- The pipeline was significant in number of opportunities and value but sales were not happening fast enough.
- The company had a well-thought-out sales process that was not being followed.
- They didn’t have a sales methodology which meant it was hard to diagnose how much progress was made with each opportunity and what to do next to progress them.
- There wasn’t a clear playbook that described how to sell (ideal target, problems they face, solutions provided, etc.) everything was in the head of the CEO which meant he was a bottleneck.
- Finally, the CRM didn’t help salespeople and lacked a proper way to measure status and progress which made forecasting difficult.
How did the project come about? Having developed the product to its optimal point and having won important references in their home market, Schaman was poised to achieve growth through international expansion in Europe. Schaman had worked with Rev Engine in the past, they needed an experienced sales enablement resource to lead this initiative, they decided to hire Alberto’s Rev Engine due to previous positive experience, proactivity, and experience working with similar companies.
Before and After Scenarios
We started working together in building a sales system that would allow us to solve the above problems. After 90 days we were able to:
- Put in place a prospecting process detailed steps to take prospects from engagement to qualification to help us ensure that we could have enough conversations with potential buyers, qualify deals to ensure focus time in the right type of deals, or nurture those who weren’t ready to buy.
- We also put in place a sales process with specific steps and milestones to progress good quality prospects from discovery to solutions, answer concerns and decisions as per our four-step qualification methodology. The process included not only what we needed to do to close a deal but also took into account the steps that prospects would need to take to buy.
- A sales methodology to sell value was implemented which consisted of a checklist with yes/no answer questions that salespeople would need to ask themselves and honestly answer to successfully assess how far along opportunities were and improve forecasting.
- We built a sales playbook with detailed information on who to target, value proposition, customer personas, problems customers face, and the solutions provided to those customers.
- Delivered training to the salespeople along with sales certification to ensure content was absorbed.
- Put in place a CRM to accurately deliver the right information to the salesperson at the right time and avoid mistakes.
- Redesigned the weekly sales meeting to help the salesforce focus on continuously progressing deals one step at a time and to drive higher activity around progressing that step, both by explaining what was done the previous week to make progress and what would be done this week to progress the deal.
Benefits of the service in financial terms
A predictable revenue engine meant that the organization now had a clear understanding of the activities and timelines needed to achieve sales objectives.
Cost: +100K savings in senior executive salaries that led to long and expensive sales cycles that would not translate into sales.
“We have defined a sales process so that we can see the real status of the deal, understand when each of the customers is in the sale, and be able to move forward by defining the next action in the most efficient way possible.
Now we have a much more predictable environment of how the sales pipeline is evolving.
We have put this process in a CRM that breaks down each of these steps necessary to close the deal and allows us to use this technology to execute this process.
We are currently working with the sales team to understand when each of the opportunities is in the sale and define the following action to be able to advance them effectively, taking into account some key indicators:
- Weighted pipeline (value based on the probability of closure or steps completed)
- The time it takes to move forward “
As a result, the new system highlighted two very different and distinctive challenges that both salespeople were facing. One lacked the activity and the skill to progress deals through the process, the other drove a much higher activity that did not translate into opportunities and pipeline, it was clear that at this pace the heavy-hitter would not hit his targets.
A plan to turn things around and coaching would be needed to go over the hurdle. But wrong sales beliefs and lack of accountability on the heavy hitters part was preventing the company from turning things around. We presented the heavy hitter with the hard cold data proving these facts, and asked what was preventing him to make progress, to which he quickly produce the following excuses:
- Lack of sales tools
- Lack of time and support from the organization
- Partners not trained
- Covid 19, and so on
We challenged the salesperson by explaining how we had done precisely the opposite over the last four months and how many resources and time the organization (especially the CEO) was investing in supporting the salesforce and continued to ask questions to dig deeper into where specifically in the sales process the salesperson felt that deals were falling, to which he had no concrete answer. The heavy-hitter finally confessed that processes were not important to him and that deals would take 2+ years to close, we then further questioned why he had not closed anything in the previous year and why there was no pipeline, to which he failed to provide specific answers but replied that this was simply how sales worked.
