So You Read The Predictable Revenue Book

The book is 13 years old as I write this, the industry has grown wildly, and while the core ideas still stand, the tactics have changed. Let’s take a minute and look at what pieces are still relevant and what needs to be updated.?

Let's discuss what works and what we need to freshen up. But first, some facts:

1. Aaron Ross wrote it about building Salesforce’s first outbound team.
2. It focuses on specializing your sales roles - AEs shouldn’t prospect. A dedicated prospector helps you get the most out of your best closers.
3. When the PR book was written, cold email was more efficient than the phone for booking meetings.
4. It mentions a specific cold email tactic - the referral method = email the person above/adjacent to the person you want to reach and ask for a referral.
5. The formula for Predictable Revenue: Consistent top of funnel + consistent process = predictable revenue.?
6. Emphasize nailing your niche. To be effective, you really need to understand your buyer and how you can help.

Now, what's still relevant?

1- Specializing sales roles still works but only for some.?

For example, companies with really short sale cycles and low ACVs are likely to get a better result from having full-cycle reps.?

When you specialize the sales roles, you add a layer between the customer and your AE. Specializing means that adding this layer dramatically increases your AEs' efficiency.?

With smaller deal sizes and very short sale cycles, the juice is not worth the squeeze for specialization.

2- Cold emails have changed dramatically since the book came out.?

However, some teams are still getting potent results from email. It's not dead.?

That being said, most sales development teams implement a multi-touch sales development style involving the phone, email, and social media.

3- The “Referral Method” was the top way to book via email until everyone adopted it.

Now, people have forgotten the tactic, and we're seeing a resurgence in its effectiveness.?

Other email methods have emerged. One that has evolved here at PR is called the “Relevance Method,” where you go directly to the potential buyer and ask if solving the pain you solve is relevant to them.?

Another way to describe this is relationship-first prospecting. Your first goal is to establish a relationship with a prospect and ask if something like your solution is relevant to them.?

4- The formula for Predictable Revenue has stayed the same, just the tactics for booking meetings.?

To build a successful and predictable sales team, you must have a robust process, provide thorough training, and implement effective management practices. The foundation of a predictable team lies in these core elements.

5- Email deliverability wasn't on anyone's mind when the book was initially written.

Now it seems to be a little bit of dark art.?

There are two factors in email deliverability: hygiene and engagement.?

Hygiene factors involve correctly setting up your domain and email systems (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and ramping them correctly.?

Engagement factors measure how much prospects engage with your email (opens, reads, forwarding, replies, etc.)

6- The tool stack has changed dramatically.?

Back in the day, Yesware was one of the only tools available to facilitate a cold email outreach. Now there are hundreds, if not thousands. Building these systems to reinforce a strong process is now table stakes.?

Data is readily available, but someone needs to clean it.

7- Sales and marketing work together to co-engage on self-generated intent data.?

This could be from full-blown ABM campaigns, social engagement, or other demand-gen campaigns.?

These are areas where both teams working together can help get more out of both teams. Sales development now sits right between sales and marketing.?

It is seen as the pre-processor of marketing-generated intent data to turn it into qualified meetings for the sales team.

Do you agree with the above? Did I leave anything out? Would love to know your thoughts!?