We provided our client with the necessary visibility to understand rep behavior and productivity. This enabled them to create a baseline, identify the practices of their best reps, optimize the performance of those lagging behind, and make data-driven decisions about their headcount.
The Challenge
Due to a market downturn and a hiring freeze, this sales team had to do more with fewer resources. Additionally, the shift from a balanced inbound-outbound strategy to a predominantly outbound approach created further strain.
With the team struggling to hit their sales targets, the CRO needed visibility to understand rep behavior, identify top performers, and pinpoint areas for improvement. This also enabled our client to then accurately evaluate performance and make informed decisions on headcount.
The Solution
To provide our client with the visibility they needed, we set up their CRM and integrations to accurately track rep activities and created dashboards for both the CRO and individual reps. This ensured everyone was looking at the same information and could prioritize accounts effectively. Based on what the most effective reps were doing, we established clear metrics and a ranking system to make data-driven hiring and firing decisions, optimizing team performance.
As part of our analysis into rep behavior, we found that speed to lead was a critical factor, correlating with a higher win rate on deals. Reps were often unable to hit an eight-hour SLA. To address this, we implemented LeanData's automated scheduling tool, BookIt, allowing high-intent qualified prospects to book directly onto reps' calendars. This approach gave the CRO the insights needed to understand and enhance rep productivity, leading to improved sales outcomes.
The Approach
Learn more about our approach on how we solved this for our client below:
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CRM Setup and Integrations: We set up their CRM and integrated various tools to accurately track rep activities, providing a solid foundation for data gathering across all sales processes.
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Separation of Activities: Differentiated between inbound and outbound activities in Salesforce to accurately track rep efforts and provide clear visibility.
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Dashboard Creation:
- Developed comprehensive dashboards for the CRO and individual reps, ensuring everyone had access to the same information.
- Created dashboards to help reps identify unworked accounts, prioritize efforts, and manage large account volumes efficiently.
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Implementation of Tools:
- Book It: Streamlined scheduling, reduced time to touch, and increased meeting bookings by allowing high-intent qualified prospects to book directly onto reps' calendars.
- LinkedIn Activity Integration: Tracked LinkedIn activities for the first time, providing a comprehensive view of rep activities.
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Account Prioritization and Scoring: Enabled reps to prioritize accounts more effectively through dashboard insights, focusing on account activity, open tech roles, and past engagement without adjusting account equity.
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Ranking System: Created a ranking system for AEs to make data-driven decisions on hiring and firing based on performance metrics such as:
- Number of outbound activities (emails, calls, LinkedIn messages)
- Number of new accounts worked
- Depth of contact within accounts
- Number of meetings booked
- Speed to first contact (time to touch)
- Number of trials or demos initiated
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Analysis: Analyzed the client's sales and account management processes to understand the current state and identify areas for improvement.
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Visibility and Evaluation: Enhanced the CRO's visibility into sales activities by separating inbound and outbound efforts, allowing accurate performance evaluation based on current activities rather than outdated metrics.
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Operational Enablement: Implemented LeanData's automated scheduling tool, BookIt, to reduce time to touch and increase meeting bookings. and integrated LinkedIn activity tracking for a comprehensive view of rep activities.
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Personalization and Prioritization: Provided reps with templates and coaching on personalized outbound strategies, including prioritizing accounts with recent signals and past engagement to ensure focused and effective outreach.
The Impact
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Increased Meeting Bookings and Improved Speed to Lead:
- The implementation of LeanData BookIt led to a 2X increase in first call meetings and significantly reduced response times, allowing high-intent qualified prospects to book directly onto reps' calendars.
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Higher Productivity Per Rep (PPR) and Effective Outbound:
- Outbound activities increased substantially after implementing the dashboards and new strategies.
- Dashboards helped reps prioritize high-potential accounts and ensured consistent follow-up.
- A ranking system identified top performers and those needing support.
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Enhanced CRO Visibility and Comprehensive Activity Tracking:
- Real-time dashboards enabled the CRO to make data-driven decisions around performance managing reps.
- Key performance metrics, such as outbound activities and meeting bookings, were tracked and analyzed for better team optimization.
- LinkedIn activities were tracked for the first time, providing a more complete view of rep efforts.
These results reflect our solutions' effectiveness in enhancing visibility, optimizing performance, and enabling data-driven decision-making.
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