Richard Harris™

To all SDRs or anyone entering B2B sales, read this post to avoid falling into common traps. 1. The most successful AEs I have met were the best SDRs. 2. SDRs who didn’t excel in the role and are now AEs are still struggling to generate their own pipeline. 3. AEs who skipped the SDR role, often due to an MBA or strong interview skills, fear switching jobs and roles without inbound leads. They’ve never faced the grind of building a pipeline from scratch, filled with rejections. 4. AEs who have never been an SDR majorly rely on their SDRs or Inbound leads from marketing to help them build pipeline and if any Quarter they don't get inbound or enough meetings from SDRs they sh** in their pants. 5. When these AEs become managers, they often question their team—"Where are the numbers?" or "Why isn’t there a pipeline?"—instead of guiding them on building it. Lacking experience in pipeline generation, they fail to lead by example and eventually lose the respect of their team. Learn the art and science of being an SDR and excel at this job at any cost, you will never have to look back or depend on anyone for pipeline EVER. Prospecting and Generating Pipelines is fundamental to Sales whether you are an SDR, AE, Sr Manager, or VP if you don't know how to do OUTBOUND you will continuously live a sales life of fear and anxiety. So SDRs ask yourselves do you want to be such AE and Managers in the future who depend on others to determine their performance and faith or would you like to own your job? #sales #prospecting #outbound #pipeline #sdr #ae #b2b #saas

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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."

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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."

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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

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Startups are asking for their CSMs to be very technical, and it's burning $$$ and employees out. Would you rather have your CSMs be able to code, or have the ability to have C-level conversations? The 2 often do not co-exist. Having a CSM that is technically adept may be impressive, but it's important to remember tha customer success is about relationship building first and foremost. Therefore, having the ability to have meaningful conversations with C-level executives should take precedence over coding skills. Create a strong foundation of trust and credibility with your customers by engaging in strategic conversations around their unique needs. Find out what their key objectives are and how your company can help them achieve those goals. A CSM should be able to understand the customer's business, help them navigate through any potential challenges, and develop strategic recommendations that move the needle.  With that being said, there are a lot more technical product out there. Devops, cloud infrastructure, API only, etc. Your CSMs will need to be able to understand the VALUE that these products are providing to the customer. Not just getting them up and running, but helping them understand how they can use it more effectively to benefit their business.  Having an engineering background may also allow for better customer interactions, but I have found that it is a scale, and the more someone leans towards heavy development skills, the LESS they will be able to connect with the customer at a business level. The very technical CSM is often IMPOSSIBLE to find. And if you find 1 unicorn, you will spend months looking for another 1. While this is happening, your existing team is drowning to keep up with a huge book of business.  The ideal CSM should be able to provide strategic advice and guidance on how customers can best leverage your product for maximum value. They should also have an understanding of different technologies so that they can help those customers who are more technically savvy and need assistance with more complex projects. At the enterprise level, I prefer a strategic CSM paired with either a Solution Architect, and sometimes a Customer Success Engineer that has the development background and can make the tweaks and configuration needs that a customer has to enable the strategic decisions that the CSM is helping with. I am recording a podcast with Lizzy Rosen about this - drop any questions that you have below. What are your thoughts on this? Besides that, my eyes are closed?

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Dear fellow salespeople: If you have friends, family, clients, or colleagues in the LA area, please extend a little extra kindness right now; they’re likely not doing okay. Press pause on calling your California prospects and instead take a moment to check in with them. A quick message or thoughtful gesture can go a long way in offering support during tough times. Let's prioritize empathy and genuine connections in our work. After all, sales is not just about closing deals; it's about building relationships that matter. Stay safe, everyone 💜

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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!

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SDR Dashboards - what do you want to see? Gimme your top 3 stats/charts/reports you like to see on YOUR dashboard for pipeline gen. There's the obvious activity levels and SQL/SAL volumes but what else do you like to see.....

