From A Salesforce.com Executive:
How To Avoid The 7 Fatal Sales
Mistakes CEOs And VP Sales Make
& Grow Revenue 40% (Or More)
My Story
• Stanford Undergrad + GSB dropout.
• CEO of LeaseExchange: -$5 Million
• Ironman Triathlon, Boulder Outdoor Survival School
• Sr. Director at Salesforce.com: $100 Million
• Sales book deal with Wiley (#1 business publisher)
• ‘Entrepreneur-in-Residence’ at Alloy Ventures ($1B)
• On 10 advisory boards + investor in six companies
• PebbleStorm, with three coaching programs:
1. Sales Machine: “Create Predictable Revenue”
2. CEOFlow: “Turn Your Employees Into Mini-CEOs”
3. Unique Genius Coaching for individuals
Four Years At Salesforce.com
I created a “Cold Calling 2.0” process and team that sourced
$100 million in recurring revenue for salesforce.com
And Years Of Consulting/Advising
Why Am I Doing This?
• After so many years of coaching/advising CEOs
and VP Sales…
• I see the same mistakes made over and over
again
• I made them myself as a CEO
• They are simple to avoid!
A Wave Of Change
What Works In Sales Has Changed
1.0 2.0
Field Sales = 90% of prospecting Sales Dev = 90% of prospecting
ABC / Always Be Closing Is there a mutual fit?
Dials per day, appointments Qualified opportunities / month
Cold calls Research, referral calls
Cheesy sales tricks work Authenticity works
“I hate this job” “I learned a lifetime skill”
Long letters & emails Short and sweet text emails
CRM hurts productivity CRM multiplies productivity
The 7 Fatal Growth-Killing
Sales Mistakes CEOs and VP
Sales Make
1. Not Taking Responsibility For
Understanding Sales & Leadgen
• Everything begins with the CEO
• The CEO must understand the fundamentals
of sales and lead generation
• Avoid arbitrary goals, assumptions and plans
Solution: the CEO must take full responsibility for
educating & developing themselves
2. Thinking Salespeople Should Prospect
(Make Salespeople Jacks-Of-All Trades)
• Salespeople should fulfill deals
• Only prospect 20% of the time, to Top 10
Strategic Accounts or to current customers
• “Lumping” is when salespeople do it all:
qualify, cold call, close and manage accounts
Solution: specialize! You only need two
salespeople to begin to specialize
Separate the Four Core Functions
Customer
Organic & Frontline Success &
Marketing Leads Sales Sales
Renewal
“Outbound”
Qualified New
“Inbound” Opportunities Customers
3. Assuming Channels Will Do Your
Selling For You
• They won’t
• You have to control your own destiny
• The channels will come AFTER you are
successful
Solution: you must control your own destiny
first. Focus on direct sales success before
counting channel chickens.
4. “Sales 1.0” Talent Approach
(Hiring, Training, Incenting)
• Hiring wrong, especially in sales leadership
• Insufficient training (esp. new hires)
• Misguided expectations, esp. on ramp times
• Promoting the wrong people
• Using comp as the main motivator
Solution: get coaching on how to hire, train &
incent, or find local companies to model.
Train New Employees In Support/Services
Example: training salespeople in non-sales roles
Call Cold
Executives
Call Fresh
Degree of Risk
Leads / Stale
Opptys
Call Stale (1-2 Weeks)
Leads
(1 Week)
Intern With Services or
Lead Qualification
(2-4 Weeks)
Time
5. Being “Product-Out” Rather
Than “Customer-In”
• Unclear Ideal Customer Profile
• No one cares what you do, they only care
what you do for them
• Little executive time spent with customers
(should be 25% of your time)
Solution: talk to customers to get clear on what
you do for them, rather than how you do it.
Nail Your Ideal Customer Profile
• Industries?
• Geographies?
• Revenues/employees?
• Culture clues?
• Key metrics/datapoints?
• Dealbreakers?
• Dealmakers?
• Ideal contact at targets?
6. Sloppy Tracking And
Measurement
• You have no predictability without a funnel
• Are you measuring and tracking what you do and
produce, or putting it off?
