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Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Mon, Apr 12, 2010 @ 12:30 PM
(This post is part of an ongoing series of Ask the Experts questions, put to readers of our blog. Please share your thoughts and experiences by posting comments!) ----------------- Who I am: I am a newly appointed Director of Inside Sales for a large US Medical Device company. Current State: Currently, we have a sales force of approximately 175 sales representatives, of which 15 are Inside Sales. All 15 ISR's work from home, with the ability to come into the home office based on their needs (approximately 30% live close enough to take advantage of this). My team's sole responsibility is to generate revenue from new and existing customer bases. What I'm being asked to do: I have been asked to validate the structure of this group. Specifically, develop a recommendation on whether the team would be more productive at corporate, with the ever-watchful eye of management, or in their current state, as a virtual team. Questions for the group: - What are the pros and cons of a centralized / decentralized structure?
Items to think of:
- Productivity
- Accountability
- Team Culture
- Communication
- What technology tools can be instituted to support virtual teams and reduce the corporate anxiety on virtual ISR productivity?
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So c'mon. I know you have lots of opinions on this topic and we need to hear them. Thanks in advance for your answers and for participating in the discussion!
Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Thu, Apr 01, 2010 @ 06:57 AM
In January we posted the first part of our conversation with Linda Duchin, VP of Marketing from PowerSteering Software - Are Marketers Becoming Enablers. Shame on me for taking this long to get the 2nd half of the conversation out there! Make sure to check out the comments as well! As a refresher, we were discussing:
- Is Marketing being forced to assume too much of the sales process?
- Are pipelines at risk because our Sales people are waiting for perfection as opposed to getting out there and converting interest to opportunity?
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Linda, I have a two- part question for you. It seems to me that many sales people are no longer responsible for talking with prospects in the earliest stages of the sales process. Do you think we have made a mistake in only delivering to them those that pass BANT?
Second part of the question which is related, marketing budgets are shrinking and yet Marketers are taking over more and more ownership of the sales process - are we getting process creep?
Well, I agree with the second part of your question, but not necessarily the first part. I don't want my Sales people talking to just anybody. It really is Marketing's job to do some filtering. For example, if an opportunity is too small and there is no way they can afford our product, I don't want to waste sales time on those prospects especially when their time can be better spent closing business this quarter.
I agree with the premise of getting Sales focused on the most qualified opportunities that have the highest probability of advancing through the sale process. But, Sales also needs to take a longer view and continually be contributing to their own pipeline. Like a financial portfolio, they need to have a diversified sales pipeline with opportunities at various stages of the sales cycle that will close next quarter and then the quarter after that.
How do you see marketing automation playing into this scenario? At some level I almost feel like the vendors are driving this movement. What are your thoughts?
I recently read an interview with Laura Ramos of Forrester on the marketing automation space and she commented on how the proliferation of new players entering on a daily basis has already led to some market consolidation. But the larger issue to adoption is that there really aren't established best practices on how to drive measurable results because there is so little experience. In fact just this week we participated in a webcast with Forrester on the topic of lead nurturing and it was apparent that most of the B2B marketers are really just getting started with it.
So let me give you a for instance: Marketing goes through all time, effort & energy of developing a lead - right company, right guy, right pain and hands it over to Sales.
Sales calls him twice, leaves two messages, moves on and shifts the lead back to Marketing for nurturing. Does Marketing now own the responsibility for re-engaging that prospect even though they had already raised their hand once?
Yes! If Sales doesn't have the bandwidth or the time to devote adequate follow up, it is better that a prospect re-enters a nurture flow than being neglected altogether. But I do see the threat here, again, of contributing to the enablement issue.
Actually, I look at the objective of lead nurturing as more upstream than your example. We have a notion of pre-leads: we acquire a list or attend a trade show but don't speak to a number of attendees. They might be the right contact at the right company but haven't yet expressed an interest or responded to us.