When we felt that we had heard enough, we decided to offer one last chance to turn his performance around, we confirmed our commitment to supporting him and giving him the additional attention and resources he needed to start performing like the top producer we knew he could be, with one caveat. Excuses were to be left aside and we would demand his commitment to his success.
We proposed to set some measurable parameters and results to achieve and work on a plan to turn his performance around. At the end of four weeks, we would regroup and determine what’s the best course of action for him. Whether that meant building on the newfound success or getting you into a different position.
We finally asked if he was truly committed to the company and his success and if this turnaround process was something he was willing to commit to. He sadly declined, he firmly thought that his way of doing things was the only way to do sales.
At this point, the salesperson had cost the CEO a great amount of money, time, and resources. But it was clear the decision that he had to make if they were to turn things around.
Even though Schaman had been successfully sold in the past and had 100% client retention, it is a complex solution that solves multiple problems and requires different types of stakeholders to be aligned at a client level, therefore the CEO played a key role since he had all the technical, product and business knowledge required to sell the solution. He was required to attend every sales meeting which made it impossible to scale. The company had two senior salespeople who drove a high level of activity, the pipeline was enormous in value but deals were not coming fast enough. The company lacked the processes, systems, and tools to empower their salespeople to sell, metrics to identify areas of improvement, and a plan to turn things around. As a consequence, money resources, and time continue to be invested in futile pursuit, an illusion that never materialized and that will most likely fail to deliver results and achieve company and personal objectives in reasonable time frames. The organization was however committed to achieving their objectives and their leadership team was willing to make a change.
A mature product, the exit of the previous sales director, and a successful investment round, it was now time to change things around. It was the beginning of Q4, there were only three months left to put a plan and put the right structure in place for 2021.
Risk of doing nothing: doing nothing was just not an option, new stakeholders had invested in the organization and it was time for growth.
Following an assessment, key milestones were defined to deliver a sales process that would define key steps that would need to be taken to progress opportunities, taking into account not only those the company needed to do but also what clients had to complete to buy, a sales methodology to help assess where opportunities were and what to do next to progress them in the most efficient way, a well-documented sales playbook and training.
The CEO and the executive team were extremely busy with different product, marketing, and sales initiatives which started to delay some milestones. Project management and determination on Rev-engine’s part drove the necessary accountability and urgency to ensure deadlines were met. Soon after the revenue engine was implemented, relationships with some of the sales executives started to deteriorate as these were not accustomed to high activity, oversight, and to process-driven sales approaches. A performance improvement and coaching plan were put in place to deliver extra support.
Conclusions: Schaman now has a much more predictable view of how the sales pipeline is evolving. They can see the real status of each opportunity and move forward by defining the next action in the most efficient way possible.
Return on investment: The project mitigated the risk of failed sales ramp-ups as well as the risk of having an expensive full-time sales senior person generating opportunities that keep employees unhappy and overworked during long sales cycles.
Most tech startup CEOs/Sales Leaders learn by trial and error.
They try something, fail, adjust accordingly, try something, fail, adjust… etcetera.
This is how Rev-Engine started until we found a better way…
What if it was possible to learn from somebody else’s painful (and costly) mistakes?
What if, instead of losing money and years of business growth selling the wrong way, you could invest a small amount of money and accelerate your business growth?
We’ve worked for Gartner helping tech vendors grow, have worked in leading sales roles for big and small tech companies, hired several coaches over the years, built a successful business from scratch, and spent hundreds of hours at own cost learning (through trial and error) what works, and what doesn’t.
We’ve gone behind the scenes to support tech CEOs getting all the “insider knowledge” we could, battle testing, and refining these things with private clients.
Unlike trainers and consultants, we won’t just tell you how to sell and leave you to it.
Unlike sales gurus and sales outsourcing companies who don’t know your solution and peculiarities of your market – we recognize that can’t do it for you either.
We know tech companies and we know sales, we will show you the way and hold your hand along the process to build a predictable revenue engine.
Schaman is currently looking to hire two more sales executives as part of their European expansion. Schaman is poised for phenomenal growth, with the right process and tools in place, Schaman best placed to grow the sales team, accelerate ramp-up periods, and minimize failed hires.
