How the Lasso Way helped us launch a sales methodology

Hey enablement friends! Are you a soccer fan (or an AppleTV+ subscriber)? Just like AFC Richmond has a special way of doing things -- LinkedIn recently coined ours. Do you have a sales methodology in place at your organization?

Macroeconomic pressures are making selling harder than ever. Sales cycles are longer since buying committees are larger; budgets are being scrutinized. Not only that, but traditional sales methods are no longer working like they once did. The window to influence buyers is shorter than ever, with buyers spending av. 5% of their time actually with a seller due to the information available to them online (Gartner, 2020). Buyers are also inundated with messages, and LinkedIn's data tells us that *InMail responsiveness decreased by 30% in 2020 (Hubspot). Organizations are struggling to hit sales targets, with nearly 75% of teams reporting that they were under-attaining sales quotas in 2022 (Pavilion Pulse). So what are top performers doing differently that allows them to rise to the top?

It turns out that the trick is an intentional, focused way of doing business - centered around customers. LinkedIn's research has found that top performers actually spend 10% less time selling than their counterparts -- because they invest that time in researching their customers and prospects. When they DO engage, they have a deep understanding of that prospect's business -- making it more likely that they add value and win the deal.

This idea was the foundation for both choosing and rolling out a sales methodology here at LinkedIn. Five years ago in 2018, LinkedIn was the leading professional network with strong year-over-year growth. We had insights and market edge, but we were also in a new position; facing more competitive pressure than ever (in both SaaS & advertising), we also had a new "coach" at the helm: our newly-appointed sales leader, global head of Sales Daniel Shapero . His goal was to make LinkedIn the premier destination for sales professionals to come, learn and transform their careers. Our challenges? Inconsistent sales processes, siloed teams and varied performance across the complex business.

We needed a helper, one who would work with us to co-create a way of working that addressed our challenges, leveraged our strengths, was aligned to our strong culture & values, and met our lofty goals of creating economic opportunity and transforming sellers' careers. After a long and thorough selection process, we embedded a new sales methodology and underwent huge transformation... because of a few key steps we can attribute to our sales leaders, our enablement teams, cross-functional teams... and Ted Lasso. ??

After lots of reflection on what we did [and didn't do!] over the past five years, here are five key steps to implementing a new way of playing at your organization:

1. Start and Build with Leaders... from owners to coaches to captains

Do you remember how dedicated Coach Lasso was to starting at the top? He won over Rebecca, bonded with Leslie and deeply invested in Nate to build a true coaching staff in "the Diamond Dogs." At LinkedIn, we not only sold our leadership team on a method; we involved them from the beginning, having each business line leader meet with the vendor to discuss their challenges. We appointed a sales sponsor who was invested in sales philosophy (since LinkedIn sells a sales solution, Sales Navigator). These two things allowed us to anticipate pushback, address early concerns and drive deep commitment and buy-in from the sales leadership team.

The leaders then spent a multi-day leadership offsite in Munich, Germany immersing themselves in the method. While they spent 1/3 of their time "learning it," they spent 2/3 of their time designing the launch plan for their senior managers, front-line sales managers and field. Our colleague Kira Pollard-Lipkis dubbed this the "waterfall immersion" strategy (in a piece for the Assoc. of Talent Development). Each leadership level was a co-creator of the next training & immersion for the level after them. Your takeaway: Don't just start at the top; just like Coach Ted empowered "Nate the Great" to write plays, make your sales leaders co-authors of the solution and they'll help you drive it!

1. Align Internally... across the coaching staff, club and fans

We all remember how Coach Ted spent his time "off the field." Before practice, he met with Keely in PR. After games, you'd find him at the pub with his biggest skeptics. What can we learn from him?

After your Customer leadership team - including both Sales and Customer Success - are on board, it's time to integrate the methodology you chose with every department of your business. After all, a new customer/ selling-methodology isn't just a sales initiative; this should be an organizational journey that everyone is embarking on! Meet with Human Resources and Talent Management to update job profiles, hiring criteria and performance metrics! Go to the marketing team and immerse them so that your external narratives include the same language as that of your sales teams. Don't forget: get your operational teams in sync with you, since they manage the systems and tools that will drive sales team accountability. Your takeaway: This kind of collaboration will help ensure that you are not only equipping your field teams to be successful, but also attracting the right talent into your field AND delivering a consistent message to customers.

1. Future-Proof your Methodology... for many seasons to come

The key to rolling out a method that sticks is not mistaking your launch strategy for an activation & change management strategy. Ted Lasso fans - Remember how "Nate the Great" began as the team's kit man? You can cultivate champions at all levels by first, designing a train-the-trainer program. Have your enablement team go "second" in the waterfall of immersions and encourage to write and practice their "elevator pitch." This avoids all of your methodology knowledge and belief being tied up in the mind of one person, who could become a "single point of failure" when they move on from the organization for their next play. Have a massive team? You'll bring the enablement team along for the journey by hosting your train-the-trainer sessions early & often.

