Leadership Spunje » Sales

SaaS and the Hunter Farmer Debate

Leadership Spunje — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:41:45 +0000

Having been a VP of Sales for 5 years with a SaaS company and now a Founder of SaaS company I have found that two things to be true:

1) People still buy from people and want to know who they are working with

2) The line between inside sales and account management has become blurred.

With a SaaS product I have seen that a inside sales person can make @ $10K sale via the phone and webex (I have not seen a higher sale without someone having to jump on a plane) but once that sale is made that same inside sales person then becomes the account manager also.

The customer only wants to “deal” with the same person who sold them the product. As most SaaS sales are a subscription, account management becomes critical. The SaaS model falls apart if the renewal dip below say 85%.

http://blog.bridgegroupinc.com/blog/tabid/47760/bid/10813/SaaS-and-the-Hunter-Farmer-Debate.aspx

Finally once the sales person goes over 50 accounts (my number based on experience) there needs to be a discussion of an account manager stepping in. The sales person will protest because of the thought of losing the recurring commission so be prepared to work that out.

Leaders: Listen to Your Salespeople!

Leadership Spunje — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:38:45 +0000

Your best salespeople possess vast knowledge about how to connect with and motivate people – and perhaps take the company to the next level. But they rarely get to share their knowledge with senior managers.

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/hbr/hbr-now/2009/07/leaders-listen-to-your-salespeople.html

Salespeople are optimistic by nature–make use of that optimism, and let some of it rub off on management. As you progress in your career, you will find that some of your toughest sales jobs will be internal rather than external.

Commission: Baby Steps!

Leadership Spunje — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:42:00 +0000

From my experience, companies predominately adopt the financial perspective, as I rarely come across a commission plan that pays out on anything but the final sale. This can be effective in a transactional business in which sales cycles are short, but proves very ineffective at motivating sales people in longer sales cycles.

http://www.executivesalesstrategy.com/2009/08/24/commision-baby-steps/

success of this kind of incentive program is predicated on your company’s ability to accurately define the behaviors and activities that lead to a sale

Improve your Lead Gen: 8 Takeaways from the B2B Marketing Summit

Leadership Spunje — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:20:03 +0000

We’re back from our 6th annual B2B Marketing Summit in San Francisco, where the marketers on stage and in the audience shared an amazing wealth of strategic ideas and lessons learned. In the process, we noticed several themes that ran through this year’s event. Here’s a rundown of eight takeaways that include tips on: o Re-engaging old leads o Reaching different members of the buying committee o Using systems to manage your data o Making the most of existing content

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31377

Although it’s a challenge to feed relevant content to a wide range of channels and audiences, you have an ace up your sleeve: All content can be repackaged, repurposed, and recycled

Do Sales Incentives Really Motivate Sales Professionals?

Leadership Spunje — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:40:18 +0000

Here is a question I recently received from a sales manager: “I get a decent budget for sales contests and our team is spoiled by ‘big money prizes.’ What successful ideas do you have to get salespeople motivated without always having to win something?”

http://www.eyesonsales.com/content/article/do_sales_incentives_really_motivate_sales_professionals/

Top sales performers are usually very internally motivated, success oriented and outcome focused. If you hire the right kind of salespeople and provide them with a properly designed compensation plan that rewards the correct activities and results, you won’t need to offer a lot of sales incentives and contests to motivate your sales team!

Eight Questions to Assess Your Sales Organization

Leadership Spunje — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:02:45 +0000

At the moment, can you guess the #1 thing keeping CEOs up at night? So far, it’s how to optimize the sales channel.

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/hbr/hbr-now/2009/09/sales-sales-sales-sales-sales.html

My intention is for this blog to encourage leaders to hold up the mirror and ask again some of the fundamental questions. CEOs need sharp axes as 2010 approaches, but they also need to know which trees to chop at.

Lead Management Software, The 5 Mistakes That Kill Sales

Leadership Spunje — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:18:21 +0000

In today’s business climate it’s no secret for the need of a strong customer base and to keep attracting new ones. Yes, we all want more customers with less leads. This is a strategy that greatly improves your profit and saves your company from throwing away money for marketing.

http://aramnet.blogspot.com/2009/09/lead-management-software-5-mistakes.html

How many times do we spend too much time organizing or getting ready to do something? The best strategy in most cases is to do as my Dad was found of saying, “Do something, even if it’s wrong.”

Simply getting onto the next lead will produce more sales than any other strategy. Get To Your Leads Now!

The Hunter, The Farmer and the Farmer’s Wife

Leadership Spunje — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:36:49 +0000

There are three distinct types of sales people, the hunter, the farmer and the farmer’s wife.

http://richards-review.blogspot.com/2005/09/60-hunter-farmer-and-farmers-wife-there.html

when the fat lady finally sings, the farmers will return to being farmers, the hunters will return to being hunters and the farmer’s wives will get back to making the best milk tart in the province

Sales Recruiting In Today’s Economy

Leadership Spunje — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:48:16 +0000

Jobfox released its hiring report this past summer and listed Sales Representative as the most recession proof career. In a similar study conducted annually by Manpower Inc. reporting on the most difficult job to fill, sales representative topped the 2006 and 2007 list and slid to second place in 2008.

http://b2bsalesconnections.com/wpblog/2009/08/28/sales-recruiting-in-todays-economy/sales-management-skills

Our current economic climate is causing many companies who were formerly strong to restructure. The result is many very good sales professionals are currently looking for career changes. Now is a great time to act before they find a new position. Remember using standard recruiting techniques will result in hiring standard sales people. Aim Higher!

Overcoming Barriers to Sales

Leadership Spunje — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:23:02 +0000

Ever thought to yourself, “If only my team members would complete the tasks that we mutually agreed to in our action plan.”

Most managers have felt this way about certain employees at some point in time.

Let’s face it, some employees have a very hard time consistently executing tasks that “should” be relatively simple to complete.

So what are the barriers getting in the way of their success?

http://jvrr.com/455496-Overcoming-Barriers-to-Sales.html

As a leader it’s your responsibility to approach performance issues with a clear understanding of these predetermined belief systems. Armed with this knowledge you can more quickly address issues in a way that can help both the sales rep and your entire organization.