How to add Velocity to Scaling Sales

The axiom that there’s pain in change certainly has a level of validity.?This pain leaks into sales operations, where many of us achieved plan and rose through the ranks by adding more “feet on the street.”?If we took an unbiased look back, we’d probably conclude that we expected too much out of our sales professionals.?We expected each sales professional to be good at every phase of the sales motion, from prospecting through closing.?Yet in many other functional areas of the business, individuals are assigned specialty roles.

Getting the initial appointment begins the sales process.?Therefore, if you cannot get that initial appointment, you cannot close business.?How many times have you assessed a salesperson as inadequate simply because they could not book enough first appointments??Maybe, had that salesperson had enough appointments, you would have seen that salesperson had well developed discovery skills with solid product knowledge and a strong ability to ask questions to identify a business case.?It’s possible, that if that salesperson had enough appointments, they’d have a close ratio and average transaction size that would put them at the top of the stack rankings.

Booking appointments is the right of passage in sales, correct??Or maybe it’s a major driver of past turnover that caused us to lose what would have been solid sales professionals.

Hindsight is always 20:20 and today it is clear that every company should have an SDR/BDR program to book appointments for the AE.?The AE should be responsible for the sales motion from the discovery meeting through the close, including identifying any specialist or support required to turn that prospect into a customer.?The account management team should be responsible for the customer once they are under agreement.

The psychological pain is felt by sales leaders when their staffing budget is reduced so that the company can fund the addition of an SDR team.?There is a cognitive disconnect from the actual staffing budget to the goal of the sales staff: To achieve plan.?If the plan calls for a team to add $12 million in new ARR and the average productivity per salesperson is $1.2 million ARR then, a staffing budget of 10 AEs is required.?Yet if sales productivity increased to $1.8 million ARR that $12 million budget can be overachieved with seven AEs.?

Is that sales rep productivity increase magic??No, it’s due to specialization.?None of this can be achieved without a solid team of SDRs setting quality appointments for the AE team.?The two teams work together to drive the acquisition of new clients.?The staffing reduction of three AEs could fund seven SDRs, providing a ratio of SDR to AE on enterprise level accounts of 1:1.

Therefore, the blend of SDR/AE is not a direct expense reduction as the fixed expense of the three fewer AEs (higher salary) will defray the cost of seven SDRs (lower salary and variable comp).?With higher productivity and the accompanying increase in variable compensation for the AE, you will experience a reduction in sales turnover.?Moreover, the manager will have fewer employees to work with and can spend more time developing each of them, making their job more fulfilling.?Finally, you’ll have a base of early career sales professionals, the SDR team, to promote to AE positions as you grow.?The benefits of an SDR/AE team are significant.

??The SDR role is an entry level sales professional; it is not a “telemarketer.”?This SDR will not have the same depth of product knowledge as an AE, nor do they need that knowledge.?Their goal is to uncover enough curiosity in your solution—by uncovering a business case—to book a discovery call with your AE.?They simply need enough knowledge to ask some good questions and identify some pain with the prospect’s current approach to the business situation your solution addresses.?Too much knowledge can be detrimental as the SDR then starts to slide from developing curiosity to conducting a discovery they are not qualified to conduct.

What the SDR will need is development and encouragement.?This is probably the SDRs first “real job,” and making 110 calls per day while sending out emails and LinkedIn invites can zap the energy out of a person, particularly if that person is struggling.?

Therefore, outsourcing your SDR function may be the best approach.?With a quality outsourcing firm, such as www.revitysales.com, each SDR assigned to your account will be 100% focused on developing prospects for your AEs. ?Even though the SDR is hired and managed by Revity, they represent your company and work as if they are a member of your team.?We encourage our clients’ sales professionals to have a one-on-one relationship with the SDR supporting their territory.?And after six months, if the SDR is a fit for an open territory on your team, there is the option to hire them. ??