Kyle Norton

By simplifying their Quotes, we saved over $300K for our first client at RevSolutions. If you’re a VP, you know that: Accurate quotes close deals. But getting them right is a major challenge. Sales teams often struggle with: → Inconsistent pricing, → Manual errors, and → Lengthy approval processes. These issues erode trust and can cost you business. That’s where the Q of the CPQ system comes in handy; Especially if you’ve complex pricing structures. CPQ tools make the quoting process efficient, ensuring consistency and accuracy across the board. → Automate complex pricing calculations → Standardize discounting practices → Speed up quote approval times With accurate quotes, you build trust with your clients. They know they can rely on your pricing, which makes them more likely to do business with you. Moreover, your sales team can respond faster, turning leads into customers with minimal friction. Accuracy in quoting means credibility and efficiency. How reliable are your quotes? #cpq #quote #pricing

49

1 Comment

YOUR WIN/LOSS DATA IS BS – AND THE LIGHTSPEED 2024 REPORT PROVES IT Take a close look at the Lightspeed 2024 Sales Benchmark Report. It highlights “inaction” (53%) and “economic uncertainty” (47%) as top reasons for losing deals, and “product features” (68%) plus “prior experience” (39%) for winning. But if these are the only insights in your CRM, you’re missing the strategic value hidden in your deal data. –– THE UNSTRUCTURED DATA PROBLEM –– Your GTM stack is overflowing with unstructured data — calls, meetings, emails, etc. Even if you’re using platforms for call recording and coaching, that alone DOES NOT STRUCTURE your data for strategic analysis. If you rely on reps to tag “budget” or “ghosting,” or AI-summaries, you lose critical, nuanced details that drive strategic decisions. Real Win/Loss insights require instant visibility into buyer pains, success criteria, and competitor references (straight from calls, emails etc). They also require a robust gap analysis (think MEDDICC done right), so you see exactly how far the buyer is from their ideal outcome — and how you close that distance. If this data is NOT STRUCTURED in your CRM, you’ll only see “lost due to inaction,” missing the pain you never addressed or the budget holder you never validated. –– WHY STRUCTURED DATA MATTERS –– Without it, you can't get to the real insight that can transform how you sell. Marketing can’t craft competitive messaging if they can't analyse why another vendor beat you. Sales can’t coach effectively if the excuse is always “no champion.” If this data is not structured in your CRM, it can't be actioned and monitored. Result? Your entire org is FLYING BLIND. –– THE GAP ANALYSIS (MEDDICC etc.) –– Gap analysis maps the buyer’s current state to their desired future state. If these details aren’t structured in your CRM, you’ll stay stuck with generic “budget” or “timing” excuses. –– WHY THIS DATA MUST LIVE IN CRM –– Everyone — Sales, Product, Marketing, CS — relies on the CRM for real-time insights. By structuring conversational data into MEDDICC elements, quantifying them into numbers for strength of each element and combining with activity metrics, sales can finally FORECAST, and use resources efficiently. CRM should guide the full journey (sale, retention, upsell), revealing which ICP segments thrive and which might churn — so you can tailor product, messaging, and resources. –– THE FINAL WORD –– If you’re fine with “economic uncertainty” or “prospect went silent”, keep letting unstructured data go to waste. But if you want to truly improve and use your data as a competitive advantage, you need to systematically structure and monitor deal data by leveraging Epicbrief to autonomously pull data from your existing tools like Gong or SalesLoft or similar, structure and populate data in your CRM. No UI. Zero effort from reps. Turn your data into a strategic weapon for growth. ————— Curious how Epicbrief does this? DM me. #b2b #sales