So we put those cold contacts into a pre-lead nurture flow with the goal of warming them up to the point where it is worthwhile for Inside Sales to work them. So we are replicating the same sort of qualification processes that we've historically done for Sales and shifting it upstream for Inside Sales.
This nurturing process should be Marketing's responsibility to oversee and monitor. We're in a highly competitive market with a long sales cycle, so we don't always catch a prospect when they have budget or an identified need. And with so much competitive information so accessible on the web, we need to stay top of mind with these "suspects" or they'll easily buy from a competitor. Let's say you've attended a webcast and were interested in the topic, but weren't really in a position to engage with Sales. Inside Sales has tried to entice you for two months without success, so now we'll put you in an automated nurture campaign until you respond and score enough points that it's worthwhile for a sales rep to reach out again.
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So, what is the right answer? I like this comment that Scott Mersy of Genius.com contributed to the first part of this post:
Great discussion! To me, the bottom line is not that sales & marketing are converging but that marketers are rightly being held responsible for proving the contribution of marketing to revenue.
"Sales-ready" leads, lead scoring, and other terms are simply tools to assist in measuring marketing results. If the systems and processes are too rigid so that leads get silo-ed away and hidden from a Rep until some magical formula is reached, that's the wrong approach.
What do you think? What process are you using to ensure that leads get to the right resource at the right time?
Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Thu, Jan 21, 2010 @ 07:08 AM
I had the pleasure recently of doing an interview with Chad Levitt for his New Sales Economy Blog. We discuss a range of topics: changes to the sales profession, inbound marketing, Sales 2.0 & the "arrival" of Inside Sales.
A big thanks to Chad for the opportunity!
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Chad: The term Sales 2.0 is getting a lot of buzz and attention - what is the buzz is all about and why is it important?
Trish: The buzz is all about the buzz....every once in a while the next great thing comes along and right now the next great thing is Sales 2.0. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a Sales 2.0 advocate but when you peel away all the layers, 2.0 is nothing more than the effective integration of people, process and technology.
Smart leaders have been thinking about this integration process for quite some time. What I like about the Sales 2.0 movement is that now it forces people to focus on the buyer as part of that equation. The challenge for sales and marketing executives has become "How do I effectively incorporate the needs of my buyer into my people, process and technology equation?"
Chad: I've spoken with many sales reps who think Sales 2.0 and social media are a waste of time - what is your response to them?
Trish: This is a tough one because I see both sides of the equation. If a business has not articulated a well thought out strategy then it says to the Sales Rep "Here, here's a bunch of other stuff that you need to think about and add to your to do list."
Let me break my answer into two segments starting with social media.
- We believe, and we presented our thoughts on the topic at the Sales 2.0 Conference in Boston, that it is the responsibility of the corporation to figure out their social media strategy. Social media will deliver an ROI if and only if your buyer is participating in the medium. See our presentation Fishing Where Your Buyers Swim. You can tweet, Facebook. blog and text your ass off but if no one is listening...what does it get you? Figure out where your buyers go for information and then put all your eggs in only those social media basket/s.
- As for Sales 2.0, for most organizations it means adding more technology to the mix. Before you do that, it is always good to ask "Have I maximized the technology I already have in place?" And, before you run out and buy the next bright shiny toy, have you thought through the process that will make you successful with it?
Chad: I believe inbound marketing can help sales reps create more value for their customers and prospects - how do you see inbound marketing influencing the sales profession?
Trish: Inbound marketing has come such a long way in the past two years. We are a Hubspot customer as well as a raving fans - so we have come a long way with inbound marketing ourselves. Smart Marketers really understand that the difference between dumping lists into a CRM and calling them "leads" and getting people who fit your Buyer Persona to raise their hands and engage with you is the key to success.
Great sales people have figured out how to marry the activity they get via inbound marketing with a well constructed outbound process. If your pipeline isn't robust, you can't sit and wait for buyers to self select. You need to go to them with a relevant story, arouse curiosity and then launch your sales process.
