Sales Assembly’s Sales Souffle is a monthly collection of tips, trends, and tactics to help you navigate the Michelin Starred world of Tech Sales – featuring yours truly, Chef Matt Green, Chief Revenue Officer here at Sales Assembly.

Bon Appetit!

I had the opportunity to co-host a small roundtable the other week, where a collection of executive-level sales and customer success leaders chatted about the general theme of alignment within B2B sales organizations and shared their recipes for successful client acquisition and retention strategies.  

Dustin Deno, SVP Global Sales at Showpad, put it perfectly when he said that successful sales teams focus on the success of the implementation, not necessarily the success of the deal.  Taking a longer-term view of the client relationship from the very first interaction forces motivates a sales professional to collaborate with the prospect from day 1 that creates the highest likelihood for the long-term success of the relationship, rather than simply focusing on closing a deal in the short term.

To aid in this, more and more organizations are exploring the value of Pre-Sales teams.  While we all know that buyers are entering your sales process more educated on your product (and your competitor’s product) than ever before, we’re fortunately seeing more sales organizations realize that selling is an exercise in joint problem solving, and they are aligning their teams appropriately.

Updating the CRM

What is the bane of every salesperson’s existence?  Updating Salesforce, naturally.  Fortunately, Scratchpad is a tool that takes a whole bunch of time out of the process, thus freeing up a rep to spend his/her time more productively.  They have a free version, so there’s no reason not to check this out.

Book a Time With Me Here!

Speaking of saving a whole bunch of time on mundane tasks, Chili Piper is essential for coordinating meetings with prospects, clients, or your coworkers.  

A quick tip when attempting to schedule a meeting with a prospect – It’s probably not the best practice to simply send them a calendar link and put the onus on them to find a time.  When scheduling a meeting with a prospect, strike a balance between effort and convenience by saying something like:

“Would you happen to be available at [TIME SLOT 1], [TIME SLOT 2], or [TIME SLOT 3]?  If none of those work for you, don’t hesitate to pick a time directly here (add link to Chili Piper) to spare you any back and forth.”

Below are a few tips from leading Tech Sales pros throughout our awesome community:

Clara Hughes, Corporate Account Executive, Outreach

Q: What checklist do you follow to prepare before a meeting with a prospective buyer?

A: I ask myself the following questions:

  • Do I understand how this company makes money? This showcases the credibility of my knowledge towards their business, the one I’m trying to win over. If I’m not a credible advisor in the beginning, I‘ll never be a trusted partner by the end, and I’ll never understand the problem I’m solving.
  • What persona am I speaking with and what do they care about? This showcases that I can ‘style flex’ to the vast needs of my prospects and customers. For example: “Yes, I’ve heard from company x that they are also going through similar difficulties, the sales ops leader over there did y to fix the issue, they saw z as a result.”
  • What am I trying to accomplish in this meeting? This seems silly to ask yourself but is critical to help you navigate your pipeline and next steps. Focusing on what you want as an outcome eliminates friction and shows you can identify the next best step for the buyer. Without an end goal in mind, I’m a lost puppy looking to my prospects for answers and prospects don’t have time to help lost puppies.


Elizabeth Bailey, Commercial Account Executive, ActiveCampaign

Q: What system do you have to keep you productive throughout the week?

A: Keep three kinds of tasks color-coded on your calendar so you can see what is coming up, and what you are missing: (1) Sales and customer success Tasks (2) Flex Tasks (3) Growth and Creativity Tasks. Here’s what I mean:

  • For sales and success tasks (exploratory calls, demos, pricing), those are the majority of my week, and are the easiest to prioritize. The first 30-minute block of my day is for pre-call research, preparing my demos, and crafting proposals.
  • Next are the flex tasks, which I typically have 3 of per day: These are about going out of my way. They can be sharing research with a prospect, holding office hours or training with my team, or helping a teammate with a project.
  • Finally, growth and creativity tasks are about mentorship (connecting with both mentees and mentors), writing blog posts for marketing, engaging with colleagues I haven’t seen lately or haven’t met yet (ActiveCampaign is growing like crazy!), or certifications/training to further skills. And just like that – productive and engaging week!



2X
Do not fear the emojis.  Deal win rates are 2X higher when a seller uses emoticons in their emails.  Source: Gong

3X
Speed to lead!  After two days of buyer silence following the first touchpoint, the win rate drops by 3X.  Source: Outreach
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