• “We’ll do that next [week, quarter, year…]”
• Unless you understand what works and doesn’t
work, you are guessing at how to improve
Solution: Start tracking 2-3 key activities / results now.
Add something new each month.
7. Command-And-Control (“Push”)
Management
• Employees have few opportunities to contribute
beyond their roles
• More motivation than inspiration
• Using long hours/hard work instead of creative
problem solving
• Exhausting employees (and management)
Solution: read “The Seven Day Weekend” by
Ricardo Semler. Subscribe to CEOFlow.com.
CEOFlow: “Pull Management”
Bonus Mistake: Underinvesting in
Customer Support
• Too focused on new customer acquisition?
• Ignore account management and support at
your peril
• We have a world of “Frictionless Karma” – bad
customer experiences get around instantly
Solution: love & handhold your first 50
customers
Trust => Extraordinary Growth
The CEO Is The Pebble In The Pond
CEO Sweet Spot
Understanding Leads:
Seeds, Nets & Spears
Distinguishing types of leads
Distinguishing types of leads
___ Website MARKETING
Visitors
__% Conversion
Nets Funnel
___ Leads SALES
(Registrations)
DEVELOPMENT
__% Converted
Cost per Lead ___ Qualified
$___ Leads
__% Accepted
___ Qualified SALES
Opportunities
$___ Avg /Oppty
__ Lead Qualification Reps
per __ Leads per Month
$___ Pipeline
___% Close
__ Account Execs per $__
Pipeline per Month Sales Cycle
Length ____ $___ Bookings
Example Spear: ColdCalling 2.0
28
Spears Funnel
Define Ideal Target Profile
Prepare Add Target Accounts
Add Contacts
Send __ Cold Emails / Make __ Mapping Calls
Work Responses (9% Response Rate)
Prospect
__ Call Connects
__ Demos/Appointments
Begin Sales __ New Opportunities
Cycle
__ Closed Deals
Prospecting Emails: Less Is More
1. State simply why you are reaching out –
and be honest! (In every way)
2. Offer credibility (ex: customer names)
3. Make the email easy to read and
respond to on a blackberry/mobile
• No more than one question per email
• Don’t make them think
Sell To Success
How most companies sell
33
“Sell To Success”
34
Create Predictable Revenue /
Sales Machine
Coaching Programs
The Transformation
• An easy-to-follow sales development process that leads to
predictable sales revenue and an ever-expanding pipeline
with 20% close rates
• Go from erratic and unpredictable leads and sales results to a
reliable sales machine that generates pipeline even when no
new marketing leads are coming in.
• A clear step-by-step system to attract, develop, and retain
the top sales people that will bring in the highest sales with
the least amount of turnover, training and ramp time.
• Free up your time and energy by making sales a self-
managing system that runs itself.
What’s The Value Of…
• A clear, step-by-step plan?
• Even one incremental customer?
• The ability to repeatedly source leads and close
customers who aren’t calling you?
• World-class sales talent and sales systems?
• The trust of the board and team that comes from
more predictable sales?
• Peace of mind and freedom of predictable results
and self-managing systems?
Testimonial: WPromote
Michael Stone, VP Sales, WPromote (#1 ranked Search
Marketing Firm on the Inc 500):
• “Working with Aaron Ross has been nothing short of
amazing…
• His methods produced a profitable and scalable new stream
of predictable revenue.
• We saw at least 40+% new business growth.
• Deal size is still growing.
• We’re getting in the door with brands like Overstock, AT&T,
IBM, etc. – people that would have never come to us.
• The best part is, we had a blast while doing it!”
What Others Have Said
• Our company’s investment in Aaron’s services paid off at least a 10x /
1000% return in terms of increased revenue and productivity. I highly
recommend him.” - Steven Lurie, CEO AdviceCO
• “To say that I’d ‘highly recommend’ you would be an understatement –
any company’s damn lucky to have you.” - Andrei Stoica, CEO of
ConnectAndSell
• “The companies I’ve seen that have followed Aaron’s advice have
outperformed. What more can I say?” Tim Connors, General Partner, US
Venture Partners
• “Two things that made a big difference: your knowledge of salesforce.com
& your approach in working on a granular level to improve salespeople
productivity.” - Roberto Angulo, CEO of AfterCollege.com
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