Chad: At The Bridge Group you track many different data points and trends - what are some of the most interesting trends you are seeing and what does it mean for sales professionals?
Trish: We have been around for 12 years and I have been in technology based inside sales for 30 so I can now say "Inside Sales is the wave of the future - finally!" We spent a lot of years building a business case for this mode of selling and sometimes it felt like the market would never see beyond "telemarketing". That has changed now and even the venture capital firms are requiring a sound Inside Sales strategy from their portfolio companies. Sales professionals must know how to leverage phone and web based selling to be successful in this day and age.
Chad: I read a lot of blogs on many subjects - what are some of your favorite blogs and why?
Trish: I read about 30 blogs a day so I will give you my top 3 - it goes without saying that yours is one as well!
Marketing Interactions by Ardath Albee - She is the queen of all things content driven and I learn a lot from her.
Castain's Sales Playbook by Paul Castain - Paul is not in the technology space but I love to read his stuff because he is incredibly motivating person and gives off incredibly positive vibes.
Garth's World by Garth Moulton - Garth is irreverent and I love that. If it is in his head he puts it out there and I laugh out loud every time I read him.
Chad: How do you use social media at The Bridge Group and what kind of results have you seen?
Trish: We blog quite a bit and that drives a ton of traffic to our web site. We just closed one of our biggest deals ever and the company found us via our blog. I tweet and although I do not think my buyers are following me, it has certainly brought me fantastic relationships with vendors, analysts and other consultants.
Look, you can't put a price on having a great network and that is what social media brings you. It isn't about the activity it is about the relationships you develop as a result of that activity.
Chad: What is the one thing you recommend sales reps do or learn to stay competitive in an increasingly competitive marketplace?
Trish: Learn how to be relevant to your buyers. The days of vanilla selling are gone. You need to have an intimate knowledge of your buyer's day to day business life. If you make that kind of investment in learning, you will win!
| The Impact of Sales 2.0 Tool Report |
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Learn more about adoption, effectiveness & impact of Sales 2.0 tools for B2B Sales & Marketing groups.
Based on surveys of over 90 B2B companies. |
Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Tue, Nov 24, 2009 @ 06:54 AM
This is a guest post by Craig Rosenberg of The Funnelholic. You can find Craig on twitter at @funnelholic.
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Most B2B marketers don't always realize that the initial follow up on your leads can make or break your conversion rate and ultimately your ROI. The B2B marketers that do realize this have adjusted - they either own lead qualification, work extensively with the sales-lead lead-qualification team or outsource to a tele-vendor who qualifies leads before they pass them to the sales-lead lead-qual group. Just generating leads or managing CPL, and so on means nothing if you aren't optimized for what happens after you generate the lead. 
So, as a person who has been providing leads to organizations for 10 years, I can say I have heard them all. Not just from the person on the phone following up, but from the marketers who gather feedback from sales. This "feedback" is from the front line of leads. If this is the feedback you are getting, sometimes fixing the follow-up first makes all the difference. Remember, if Sirius Decisions is right, 80 percent of the leads that sales disqualifies end up buying within 24 months. So those leads that "suck" many not be that bad after all.
Before I go on, I do want to say one thing I have learned: many times all "frontline" objections are solved by three things:
- Being clear about what the goal is of the call. In most cases, its two-fold: Figure out whether you should keep talking (score) and, if so, get them to the next step in the sales process (demonstration, appointment, and so on). This is where follow-up fails: Lead-qual reps think their job is to sell the product (bad call), figure out if they have read the whitepaper (hilarious). Every objection can be answered by the question "Are you the person involved in ...?" Seriously.
- Training and management - repeat after me: training and management.
- Marketing automation and lead nurturing.
