Benchmarks and Best Practices
Tips, tactics and trainings to benchmark with your team
How you doin’?
This week covers some latest insight I’ve come across to help level set and benchmark with others on what they say is working right now.
In this week’s edition of Stretch Weekly -
New podcast from Vidyard on prospecting.
Cheat sheet from Gong on words that sell.
The puppy dog close from Clari.
Plus more Stretch Snippets chock full of tips, guides and pdfs to download and reference with your team.
And lastly - as always, if you find this newsletter valuable- consider sharing it with someone who might as well 👊.
STRETCH SHARES
Sales Stage [New Podcast]
Solid Beard AND a Ukilele intro? I’m sold.
I’m always interested in new podcasts and came across this one from Jimmy Gagnon and Reva Pellerin from Vidyard on outbound and prospecting.
Texting - in a deal cycle: Yes. Prospecting/Outbound? No.
Team Training - especially now. (Shout out to Gong’s CTA article on selling the meeting)
Phone - understand boundaries.
Stale Cadences? Breathe some new life (gifs, videos, Snap Camera? etc.*Side note: Did Rory get a meeting with GrubHub?)
AEs self-generating outbound business (How, What etc.)
I’ve added this one to my queue and think you should too. Great stuff Jimmy and Reva.
Words That Sell
Another data-backed cheat sheet from Gong with tips and phrases to tweak in your calls and demos. Using data, Gong offers up a few key phrases and alterations to how you position your demo/call to ensure success:
Personalize. Use “Your” and “You’ll” instead of customers and users.
Use social proof (customer reviews and actual quotes)
Show. See. Hear. Touch. (I’m going to SHOW you how… you’ll SEE why…)
Because. That means. For example. Imagine. Explain the why and how.
Problem. Challenge. Solution. Opportunity. (This should be basic discovery - but serving this back to buyers is key)
BONUS (my favorite is using the buyer’s name - and being extremely confident).
The Puppy Dog Close
Puppy Dog Close? I’ve never heard of this before - so the title caught me.
But - after reading - found it pretty interesting. Especially for anyone that is dealing with Free Trials and/or POCs (aren’t we all?).
For those in the dark like me here’s my interpretation of the Puppy Dog Close: You bring a puppy home and fall in love with it. Your kids won’t speak to you again if you don’t agree to make it yours - so you adopt it. Welcome to the Puppy Dog Close.
I liked the reference of Proof of Value instead of Proof of Concept. Especially as it relates to forecast accuracy and conversion numbers. (80% Opportunity-To-Win Rate?)
From Clari: Could the “puppy dog close” work for B2B sales? It worked like a charm at FireEye, a cybersecurity firm where the success of “proof of value” trial installations became the cornerstone of an organization that hit its sales forecast for 24 consecutive quarters.
STRETCH SNIPPETS
🎯Jake Dunlap tells us to focus on outcomes and not activity types to smash your numbers and generate more leads.
👎Emails with emojis in the subject line have reply rates that are 51% LOWER than average per Jeremy Donovan. (what about newsletters?)
⏰Massive Time Wasters of 2020 [Infographic] courtesy of Ring DNA and Alex Olley - Reps spending roughly 1/3 of their time on needless manual tasks?
✅Before You Start as a VP -- Please, Please, Please. Do a 60-Day Plan. And Make Sure the CEO Agrees With It. Via Jason Lemkin.
💡Helpful e-book on knowing your buyer and why B2B sales leaders need intent data to win - courtesy of Bombora.
👉Erin Balsa and Drift gives us 4 tips to hire people with the right sales mindset.
❓2 Questions VPs of Sales Should Ask the CEO (Before they take the job) w/ Scott Leese and James Carbary [Podcast]
✍️ 14 Tips, Steps and Templates to Help You Write the Perfect Sales Proposal from Pipedrive is a quick read to help sharpen your presentations.
🧠 Mindset Matters
Thanks for reading!
My hope is if you find this valuable, consider sharing it with friends (or signing up if you haven’t already).
— Grant 👋
About stretch vp: confessions, learnings and insights from sales leaders in SaaS
Compiled and aggregated from a network of sales leaders in SaaS, Stretch VP showcases learnings, insights and experiences as well as best practices to overcome common hurdles, obstacles and setbacks in your quest for excellence as a sales leader in SaaS.
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