the best sales development teams ask these questions every day
TRANSCRIPT
Learn Share Network #IS2016
The Best Sales Development Reps Ask These Questions Every Day
#IS2016
Name Title Company Logo Ralph Barsi Senior Director, Global Sales Development
@rbarsi in/ralphbarsi
#IS2016
The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right ques9ons. Levi Strauss
bit.ly/chklstmnfsto
3 types of problems:
Simple Baking a cake from a mix
Complicated Sending a rocket to space
Complex Raising a child
The What If Analysis:
bit.ly/thnkrtys
What if I Sold to monks?
What if I Was limited to 45 words?
What if I Couldn’t speak?
#IS2016
Ques9ons Sales Development Leaders Must Ask
#IS2016
On People (There’s a reason this is first) How do I aJract and hire the best talent? What can I do to build and promote our team’s brand? How do I maintain a culture of engaged employees? What are effecOve ways to mo9vate and inspire my reps? How do I drive behavior and execuOon? Why do reps want to work for me? What value do I add to the organizaOon? How can I influence referrals to our team? How solid is the career growth path I’ve developed for my reps? How high are my standards of performance? Are my standards clear to the team? Who is my successor?
#IS2016
On Process (This is Step 1 for measuring progress)
How can I influence consistent volume of high-‐quality leads for my reps? How can I ensure reps
a) quickly follow-‐up on leads, b) adhere to our SLAs (service level agreements), and b) convert a larger percentage of leads?
What are the essen9al answers we
a) want from prospects, and b) want to provide prospects?
What do our buyer personas and ideal customer profiles look like? How do I onboard reps so they ramp faster and contribute value sooner? What are our 10 most effec9ve emails, social media statuses, voicemails, and conversaOon starters?
#IS2016
On Tools and Technology (Extensions of your work) How do I measure and monitor my key performance indicators
a) both lead indicators and b) lag indicators?
What comprises my sales technology stack*?
• CRM • Prospect Data -‐-‐> Pre-‐Call Research -‐-‐> SDR Outreach • SDR Live Call -‐-‐> Nurture -‐-‐> Analysis
What’s the best way to keep my finger on the pulse of the latest tools and technologies? What is our process for evalua9ng tools and technology, and who are my stakeholders? *TOPO, bit.ly/stack-‐emerges
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Ques9ons Sales Development Reps Must Ask
#IS2016
On Professional Development (What am I becoming?)
Why do I want to pursue sales as my career? Where can the marketplace learn more about me? Can people see my work online? How good am I at wri9ng down my goals every single day? How am I measuring my progress? How do I become the best at my craQ? What am I doing each day to serve the marketplace? What am I doing outside of work to shape my brand and reputaOon? How great is my aRtude?
#IS2016
On Inbound Lead Qualifica9on (When people come to you)
How many leads are in my queue? How are they scored? Are there duplicates? Do they look familiar? What source delivered them? How well does this source convert? Is anyone in my network connected to this company or person? Have I thoroughly checked? (The Emes I’ve goFen this call) What pieces of relevant info can I menOon or inquire about? How can I best start the conversa9on? What’s my opening? What do I want to accomplish? What are the disposi9ons of my leads? Have I really tried to reach these people?
#IS2016
On Outbound Prospec9ng (When you reach out to people)
What are the Top 10 companies or people I’m most determined to reach? Why are they in the Top 10? How can I have a face-‐to-‐face conversa9on with my prospects? Have I aJempted to reach this person once or 25 Omes? How much am I willing to tacUully persist? Why would my prospects want to speak with me at this moment in 9me? How well do I know my territory, verOcal, customer-‐prospect-‐suspect mix? How strong is the rela9onship between my outside sales rep and me? Do I add value to their work? How o_en do I look for and model best pracOces? Can I truly get to anyone if I’m determined?
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Ques9ons Businesses with Sales Development Teams Must Ask
#IS2016
Why do we go to market? How will we benefit from having SDRs? Why our product or offering? What are our goals, prioriOes, and desired outcomes? How do we solve our customers’ business problems? What exactly is our soluOon? What is our average sales price? What is our mix of inbound vs. outbound? Why can’t every prospect respond to our emails and calls? How do we aJract new business, over and over again? How do we determine the size of our team? How can our team minimize the average sales cycle? How can our team increase the average sales price? How can the business ensure reps progress in their careers? How do we differen9ate our approach from everyone else? How do we build repeatable, scalable revenue pipeline? How do we conOnue to find and retain excep9onal reps?
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More ques9ons to consider
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Layering and probing ques9ons Tell me about... What do you mean... How so... Why is that... What does that mean to you... How would you... Elaborate... Give me some examples... I don’t understand...
Barry Rhein, Selling Through Curiosity*
What else ques9ons What other things... What else... What addiOonal items... What are some other reasons... In what other ways...
PuRng it back in their lap ques9ons How does this / that compare to what you’re ideally looking for? How does this / that compare to your ideal situaOon?
*sellingthroughcuriosity.com
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Jeffrey Gitomer, Smart Ques5ons
Lead-‐in ques9ons What makes you think..? How do you select or evaluate? What’s most important to you about? Where do you see..? How have you employed..? What has been your experience with..? If you could change one thing about..? How would you improve..? What plans have you made to..? How will you do that..?
Closing ques9ons Can you see any reason not to..? What’s the risk? What’s the reward..? Fair enough…? Can you see any reason not to proceed..? How will you deal with that..? How will your toughest compeOtor react? How are you taking advantage of..? *gitomer.com
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Jill Konrath, The Buyer’s Matrix Posi9on / Title: C-‐level, VP, Sr. Director, Director, Manager 1. Roles & responsibili9es
What are they in charge of or expected to manage? 2. Business objec9ves & metrics
What do they want to achieve? How is success measured? How are they evaluated? 3. External challenges
What external factors or industry trends might make it more difficult for them to reach goals? 4. Strategies & ini9a9ves
What likely strategies or iniEaEves are in place to help them reach goals? 5. Internal issues
What likely issues does the organizaEon face that can help or hinder them from reaching goals? 6. Primary interfaces
Who are the peers, subordinates, superiors and outsiders with whom they frequently interact? 7. Status quo
What’s their “status quo” relaEve to your product offering? 8. Change drivers
What would cause them to change from the “status quo?” 9. Change inhibitors
What would cause them to stay with the “status quo,” even if they weren’t happy with it?
*jillkonrath.com
#IS2016
Name Title Company Logo Ralph Barsi Senior Director, Global Sales Development
@rbarsi in/ralphbarsi