Prospecting at Salesforce

Prospecting at Salesforce

How Salesforce uses Salesforce in Sales Development

Michael Scherbaum, Jordan Alf & Christiaan Koene

Did you know?

of leads are never called

More than 30%

The Art of Cold Calling | And the science of Contact Ratio’s – Insidesales.com

Where does Sales Development fit in the sales cycle

Marketing SalesSales Development

Sales Development Fuels the Growth of the Company

FY200417 SDRs2 BDRs

FY200655 SDRs22 BDRs



Sales Dev Contributed 40% of Global Pipeline

FY201675 CITs

275 SDRs325 BDRs

>500,000 InboundMarketing ResponsesHandled*FY12 Numbers

*FY12 Numbers

>100,000 OpportunitiesCreated

>$1.5B in GlobalPipeline Influenced*FY12 Numbers

Sales Development Organisation

Customer Intelligence Trainee

Identify target accounts

Add/Update Contacts

Aligned with Marketing and BDR

Quality Data for prospecting

Leads Assignment for BDR

Training ground for future SDRs

Sales Representative24 hour turn-around SLA on leads

Create a lead for every response & first SR to “touch” (reach out to) a prospect owns the lead

Five to ten activities before archiving

Once Archived, the lead continues to be touched through the Marketing Nurture drip campaign

Business Development Rep

Generating Leads and Opportunities through outbound, strategic & targeted prospecting into large companies

Strategic calling to leverage business from new and established customers

Achieving monthly Quota of Qualified Opportunities

The Sales Development Team

Customer Intelligence Trainee

Sales Representative Business Development Rep

2-3 years experience

Graduate 1-2 years experience

Jordan Alf

Business Development Representative

Homework – It all starts hereThis will set the stage for you to ask the right questions

Spend time looking at the prospect’s website for clues

Business Activities (Sales & Service)

Marketing Channels e.g. social links (Sales, Marketing & Service)

Latest News

Logins (Communities)

Various Branches/Locations

LinkedIn Profile

Did the prospect work for a Salesforce customer?

Is it a good time to talk?

Why them, why now? – It’s about them – so let them talk away!

Why should they talk to you?

What agree on next steps – E.g. a discovery call with the AE

Upfront Contract – Setting Expectations

Qualification Questions

What Pains do they have?

• L1 – Challenges (Challenges)

• L2 Business Impact (Quantify, if possible – USD/EUR value)

• L3 Personal Impact

Business Description

What inspired them to learn about Salesforce?

Who initiated the investigation of CRM (inbound) – was it a KDM?

How do they Find, Win and Keep their customers?

What tools/infrastructure are they using e.g. Excel Spreadsheets

You can’t know enough


Compelling Event!

What priority does solving the previously mentioned pains have?Timeline to solve the problem - ask why the time is x months/weeks?

What happens if you don’t solve these problem in the given time?Identify the consequences

NEW

Have they looked at other

solutions?


How many full time employees to you have?

What do they do/ which divisions do you have?

Do you have any external agents or partners?

Budget: Has it been discussed?

Decision Making Process: Who needs to be involved?

Are we talking to the right people?

Keep the “champion” on your side.

Grow your opportunity with the right questions


Number of users and in which capacity?

What have you done to solve your problems?

What happens if you don’t act now/in the near future?

Alternative solutions looked at?

Secure the next steps – Disco with a specific time/date and person (get the KDM involved).

Red Flags: Key objections, points emphasized or ice-breakers

Qualification Hurdles

Price: Avoid discussions around price, but position Salesforce as a premium brand

Competitive Analysis: Position the platform (end to end CRM) advantage and avoid a feature battle

Security: Use Standard Bank as a reference client with high security standard

Explain the multi tenancy model we use

Don’t be afraid to challenge the prospect e.g. strip-line

Be cautious with “time wasters” e.g. some consultants who act as gate keepers

Gate Keepers: Be creative and confident with the value of your phone call

Things that you should prepare yourself for

Qualification Hurdles

Never waste a call – always gather some sort of valuable information, even if you don’t have a qualification call.

E.g. mobile number, email address etc.

If you don’t know something, tell the prospect that you don’t know and make sure to follow up.

Be confident, use “their language” and show value from the first second!

Basho emails: a reason to call

Christiaan Koene

Manager, Emerging & Small Business Sales

Sales Development Motivation

Remuneration

70% fixed and 30%

commission based on:

Revenue Performance of

VP [50%]

Personal Performance

[50%]

Career

Merit based career

progression.

Move from CIT to SR to

EBR

Sales Development as

grooming ground for AE

population

SPIFFS

High Energy

Focus

Campaigns

Recognition

Four Pillars of Success

Marketing Alignment Focus Activity Driven Sales Alignment

Marketing Alignment: Look for Lead Trends

Lead FlowLead MixConversion Rates Created PipelineAccepted PipelineRevenueCampaigns

Report on and analyseBrand Awareness

Focus: Dashboards and Reporting

Daily Activities

Lead Rigor

Pipeline Created

Number of Opps

Pipeline Closed

Etc…

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Email & Phone

Call

Email & Phone

Call

Email & Phone

Call

Email & Phone

Call

Email & Phone

CallMarketing

Nurture

Day 1 Day 3 Day 5 Day 12 Day 19 Day 26+

Activity Driven: Politely Persistent

Sales Alignment: Success is a team sport

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We Use Dashboards to Manage Accountability

Reps don’t have too many working leadsEnsure quality of work

Monitor that leads are receiving follow-upMaximize every selling moment

Reps aren’t archiving leads without first following up with them

Collaboration/ Planning

Team Work / High Activity

Recognise SuccessFun / Team Spirit

Growth/Productivity

Sales Development: High performing team

Thank Y u