Next, codify your training resources in a place that's accessible and editable. If you don't have a CMS, safely store both workshop templates and manager playbooks. This will help the new guard carry on your content and best practices! Then, build "field councils" made up of sales reps, customer success managers and sales managers -- all of whom can help you facilitate onboarding and ever-boarding.

When LinkedIn launched one of our early methodology immersions in Australia, I vividly recall the five sales reps who each spoke to their use of the method with customers during training. While they don't all still work at LinkedIn, two were promoted to sales manager and remained early adopters + strong promoters driving the methodology. Tim Smith & Hannah Kissel , I'm thankful for you! Your takeaway: Make your new method future-proof. In Ted Lasso, no spoilers here as to which champs and team captains join Ted's coaching staff and carry on his legacy.

1. Embed your Methodology into your plumbing... not just the team but also your equipment

Once you've built a method and a strategy that will last, it's time to ensure that the methodology lives on once your current enablement team is no longer standing in front of the "team room." A great approach for doing this is to embed the methodology into every step in the seller's flow of work. At LinkedIn, we started with our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool by updating the required field's on a customer's account page and a sales rep's deal opportunity form. This kind of system update reflected the mindset we want sales reps to embody, and forced a new habit of learning and documenting a customer's objectives & challenges (in the case of LinkedIn's methodology). Next, updates the other tools in your employee's "flow of work" starting with their forecasting template and extending to every-day meeting documents.

How can you really design a methodology that is deeply embedded? Think back to Coach Ted's Diamond Dogs: alongside Coach Beard and Coach Nate are General Manager Leslie and (later in the series) even Trent Krimm! Have the teams that own those tools and processes mentioned above JOIN YOU in the room while you define the methodology. This will ensure that there can be early systems alignment and quick field adoption of your methodology.

According to our Global Head of Enablement at LinkedIn Michelle Schumaker , one of the most important steps to embedding a methodology into your way of doing business is by tracking and measuring its use -- in order to hold people accountable. We can't drive or reinforce what we can't measure.

1. Make your Methodology a Habit.. that's as strong as muscle memory

Once your equipment is updated and aligned, it's then time to incorporate your new method into EVERY sales ritual. Forecast meetings and deal reviews between a rep and manager should use its language. Customer meeting agendas and pitch decks should follow the steps of your methodology. Sales training modules or interactive workshops can all be underpinned with the steps of your sales methodology.

1:on:1 interactions like coaching moments and group activities like Executive briefings should require a completed framework or use of the methodology at a minimum! At LinkedIn, my favorite example of how sales VPs lead from the front is through Feon's example, a leader in our APAC region. In her bi-weekly leadership meeting, Feon Ang 洪雍华 wants her team role-modeling the method, so she solicits a customer deal-in-progress from her team which must use the methodology. In that recurring meeting, she asks all of her regional leaders and cross-functionals to consult on it, refine our value proposal, and ask questions for the sales rep and customer success partner to consider.

Like Ted's infamous Yellow poster in the locker room, your methodology should be so top-of-mind that it's conducted from muscle memory -- in the same way that the Richmond the players' hands slap the poster above the door! These types of habits help every leader and every player at every level, not only to adopt the new way of doing things, but also to BELIEVE.

In hindsight, we lived our methodology by leading through example. By equipping reps with a method centered on 1) deeply understanding customers and then 2) co-creating a value-driven solution with that customer, we both provided them with a repeatable way of selling and empowered the field to help us co-create a launch plan.

The journey that LinkedIn underwent wasn't only another AFC Richmond season & another hero's journey. That tale was an example of our methodology in action! Deep understanding + a co-created solution = long-term value. By articulating the hero's "objectives, challenges, solutions, and realized value" in this story format, we are able to articulate a clear business case... both to our customers, and to my customer: the sales team.

Oh, and in that hero's journey? The enablement team weren't the heroes in the story -- just like Coach Lasso wasn't. Ted reminds Trent Krimm that AFC Richmond wrote the Richmond* Way - not the Lasso Way! LinkedIn's sales organization is the true hero, both on the field and in my team's eyes. As the enablement team, we're just honored to be witnesses & coaches on the sidelines.

Thank you to Aamir Syed & Stephanie Daniloff for the thoughtful additions and edits! For more details on our learnings or presentation at the Sales Enablement Summit on September 20th, 2023 -- reach out to any of us on LinkedIn.