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Most SDRs and sales teams often overlook inbound prospecting because they tend to associate sales prospecting with outbound efforts—cold calling, email outreach, and list building. This mindset creates a huge missed opportunity. Inbound leads are warm—they’re actively engaged, making them prime candidates for conversion. By ignoring this, SDRs are leaving low-hanging fruit on the table, focusing only on the more difficult outbound sales without realizing how much potential exists right in front of them. Not a complete guide, but in my last PLG Stack post, I shared some insights 👇

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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

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Top 5 key metrics I recommend CROs use for inside sales professionals: 1. Speed of response 2. Efficiency of progression through the process 3. Number of calls per day 4. Number of positive outcomes 5. Demo sets As a CRO leader, these are five metrics that I live by. 

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Renewals are the new GOLD. It will be THE top growth initiative in 2025 says Gong Do you want to grow at 25% plus in 2025? You better have a comprehensive Renewals plan. This is where #RevOps can step in. 🚀 CSM's are trained and fully enabled with the tools they need 🚀 Customer insights are regularly being shared with Product Team 🚀 Regular interaction with existing customers is being tracked as a KPI 🚀 Dashboards to proactively identify potential churn 🚀 Creation of innovative usage-based pricing alternatives The company that is truly paying attention to their existing customers will win. If you think Renewals is a simple 30 day email reminder ... then you will lose. What would you add to make your Renewals program the center-piece of your growth in 2025? #renewals #growth #customers

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SDR/AE Collaboration - What Works? [Asking for a friend 😉] Working as a SDR I saw the greatest success when I had tight collaboration with my sales reps [Account Executive]. They would point me in the right direction, I was able to bring quality meetings their way, we collaborated on messaging and discussed account strategies based on intent signals. As an Account Exec - what are best practices within your SDR Collaboration? As an SDR - what are best practices within your AE Collaboration? ✅ Pipeline grows ✅ Meeting quality improves ✅ Quotas get crushed That collaboration is key and is something I'm always looking to improve/impact so what's working for you?

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Ashi from Gong is fast (😮‍💨10k) But not as fast as Gong Engage users when they use Lavender. Access to your Gong calls in our personalization assistant ✅ Access to our coach & "Ashi fast" personalization in Gong ✅ Better 🤝 Faster 3.0 (and so much more) coming soon

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Ready to be a Mixmax pro?!?! Join us today at 11am PDT! Whether you're an SDR, AE, or CSM... We're covering all the best practices to how you can be most successful with Mixmax! Not using Mixmax yet, but curious... This masterclass is also for you 👈

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The biggest change from sales rep to sales leadership? As a sales rep, you should prioritise tasks over people. If your CSM wants to talk to you. Or a fellow AE/SDR. Sure, but only after you have done your prospecting. Or sent out that follow-up. As a sales leader, however, you should prioritise people over tasks. You want to work on the playbook but someone in the team needs help? Help first. I got this very wrong when I first started in leadership. And it might be one of the important reasons top reps aren't always made for leadership positions.

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Bad SDRs attribute their results to luck. Good SDRs attribute their results to skill. There is definitely an aspect of luck in the game... who picks up the phone, what mood are they in, what accounts happen to align with timing, etc... But if you're not making your own luck, it's going to be hard to succeed. The proof is SDRs that consistently achieve their goals. If it was attributed mostly to luck, you would imagine the distribution of success would be random and not consistent. Making your own luck means giving yourself more opportunities to have those "lucky" moments. Whether thats working on your volume, tone, messaging or prospecting. Make your own luck. Control what you can. Let go of what you can't. Happy Tuesday, folks.

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SDRs don't work for AEs.... In fact, AEs should work for SDRs. If you're in a position to have an SDR helping you crack meetings you need to point them in the right direction with the right messaging and use cases. SDRs aren't your assistants. They're the tip of the spear. Cole Praver 🙌 #sales

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Founders ask me all the time about using third party SDR agencies. I'd be cautious here, especially if you're early in your company journey pre-PMF. Jason Bay outlines a great framework here for how to think about this.

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