The lies that have been told to newly promoted BDRs, or hired guns being recruited from other companies – those lies are coming to roost.
The AVG Account-based Seller needs to make their number…
BECAUSE
The lie that “we have endless lead flow” is garbage.
Here are the three topics this week:
1. The BS that is told to new AE’s about lead flow.
2. CEOs are calling out the Pareto’s Law of unsuccessful AE’s.
3. A 546% increase in deal conversion, from 1 to 4 contacts per account.
The BS that is told to new AE’s about lead flow.
I was on the phone with a prospective customer today that vetted about that utter BS they served them during the recruitment process.
- “We are a market leader”
- “Market leaders get all the leads”
- “Our marketing team is awesome”
All of these statements could be true from the perspective of a CEO recruiting a CRO / VP of Sales, but the water taps are droplets downstream to the newly hired Account Executives.
Unfortunately, compounded with the RSUs / Stock Options that are already underwater and making sellers unhappy, these compounded fabrications are killing sales mojo.
I want you to picture this analogy. The sales organization sends the AVG account-based seller 33% of their required sales quota in lead flow (the seller needs to ‘self-source’ the other 75%).
Sales Organization: “Fred, you’re going to have TONS of leads & accounts if you come work here”.
Fred: “Great because I’m HUNGRY!”
3 months later.
Fred: “Sales Leadership, we have a problem. I’m eating only 1x per day”.
Sales Organization: “Great isn’t it! You have food every day”.
Fred: “What?!? I thought I would feed 3 square meals a day… not 1x per day like my pet dog”.
The GTM marketing/demand generation team thinks they’re crushing it with 100 leads, making up 33% of the sales quota…. But the AE’s typically eat 3x. They have to find food for 2 or 3 meals a day!
See a problem?
CEOs are calling out the Pareto’s Law of unsuccessful AE’s.
Sales Leaders are in the cross-hairs of CEOs / CFOs more than ever. Trouble rolls downhill.
- Investors call out the CEO / CFO for bad financial performance
- CEO / CFO calls out CRO / CMO for poor sales performance
- CRO / CMO calls out AVP / RVP Sales groups for poor pipeline coverage
- AVP / RVP Sales call out AE’s / AMs for poor activity accountability
- AE’s / AMs blame marketing and demand generation for lack of sales support.
In a market like this, Pareto’s Law dictates that most sellers will NOT perform, and a select few will carry the load. This is because there isn’t enough general support for these Account-based Sellers, who are ‘intrapreneurs.’
Like most businesses, >95% fail within 5 years due to indigestion, not starvation meaning they make so many poor decisions and pivots that they become zombie businesses, just like the AVG seller. They sell enough to earn a commission, but more is needed to satiate their sales quota.
Companies like Cloudflare and others are now expressing their frustration publicly. While this isn’t my style, it’s a sign that more and more sales leaders’ heads will roll if they don’t fix the ROOT CAUSE… PIPELINE, PIPELINE, PIPELINE!
Nothing is more evident than ensuring that every AE is self-sourcing, not sitting back and awaiting lead flow from marketing. If the Account-based Sellers take control of their destiny, they’ll take care of YOUR DESTINY!
546% increase in deal conversion moving from 1 to 4 contacts per account.
UserEvidence pulled the stats, and the stats were shocking:
In every deal they’ve won, the AE’s with +4 contracts in the CRM, engaging with, and they have “spinning plates” (a concept from the Challenger Customer book) – their deal conversion jumps from a sub-par 13% to a best-in-class 71%!
Our sales leaders know this to be as crucial to the sales process as MEDDICC qualification… but amazingly, very few companies measure this consistently.
Step 1 – Build a TAM Map for your sellers
If you leave the building process to the AEs, you’ll be sorry you did so.
Step 2 – Coach sellers as to WHY & HOW to leverage
Teach the team HOW to surround the buying committee socially.
Step 3 – Measure and reinforce the learning
Please don’t say it once. Say it every month. Teach it every month. Building robust buying committee maps is critical to our success.
FREE RESOURCE – Self-Generated Quota Gap & Activity Tracker.
Are your AE’s struggling to meet sales quota?
They could have a QUOTA GAP.
Do they know what percentage of their sales quota THEY NEED TO SELF-SOURCE? (not driven inbound from marketing or the channel)?
For many companies, this is shocking. This could be 50%, 75%, or even 90% of every AE’s sales quota.
Ensure your sales team clearly understands where they need to focus their efforts.
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.