Winning the Quarterly Game

Brought to you by Jody Geiger , Jenna Bugiardini and Klue

Voices of Revenue is a monthly newsletter spotlighting revenue operators making waves and sharing best practices.

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Volume 10?

Tom Brady's legendary career offers valuable insights for salespeople chasing quarterly targets. Like Brady's fourth-quarter comebacks, top sales reps know how to finish strong, pushing hard in the final weeks to exceed their goals. At the same time, they emulate Brady's preparation, starting each quarter with a winning mindset and a solid game plan.

Brady's longevity in the NFL mirrors successful salespeople who consistently perform year after year. As comedian Jeff Ross joked at Brady's roast, "Tom, you've had more comebacks than Robert Downey Jr. - except yours were all on the same field." Similarly, resilient sales pros bounce back from rejections within the same quarter, always ready for the next opportunity.

Brady's TB12 fitness regimen parallels a salesperson's commitment to continuous improvement and self-care. Just as Brady maintained peak physical condition, top performers in sales invest in their skills and well-being to sustain success over time.

Another roaster quipped, "Brady's so old, his first touchdown pass was to Betty White." While Brady defied age in football, experienced sales veterans leverage their accumulated knowledge to consistently hit targets.

In both arenas, success comes down to preparation, adaptability, and an unrelenting drive to win - whether it's Super Bowls or sales quotas. By adopting Brady's mindset of starting and finishing strong, salespeople can achieve their own version of greatness in the competitive world of quarterly attainment.

Finishing Strong

I pulled a 100K deal forward in a month. Voices: Brain LaManna

Link to Original Voice: The Power of Making a Confident Ask

Quote: “These are for live conversations. Don't try to pull deals forward over email. It'll come across as desperate.”

Takeaways:

• Making a confident ask is a powerful tactic to push deals forward. Specifically when it is the end of month and you have those last few deals that you need to get across the line.
• 3 questions to ask:
• Be direct and concise with your asks and make sure they are happening on live calls.?

Experimenting at Klue:?

• Our team has been experimenting with different approaches to making the end-of-month asks. In team meetings, reps will brainstorm different ways to approach each of the asks and work together to help move those deals forward. Sharing what questions others are asking in these conversations, learning what works and finding their own style has been an effective way of building confidence and momentum.?

How to Close SaaS Deals On Time With This Closing Motion Technique. Created by Chris Orlob

Link to Original Voice: The Final Stretch

Quote: “What series of steps do we need to take from here before the contract is signed?”

Takeaways:

• The critical question is to ask what happens next when you get verbal:
• No matter what the scenario is (negotiating on price, giving customer references, asking for the contract) you can ask a variation of this same question to help move this deal forward.
• Try taking one of your own deals and asking a variation of this question. Call up your prospect and see if you can get deeper clarity on the buying process by asking this question directly.?
• In each of these asks, you need to use softening language to avoid any additional friction. For any “intrusive” question softening language can help to showcase emotional intelligence

Experimenting at Klue:?

• Our team completed Chris's “Final Stretch” course and has been implementing various closing techniques he recommends. We're working to build these questions into our sales process so that our sellers have more tools in their toolkit when they’re looking to move deals from verbal commitments into closed-won deals. This approach will allow us to better guide our prospects and result in more consistent outcomes.

Ultra Successful. Created by Dr. Julie Gurner

Link to Original Voice: Becoming Unconquerable

Quote: “Whether you’re fighting for yourself, your family, your employees, or your team — learning to rebuild your momentum after a setback is an invaluable skill that every successful person will need to master at some point in their journey.”

Takeaways:

• Setbacks are inevitable for ambitious individuals who push boundaries and take risks. Even high-performers can face significant challenges like company failures, job losses, or having to lay off employees.
• While these setbacks can be devastating, the choice to recover lies with the individual. In sales, we need to make sure we are learning every step of the way. This allows us to rebuild momentum after a setback.
• Instead of focusing on avoiding setbacks or dwelling on failure, the key is to develop strategies for moving forward after experiencing significant challenges.
• Dr. Julie Gurner asks:?