So, here they are the 6 common, but easy to overcome, yet honestly, completely annoying pieces of feedback you receive on leads*:
- "They don't remember downloading the whitepaper":
Yes, I know. Since the advent of online whitepaper syndication, it has been the new buyer objection. Suckers get derailed from this objection. Seriously, why do you care? YOU know they did, so leverage that knowledge to keep on fighting. How about, "no problem, are you in charge of...?"
- "They won't call me back":
That's right, because buyers (even when buying) can't wait to call back someone so they can be subjected to BANT qualifying questions. Don't just leave "checking in and seeing if you have any questions" voicemails of the early 90s. The buyer's job is to NOT call you back or email you back (even when they LIKE you). Winning organizations have the following:
- Coordinated call/email campaigns designed to get people to connect.
- Outbound dialing service like Connect and Sell www.connectandsell.com
- An understanding that not everyone will answer their phones in 3 weeks, so nurture.
- "They don't know who we are":
Now this one CAN be solved to an extent with the lead sources that you are using, but again, is that the ultimate opening question? Who are you? Don't mind if I do.
- "They don't have a project":
Sorry that they don't have a project today, but seeing as this is the right person who is requesting information about your market, you may want to talk to them. Just to note, from our marketing programs at Tippit, we have one simple lead definition, "Right Person, Right Interest." We will pay for that. We know over time, they will buy. Just get us started.
- "They aren't the decision maker":
I know, I know, you need to talk to the CEO or VP. Well, they aren't going to download things on the Internet. I understand why we need to get to the C-suite at some point, but that's not going to happen with industrial grade, lead-generation machinery. Particularly with companies that want to do LOTS of business. If you want to hit the C-suite, put together a VITO campaign leveraging execs, make sure you have experienced outbound callers on the project and be happy with a couple leads. But don't expect your lead machine to punch out CEO's.
- "They have a project but...":
You can't have it both ways from lead gen. The perfect project ready to buy in one month with no warts attached is just NOT going to happen. If you do get projects, be happy you did. These are still leads. Here are some of my favorites:
- "They fit our employee parameters, but they only want a small amount of licenses"
- "They are already down the road"
Note: This is primarily related to leads and inquiries, depending on what you call them (not BANT scored).
*This "feedback" means there is a problem with expectation setting, process, and so on and can always be made to go away.
(Photo Credit: hugovk)
Posted by Matt Bertuzzi on Tue, Nov 17, 2009 @ 06:59 AM
Stop me if you've heard this one, but 2009 was unlike any other year in B2B Marketing & Sales.
Rather than focus exclusively on the why's & how's of what went wrong, I've given a lot of thought recently to what I learned from 2009. I thought it would be interesting to ask a few B2B Marketing Leaders their take on the following question:
What was the best decision you made in 2009?
Here's a slideshare with their responses...
In case you're interested, here's my take.
Have fun. Try things. Measure & repeat.
If I learned one thing from 2009 it's that doing the safe thing is often the riskiest approach.
The companies that inspired me this year were human (they seemed to be having fun). They mixed it up (they had the Hollywood mindset - not every picture will be a blockbuster). They measured early, often & doubled down on winning ideas (they got in front of the ideas that spread and gave them support - on the flip side, they ID'd the dogs and killed them early).
A big thank you for participating goes out to:
How would you answer? What was the best decision you made in 2009?
Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Thu, Oct 01, 2009 @ 12:44 PM
(This post is part or our ongoing series of Ask the Experts questions, please share your thoughts and experiences by posting comments!)
Keith Nealon, VP of Worldwide Sales for Conductor has a question he would like to pose to Inside Sales practitioners.
Background:
Keith's team is comprised of Demand Generation Reps that are responsible for setting meetings for a primarily Inside Sales force, with a small field sales force.
Question:
I'm interested in thoughts on innovative ways to setup territories (besides the usual geo, vertical, revenue splits) when you have a constantly growing (therefore resizing) Inside Sales team.
