is on a mission to prevent that from happening.
Don’t get me wrong, there are many sales techniques, methodologies and approaches that work very well in corporate sales, but the underlying problem is systemic, it’s macro and is affecting our entire industry.
Pipeline 'growth' is not a thing anymore. Okay, it might be in your business but when was the last time you analysed the quality and strength of your pipeline?
And why is a 5x pipeline multiple ‘the number’? Who and when was the number decided, ...what's your multiple?
Is it enough to provide additional headroom, enough to be lucky to land a whale… is the number true to your funnel metrics and is there enough confidence in the quality.
…working in a large corporate, I witnessed firsthand why pipeline volume v’s quality was the $6Bn conundrum, when it really didn't have to be.
Is the dreaded MQL finally gone, only to be replaced with SAL, giving in to well thought through sales qualification criteria. Sales do get to work on more leads but without a different sales approach that focuses on ‘teaching a new perspective’, leads to declining close rates and AOV’s.
Perhaps quality of pipeline is really good, but there’s not enough of it to support the growth objective.
Are close rates still declining…
What should your close rate be when taking past performance, current talent and enablement approach into account?
Are average deal sizes falling…
What should your AOV be for the value your product or service delivers?
The Macro Problem
The reason why 'extracting more performance from what you've got is really hard', is because sales teams have pestered buyers for so long they would rather not speak with a seller unless they really have to. As a result buyers don’t believe sellers and they no longer believe vendor website, blogs or articles anymore - at least, be mindful of this as vendor content falls down the list of assets buyers use to inform purchase decisions. Research done by TrustRadius who surveyed 1,300 buyers. So don’t over do it by developing corporate content and then wasting more dollars on advertising that content as buyers have learnt to automatically zone out. A.k.a The Zone of Resistance
Automated emails are annoying, the program might be called nurturing, but it’s nothing but, which is why <1% convert. Buyers remain invisible for as long as they can and when the finally put their hand up or give a signal they’re ready, the need and budget is already established. And they’ve already spoken with the competition and created a short list, knowing the company they’ll likely work with because they know them or their friend or colleague referred them.
Sales cadences are the same. The ‘x’ number of touch point omni-channel outreach that is bombarding your buyers are only ever hopeful that when the buyer is in market, with a need and a budget that you haven’t pissed them off so much that they speak with you. I’m not sure why we call this outreach cadence as there’s nothing rhythmic about it from the buyers perspective. Cold calling and cold emailing are in the top 5 most annoying things that cause buyers not to by from a company. And the performance extracted is based on a-lot-a-waste. Wasted dollars, wasted resources to achieve a 1% conversion if lucky.
Trust isn’t built via one-way dialog
.
For years we have known that relationships and trust are the key elements for doing business. It’s through no fault of our own as sales and marketing leaders, and individual contributors, we’ve done the best we can with the knowledge we have, and for many, success is a common theme, which is usually because they are masters at their profession, they’ve learnt to adapt in the face of change and found new ways to succeed, despite the challenges presented to them. These individuals are an elite bunch and if you have them in your business or your team you need to hang on to them at all costs. Don’t rely on the ‘model’ to achieve success as the system your model is built on is outdated.
I’m going to pause and resist the temptation to write about the solution to this growing problem. B2B sales and marketing is complex, I know, I’ve lived and breathed it for 23 years.
If you believe any of the above is true drop me a DM and let’s discuss the challenges preventing growth within your business. Or if you don’t believe a word of it, still drop me a DM and let’s debate.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Br, Alex
#DigitalSelling#ValueSelling #WalkingDigitalCorridors #Enablement
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