Experimenting at Klue:

• We try our best to own our losses and extract the learnings from them. One activity in our QBR decks asks sellers to reflect on the following:
• This exercise provides space for reflection and creates accountability. It fosters an environment of experimentation and elevation.?
• Focusing on finding a brightspot amidst the learnings is important as many sellers do not give themselves time to recognize the growth they have had. Often milestone moments pass quickly and the dopamine hit they were hoping for is not enough to sustain them into the new quarter. As a result they start each new quarter off in a low, riddled with performance anxiety. Looking back and noticing how far they have come builds confidence and momentum.

Starting Strong

Wash Your Dishes. Created by Brandon Fluharty

Link to Original Voice: Your First 3 Hours of a New Quarter

Quote: “With your closed deals tightened up and the dead opportunities removed, it’s time to get crystal clear on what to do and who to focus on.”

Takeaways:

• As a seller, when a new quarter starts you should set aside 3 hours to “Wash Your Dishes”
• The Clean Up process involves three steps:
• This will allow you to start each quarter with a fresh, realistic pipeline, a clear action plan, and confidence based on self-reflection and strategic planning.

Experimenting at Klue:

• Klue’s sellers kick off the QTR with a thorough MEDDPICC Deal Review to get a clean view of their predicted performance. They present their findings, their forecast and their plan in the first week of the QTR. They will be held accountable for these numbers and deals through weekly forecast calls.
• Cleaning their pipe, defining key activities by deal, identifying new prospects and new deals needed is a critical motion at the start of a QTR.
• MEDDPICC is an important tool for sellers and offers a clear process for review.

Learning from Wins and Losses. Created by Jen Allen-Knuth

Link to Original Voice: How to Keep Learning

Quote: “It’s easy to run the same plays + talk tracks that used to work for us. This helps me avoid getting stale.”

Takeaways:

• What you say, write and do affects your odds of success in winning deals.?
• Take time at the beginning of a QTR to learn from the last one.
• How?

Experimenting at Klue:

• Part of our seller’s QBR is a post-mortem review of a key loss and win.?
• They map out a deal and look for milestone moments that either went well or turned the deal sour.
• They get the chance to rewrite history by determining what they could and should have done differently to cement their learning.
• It is important that sellers take ownership of their learning and skill development. This exercise fosters that mindset.
• Of course, there is a big difference between what you think you know and what your buyer thinks. A formal Win-Loss program with 3rd party interviews of buyers can offer insight to reduce blindspots the sales team has. We continue to learn from our own win-loss interview data. Seller, buyer and market intelligence are key pillars in a robust win-loss and compete program.?

Sales Leaders: Take Inventory and Recalibrate. Created by Brain Walsh

Link to Original Voice: End of Quarter Sales Results

Quote: “Avoid only focusing on the number. That’s why these techniques never work. It’s never about the what. It’s got to always be about the how. You can’t give people direction that doesn’t ensure they know how to execute that direction and drive sales results.”

Takeaways:

• If you are a sales leader with poor end-of-quarter results it is your moment to step up. Focus on helping your team "participate in their own rescue" rather than simply increasing pressure.
• A lot of managers fall into the trap of telling reps to sell more or conducting fruitless deal-loss reviews without implementing changes.
• Instead, leaders should concentrate on the "how" of selling, not just the "what." This involves improving reps' skills in uncovering business needs, articulating value, and capturing value throughout the sales cycle.
• The key is to provide actionable support, such as coaching on building pipeline, qualifying deals faster, and shortening sales cycles, rather than just emphasizing quota numbers.

Experimenting at Klue:

• We run a rolling call insights program designed to spot check key initiatives like new product messaging, impact metrics, and discovery questions. We get answers to questions like, “Are sellers using the things we want them to in the field and if they are, are they having the intended impact?”.?
• We look for themes in these deep dives into calls. Looking at specific milestone moments in deals, or tracking key phrases has worked well for us. We use Gong Smart Trackers to help surface calls.
• Our head of sales did a deep dive last week reviewing introduction calls for a new product and found a key miss was inconsistent next steps after good calls.
• We all know that time kills all deals, so this is an easy action item to coach on in 1:1’s moving forward and something we will flag with the team in QBRs this week.

As we continue to spot trends, we'll keep you updated. See ya next month!