What Does an Elite SAAS Sales Organization Look Like?
With the right mindset and willingness to embrace change–any sales organization can transform itself. But if you think all you need to get there are hungry sales reps, you’re wrong.
Let me preface this article by saying that whether you say “elite,” “top-level,” or “world-class,” you can call your sales organization whatever you want. But no matter how you describe it, the key is to strive to be a top performer. Also note, this article is an introduction for sharing how I feel you can build a great sales organization that drives towards 10x growth. With my advice, I’ve assumed you have a sound market to sell in, proven products, and a support team taking care of business so your sales team can focus on selling.
Out with the old, in with the new
When I was a sales rep, the first thing I was told was: “Just pick up the phone. Get as many meetings as you can. It’s a numbers game. The more meetings you get, the more sales we’ll have.”
That was the strategy. And it worked. But without process, structure, and training in place, it meant that sales were dependent on one thing and that was the sheer effort (or skills) of the sales reps.
Things were humming along just fine. Reps were motivated to sell. Calls were being made. The call-to-meeting ratio was good. The foundation was there, but what could make us better? What could make us elite?
It was time to change the surefire old way of running our sales team and transition to a more structured approach that would allow us to aggressively capitalize on every opportunity out there. Let’s face it: with technology moving at lightning speed and more options being available for business to chose from, we knew we needed to adapt–or be left in the dust. We were “pretty good” but it was time to “take it up a few notches.”
So, what exactly does an elite sales organization look like? The definition is broad; and there may not be one right answer for everyone. But in our playbook, the definition was to create organized departments within the sales org and provide each with strategic goals in order to maximize our growth initiatives. The easiest way to think of these departments is to think of a three-legged stool.
Want to achieve killer growth? Make sure your three-legged stool is steady
Building a successful anything (sports team, sales team, company) takes thoughtful planning, strategy, and the right mix of people to execute the vision of the organization. For any sales organization, if one department is lacking structure and execution, it weakens your foundation. It’s just like a three-legged stool: if one leg is weak, you’ve got a wobbly stool.
You need three sturdy legs.
Strong sales management
Strategic sales operations
Stellar sales training
Each and every thing that your sales organization should be tackling will fall into one of these three legs. Let’s look at one example: investing in a CRM system is great but if you don’t build a sales operations team to analyze the data and present business intelligence to you then you defeat the purpose of all the data contained in a CRM system.
High-performing sales organizations use quantitative data as well as qualitative information to make key decisions that move needles.
Embracing change and instituting a higher standard
Change is possible, any time. Sure you might be running your sales org a certain way today but if you want to take your next step forward, then change must be embraced and your standards set higher. Be open to getting better, and have pigheaded discipline when measuring the effectiveness of your teams. Remember, people will respect what you inspect.
Now some people might think “so all I have to do is build my three-legged stool and I’ll be OK,” but that’s not good enough. It’s important to regularly review core material and how each of these departments are executing. This enables you to measure output and address the team appropriately so that you can keep moving forward.
Spend time reflecting on your sales organization. Do you have a sturdy three-legged stool–or would you hesitate to sit on it?
Fuel extreme value creation
The idea of building a top-level sales organization means learning to transcend the ideology that a bunch of hungry sales reps will get you where you want to be. Or frankly, that if you throw one or two bodies at sales training and ops that you’ll be just fine. The answer really is: you need all three legs of your stool just to be in the game. But to become elite you must be hyper-focused on executing across all three departments. Once that is nailed down, you can transform your business and lead to 10x growth.
Plus, having a strong sales organization not only helps the recruiting team engage with the best talent out there but it also helps fuel extreme value creation for all stakeholders–which ain’t a bad thing either.