Few things are as important as nailing down your sales strategy during a go-to-market (GTM) planning exercise. And, yet, most companies get it wrong.
Every CMO Should Try To Sell
About 17 years ago, I was a software sales guy. I had been a product manager for a product that did not exist. We had just gotten a new CEO and he told me to go and create the PRD (Product Requirements Document) for a web-enabled version of our property management and central reservation system. I completed this assignment and the product was ultimately developed ...
Outsourcing Inside Sales
In a B2B technology sales context, the ISR (inside sales representative) is a highly specialized role tasked with sourcing prospects and converting them into sales appointments for outside sales. ISRs are not telesales or telemarketing people. That is, ISRs do not actually sell anything over the phone or online. There is no transaction or order processing. The ISR function is a critical one for startups but it is often a disappointment. In this post, I will discuss the reasons why this function is sub-optimal for most startups.
The Lean Marketing Org
Losing Sleep Over B2B Tech Conversion Rates
Ask any VP of Sales or CEO to explain their pipeline conversion rates. Often, they will jump right to the win rate: “We win at least 50 percent of the opportunities we get!” Not so fast. We want to know the conversion rates (plural).
Many of the qualified opportunities that turn into closed deals quickly come from referrals. These, by definition, are very late stage opportunities in the pipeline. Your conversion rate for these types of opportunities probably needs to be at least 50 percent - otherwise, you do not have a scalable business.