Does anybody have some ideas that are unusual and/or different and have created solid results? (e.g. example setting up a model based on first come first serve for new leads to the lead queue)
Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Tue, May 05, 2009 @ 06:46 AM
I'm a big fan of Marci Reynolds over at the Sales Operations Blog. So I asked her a few questions about something she knows a ton about: Sales Operations ideas, trends & best practices.
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At a high-level what is Sales Operations?
Sales Operations is a set of business activities that help Sales run more effectively and efficiently and support corporate business objectives. Sales Operations teams support Inside Sales, Outside Sales, Online Sales or a combination of all 3 groups. I often describe Sales Ops as "the backbone of a sales organization".
Why should companies invest in Sales Ops?
When companies invest in the right level of Sales Operations support and resources, they reap incredible benefits in the areas of:
- sales productivity
- efficiency
- strengthening customer relationships
- improving employee morale
In these difficult economic times, many companies are looking for areas to cut back on- and unfortunately the support areas, like sales operations are often effected. However... this is the worst time for a company to cut back on Sales Operations!
Sales Operations activities can help give your company a competitive edge. New technologies, new processes and new methods to enable your sales teams- will help your firm drive more sales in a more efficient manner.
Specifically what does Sales Ops do?
The activities vary from company to company, but often include 8 categories:
- Sales Strategy: Design, Planning & Execution
- Measurement of Results: Reporting, Analytics & Sales Data
- Compensation, Quota, Policies
- Technology & Tools, including CRM
- Training & Sales Communication
- Territory Design & Optimization
- Contests/Spiffs
- Lead Generation/Sales Programs
Can you give me some examples of how Sales Ops support Sales Management?
When Sales Leaders are also tasked with functions like reporting or territory design, their time is diverted from coaching and selling. In this challenging economy, we can't afford to waste a moment! We need Sales Leaders 100% engaged in selling activities.
Here's another example: have you ever had to wait for months to get a new "Management Dashboard" KPI report? Do your Sales Reps continually ask for tweaks to your CRM screens and data elements, but nothing gets done?
Many of these tasks require a very unique and specialized skill set that your Sales Operations team members will have - From expert level Excel skills, to technical savvy to business writing. Your Sales Operations personnel should also have strong relationships with IT, Marketing and Product.
If you are serious about raising the bar and transforming your sales organizations, hire experts for key sales operations roles. And hire enough of them. i.e. the right number of resources aligned with the amount of work required to complete.
Sales operations tasks will get done faster, stronger, better! And, as mentioned above, sales productivity will increase.
What were some of the more interesting Sales Ops projects you've been involved with?
I've had the opportunity to participate in two different sales reorganizations- one for a Business Services firm and another for an Internet Services firm. In both cases, Sales Ops partnered with Sales Leadership to define a new "go to market" strategy then worked together on the planning and implementation. Some of the specific actions included redesigning sales territories and aligning the right resources to the right opportunities, implementing new CRM systems and launching a new Sales Intranet site and internal communication work flow.
These were very strategic initiatives that had a direct and positive impact on the company's performance.
How does Sales Ops support Executive Management?
A pet peeve of many business leaders is when you ask a few different employees a quantitative business question, ex. "What were last week's sales revenue numbers?" you get many different answers. The Sales Manager answers $5M. The Finance guy answers $4.7M. The Sales Reps add their individual sales and end up with $5.5M. Each has their own method of calculating and could be pulling from different data sources.
In order to make sound business decisions and lead sales departments effectively, Sales Leaders must have good data. By centralizing and streamlining data and reporting functions, integrity and consistency will improve.
Why should companies invest in Sales Ops now?
[Marci was kind enough to record a short video with her take.]
Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Thu, Apr 23, 2009 @ 06:34 AM
This is a guest post by Ardath Albee of Marketing Interactions cross posted from her Marketing Interactions blog. You can find Ardath on twitter at @ardath421.
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Trish Bertuzzi and The Bridge Group have been doing some great research on what makes inside sales tick. But they've taken it a step farther and produced a really useful tool for comparing your company's metrics against benchmark metrics.
