Grant Horvath

Revenue pros need to get ahead of the renewal conversation. Don’t take your renewals for granted. Instead: (1) Understand what’s going on with the business. Where are they winning and where are they struggling? (2) Demonstrate the impact you’ve had on their business. Make the case for renewal plain and simple. (3) Bring a point of view to the renewal conversation. This may mean restructuring to find an agreement that works for everyone. How are you getting ahead of renewals?

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I’ve helped 12+ AEs and SDRs transition into SE/SC roles. There’s no doubt that you can earn a lot as an AE. AEs can make $1,000,000+ in a good year - a very lucrative career path. But the reality is most AEs don’t get there. It takes an exceptional AE to earn consistently at high levels, year in and year out. (I personally would be a terrible AE 😅) A big reason why folks pivot to Sales Engineering is because the earning potential is solid and much more consistent. That’s what the data in the image shows: 36% avg quota attainment for AEs vs... 74% for SE from this same company, with similar OTE’s As an SE, you don’t always have the extreme upside* that your AE counterpart will, but your income is more stable. (*there are some companies that pay SEs similar to AEs, with SEs able to clear $1M+ in a great year, though this is more of the exception than the rule) As an SE, there’s also less pressure to hit quota, quarter after quarter. The roles are different, with different responsibilities and varying degrees of risk (and upside). Both paths can provide tremendous opportunities depending on your strengths and the type of work you enjoy. Hope this provides some perspective for those who are considering SE or AE career paths. #sales #presales #compensation (source: RepVue)

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I've promoted 30+ SDRs to AEs 🥳 (how to do it and hit the ground running) 𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲: 1. Learn how to do discovery calls and demos. Study calls. Make this the focus in your 1:1s with you AE buddy. Do mock calls with your peers. Prepare ahead of time so you're not scrambling. 2. Focus on performance. Do whatever it takes to get great results in your current role. Easiest way to stand out and get the opportunity to interview. 3. Know your numbers and strategy. Be able to speak in detail about your results to date, where you stack up, why that is and what you're working on to improve. 𝗢𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲: 1. Commit to working as hard as possible. SDR to AE is the biggest jump in sales in my opinion. Especially if you're selling a complex product with 1, 2 and 3 year commitments. 2. Be super proactive. Ask your manager/team a ton of questions. Loop your manager into calls. Ask them to review calls and give you their harshest feedback. Use every single resource at your disposal. 3. Be ruthless with your calendar. Only go to meetings that are absolutely necessary. This means saying no to things that are great and really blocking time to study, drive revenue and outbound. What tips would you give SDRs looking ot make the jump to AE? - Mike G 👉 Join 5,000+ sellers getting my (free) sales newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/gwQVvVBK

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Forging pipeline made easy: Salesforge 🔥 takes care of managing your sequences Mailforge - Cold Email Infrastructure 📈 & Infraforge - Private Email Infrastructure 🔷 cover email infrastructure Warmforge - Land In The Primary 🎯 boosts your deliverability Agent Frank takes on autonomous prospecting, outreach and booking meetings & more to come! Get ready for what’s next 😈

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Sales Friends- How many times in a sales conversation do you qualify your prospect's level of interest? ReplayzIQ has unearthed that top sales reps will qualify their prospect's level of interest 3-5 times in a 45 minute Discovery or Demo call. What does 'qualifying their interest' mean exactly? It means taking a temperature check of your prospect throughout the call to see if they genuinely appear to be seeing value and whether they are identifying with the pain you are solving. Are they leaning in or out? Are they hot or cold on your solution's ability to solve their unique painpoints? Why is this important? None of us are mind readers. So why not just ask how your prospect is feeling about what you've unearthed so far? This gives you the ability to address what is on their mind right there and then. A lot of the time your prospect won't volunteer this info unless you ask. AND unless you ask in the right way. What can this sound like? "Based on what we've discussed so far, it sounds like our solution could immensely help you with ________ (insert the pain you identified here). What do you think?" "So is this feeling like a fit for you?" "How does this stack up with how you are doing it today?" "Is there anything you were hoping our solution would do that you haven't seen so far?" ReplayzIQ uses AI to analyze hundreds of sales calls per hour. We've trained ReplayzIQ to unearth the patterns that lead to success. This one skill consistently shows up as a differentiator of top-performing sales reps. What other qualification questions do you use? Weave in 3-5 of these gems in your next sales convos and you will see the difference. Crush it today my friends! 🙌 #sales

