Alba Robinson

Top 5 key metrics I recommend CROs use for inside sales professionals: 1. Speed of response 2. Efficiency of progression through the process 3. Number of calls per day 4. Number of positive outcomes 5. Demo sets As a CRO leader, these are five metrics that I live by. 

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The 2024 State of Sales Report from Salesforce just dropped and there's a ton of cool data point to check out. I mention a few interesting points in the clip below including: Who the heck are the 36% of you who would NOT leave their current job for better pay? 😂 😉 You can download the full report here: Link: https://lnkd.in/ePEWegNV

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Here is the real impact that value selling is having for revenue teams: Tom Pisello David Yockelson 🔑48% improvement in winrate 🔑35% increase in deal size 🔑25% reduction in sales cycle time BUT...... ⛔️ only 19% of reps and 19% of pipeline is using value selling today. BIGGGG opportunity here...!

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Frontline sales management is the toughest job in the company. The most successful frontline leaders have a disciplined approach and consistent operating cadence. In the latest Building Elite Sales Teams episode, Dana Smith,Sr. shares why consistency is critical as a sales leader: Dana also discusses the importance of hiring well, being a genuine leader who can admit when you're wrong, and not 'watering the weeds' by moving on quickly from reps who aren't working out. Check out the full episode for more of Dana's advice on developing as a leader and building high-performing sales teams.

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This article is yet another data point demonstrating that, in today's hyper-competitive business landscape, a well-crafted partner ecosystem strategy isn't just beneficial—it's essential. Here's why: 📈 Customer-Centric Approach: A robust ecosystem equips you with comprehensive solutions, reducing customer fatigue by anticipating and proactively addressing their needs. 📈 Paradigm Shift: Many sales leaders cling to outdated tactics, believing that intensifying traditional methods (more calls, emails, activities) will drive results. In reality, we're playing an entirely new game with different rules. 📈 Quality Over Quantity: Merely increasing volume often leads to one outcome: burnout. It's time to shift from "more" to "better." Strategic Thinking: We've long advocated for working "smarter, not harder." Yet, our default often remains "harder, not smarter." It's time to bridge this gap between intention and action. 📈 Ecosystem Leverage: When properly utilized, a partner ecosystem becomes your secret weapon, providing innovative solutions and opening new avenues for growth. The future belongs to those who can harness the power of ecosystems and foster collaboration over competition. #SalesStrategy #PartnerEcosystem #BusinessInnovation #LeadershipInsights

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New sales ops hires have no idea what they are getting into with Salesforce. Here's why: Imagine you’re building a deck. And you are given the keys to a Home Depot. You have access to unlimited equipment and supplies. But you get no instructions on what deck you are building or how to build it. This is what situation most sales ops roles are in with Salesforce. Without training in its full capabilities, admins will be stuck and overwhelmed. This is why I created the Salesforce Accidental Admin Accelerator for sales admins. I recently did a webinar on YouTube that talks about how we are helping SalesOps and sales administrators with Salesforce. You can view it here: https://lnkd.in/g297XegA

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11 things world-class sales development teams DO—and what the worst teams DON’T Insights from... → Outbound Squad's experience working with world-class teams at Gong, Shopify, Rippling, and more → Orum's 2024 State of Sales Development report Commentary on how the best sales development teams... ✅ Use AI responsibly ✅ Retain top talent SDRs ✅ Align with AEs ✅ Deal with low-pick up rates ✅ And plenty more 👇 P.S. Watch this video for our full commentary: https://lnkd.in/eBFYfnU3

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Turning the table on the buyer seller dynamic is imperative for sales success 💪 Yes 👍 The customer buys the solution with money 💰 BUT 🥊 You as an AE “buy” the belief in the deal closing based on many signals 💡 The rationale the customer provides ✅ Their engagement on calls ✅ The breadth of stakeholder involvement ✅ SO 🥊 Ensure you’re not getting swindled 😉