42

8 Comments

Need to transform your SDR team’s performance? How to help your sales team achieve results that will earn you trust and budget. First, audit your content arsenal. Are your SDRs armed with the right tools? Invest time in creating or curating great collateral that addresses your Ideal Customer Profile’s (ICP) pain points and your solutions. Convert the best-performing material into templates. If budget allows, invest in intent tracking tools like ZoomInfo. Provide your SDRs with real-time intelligence on potential leads. This could involve identifying companies visiting key pages of your site or using tools that detect general intent based on topics. Now, launch micro-campaigns. Develop industry-specific value propositions and targeted landing pages. Your SDRs need ammunition that speaks directly to each vertical. Always measure & optimize. Track response rates, meeting conversions, and pipeline velocity. Use these insights to refine your approach. Don’t fear failure – it’s the only way to hit the target. Make small changes based on what works and what doesn’t. What’s working for your SDR enablement? While it can be an overwhelming project, it’s crucial for establishing the foundation for solid growth. #B2BMarketing #SalesEnablement #CMO #Leadership

30

2 Comments

Renewals are the lifeblood of every SaaS company. However, we don’t talk enough about what makes a great AM/CSM who handles renewals. Since there are so many lists on what makes a great AE, I thought I’d take a stab at what makes a great AM/CSM who handles renewals: 1/ They prioritize the renewals that move the needle Renewal rate comes down to simple math. What renewals are going to move the needle for them? Great AMs/CSMs spend their time where they’ll get the most bang for their buck. 2/ They prepare 6 months in advance Average AMs/CSMs prep 3 months in advance. Great ones plan 6 months in advance. This includes asking hard questions well ahead of time during a mid-year QBR, so they know where to spend their time. 3/ They can re-sell the product Stakeholders change. Priorities change. Competitors try to break in. Great AMs/CSMs can sell the product as well as their AEs and know how to position their value props and handle objections. 4/ They know how to negotiate I don’t know any procurement person in the post-ZIRP era who doesn’t try to negotiate their contracts. A great AM/CSM knows how to turn negotiations into win-wins. 5/ They know the difference between procurement and decision-makers Similar to point four, they know how to negotiate and with whom. Negotiating with procurement is much different than negotiating with a key stakeholder. Each party wants something different, and it’s important to recognize what that is. 6/ They know how to rope in their AEs or extended teams Just like the best AEs know how to “quarterback” deals, a great AM/CSM knows how to rally resources to help with renewals. AEs, Execs, SEs, and Professional Services can all be brought in to help show the customer extra love. 7/ They develop a renewal champion We always talk about champions in the presales process, but not enough about champions during renewals. A great AM/CSM knows how to develop champions to help push renewals through. An AM/CSM who knows how to do these things is worth their weight in gold. Keep them happy as long as you can!

37

4 Comments

Most sales leaders focus on their top performers. But your best reps will crush quota whether you help them or not. Here's the uncomfortable truth about scaling revenue... Your top 10% will succeed despite you. They'll figure out how to sell your product and close deals even if you give them zero support, no collateral, and an undefined ICP. But you can't build a scalable revenue engine on top 10% talent alone. It's just math. Even with a rigorous interview process and strong recruiting brand, our 12-month retention rate at Levelset was around 55%. And that was GOOD. The key to scaling isn't finding more unicorns. It's raising the floor for everyone else. That means writing down exactly what success looks like. Not just hoping good people will "figure it out." I learned this the hard way. For the first 4 years (or so), we closed deals almost in spite of ourselves. No real sales playbook. No defined process. Just talented people working hard. When we finally documented our exact process - from first touch to close - our ramp time plummeted and consistency shot up. The uncomfortable truth? Most founders spend way more time recruiting than preparing to train and support their hires. Your playbook doesn't need to be fancy. Start with one document: "How to Run a Demo." Make it painfully detailed. Your top reps will hate it. Your new reps will love you for it.

42

6 Comments

Do not read this post if your quota attainment per seller is >70%, Average Deal Sizes have grown >2x in the last year and if you don't need more Sales Pipeline. For those of you that do, I'm proud to announce a revolutionary way for your GTM teams to drive productivity with DatabookGPT. But, don't listen to me, listen to our customers: “As we pilot the new DatabookGPT, we find it’s driving down the creation of our initial account plans from seven weeks to seven minutes,” said Chris Smith, Chief Strategy Officer at Grant Thornton. “It's a game changer." "Every AE at Databricks lives by our value of 'customer obsessed.' Understanding the value the Data Intelligence Platform delivers for every customer is essential. DatabookGPT was built on Databricks and supports our sellers by giving them that account intelligence," said Ron Gabrisko, Chief Revenue Officer at Databricks. "Through our teams' use of Databook, we saw our average deal size increase by 54.8% in FY24", said Kirsty Mundy, WW Field Enablement Microsoft, Industry Solutions Delivery Learn more at www.databook.com. It's Generally Available now for companies looking to grow their deal sizes, shorten their sales cycles, and grow pipeline. #accountintelligence #enterprisesales #strategicrelationshipmanagement