Because this is such a cool tool, I asked Trish to share a few insights salespeople can extract from the information in the table and apply to their company's inside sales efforts.
Ardath: Can you tell us the basis for the Periodic Table of Inside Sales?
 Trish: The Periodic table is a summary sheet based on the data we collected from our Inside Sales and LeadGen Metrics and Compensation reports. They are the result of surveys with 125 technology companies in North America. The reports are 30 some odd pages long and executives often prefer the short version and that is what this is - a cheat sheet so to speak.
[You'll find both the reports available for download on the same page as the table.]
Ardath: There's a lot of meaty information in this table. Can you highlight what you see as the top 5 challenges facing inside sales teams today?
Trish: Here's where I see companies struggling in today's selling environment.
- Productivity - Companies are being forced to do more with less. Reps are caught in the trap of trying to be everything to everyone. Farmers are forced to hunt and hunters are forced to prospect more than they ever have before.
We no longer have the luxury of specialized sales teams and are forced to have our teams become "jack of all trades". This is impacting productivity dramatically as the reps fumble to acquire skills they either don't have or have not used in a while.
- Performance - 64% of all inside sales teams and 72% of all leadgen teams achieve quota. Doesn't sound bad BUT you have to remember...these are averages and there are quite a number of reps that perform below acceptable rates.
The real question is why and there are two possible explanations - either the goal was wrong to begin with or the reps are not being provided with the tools and training they need to adapt in this selling climate. Each company has to figure out which it is and make changes and investments accordingly.
- Motivation - Selling is not for sissy's - now more than ever. How do you keep your team motivated when they not only suffer massive rejection every day but also lose deals because of layoffs and budget cuts? It is not an easy task especially with limited funds for traditional spifs and contests.
What you can do is get creative. All reps want to learn - invest time in mentoring and coaching. You have the skills to share so take the time to do so and it will pay off in spades.
- Training - What is the one thing that gets cut when times are tough - training. What is the one thing that shouldn't get cut when times are tough - training. Need I say more?
- Systems - Implementing your CRM used to be a daunting task but with the advent of SAAS, it has become a non-issue, well almost anyway. But what has emerged as a problem is integrating your CRM with all the great Sales 2.0 technologies that are out there.
The tools that are meant to increase productivity are starting to impact productivity because of lack of integration. On a daily basis, our team uses: salesforce.com, InsideView, Zoominfo, Jjigsaw and LinkedIn just for pre-call planning!
Each and every one of these tools is amazing, but how do you seamlessly link them and develop a process so that your reps are efficiently selling and not spending too much time in research mode? That is the challenge. Add to it all the back office systems that need to be integrated and you can see the problem.
Ardath: I can see how each of these challenges plays off another. If you had to choose, what would you say are the top metrics that inside sales should start focusing on to improve their outcomes?
Trish: I'd suggest starting with these three metrics to increase productivity:
- Make sure your reps are using live conversations with your prospects to drive the sales process. Email is not a substitute and does not allow for effective qualification or closing to take place.
- It takes multiple touches to move a suspect to a prospect and a prospect to a win. Not all of these have to be "human" touches so make sure sales and marketing have developed an integrated strategy for getting it done.
- Pay attention to your conversion ratios. If you don't have a grasp on the numbers detailed in the Periodic Table then you can't control your results.
Ardath: That's some great information for us to use in conjunction with your Periodic Table for Inside Sales. Any final words for my readers?
Trish: Inside Sales is not magic...it's not art...it is science. You need to create the formula that works for your organization and then execute flawlessly!
***
Go get your copy of the Periodic Table for Inside Sales. And, while you're there, get copies of the research reports that go with the tool.
After you review it, let me know your thoughts.
Did you find metrics that surprised you?
Are there any your company is beating?
Which ones do you find the most challenging to address?
Thanks to Trish for the great information!