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In 2024 sales leaders are being asked to hit bigger targets with tighter budgets. On a macro level this can feel daunting, but if you boil it down team by team, rep by rep– the answer clearly sits in the efficiency and productivity of your rep’s day. And in order to drive that daily efficiency and productivity, you need to deeply understand the foundational systems + processes that actually allow your team to spend the bulk of their day talking to customers and prospects. If I’m a frontline manager or Dir of sales right now, I am revisiting this checklist quarterly to drive that efficiency and productivity within my teams: 1.) Revisit your deal cycle workflows and ensure your reps understand the ins and outs of the tooling and sales process. ↳They need to know how to navigate the sales methodology you use ↳They need a deep understanding of your CRM and entry and exit criteria for deal stages ↳They need to have clarity around forecasting expectations and how to keep their pipeline clean ^ All the logistics of getting the job done. 2.) Skills assessment/reinforcement and training around how to make sales conversations meaningful. ↳Revisit messaging and positioning ↳Regular objection handling practice ↳Understanding each persona, their problems and buyer signals that indicate it’s time to reach out to that specific prospect ↳Value, benefits, ROI, differentiation matters Fewer tools means less complexity. See where you can cut standalone tools and consolidate to more comprehensive and all-in-one tools (like Apollo) to give your reps a more centralized operating system and reduce the time spent navigating their tech stack. Simplicity will help your reps win. 💪🏼 The market and selling environment is changing rapidly. Your teams are growing and shifting constantly. These things should be top of mind and regularly revisited at the team and rep level to ensure they are as equipped and empowered to do what they do best (sell!) at all times. How often are you running enablement sessions with your team? Do you focus on process or skills more? #salesexcellence

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The #1 habit salespeople use to keep deals moving to close? Maintaining deal momentum is tricky—especially with long sales cycles and multiple stakeholders. While follow-ups via email, text, or LinkedIn are the baseline, they often aren’t enough. The key is to have a personal pipeline review and ask: What can I do today to add value and move this deal to close? Some examples: 1. One rep I know sent a fun Amazon gift—a drink holder shaped like the brand’s name. This playful gesture sparked laughter, strengthened rapport, and ultimately helped him close the deal. 2. Another rep revived a fading conversation by sending a thoughtful DoorDash gift card, which re-engaged the buyer and led to a successful close. 3. One focused on building personal relationships across all stakeholders (by sending personalized emails and texts to each stakeholder individually). Inevitably, when one of the stakeholders hesitated, the other stepped in to support the deal. 4. A different rep engaged with his buyers personal social media accounts (specifically Instagram and Facebook), expanding to a multi-channel relationship, helping him close the deal. 5. More recently, I had a rep who leveraged below the line champions to (1) get connected with the economic buyer, and (2) to justify why now with stunning testimonials, helping move the deal to close. Each of these creative solutions stemmed from asking "how can I move this deal forward and add value?" during a personal pipeline review. I recommend reps do this daily, weekly, or somewhere in between. Depending the size of your pipe, you may start with less while you're focused on pipe creation. Mornings work best—spend 30-60 minutes thinking creatively about how to move deals forward. Go through every single deal, starting with the ones furthest along in the pipe. Riff with your manager or colleague if needed. Be consistent. What other creative things have you seen/tried to help move deals forward? #sales #pipelinereview #dealmomentum