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You can't scale a sales team without this. A document that tells reps exactly how to create new opportunities, run demos, and close new customers. Call it a script, playbook, or whatever you want to call it. Your team needs one. I put off creating playbook for too long. It felt like busy-work. Empty calories. Something that you do to pretend that you are being productive. Salespeople should be selling, not documenting their processes. Similarly, sales leadership should be leading and coaching, not writing things down. Right? Wrong. The naive and inexperienced version of me thought that hiring good people was enough. I felt like if I could just get the right salespeople on my team, then they will figure out how to sell and the revenue will go up. So I ran an intense interview process and sought out the best sales talent that I could find. After failing to onboard a few hires that should have been all-star salespeople, I realized that I was the problem. Or rather, my lack of a documented sales process was the problem. New sales hires were learning on the fly, which slowed their progress and made it harder to make money. I wasn’t doing enough to show them how to be successful in their role. Then one day while I was sitting on the sales floor, I heard something that made the hair stand up on my neck. Three different sales demos happening at the same time from three different reps. Each salesperson was using a different version of our sales deck. Each salesperson had a different way of explaining who we are and what we do. Each salesperson had a different method of ending the demo and setting clear next steps. And these were three of our tenured, successful reps! How could we possibly scale a sales team with such a mix of sales execution?! I decided to make a change. I rushed back into my office and started a word document: “How to Run A Demo”. This document outlined the exact steps for running a Levelset demo, in excruciating detail. I was done assuming that salespeople would know how to do things the right way. Leave nothing to chance. If they know, they will do it well. If they don’t know, then at least I have it written down. I included things like: - how to set up your zoom so your video stream looks professional - the ideal structure for a product demo - email templates to make sure your prospect shows up to the demo - what questions to ask your prospect to kick off the demo - key objections and how to overcome them - how to use the sales deck to drive conversation - how to set clear next steps For most experienced reps, it was too detailed but it reminded them of the fundamentals of generating new business. For new reps, it was like I gave them a magical compass. It was a blueprint for success. You can do the same for your team. Start with one page. It will grow into something that you can use for every new person on your team.

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Salespeople would love this Are you finding updating opportunities and managing pipelines on Salesforce more challenging than selling your product? Tracktable is what you’ve been missing. Here’s why: With Tracktable, you get a spreadsheet-like interface that is easy to use and syncs in real time with Salesforce, ensuring no data leakages. Here’s what you can do with Tracktable: 🚀 Act on leads 🚀 Manage opportunities 🚀 Track pipeline 🚀 Update account and contact details 🚀 Add notes Its user-friendly interface saves AEs countless hours on redundant tasks, allowing them to focus on what matters most: building relationships and driving sales. 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘁: We’re launching 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 on Product Hunt tomorrow at 1:30 PM IST. We need your support! 🚀 Save time. Increase productivity. Join us tomorrow! Hoping the community supports #Salesforce #SalesTips #ProductivityHacks #ProductHunt #SalesManager #AE #SDR

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Ashi from Gong is fast (😮‍💨10k) But not as fast as Gong Engage users when they use Lavender. Access to your Gong calls in our personalization assistant ✅ Access to our coach & "Ashi fast" personalization in Gong ✅ Better 🤝 Faster 3.0 (and so much more) coming soon

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If you don't do an EOQ recon...why... SDRs, AEs - these are critical to your success. Review each area, learn from it, optimize it, plan for it and continue to get better daily. SDRs: ✨ Booked Meetings: - Held Meetings - Where did they progress? How can you multi thread? - Booked / Not Held - Action plan to get them back on the calendar ✨ Channel Optimization: Review all channels - previous user, specific sequences, inbound channels, etc. - Where should you double down? - What should you get rid of? ✨ Method Optimization: Calling, Linkedin, Email, Referrals, etc. - What's working, what's not, why? - Where should you double down? ✨ Account Review: Review target list & optimize - Where are you gaining traction? Industry, Persona, Account specific - Where are you not? Industry, Persona, Account specific - Update Account Map, Product Fit, etc. - Get rid of accounts that aren't responsive ✨ Talk Tracks - Review accuracy - Update customer stories - Look at trends - industry, persona, pain, and include in talk tracks AEs: ✨ Win / Loss: Where are you winning /losing? Learn from it - Competitors - Pain Points - Deal Stage - Persona ✨ Opps & Leads: Not just this upcoming quarter, but ALL open opps & leads - Deal Review - review gaps & opportunities - Progress to date & next steps - Create Action Plans ✨ Forecast & KPIs: - Do you have enough pipeline to hit quota? How much pipe do you need? - How are you tracking to quota? - Deal Age, Deal Size, etc - How do you stack against team? Action plan to improve - Rank your critical opps for this year ✨ Account Review: Review target list & optimize - Where are you gaining traction? Industry, Persona, Account specific - Where are you not? Industry, Persona, Account specific - Update Account Map, Product Fit, etc. - Get rid of accounts that aren't responsive ALL ROLES: ✨ Relationship Check - Internal & External - customers, coworkers, prev coworkers, mentors, friends, etc. - Grade your relationships 1-5 - Check your "personal" CRM - check in, say hi, with everyone ✨ Review your latest review - Are you improving where you need to? Are you doubling down on your strengths? ✨ Time check: Time wasters, meeting productivity, etc. ✨ Career Trajectory: What do you want next? What do you need to learn to get there? ✨ Happiness & Health Check: Work / Life Balance. Are you happy & healthy? ✨ Update your Linkedin / Resume - highlight stats, projects, etc. Do these every quarter and future you will thank you 😘 #eoq #endofquarter #review #sales

