“A set of repeatable steps used to complete a GOAL” is the difference between a Process vs. Workflow (which is repeatable steps used to complete a TASK).
The average CRO has absolutely no idea how their Account-based AE’s prospects day-to-day. They look at lagging indicators like Pipeline Coverage Reports but rarely evaluate the leading activities of the Process itself.
Here are the three topics this week:
1. The Account-based (ABX) Audit checklist for AE’s.
2. Where your sales methodology/sales training isn’t helping with ‘self-sourced’ opportunities.
3. The Digital Sales Room that I use Post-Discovery / Demo.
The Account-based (ABX) Audit checklist for AE’s
To help my fellow CROs, I would like you to run the following objective evaluation:
Account-based Seller (AE) doing each repeatable step
VS.
Opportunity Cost (Step not being executed properly, abandoned doing the step, $5/hr task better suited with cheaper support, technology to replace steps done by humans, etc.).
Step #1 – Quota Waterfall Modelling
How has your sales team, down to the individual seller, reverse-engineered their sales quota into “Control Factors”… daily/weekly actions and activities that lead into net new sales conversations? This is what an AE can control, but rarely understands.
Does it take into account the:
Tailwinds – leads from marketing, SDR’s, channel, etc.
Headwinds – remaining self-sourced quota gap they themselves need to source.
Step #2 – TAM Mapping
Within their set of accounts (Named, Verticalized, or Geography-based), which accounts are in the following stages:
Park – No momentum
Reverse – Canceled, Not Interested.
Neutral – Coasting
Drive-In Pursuit of an Opportunity.
Step #3 – Account Selection & Prioritization
Within all their accounts, what accounts are their TOP Accounts to focus on? How did they objectively make that strategic decision (Account A vs. B, Today vs. Tomorrow)?
Step #4 – Account Planning
Within their TOP 5 Accounts, what intelligence have they gathered about each account to formulate an action plan?
- Demographic information about the Buying Committee
- Firmographic and technographic information to formulate a series of compelling stories
Step #5 – Account Engagement & Activation
Walk me through an Account Engagement and activation sequence. From storyboarding the sales plays, to engagement, to meeting booked.
Step #6 – TAM & Account Reprioritization
Circling back every quarter, within their set of accounts (Named, Verticalized, or Geography-based), which accounts are in the following stages:
Park – No momentum
Reverse – Canceled, Not Interested.
Neutral – Coasting
Drive-In Pursuit of an Opportunity.
What has changed?
This is a process map that every Account-based AE should have a process for. If not, this is why you get “random acts of prospecting”.
Where your sales methodology/sales training isn’t helping with ‘self-sourced’ opportunities.
You’re skipping steps. All your current sales training and methodologies assume one (1) thing…
YOU ALREADY HAVE A LEAD / OPPORTUNITY!
Name the sales training or methodology – they are focused on Discovery qualification-to-close Won.
The challenge is that your self-sourcing quota attainment per Account Executive is at an all-time low. Give them an existing customer to upsell or cross-sell, sure. Ask them to open up a NET NEW door, not happening.
This is where the Account-based Audit is so critical. It’s too late to look at Pipeline Coverage reports and wonder why Seller A is behind their plan. You can’t fix the past. You can only provide weekly guidance on the actions & activities that Seller A is doing today to affect the outcomes in 90-180 days.
What can you do about it?
Simple. There are sales methodologies for everything. Here is a summary of some of the classics https://mailshake.com/blog/sales-methodologies/
You probably have:
- Qualification (MEDDIC, BANT, CHAMP, ANUM)
- Storytelling (Corporate Visions, Force Management)
Time to focus way before the Discovery Call. Time to think:
- How do we map a Total Addressable Market?
- How do we Select and prioritize Accounts?
- How do we Segment and triangulate all the Signals we receive in the market?
- How do we Plan, Engage, and Activate net new accounts?
Time to think differently.
The Digital Sales Room that I use Post-Discovery / Demo.
Welcome to the Pipeline Signals – Digital Sales Room. Get More At Bats.
What a tool in your tool belt. As an Account-based Seller, you now are in the driver’s seat controlling the buying intent intelligence from your market/portfolio.
I believe there are 3 very natural use cases for a Digital Sales Room:
- Opening up a net new door in a Bold and different way (valuable, consultative way)
- Control the Buying Committee conversation Post-Demo
- Introduce new ideas to customers for potential up-sell / cross-sell… or just nurture the customer (maintain the health of the account).
Here is how I leverage my Digital Sales Room from Vidyard for Controlling the Buying Committee conversation post-Demo.
Step 1 – Post-Demo I’m ready to go in sharing the call recording, key insights for the Buying Committee, and vendor documentation. My email template will be sent as soon as the Zoom is finalized rendering. I want to assume that a key stakeholder is leaving the call on a high, and wants to share what they’ve learned with their team. DO NOT WAIT until tomorrow to send this information. The meeting details will be “lost in the sauce”.
Step 2 – The prospect (key stakeholders from the account) all have access to my Digital Sales Room. The intent is that everything they need to make informed decisions is available to them.
Pipeline Signals – Get More At Bats
Step 3 – I let the Buying Intent help me focus. This is Account Segmentation at its finest. I’ve walked out of demos thinking “I’ve nailed this, they are buying next week”… only to never hear from them again. The Digital Sales Room will help me understand who and where to focus on accounts that are really interested.
FREE RESOURCE – Fortune 2000 Executive Job Change Alerts.
Do you sell into the Fortune 2000?
Curious to know which accounts are in the “Window of Change?”
The “Window of Change” is the First 100 days when an executive is:
- Newly hired
- Starts to evaluate the People, Processes, and Technology they need to change
- Meets vendors/partners to enact that change
- Acquires budget (typically at their end of Q1 board meeting)
- Starts deploying up to 70% of their remitted budget by > Day 100.
Be there first to plant the Seeds of Inception!
Free Resource:
Self-Generated Quota Gap & Activity Tracker
Do your Account Executives (AE’s) need more leads than Marketing can provide?
Do your Account Executives have a sales quota that’s larger than your current Inbound Marketing lead flow?
Each AE needs to understand their “Self-Generated Quota Gap” – the percentage of quota THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR not covered from inbound sources. They have to create this sales pipeline themselves.