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I was fortunate to join a dinner with HubSpot, PandaDoc, 6sense, CallRail, and @aptitude 8 with a group of marketing, sales and operations leaders from the greater Atlanta area. Sangram Vajre from GTM Partners presented new research that reinforced a lot of what New Breed found in the State of HubSpot research we recently launched. Here’s what I learned: 🌟 Atlanta is a hub for go-to-market pros. With revenue tech companies growing up here, like Silverpop (a marketing automation platform I loved back in the day), Terminus, and others, the city is a true center of expertise! 🌟 Many organizations define go-to-market too narrowly—often limiting it to product launches or lead-gen tactics. But go-to-market strategy encompasses everything an organization does to bring solutions to customers, deliver value to the community, and achieve meaningful growth. And it needs to be treated like a product in an of itself. 🌟 The strategies and tactics that worked even just a year ago have evolved. Today, many organizations face go-to-market fit challenges. In the State of HubSpot research, we found that only 7% of organizations are confident in hitting their revenue targets. Those that are confident show strong alignment around their GTM model, relevant metrics, and maximize their revenue tech. Key takeaways from the night: If you're experiencing slowed growth or friction in your growth process, it’s time to reassess your go-to-market model. Here are some questions to guide you: 💫 How does your organization define go-to-market? 💫 Is your leadership team aligned on your go-to-market strategy? 💫 Has this strategy been effectively communicated to the organization? 💫 How do your buyers prefer to purchase your solutions? 💫 Where do your customers go to learn and make buying decisions? 💫 Once they interact with you, how can you ensure exceptional speed to impact? 💫 How can you empower your teams to make that impact sustainable? 💫 Are you organized to support this ideal buying process? 💫 What tools, technology, and systems are required to facilitate this process? 💫 Do you have the culture and people in place to enable and train teams to execute your ideal go-to-market? (Special thanks to Trish Bewley from Semrush for sharing incredible insights on revenue team enablement!) Thank you for a funny, yummy and insightful evening Keith Rabkin, David Chang and Mónica Cottrell, Brenna Zenaty 👩🏼‍🏫, and Sarah Zeeman many others!

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I feel for SDR's in 2024. Why? Outbound has become really difficult...and sales leaders don't seem to be helping with targeting 😕 I have been 💣 for weeks by a a ton of enterprise-grade software SDRs. I applaud the work they are putting in, but there is a major problem: Viewpost is a 50 person growth stage company. We don't need nor could we make use of an enterprise ERP, system orchestration platforms, or one of a hundred things that hit my inbox and voicemail. I've started responding to SDR's with a simple note telling them that I appreciate their tenacity, but we aren't ICP. I've been surprised by the positive response. Sales leaders: spend a ton of time on targeting. Batting averages will rise and you'll avoid burning your SDR's out 🙌

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No, this is not a fake text. No, I didnt prompt this text. Just proof that using Sendspark is a gamechanger for booking meeting. Real life examples, done by real life people. #sendsparkpartner #salesrecruiting #salestraining 🦘

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Tired of losing hard-earned deals? Solve for Revenue Leak. In Clari’s 2024 Revenue Leak Report, RevOps leaders said leak happens at every stage of the funnel. - Creating: Poor and slow upsell pipeline tracking - Converting: Unsure where pipeline is dropping off - Closing: Slipped deals Don’t let Revenue Leak drag down another quarter – or another year. Download the Revenue Leak Report for more: https://lnkd.in/g9gnGrdz  

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Everyone in your revenue org has a different view of what's going on. Learn how to leverage it: VPs: “We’re tracking behind on our Q3 revenue target. We need to increase our ACV by doubling down on Enterprise opportunities.” Sales Managers: “We’re tracking behind our Q3 revenue target. We don’t have enough opportunities to double down on. We need to increase our outbound activity to drive pipeline.” Account Executives: “I’m behind on my Q3 target. Building more pipeline isn’t going to help me this quarter. I need to close at least 50% of my open opportunities to get back on track (even though my average is 25%).” Same Problem. 3 Completely Different Approaches. If you work in revenue enablement, you have the unique opportunity to be a bridge between team members at every level. Here’s what that sounds like… To VP’s: “If we want to increase our team’s ACV by moving up market, we’ll need to audit how we qualify opportunities and make sure we’re getting the right stakeholders involved in discovery. Do you have time to collaborate on a new rubric for our SDR’s and AE’s to qualify champions? I’d expect this to take about 3 months before we start seeing consistent results. Is there any opportunity to focus on mid-market win rate in the meantime?” [Once approved, go to your sales managers] To Sales Managers: “I understand we need more activity, but until our reps are identifying the right people to get on a call, it’s going to be wasted effort. Leadership is working on a new qualification framework for next quarter, but in the meantime, you can still hit your target by focusing on moving more of your existing pipeline in S2 & S3 into later stages in the sales cycle. What are some high-value deals that you feel are stuck right now?” [Then, go to your reps] To Sellers: “Your managers have identified some deals that are stuck in the early stages of the sales cycle. In the past, I’ve noticed you tend to use discounts as a lever to push deals through faster. How would you go about advancing these deals if you weren’t able to discount them at all?” By taking the time to listen to different perspectives from across the org, Enablement becomes a force multiplier that get’s everyone moving towards the same goal.