71

14 Comments

I did an informal poll on CSM vs Sales commission splits. I was pleasantly shocked to see that over 95% of companies do not have Sales take a commission on renewals unless it’s a particularly challenging one; the AE is there to help with it as a “bounty renewal”. in this case, the AE gets a % but is not taken from the CSM. Other interesting data points: "Commission on upsells and renewal made up 30% of the total compensation package. However, the exact commission % was determined by dividing the 30% by $$$ into the total ARR managed by the CSM." What metrics should this be based on? Most followed this model to Typically, companies that are earlier in their CS maturity will base this off a few leading indicators (adoption milestones, EBRs, etc.), and then move to comping on lagging indicators (retention, expansion, NRR, etc.) once their leading indicator activities have been proven. The following are examples of metrics you can use, not an exhaustive list: Leading: QBRs and/or EBRs (attained vs scheduled) Product adoption milestones (product dependent) Lagging: Net Revenue Retention (NRR) - this is likely the most common Retention Expansion Advocacy (hard to make this scale across large teams and mixed portfolios - this is better as a SPIFF or annual metric to Bonus on) From there, you can determine the weight of each metric on the bonus. I'll give an example using a bonus that is achieved by a renewal retention goal and an NRR goal. Criteria for 100% Bonus Attainment: 90% Renewal Retention (50% weight) 125% Net Revenue Retention (50% weight) "This keeps it pretty simple with two priorities. Retain and Expand Revenue. The Retention goal being assessed separately ensures CSMs don't have significant churn masked by massive upsells. In this example, if a CSM had 85% Retention and 115% NRR, they'd end up at 93.22% to goal for their overall commission/variable comp."

24

I did an informal poll on CSM vs Sales commission splits. I was pleasantly shocked to see that over 95% of companies do not have Sales take a commission on renewals unless it’s a particularly challenging one; the AE is there to help with it as a “bounty renewal”. in this case, the AE gets a % but is not taken from the CSM. Other interesting data points: "Commission on upsells and renewal made up 30% of the total compensation package. However, the exact commission % was determined by dividing the 30% by $$$ into the total ARR managed by the CSM." What metrics should this be based on? Most followed this model to Typically, companies that are earlier in their CS maturity will base this off a few leading indicators (adoption milestones, EBRs, etc.), and then move to comping on lagging indicators (retention, expansion, NRR, etc.) once their leading indicator activities have been proven. The following are examples of metrics you can use, not an exhaustive list: Leading: QBRs and/or EBRs (attained vs scheduled) Product adoption milestones (product dependent) Lagging: Net Revenue Retention (NRR) - this is likely the most common Retention Expansion Advocacy (hard to make this scale across large teams and mixed portfolios - this is better as a SPIFF or annual metric to Bonus on) From there, you can determine the weight of each metric on the bonus. I'll give an example using a bonus that is achieved by a renewal retention goal and an NRR goal. Criteria for 100% Bonus Attainment: 90% Renewal Retention (50% weight) 125% Net Revenue Retention (50% weight) "This keeps it pretty simple with two priorities. Retain and Expand Revenue. The Retention goal being assessed separately ensures CSMs don't have significant churn masked by massive upsells. In this example, if a CSM had 85% Retention and 115% NRR, they'd end up at 93.22% to goal for their overall commission/variable comp."

