The Agony & Ecstasy of Building and Scaling Inside Sales
1. The Agony & Ecstasy
of Building & Scaling
Inside Sales
Isaac Garcia
CEO / Co-Founder
Central Desktop
May 17, 2010 / MESHU
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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”
6. 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!
15. Tale of Two Companies
Upgradebase Vendorbase
1. $100k+ 1. $25 - $149/month
2. 180+ Days Sales Cycle 2. <30 Days Sales Cycle
3. Face to Face 3. Phone
4. Expensive Reps 4. Ecommerce / Telesales
5. Few Customers 5. LOTS of Customers
6. Net Terms 6. Credit Card!
7. Integration 7. 100% Web Based
8. We Raised Capital 8. We Bootstrapped
16. Dot Com Crash
• 2001
• Cash Crunch
• Customer Crunch
• Business Crunch
• Upgradebase Hurt
• Vendorbase Did Well
21. 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
22. Wise Nugget #3
The Secret to Inbound Lead
Qualifying is to Listen to Your
Customer’s Needs – and
Solve a Problem.
23. 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
24. Wise Nugget #4
The Secret to Outbound Lead
Development is to Respect &
Care about the Prospect!
You Have No Right!
Date Them!
25. 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
35. Your Sales Leader Needs To:
• Sell
• Manage
• Coach
• Lead
• Schedule
• Report
• Present
• Prospect
• Hire
• Close
36. 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?
37. 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
38. 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
39. Sales Culture Musts
• Ethical
• Fair
• Professional
• Competitive
• Supportive
• Driving
• Fun
• Money-Centric
Sales Is Not For Everyone
40. 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?
41. 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
42. 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)
43. 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
45. 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
Notes de l'éditeur
Freemium = Opensource Products, Dropbox, Google Apps No Touch SS = Balsamiq, Basecamp, YouSendIt Light Touch = Constant Contact, Logmein, High Touch = Salesforce.com, Netsuite, Omniture Field Sales = Oracle, BEA, SAP
Freemium = Opensource Products, Dropbox, Google Apps No Touch SS = Balsamiq, Basecamp, YouSendIt Light Touch = Constant Contact, Logmein, High Touch = Salesforce.com, Netsuite, Omniture Field Sales = Oracle, BEA, SAP
Freemium = Opensource Products, Dropbox, Google Apps No Touch SS = Balsamiq, Basecamp, YouSendIt Light Touch = Constant Contact, Logmein, High Touch = Salesforce.com, Netsuite, Omniture Field Sales = Oracle, BEA, SAP