the first half of the year has been, Monday you get to start fresh.

Here are seven questions to ask yourself now, to help frame, prioritize and get after the second half of the year.

What does success now look like on Dec 31?
What will I do differently the rest of this year?
What will I do more of the rest of this year?
What project will I start and complete before Labor Day?
Who are the 3 most important people for hitting my goals, and how can I help them more?
What 3 things (or people) do I take for granted & need to appreciate and/or work with more?
What 3 things can go wrong & how do I prepare to mitigate those risks?

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Trish here. Now, as Sellers, we aren't necessarily the most introspective people on the planet. C’mon admit it…you know it’s true. But seriously, these are great questions.

Sales & Marketing Leaders:
Create a worksheet (paper, not email - it makes a difference) with these questions and ask your reps to fill it out and hand back to you by 7/16. You will learn a ton about how they view themselves, what they need from you and how well oiled your machine is.

Inside Sales & Lead Gen Reps:
This exercise will take you less than 10 minutes, but will force you to think your way through some pretty big issues. If you Manager doesn’t give you a worksheet to complete, create one for yourself, fill it out and hand it to them. The conversation that results can only lead to good things!

Well, gotta go. I'm off to create a worksheet for my team. Can’t wait to see what feedback I get! I'd love your feedback, so please share in the comments.

Happy Selling!

(Photo credit: kajvin)

How Has Managing Lead Generation Changed [2012 Metrics Report]

Matt Bertuzzi — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:33:00 GMT

It's official! Our 2012 Lead Generation Metrics & Compensation Report is now available.

This year's study is based on a survey of 197 B2B companies with inside sales groups. This report is focused on the lead generation (sourcing pipeline) model.

Our fouth report since 2007, we are attempting to not only share where we are now, but also where we've been and what it all means. This year we tried something a little diferrent. We asked survey participants:

How has managing lead generation changed in recent years?

I've shared a few respones that really resonated with me.

Lead Gen Has Grown Up

The role has been elevated from being viewed as a low-skill phone resource to being viewed as an important element of a sales strategy.
Today, quality is key and lead generation is becoming a proper part of the sales cycle. It is about identifying REAL opportunities which match with the model/strategy. For us, the group reports to Marketing and that is in question. At some point, it might have to be moved to sales.
Lead generation used to be volume based; it was mostly about a pure appointment setting activity. Now it’s about quality and not quantity. It’s a more critical part of the pipeline generation/overall sales process than most people give it credit for.

Crazy Busy Buyers

There's less direct contact with key buyers. So there’s more emphasis on value messaging and specific insight from lead nurturing, trigger events or insight gleaned from speaking with lower level folks (day in the life pains).
It's increasingly more difficult as c-levels hide behind AAs, voicemail and even e-mail. It takes more dogged determination and creativity.

What Matters Now

Lead Gen has evolved from purely hunting, to marketing response, to a best balance of the two.
The more it changes, the more it stays the same - list quality and the ability to get good, clean names is the biggest challenge.
Hiring: It has become increasingly difficult to hire reps directly out of college as we did in the past. Furthermore, there seems to be a lack of job seekers in our geography.
Motivation: New reps have come to expect a quick ascension to other roles such as outside or inside (quota carrying) sales reps. Very few lead generation reps have continued on in the role after 1 year.
The days of "smiling and dialing" are wholly over; lead gen reps now need virtually identical training to salespeople - understanding triggers, prospect buying behavior, etc. - in order to be effective. Managing lead generation is thus not simply about enforcing call volume; it's about ensuring that call quality is there, and every interaction is valuable for the prospect.

A huge thank you to the folks who participated in our 2012 research.

So, what do you think? How has managing lead generation changed in recent year?

Feel free to take a look at our Lead Generation Metrics & Compensation Report. I hope you find it helpful.
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