27

2 Comments

How do you turn around a sales slump? Here are 4 things you can do today to change the momentum for your own sales velocity: When you are struggling to get your next customer, it feels like you have forgotten how to sell anything at all. It's like the market has completely vanished, and no one wants to buy your product or talk to you. So what do you? Here's my advice: 1. Call your favorite customer Remind yourself what success sounds like. Get on the phone with someone that you have sold to before. Ask them about their experience. Listen to what they are doing to achieve success with your product or service. You can use this conversation as a "pocket story" in your sales conversations. And remember to ask for a referral, you can always get more opportunities from happy customers. 2. Find an easy win If you are struggling to close deals, then focus on something a little easier. Create a new sales opportunity. Schedule a demo. Something that you can do over and over again. When you are fixated on closing a customer, every action feels heavy. So shift your focus to something that's more easily attainable. I like to say that "velocity creates more velocity". You will get momentum from creating opportunities, and that gives you confidence. Confidence will turn into new customers. It just works. 3. Go "back to the batting cage" Just like in baseball. When a batter is struggling to get hits, they go to the batting cage and practice hitting. The same is true for salespeople. When they are struggling to run the playbook, they have to practice. So go listen to 5 of your recent sales calls. Listen to how you are establishing the pain and communicating value. Pay attention to your champion and the words that they are choosing. Are you getting "happy ears" in the deal? Or is there something else you are missing? Use this knowledge to practice running your playbook on every opportunity in your pipeline. Then comb through your pipeline and find one thing that you can do today on every opportunity to move it forward. 4. Go ask for the money The only way to break a slump is to get a new customer. And the only way to get a new customer is to ask them if they want to buy. So go through your pipeline and find the opportunity that is the furthest along in their evaluation. Then call them and ask them this: "Hey _____, based on our conversations over the past few weeks, it seems like our solution is a great fit for your business. What do we need to do to make this partnership a real thing? Are you ready to get started?" You are probably going to get told "no". And that's OK. You can work through the objections and find a path to success. But you have to ask for the money. Every single one of these steps requires picking up the phone. You have to stay active to get out of a slump. What about you? How do you turn things around when you are having a bad month?

24

2 Comments

Some predictable pipeline reflections from GTM audits this week: 1️⃣ Many companies are selling too fast, and it's ironically slowing down closed deals. Talking about product and price too early, pushing buyers faster than they're ready to go, dragging buying committee members along that have no idea what you're talking about. Sometimes three steps is faster than one. Be methodical to accelerate pipeline velocity. 2️⃣ Inbound is often fool's gold. The numbers make you feel good but the quality is fleeting and inconsistent. The healthiest companies combine inbound and outbound into an "allbound" strategy that drives more predictable performance and results. 3️⃣ Marketing programs and budgets in complex sales cycle situations need to be managed from the bottom up, not the top down. Cost per lead isn't nearly as important as customer acquisition cost (CAC) and managing a body of work that's at and below that number on a consistent, repeatable and scalable basis. 4️⃣ Smaller numbers are most often your most important numbers. Stop celebrating webinar registrations, booth drop-bys and social followers. Even engagement doesn't matter unless it's paired with an accurate, comprehensive ideal customer profile (ICP) definition. 5️⃣ Politics is killing internal progress and innovation. The most successful leaders create a culture of collaboration and transparency, maintain a "team sport" mentality to go-to-market, and encourage if not require ongoing professional development and learning.

165

30 Comments

If you decide your sales team needs to help with renewals make sure they are incentivized correctly (I usually see a 70% new bookings goal and a 30% renewal / upsell goal). If you don't incentivize hunting, sales tend to farm too much and your growth will slow.

7

2 Comments

→ Winning practice: Hire sales reps with a history of selling products/services that are harder to sell than yours. → Questionable practice: Hire sales reps from branded market leaders whose products were easier to sell than yours. Start-ups can’t afford order takers in sales.

