Intro meetings and Qualified Opps. “There are two main models in play: setting introductory meetings and generating qualified opportunities.” With introductory meetings, prospects have a sense of your overall value proposition but haven’t been qualified as to their readiness or ability to move forward. Qualified opportunities differ in that they are, well, qualified. The rep is still closing on a meeting or call but has a) moved the prospect from curiosity into interest and b) vetted that the prospect meets or exceeds a minimum thresh hold.”
Which model is right? “You should deploy an introductory meeting model when the market for your product is immature and/or when your account executives need more at-bats. Let me give you an example. Today, customer relationship management software is a mature market. Most (if not all) technology enabled companies already have a solution in place. Those companies have existing contracts with future renewal dates, and the thought of changing providers sounds like a major hassle. In this instance, if your SDRs are setting introductory meetings for the AEs, you’re just wasting everyone’s time. “Compare that to the market for a predictive lead scoring solution. That market is still immature, as the concept itself is new. Vendors are faced with doing the work of educating the market on the problem they solve.”
Intro model is also best when AE’s aren’t busy. “The second case for introductory meeting model is when account executives are suffering from empty calendar syndrome. This one is easy. If your sales team is screaming for more “at-bats”, then break glass and set meetings. Conversion rates, qualification criteria, and cost per meeting all go out the window when your account executives’ calendars are anemic. Setting introductory meetings in this scenario is your go-to.”
Your AEs must be closers, not relationship builders. “Take a dispassionate look at your sales team. Are they truly closers, or are they relationship builders? If you’re going to invest in building an early- stage team that aggressively focuses on building new pipeline, you need to have account executives who can effectively launch the sales process.”
AEs should not be building pipeline. “You earned an associates degree for not thinking, ‘We’ll just have our account executives do their own prospecting’”
Inbound leads are small. “Ken shared that an inbound opportunity is roughly twice as valuable as one generated through outbound effort. But the challenge — and it’s a big one — is that there are exponentially more small companies than big ones. As a result, the vast majority of inbound leads are small.”
Inbounds should be distributed round robin. “Geographic territories are great on paper but a nightmare when assigned to inbound teams. To address this issue, I recommend one of two approaches: territory-based (customized quotas) or round robin (uniform quotas). Removing bias, real or imagined, is a major benefit of round robin territories.”
Outbound SDR can handle 100. “One outbound SDR can typically target one hundred to two hundred accounts per month. This is cumulative, not net new. During the month, some accounts will be qualified and others disqualified, and the rest will remain in a working status.”
Round Robin example. “The inbound team: Leads were distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis to whichever reps were available. The priority was on the speed of engagement. Inbound SDRs were charged with doing a deep level of qualification and generated qualified opportunities.”
This above are key excerpts from just the first 55 pages. Look for more posts in the coming days.
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