The Agony and Ecstasy of Building & Scaling Inside Sales

The Agony & Ecstasy of Building & Scaling Inside Sales Isaac Garcia CEO / Co-Founder Central Desktop May 17, 2010 / MESHU

Purpose of This Session To Understand What It Takes to Build and Scale an Inside Sales Team and Whether or Not the Inside Sales Model is Right For Your Business

In This Session We Will….. Answer “What is Inside Sales?” and “Who Needs it?” Examine Different Types of Sales Models Study the Profile of Successful Inside Sales What does one look like? Look at the People Behind Successful Inside Sales Understand the Metrics That Matter Provide a Framework for Getting Started

First of All, Who The Heck am I? First “Tech Job” Was B2B Inside Sales First Sales Rep / Inbound / Outbound / Demos / Learned from Founder Software Consulting Firm Rookie of the Year! Founded Enterprise Data Services Company Price Points Were $50k - $400k Founded B2B Marketplace Inside Telesales Team / Low Price Point High Volume

First of All, Who The Heck am I? CNET Networks Inside Sales ($200/mo - $3k/mo) Enterprise Sales ($100k - $3 million) Landed Google, Ebay, BestBuy, Microsoft Central Desktop Self-Service / Ecommerce Model ($25 - $249/mo) Inside Sales Model ($4k/year - $25k/year) Currently in “Scale Mode”

First of All, Who The Heck am I? Never Sold Anything Before In My Life! BA and Masters in English Literature! Never Took a Business or Accounting Class in my Life! ANYONE CAN DO THIS!

What Is Inside Sales? Its Not a Boiler Room!

What Is Inside Sales? Inside Sales is a Progression

As Your Business (Product) Evolves, So Will Your Sales Model Wise Nugget #1

It Depends On Your Market E Commerce Phone / Inside Sales Face to Face

Upgradebase $100k+ 180+ Days Sales Cycle Face to Face Expensive Reps Few Customers Net Terms Integration We Raised Capital Vendorbase $25 - $149/month <30 Days Sales Cycle Phone Ecommerce / Telesales LOTS of Customers Credit Card! 100% Web Based We Bootstrapped Tale of Two Companies

2001 Cash Crunch Customer Crunch Business Crunch Upgradebase Hurt Vendorbase Did Well Dot Com Crash

It is Possible to Bootstrap Inside Sales To Success! Wise Nugget #2

Inside Sales: What Does It Look Like?

Measure at Each Stage! Inside Sales: Simplified Close!

Lead Gen: Inbound Reps Qualify Inbound Leads Trials, Whitepapers, Email, Chat, Phone, Tradeshows First line of defense / Sift Sand SCORE Leads To Be Efficient! Create “Potential” Opportunities Comp’ed on Qualified Opps & Closed Won Collaborate with the Account Executive (Closer) Ratio is 1 Rep to 3-4 Closers SF.com Gives ~250 Leads Per Month / CD 1000 Leads

The Secret to Inbound Lead Qualifying is to Listen to Your Customer’s Needs – and Solve a Problem. Wise Nugget #3

Lead Gen: Outbound Sales 2.0 / Cold Calling / Prospecting Proactive Outbounding Find New Opps for Closers Target Higher $$$ Prospects Target Ratio is 1:3 This is NOT Calling the Phone Book! Segments with Higher Propensity to Buy

The Secret to Outbound Lead Development is to Respect & Care about the Prospect! You Have No Right! Date Them! Wise Nugget #4

Closers: Account Executives Focused on New Business “ Accept” Opportunities Manage a Territory / Patch Develop Territory Plans Carry a Quota ~5x Total Comp Might Manage 10-30 Key Accts Incentivized to Close Deals Monthly / Collect Cash Up Front

The Secret to Closing a Sale is to Not Sell To them ! Wise Nugget #5

Nurturers: Acct Management Focused on Adoption Customer Success Nurtures Accounts Be Trusted Advisors Find Referrals / Upsells Manage Renewals Collaborate with Sales Closely Comp’ed on Retention / Renewal Rates This Could Be Two Teams Upsell / Acct Management

You Don’t Do All of this at Once – You Iterate Your Way Into Inside Sales! Wise Nugget #6

Your Sales Leader Needs To: Sell Manage Coach Lead Schedule Report Present Prospect Hire Close

Be Careful When Hiring Managers! Sales People Are Good At Selling Themselves! Are They Precise With Their #s? Take EXTRA Time When Hiring SF.com Managers Spend 50% of Their Time Hiring Unanimous Hiring (With Multiple Interviewers) Ask Them To Present! Make Them Give You A Plan! Check Their W2s! Did They Try to Close You In The Interview?

Hiring Reps Develop a Training System (Starts w/Founder) Give Them the Equipment They Need Good Phones Headsets (w/long battery life!) Good Chairs Good Computers Give Them the Tools They Need Linkedin / Jigsaw / Hoovers / Insideview Give Them Career Paths

What About The Profile of Reps? Finished College Competitive (Sports) Driven / Leaders Extra-Curricular Activity (Music, Sport, Hacking, etc.) Can Relate to Others Quick On Their Feet Organized / Professional (Did they followup? Try to close you?) Sense of Urgency Likes / Wants to Win

Sales Culture Musts Ethical Fair Professional Competitive Supportive Driving Fun Money-Centric Sales Is Not For Everyone

What About The Metrics? CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) Churn Life Time Value (LTV) MRR / CMRR Renewal Rates ACV (Average Contract Value) Cash Collected Notice These Are Business Metrics?

So, Where Should You Start? YOU (the Founder) are the BEST Sales Person! Learn, Learn, Learn! Listen, Listen, Listen! Iterate, Iterate, Iterate! Your Involvement Will Influence the Company Forever! You Can’t Outsource Passion If You Can’t Sell Your Own Product – You Have No Passion No Passion – No Sales – No Success

Start Slowly Founder’s Should Always Sell In the Early Days (Especially if Bootstrapped) Learn How To Train Others Hire a “Whale Hunter” once you’ve got something repeatable (multiple sales). Bring In Cash! Separate the Job Functions / Don’t Expect Your Hires to all be like you! Focus on Market Fit! This is who you Outbound too! Measure / Iterate Manage to Results (Not Behavior)

Most Importantly YOU CAN DO THIS! This isn’t just for “other people” YOU CAN DO THIS! Building a Product Isn’t Good Enough! You Need To Go To Market With Your Product Inside Sales Can Be One of the Most Effective Ways to Bring Your Product to Market

Resources & Special Thanks: The Central Desktop Sales Team @isaacgarcia / igarcia@centraldesktop.com www.Balsamiq.com for mockups David Skok @ www.forentrepreneurs.com Mark Suster @ www.bothsidesofthetable.com Aaron Ross @ www.pebblestorm.com Salesforce.com for Inspiration Alec Baldwin Cameo in Glen Garry Glen Ross

The Agony and Ecstasy of Building & Scaling Inside Sales

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