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Sales leaders on average have 18-24 months to make an impact when new to role. Gartner research shows that 46% of new-to-role executives stumble or underperform. If you are NTR, are looking to be NTR or have a friend how is NTR, download this ready-to-use roadmap by Gartner that will equip you with the knowledge you need to succeed in your new role. Gartner for Sales | #GartnerSales #CSO #NewRole #Sales

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Want to build a $100M ARR sales team? Start by measuring your sales reps' performance in conducting 8 impactful meetings a week. From discovery to closing. If it’s below 4 meetings, you have an issue. 1. Discovery: Encourage your reps to ask insightful questions and truly understand the prospect's needs. 2. Qualification: Ensure your team is qualifying leads effectively to focus on high-potential opportunities. Find the problem, no problem = no deal 3. Business Case: Help your reps articulate a compelling business case tailored to the prospect's specific challenges. Solve the problem = access to budgets 4. Closing: Equip your team with the skills to confidently close deals and drive revenue growth. Empower your sales reps to excel in each stage of the sales process and you will see the results! 💪

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I am confusion 😶 I recently spoke with an AE who's ACV is that of an Enterprise AE (£100k +). They're MM though, up to 5k employees (appreciate different things mean different things in different orgs when it comes to splitting SMB, MM & Enterprise). Their average sales cycle can be 12-18 months (again more Enterprise IMHO). But their quota is <£350k (which in my eyes is an SMB quota). How have the business worked out their numbers and quotas for the year? Should the quota be higher? But performance is pretty consistent against the current quota so just hiking it will see a massive drop in performance. Should the sales cycle be looked at, is there a way to shorten in to increase the velocity? Should I shut up because if they're hitting overall business quotas who cares? I am confusion 😶 #saasales #recruitment #myheadhurts

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The first rule in sales leadership? Never miss your number. The second rule? See rule #1. But even the best sales leaders go through a bad month or a bad quarter. So what do you do when you are forecasting a miss? 1. Be honest about your forecast to your team and to your CEO. Don’t lie to yourself (or to anyone) about your forecast number. if you are expecting a miss for the bookings period, communicate the news as soon as you can. This is the kind of information that spoils very quickly when it’s hidden from view You might think you are helping yourself or your team by withholding your forecast. Maybe you are trying to project strength by sharing a forecast that’s filled with “hope-ium”. Believe me, it worse to miss your inflated forecast than it is to admit your team is going miss the revenue plan. 2. Get help from your leadership team. When you are honest about your forecasted performance, you attract the help of your peers. I’ve seen this so many times. Sales is the “tip of the spear” for most organizations. When sales are up, everyone is excited. When sales are down, everyone wants to help. So let them! Let marketing lean in to produce a few extra webinars or team events. Pull the customer success team in to find referrals or secure those key customer reference calls. You don’t have to go it alone. You have a team around you, so ask for help! 3. Find revenue wherever you can. This one may seem obvious, but it’s important. Don’t give up on the month/quarter. There is still time. You have pipeline that you can work. There are deals in next quarter that you can pull forward. You can re-engage with closed-lost deals from past quarters. Those can have a faster sales cycle than net new opportunities. You can get creative with deal structures to encourage customers to commit sooner. You can find new upsell opportunities with your best customers. The point is: don’t give up on the month. I’ve hit the number on the last day of the month/quarter so many times in my 10 years of running a revenue team. The period not over until it’s over. ______ If you are staring at a gap to your revenue plan for Q2, let me help you. Dozens of sales teams have used my 4 Keys playbook to increase sales velocity and volume. Get it for free: https://lnkd.in/gsAHGBSH

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