Sales is a Team Sport Super Bowl Edition

As a person who's worked in SaaS sales for 9+ years, I've heard—and used—a lot of sports analogies. More than I probably care to admit. I'm not a big sports fan, but, as every New Englander does, I watch the Patriots and know enough about football to know that it's very similar to the sales game.??

Like athletes on the field, we plan, we play, and we review our wins and losses. Yet somewhere in the middle, perhaps unintentionally, we start to position players and other sales reps as individual contributors. It's easy to see how that happens. We put the spotlight on one player and look solely at them to add points to the board… when in reality, it's unlikely that a QB will win a game running all QB sneaks.

The game can't be won through the efforts of one individual athlete, and the purpose of the game is to win. But for that to happen, everyone has to "do their job" (said in Bill Belichick's voice, of course). That's how you increase your chances of winning—together. So you can reach Super Bowl moments—together. So you can take home championships—together.

If I've lost you, let me bring it back to sales with my unpopular opinion: a sales rep, is one player on a selling team.?

When sales leaders and reps have a team mindset, we work together to push a deal down the field. And it pays off. In fact, according to Gong's data science study, If You're Selling Alone, You're Doing It Wrong (These Stats Explain Why), sales reps that sell as a team are 258% more likely to close a deal than if they flew solo.?

If you're on (or building) a selling team—and if you're excited for the upcoming Super Bowl (even though Brady isn't playing), keep reading. This article will help you draft your playbook, get your team playing well together on game day, and provide valuable pointers on how to review your tapes so you can spot opportunities for improvement.?

The sales team playbook

Creating your sales team playbook is the first step to building a successful selling team. In football, this playbook tells the players where to go, whom to block, and who the intended receiver is. In sales, we need a playbook too. Your selling team needs to know how everyone plays together.?

Let's start with the head coach, your CEO. They will build a team of coaches and a diverse roster. All teams have budgets/salary caps to work within, so your CEO will likely pull together a mix of experienced players, coaches, and newly-drafted rookies. This is how I look at the team.

In building a playbook, outline what resources and equipment your team will be using. If your team doesn't have the right equipment for training or game day, they won't be strong enough to win.

Then, take a look at your sales funnel, and use it as your field for your "plays." Decide which players will be in each stage of the funnel and what tools they'll need.

It's also important to understand what's above the funnel. This gives the team the best chance to win. Just like the special teams—the punters, kickoff returners, etc—they're typically only on the field 20% of the game, yet they still play a very important role in winning the game. They get the team in the best spot to score.

When looking above the funnel, ask questions like, "Who's responsible for creating a target or ABM list?" or "How is that list being created?" When you focus on the highest-quality prospects, you improve the health of the entire revenue funnel and allow your team to start further down the field. It's an untapped opportunity to maximize productivity—and revenue.

Using a platform like Rev gives your special teams the best tools to get the job done. At Rev, we build mathematical models, what we call AI customer profiles (aiCPs) of your ideal customers, to help you find new prospects. Rev identifies the deep signals—exegraphic data which describes how a company does business. This is like your kickoff returner knowing how the opposing team is going to execute their kickoff play.??

Once you know what's going into the funnel, outline how to execute your plays. This might look like this:

• The demand generation team is responsible for x% of leads created.
• The SDR team is responsible for x% of pipeline generation.?
• Marketing is responsible for fulfilling RFPs.??

Now that everyone knows what they're doing, you can all focus on executing it properly on game day!

Gameday

Now you need to put your playbook into action and work as a team. If the QB is throwing a pass (delivering a pitch) and it doesn't line up with the receivers (leads marketing is putting on the field), you won't effectively push down the field and will not score a deal. The same goes for the blockers. I like to think of the sales engineer as your Center. They lead the blocking team and make adjustments as needed. They have the QBs back. A salesperson will not have the ability to throw a great pitch without having a sales engineer ready to knock down objections and answer the hard-hitting tech questions.?

When it comes to getting those last few yards to get the 1st down, turn to your BDRs. They have one of the most challenging jobs on the selling team. Count on them to deliver consistent yards and execute the running plays to push the team down the field. Working closely with your BDRs and targeting the right accounts, you can add a few yards (opportunities to your pipeline) before the clock runs out.?

When the selling team is off the field, rely on our product team to keep the competition at bay. They'll monitor the competition and continue to build a stronger product to prevent competitors from scoring.?

Post-game analysis

Time to look at the films. After each game (deal), look at the tapes and see how each player performed. This can be the point where an individual player or coach can catch themselves forgetting they're on a team. It's also a chance to see how the whole company's strategy can be adjusted for future plays. When a? team wins, the QB (sales rep) is often the player leading the press conference (deal review), and when there is a loss, they often are as well. That's why it's crucial to analyze the complete game. As a sales rep or leader, look at each play and see how you contributed to a team's win or loss. With that level of understanding, it's the entire team's—coach and players alike—responsibility to go back to the playbook and make adjustments.??

Final thoughts

Selling teams win and lose together. By playing as a team and treating each team member as a valuable player in the game—we improve close rates, increase camaraderie, and allow the entire team to be acknowledged. And when that happens, you create a better sales culture that attracts stronger talent, encourages collaboration, and welcomes everyone to bring their unique skills to game day.

Roberta Lepage?