Will Aitken的动态

Did you review your pipeline this month? "200IQ Sales Manager HACK Solution to any sales problem? Pipeline review. No deals? Pipeline review. Deal slipped? Pipeline review. Forecasted to rain? Pipeline review. Loved one passed away? Pipeline review. All you have to do is review the pipe harder and the money WILL appear. EOY PRO TIP: Try increasing the frequency of those reviews from weekly to daily until Jan. Your sales reps will love it ??" Plus the best line from the comments: "If you open your refrigerator 10X, food will appear"

Sales engineers have a love and hate relationship with the Proof of Concepts (POCs). For me, POCs are my favourite part of the sales process. Some may view POCs as unnecessary, but I like being challenged! It's the perfect opportunity to win the client's confidence and to demonstrate how the solution adds value to their business using their data. POCs also provide opportunities to learn new use cases that sales engineers can reference in future client conversations. Even if a POC doesn't immediately lead to a signed contract, every successful step forward is a reason to be proud. Growth doesn't come from feeling good, it comes from being challenged. If you want to improve, get comfortable being uncomfortable.

Your sales team doesn’t need another sales tool. They don’t have a tool problem. They have a skill problem. ? Nobody get's a degree in B2B Sales ? 70% of reps report they get no formal sales training ? 67% of reps expect to miss their target in 2024 When I speak with Sales Leaders, they tell me: ??/ ???????????????? ???? ???????? Poor prospecting execution is leaving them short on pipeline coverage. →?They end up going over budget and hiring more SDRs. ??/ ???????????????????? ?????????? ?????? ???????? AE's don't inspire change and lose most of their deals to the Status Quo. →?Leaving companies needing more pipeline and hiring more SDRs. ??/ ?????????????????????? ?????????? ???????? ?? ???????????????? Reps forecast deals that aren't forecast-ready. →?And those deals end up stalling, slipping, or “requiring” heavy discounts. Adding more sales tools won't solve the problem. We need to enable our sellers to sell. We need to close their biggest skill gaps. Want to learn how I help revenue leaders close their teams' biggest skill gaps? https://lnkd.in/emF9hCj7 Drop me a DM if you want to explore options.

Business Development is NOT Sales. Both play on the same team but their roles entirely different. Goal BD : Create Opportunities Sales : Closed deals Approach BD : Build Relationships Sales : Hit Targets Timeline BD : Long Term Growth Sales : Short-term Wins Mindset BD : Strategic and future-focused, Always thinking about "what's next". Sales : Tactical and present-focused, to drive immediate results. Metrics BD: Pipeline growth, partnerships, and market expansion. Sales : Conversion rates, revenues targets and closed deals. Tools BD: CRMs, market research, and trend analysis platforms. Sales : Lead tracking, proposal automation and sales enablement tools. If sales is the sprint, Business Development is the Marathon.

Pipeline management and opportunity advancement are critical for a sales team’s success. Here are some of the main questions we ask when going through each opportunity to ensure we are in the best position to help our potential customers. 1. Are we working with the decision makers? 2. Have we identified the pain, problem or goal? 3. Have we demonstrated how to fix the problem or achieve their goal with our product? 4. Have we articulated an ROI? 5. Has our potential customer agreed we can solve their issue? 6. Do we have clear defined next steps? 7. Do we understand the buying cycle once we get to the negotiate stage?

The biggest measure of success in sales isn’t what you think it is. Deals closed? Nah Quota attainment? Nope Pipeline generated? No sir There’s one metric that trumps them all. How many buyers genuinely respect you ?? It’s not quantifiable. And there’s no field for it in Salesforce. But it’s so easily felt. ? Does the client reply to you? ? Do they show up to your calls? ? Do they keep in touch when roles change? ? Are they willing to write a recommendation? The best clients are not the ones who spend the most money. They’re the ones you develop more than a transactional relationship with. Reps capable of maintaining relationships like this will win long term. And they’ll never have to worry about job security because every client wants to hire them. Do your self a favor and don’t be so obsessed with the numbers. Sales is still all about relationships.

Having a true strategy is most important ??

An evolved version of the BDR is going to be critical in next gen of B2B sales — what about the Account Executive? ?? I’m seeing a few strong opinions on this: -??Full Cycle: the next gen AE needs to be elite at all aspects of sales -??Completely Gone: the next gen sales org will have specialists for all aspects of the cycle. AE responsibilities will be divided between BDRs, Sakes Engineers, Account Managers, CX -??Project Manager: the next gen AE will be more junior than today and will essentially serve the sole purpose of targeting the deal through the pipe while specialists handle he heavy lifting -??No Change: the AE role remains the same Based on the response to my last post, I think most sales folks think it’s going to be the Full Cycle option. Personally, I think it’s going to go the Project Manager route ?? AE will usher the deal through the pipe and keep it organized, but specialists will do the hard parts. Thoughts? What other options might unfold?

How to Do 2025 Sales Forecasting? First, you need to have a Sales Pipeline. Pipeline in simple terms is opportunities in different stages leading toward closing a deal. Each stage should be assigned a probability from 0% to 100%. Example: From every 100 qualified leads, you end up closing 10. This corresponds to a 10% probability at the Qualified Lead stage. From every 100 proposals sent, you end up closing 40. This corresponds to a 40% probability at the proposal stage. When you map out all the stages with their respective probabilities, you will have your 2025 sales forecast. If you maintain a healthy pipeline, your forecasting will also be healthy. From experience, most companies face these issues: 1.Low number of opportunities created. 2. Lost opportunities due to lack of proper follow-up. 3.No proper go-to-market strategy, or a growth plan. 4.Untapped opportunities due to unfocused efforts. 5. Results in unhealthy pipeline. 0% Growth forecast for 2025. Happy New Year

A few really hard sales truths: ? If you're an AE with 2-4 years experience, you probably need cold call training. You spent too long prospecting into an easier market. There's no shame in that, just go and get it. ? If you're a BDR, you will have to do the role for longer than your AEs did. Just know when your time comes you'll be better equipped than they are. An extra few months is a tiny percentage of your career. ? If you're a sales manager with pipeline deficits, your team is probably suffering with a mixture of cultural and competency challenges related to prospecting. I see it all over the industry every day. It won't be fixed by one workshop, and some power hours. ? If you're a senior sales leader with pipeline challenges, remember that your first-line managers are figuring out a new world. They need tactical support on process, metrics, hiring, and team enablement. Standardise these things. ? If you're a sales leader who hasn't implemented a sales methodology / framework, or who has a legacy one, you're behind the curve. There is a revised wave of energy in the industry around standardising selling practices. It might be the answer to your decreased win rates. ? Sure AI is coming, and you need to plan for it. But right now, sales is still a people's game. Every sales process I've been part of in the last year has been won and lost by the people selling. Don't neglect enablement. What else? ??