"But that's the way we did it before..." – Be Human Again - Learn, Adapt and Evolve
So, you have a fresh round of funding and new investors onboard, meaning there’s targets to REALLY hit and ROI to TRULY deliver. You’ve recruited a full sales team - two senior sales folks, two sales managers, four junior sales reps - to go along with your all-encompassing marketing programs, bought-in data, target account programs, nurture programs, and fancy new website.
Add into the mix the most detailed, fool-proof sales process the industry has ever seen, created by your own senior management team during their massively successful previous tenures. As well as revenue targets that look more than reasonable considering sales cycles and the average deal size. Oh, and the same tried & tested qualification methodology you’ve used for the past few years.
How can you possibly fail? You have all the tools, social media engagement, exec & senior leader sponsorship, everything a fired-up sales team could hope for, right?
Actually, no... Your senior sales people are churning every six to twelve months, and not a single member of your sales team is getting anywhere close to quota. A bright spark can see the problem - it’s simple maths really. There just isn’t enough pipeline coverage based on your conversion rates.
So, working back with your conversion ratio from qualified opportunities and average deal size you know how many qualified opportunities you’ll need to hit those targets. Making 100 phone calls and sending 2 mass mailers gets you 10-15 meetings, right? And if you get a little behind your KPIs then hammer the phone some more, send out a few general sales letters, books and other gifts.
All seems like basic and simple stuff, right?
WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. Way wrong in fact. Why would anyone apply such an outdated sales model to today’s world of business? If the reason is “we’ve always done it like this” or “that’s the way we did it before” or “it’ll work eventually, it always does” then you need to take a long hard look in the mirror.
We don’t live in caves anymore, nor are we robots just yet. So, when methods fail challenge them. Flip the whole process on its head if you need to. Rip up the rulebook and start again. Take a step back and focus on the stuff which is really important - how many new customers/deals do you ACTUALLY need to hit your targets and make the year great? Not 1000 or 100, probably not even 50.
Focus on quality, not quantity. The quality of your database, not how many companies or contacts are in it. The quality of your content, not how much you create. The quality and relevance of your contact coverage, not the volume of contact you make. Quality meaningful conversations and interactions with engaged target accounts and prospects will always bear more fruit.