A framework for selling

When we started hiring salespeople, we did not know how to assemble a sales program. In our minds, we just needed to hire a rainmaker. You can probably imagine how well that went ... not great.

This article summarizes several lessons learned from hiring and managing salespeople and describes our current sales framework.

From the beginning, we thought that a salesperson should be able to secure a certain amount of revenue every month. Kevin Daisey and I had been doing founder-based selling for years, and we knew the quota we set for other salespeople was achievable because we had achieved those levels ourselves.

After all, if we could bring in that level of sales, then certainly a full-time professional salesperson could do better.?

Right?

Well, our track record with salespeople has been, let’s just say, hit or miss.

Many struggled, and none of those salespeople have persisted with us.

Was it because of them??

Or was it because of us?

When it comes to that question, as well as staff performance in general, unless I have every expectation identified, clarified, well-defined, and buttoned up, I will take the hit when it comes to determining who’s at fault. And we did not have our shiz together.?

So the salespeople that didn’t perform…that was my fault—100%.

Our sales staff had some wins for sure, but often those wins came in conjunction with other issues we hadn’t anticipated. Things such as the role of the salesperson with existing clients, the role of the salesperson with the Operations team, how exactly commissions and quotas were calculated, and what activities we expected, or did not expect, our salespeople to perform. None of that had been defined.

With ambiguity comes confusion, and confusion leads to mistakes.

At a certain point, we disbanded our sales force and returned to founder-based selling. I sold. Kevin sold. We did fine, but not amazing. As an excuse for not doing better, we both had many other responsibilities and wore many hats. But look, I get that it’s just an excuse. In the end, it’s again my fault.

When it comes to a sales program, maybe there’s a better way.

More recently, we’ve started down the path of hiring salespeople again. We have Trevor Quinlan at Rival Digital and Kevin Daisey at Array Digital , both full-time professional account executives, and we’re interviewing for a full-time AE at our newest agency, Crush Digital .

This time, I knew I had to take a different approach to defining the role.?

First, I shored up the quota calculation. Did I expect someone to bring in a minimum amount of new sales each month, like before, or was I playing for the long game? But how long is too long to wait for the quota to be hit? What about one-time projects vs recurring revenue??I went through the mental exercise to write down those expectations around quota.

The quota is now well-defined.?

Second, I bumped up the commission. In particular, the first year of revenue for a client that an AE signs is commissioned at a higher rate than revenue from the same client after the first year. The commission is 3x larger in year one than in years 2+.

Why? Because I want our AEs to prioritize new sales and not rest on their laurels once they’ve built a book of business.

Instead, I need them to focus on new sales primarily while still continuing to benefit for the life of the accounts they secured. That way, their attention is on prospecting, but they’ll keep an eye on “old” accounts and tabs on those clients. I want them to check in with the client and the team; having skin in the game is the way to do it.

With that, the commission structure was fixed.

Third, I clarified when disciplinary action will be taken. If you miss your long-term goals, then there’s accountability. After all, the salesperson's role is to bring in new revenue. If they’re not selling, then they’re not doing their job. I had to be clear on when they were doing well and when they were not while allowing for the natural ebbs of deal flow.

With that, the accountability problem was clarified.

Fourth, and arguably the most important change, is that I’ve defined the level of activities expected of salespeople. It’s easy to set expected outcomes for a salesperson (e.g., close $10k of new business a month). But as business leaders, we must create a framework to ensure our folks perform the activities we know are necessary to achieve the results we desire.

You achieve results not by focusing on results but by focusing on the activities that lead to results. So, what activities do I expect, and how do I measure them? Is a cold call “worth” the same as a sales presentation or a signed contract? No, there’s a different value. The key here is to define each activity’s value and set the expectations for the overall activity level you expect.?

With that, we’ve defined the required activities to achieve the quota.

Fifth, and finally, we need a weekly report from the salesperson. It’s not good enough to ask them how it’s going. Instead, you should define exactly what you expect them to report on, how to report it, what to include, whom to send it to, and when it’s due. Weekly is a good compromise between getting real-time data and not overburdening your sales force with administrative duties. Provide them with a sample report, then ensure they deliver it week after week.

This is the framework we’ve established for our account executives, and the results have been positive.?

What have you tried when it comes to managing salespeople?

~ Erik