Posted by Laurie Page on Thu, Apr 16, 2009 @ 06:22 AM
On a daily basis I am asked "Given the current economic downturn, what changes are you seeing in how companies sell?" 
I was preparing to comment on this question when I came across an interview that Neil Rackham, author of Spin Selling, gave to Gerhard Gschwandtner, of Selling Power. The topic was "What's the best strategy for selling in a recession?"
I agreed with many of the points made during the discussion and have summarized them below. The interview highlighted 3 courses of action:
- Focus on high probability accounts rather than high activity.
Focus on accounts you can win, don't just open more opportunities. Many Sales Reps think if they aren't making their number, the answer is simple - increase activity and add more opportunities to the sales funnel. Neil calls this "half selling to twice as many people". Certainly activity is important, however, many reps actually waste time on accounts that will never buy a thing just to show an increase in activity.
Reps should spend more time with high probability accounts, but in order to do so they need to have a well defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) supported by fleshed out Buyer Personas (BP). They are ready to shoot, they just need to spend some time aiming first.
Now is the time to refine your ICP and BP's by placing an extra emphasis on industries that are still buying and have not been as affected by the economy. Neil comments that successful companies, which do well in a recession, will "focus on fewer opportunities, put more resources to them, outsell the competitors & win."
- Sales Leaders need to become very involved in key sales!
This is a fabulous point. Sales Reps need to know that management is involved and committed to their success. Customers need to know it's safe to make a decision to go with your company. Inserting Sales Leaders into the process can accomplish both these goals.
- Pricing isn't the problem; it's about mitigating the perceived risk of buying from you.
Neil points out that in the last recession, Sales Leaders did everything they could to get to a lower price. This "didn't help them, it just cut their margins."
Sales reps feeling pressure will revert to discounts as opposed to re-crafting the vision of the prospect around why buying from them is the safer bet. In this selling climate, sales reps need modified messaging and training on how to convey this important point to the prospect.
As I said, it's a great interview. View the video interview here (runtime 4:30).
Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Thu, Apr 09, 2009 @ 06:59 AM
This is the 2nd half of our interview on Inside Sales methods, metrics & strategies with Bob Memmer, Director of Sales for Jigsaw, (read the first part).
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What technologies are in place to support your team's efforts?
Bob, how do you motivate your reps? What is their career path?
We have a great culture. We are very focused on awards and once a month we take out everyone who made their quota to a reward luncheon. We don't do many spifs anymore as I feel like they lost their charm and that recognition is now a better motivator.
As far as career path, an ADR can progress from that role to an AE and then out to the field. We are fans of promotion from within.
Jigsaw did something interesting in that they chose to build their Sales and Customer Service team in Idaho. How did that come about?
Interesting story... Jim Fowler, one of our founders, actually ran a ski resort in this area many years ago. He became familiar with the area and loved it. When they were thinking about building a strong Inside Sales team, they did research and found that was a very strong location for IS talent and that a lower cost of operation could be found here. So, we built Sales and Customer Service here in Post Falls, Idaho. We are about 25 minutes outside Spokane, Washington.
How and how often do you communicate with executive management about your challenges and achievements?
Lots of communication at Jigsaw. We have a Board meeting every 6 weeks so that is like the "state of the union". On a weekly basis I speak with our CEO and COO and every morning everyone can check our sales dashboards for snapshots of activity and performance.
Bob, what issues would you be interested in brainstorming with your peers about?
How do you keep up with the evolving world of sales...what is new and improved? Are there things out there in terms of efficiencies, what is the latest and greatest?
Last question - is Garth as funny in person as he is on his blog?
Funnier - he is the best story teller ever!
Thanks for this and I hope it drives both interest and business your way!
Thanks Bob. You have shared great information and we really appreciate your time!
...
A note from Bob:
As a special offer for reading this post, you'll get 25% off any Jigsaw Enterprise Solution. To learn more about Jigsaw or take advantage of this discount Click here. Offer valid through April 30th. Happy Selling!
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