As we role out a new month/quarter/year it's important to think back to what has gotten you to this point. What has made you successful? What has worked in the past? Below is a list of 7 basic but key areas that B2B startups need to keep always keep focus on.
1. It's still a numbers game
- The more prospecting calls you make, the more meetings you set, the more deals you close, and the more money you make
2. Measure everything
- Visibility and transparency - every team member should know where they stand at all times
- The only way to improve is to set aggressive goals, measure progress and strive to hit them
3. Battle to win customers – battle just as hard to keep them
- We all know how hard it is to win a customer -are we then putting just as much focus into keeping them happy?
- Is your Account Management or Customer Success process as dialed as your customer acquisition process?
- Getting a yes is just the beginning - make your recurring revenue predictable
4. Showcase your top performer
- As a sales leader it's critical to have the top performer that all other team members try to emulate
- Benchmark all other sales people against this persons performance
- Give the top performer time to address the team and review deal cycles with them
5. Always be prospecting
- I've mentioned in other blogs about separating the appointment setting role (BDR/SDR/SDM) with the deal closers (AE’s) - AE’s still need to prospect - they need to work just as hard as their inside rep to create new opportunities
- Keep a close eye on your close-able pipeline for each AE - it always happens that when they have a lot of deals in process they focus less on prospecting
6. Effort in - Production out
- Put in the time and effort - results will follow
-Determination, focus and effort can sometimes compensate heavily for skill and effectiveness
7. Follow your sales process
- Follow the sales process you have created
- If you don't have a defined sales process - create one - map out successful deals - what happened and why - learn from every win and every loss
