The Power Dynamic: 83% the prospect, 17% you. How do you tip the scales?

I think every once in a while, we in sales have to be reminded that we are here to serve, not dictate.

Here are the three topics in this article:

1. The Power Dynamic: 87% prospect, 13% you.? How do you tip the scales?

2. Note to young AE’s - stick to the same ICP/vertical long-term.

3. What’s your “Quota Gap” per AE?

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The Power Dynamic: 83% the prospect, 17% you.? How do you tip the scales?

There was a great article by Peter Caputa , CEO of Databox. And he posted an article about the power dynamics that are shifting, or has shifted for years. But a lot of times account executives really haven't recognized it. Caveat Venditor - let the seller beware.? The power used to be in our hands.? A customer learnt through us.???

That is completely shifted and it shifted years ago, but it needs reminding. That from a sales perspective, only 17%, according to Gartner , only 17% of the entire sales cycle for a complex sale. Actually includes sales professionals, the other 83% is the buyer checking out other websites like G2 , then LinkedIn to talk to their peer to peer network, then your corporate website. YOU ARE THE LAST MILE.?

Why?? - didn’t need you

How? - didn’t need you

Who? - will seek you out.

What can we do about it?

Become part of the “social proof”. This is where us as account executives need to be very present on LinkedIn because this is where we show up in searches. This is where we contribute to a community conversations.?

There isn’t anything magical.? No secret sauce.? Your customers search for partners just like they search for cars and vacations.

Be part of the conversation, or don’t be a searchable resource.? Your choice.

Note to young AE’s - stick to the same ICP/vertical long-term

Give me a time machine, the things that I have learnt as a 44 year old, that I would teach my 22 year old self. What I could pass on and here is what I would tell anyone that is new to sales.

Stick to the same ICP or vertical.? For your career!

This has been amazingly valuable for me in my career. Let me tell you what happened to me.?

I wanted to be a stockbroker my whole life. I actually became a stock broker. I saw the meltdown of the year 2000.? I grew to hate it, moved to Australia and did my master's degree. When I came back, I worked in commercial real estate. I really did enjoy it.? But I got recruited by a customer of ours to move into the software space selling virtual data rooms. The ICP was selling to banks,? private equity firms, and law firms.? So now I’m nearly 30 years old with 0% social network continuance from sales role to sales role.

I then decided to start my consulting career, helping sales and marketing teams.? From the age of 30 until now at 44, I've served one main buyer - GTM (sales & marketing).? 14 years.

I booked a meeting today (as I write this article) with a customer that I served 10 years ago. Why?? Because like compound interest, I have 14 years of a “social network snowball” rolling downhill.? CRO’s and CMO’s bounce from company to company.? They open up new opportunities and some of our customers have been 5x with us over 10 years. They've been at five different companies.

One of the challenges that I see young, unpolished AE’s make is bouncing.? They sell to finance for two years, then they'll switch to serving HR. Then they'll switch to serving the CIO, then they'll serve the Latin America market. Then they'll serve EMEA. It's all over the map. And so their social network can never really do the work for them.?

My recommendation to you. Build your social network as a vocation, as an “intrepreneur” (business within a business) growing it over a long sustained period of time. So that company 1 can bring you into company 2. You're always serving that CFO as an example.? You become a resident expert.?

What’s your “Quota Gap” per AE?

We built an asset for you as sales leaders and account executives called a Quota Gap Tracker. It's essentially a waterfall that helps you understand what percentage of your sales quota needs to be ‘Self-Sourced’.? You know your Number, but what is your CONTROL NUMBER? Meaning forget the million dollars you need to sell.? How do you boil that down into something you can control the actions and activities that you need to do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to highly influence the ability to hit certain milestones:

• Number of net new conversations this week / month
• Number of SAL’s / SQL’s needed to be ‘Self-Sourced’ by ME!!!

$1,000,000 sales quota @ $100,000 ACV (size of deal)

OK

You need 10 deals.

What’s your “Tailwind”

• Pipeline Coverage that exists
• Marketing
• Channel
• Etc.

BUT

What % of that $1,000,000 will not come as a Tailwind, and I need to source myself?

Most AE’s don’t know what that $$$ value is, and the effort required to highly influence that number.??

Let us help you figure that out…?

FREE RESOURCE – Self-Generated Quota Gap & Activity Tracker.

Are your AE’s struggling to meet sales quota?

They could have a QUOTA GAP.

Do they know what percentage of their sales quota THEY NEED TO SELF-SOURCE THEMSELVES? (not driven inbound from marketing or the channel)?

For many companies, this is shocking.? This could be 50%, 75%, even 90% of every AE’s sales quota.

Download it here.