121

7 Comments

As CS is getting increasingly aligned with the revenue function, this conversation is happening a lot... CRO: "I just took over customer success, can someone explain to me what our CSMs do?" VP CS: "We make sure that our customers are getting value from the product..." CRO: "OK, what does that mean?" VP CS: "We answer all of their questions and log support cases." CRO: "Isn't that support?" VP CS: "Well no, because we have QBRs" CRO: "OK, well what do we talk about in the QBRs?" VP CS: "All the tickets we fixed and the features that we rolled out" CRO: "Ok, what other things do our CSMs do?" VP CS: "We help with implementations and continuous improvement!" CRO: "Isn't that professional services?" VP CS: "Well we read an article that says that we shouldn't charge for services, so our CSMs just do it." CRO: " 🤯 " VP CS: " 🤯 "

9

hey RevOps - if you're a high-velocity SMB shop selling a large number of small deals, how should you grant quota credit to AEs? 🤔 Signature date? Payment date? Contract effective date? Like most things in RevOps, simple questions like this do not have simple answers. This question was posted in the RevOps Co-op Slack group recently and the community provided some 🔥 feedback like: 📍 Signature date seems to be the most popular choice, but always with a big caveat 📍 That caveat relates to the amount of churn or turnover when it comes to signed deals that don't pay - if the AEs are closing crumby customers that don't pay, then you want to use payment date instead 📍 If you have deals that get signed far in advance of the contract effective date / subscription start date, this adds additional risk to revenue - so may want to consider using the contract effective date instead 📍 Some folks do a mix; for example, 50% at signature, and 50% at payment (or some other metric, like 6 months after deal signature) 📍 In all cases, you want to make sure the structure is set up to drive the behavior you want to encourage without a huge delay between the work done and incentive provided Anything else you'd add to this list? #revops #revenueoperations #salesops #salesoperations #compensation #incentivemanagement

25

3 Comments

We sell to revenue leaders. That means they are leading teams that are trying to do the exact same thing we do. Given that, some of the things my buyers do SHOCK ME. Here's what I mean: Some of my prospects: Lead me on Completely ghost me Are nice rather than direct Act like they have more power than they do Don't know or can't explain their buying process And the list goes on... Granted, for the prospects this happens to, IT'S ON ME for not doing a good enough job in the sales process. I take full responsibility for that. But it amazes me that sales leaders do the exact things they try to teach their reps to avoid. And they get mad at their own prospects for doing the same things they are doing. It demonstrates that all buyers all the same. And you have to create an amazing buying experience or you'll get trapped. But maybe for good sales karma, revenue leaders buyers could be better prospects :) I know I am.

56

13 Comments

AEs and Sales Leaders Most of you are losing winnable deals! The problem: ↳ CFOs are still only placing safe bets, resulting in your deals stalling or giving you bad news late in the quarter The root cause: ↳ Reps aren't enabling Champions to sell ↳ Champions can't justify the cost ↳ Lack of people involved in your deal If you are going to attend any training this year, it has to be this one! I'm going to share the exact Business Case template and multi-threading strategies that have helped me and my teams achieve 70%+ win rates! [Proof on my website 🤙] If you want to... ↳ Get more people involved in your deal ↳ And build a CFO-Ready business case Register for this upcoming boot camp! https://lnkd.in/eMF7bg_H

27

16 Comments

Public PSA to sales reps with EOY: If you’ve already offered your prospect a discount to sign by X date once or twice… and they haven’t… don’t do it again. Your “promotion” lacks all credibility. Value sell, value sell, value sell. Understand your clients timeline from the very first call you have with them. Micro close them every single interaction you have + then hold contract value because you’re actually aligned on the buying cycle and priorities. 😘🚀 #discounts #eoy #sales #accountexecutives #valueselling

8

Honest question - are silos bad?? I hear and see a lot about “bringing down silos” between sales, marketing and success…but… -do we really want sales teams managing implementations? -do we really want to only sign customers that success thinks are a great fit? Isn’t part of success to take customers that are a little outside of the bullseye and….make them successful? -do we really want marketing spending all their time making the website cooler? In some cases, I see the lack of alignment and tension getting way out of hand. It’s more like dysfunction. However, for high performing organizations some tension is healthy, even essential. To me, the best teams lean into the differing missions and use them to get the most out of each other. Marketing pushes the organization to think beyond the quarter. Sales keeps everyone focused on the quarter. Success keeps the voice of the customer front and center while ensuring long term growth. Sometimes, these things are temporarily at odds with each other. That’s ok. Just don’t let temporary tension become permanent dysfunction. That’s where silos become unhealthy.

9

12 Comments