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To all SDRs or anyone entering B2B sales, read this post to avoid falling into common traps. 1. The most successful AEs I have met were the best SDRs. 2. SDRs who didn’t excel in the role and are now AEs are still struggling to generate their own pipeline. 3. AEs who skipped the SDR role, often due to an MBA or strong interview skills, fear switching jobs and roles without inbound leads. They’ve never faced the grind of building a pipeline from scratch, filled with rejections. 4. AEs who have never been an SDR majorly rely on their SDRs or Inbound leads from marketing to help them build pipeline and if any Quarter they don't get inbound or enough meetings from SDRs they sh** in their pants. 5. When these AEs become managers, they often question their team—"Where are the numbers?" or "Why isn’t there a pipeline?"—instead of guiding them on building it. Lacking experience in pipeline generation, they fail to lead by example and eventually lose the respect of their team. Learn the art and science of being an SDR and excel at this job at any cost, you will never have to look back or depend on anyone for pipeline EVER. Prospecting and Generating Pipelines is fundamental to Sales whether you are an SDR, AE, Sr Manager, or VP if you don't know how to do OUTBOUND you will continuously live a sales life of fear and anxiety. So SDRs ask yourselves do you want to be such AE and Managers in the future who depend on others to determine their performance and faith or would you like to own your job? #sales #prospecting #outbound #pipeline #sdr #ae #b2b #saas

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It's not uncommon in fractional sales to come across orgs that are asking for 10-15x pipeline coverage. Sales is hard. Sales isn't THAT hard. Reality check: about 6% of sellers account for 92% of ARR, and they all run processes that look a lot alike. If you haven't cracked sales yet, you're not alone. In fact, you are the 94%. BUT you can use the same process as the 6% and dramatically increase your revenue for a hell of a lot less than it will cost you to 10x your pipeline.

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Is this how your sales managers support your reps? Is this how your rev ops relate to your sales team? When data or sales enablement helps nail a deal? If not, there's an opportunity to improve. https://lnkd.in/e3fhGEak #RevOps #RevenueOperations #MarketingOps #SalesOps #SalesManagement #SalesCoach #RolePlay #SalesEnablement #SalesEnablementContent

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Sales people have some of the most variable comp of any W2 professional. Most comp structures are a 50/50 split, sometimes a 60/40 split (60% base and 40% variable based on performance). So my question for sales professionals - how do you think about your comp? Do you plan around your base income, OTE (on target earnings), or something in between? Since I started selling software almost 5 years ago, my family has decided to live off of my base. This has forced us to live within our means and helps avoid lifestyle creep as my income increases. This means my 401(k), our mortgages, rent, utilities, groceries, automated target contributions, and monthly variable expenses all fit within my base. With commission, I make a plan for the additional cash. Most of my comp plans have had quarterly commission payouts, so by the time the commission hits I have time to make my plan. My rule of thumb is 50% gets invested in my target account, 25% gets allocated to upgrades for our properties, and the remaining amount goes into our checking account as extra spending money. Sales reps, how do you think about your base vs variable comp?

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You're probably only prospecting 1 person per account. But, Challenger says +5 people are involved. They won't all be good for prospecting... BUT check your call transcripts. Who joined in early conversations? What persona are referenced or join calls through out the deal? Folks that join in early conversations? Reach out to all of them. Name drop each as you go persona by persona. Folks referenced or join later? Name drop them too (if it makes sense). You'll want to start reaching out once the conversations start to keep them in the loop. Work accounts > leads

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As an AE is a high win rate good? Not always. In Q1 my win rate from demo at Nooks was 55%, But my win rate was hurting me Let me explain... -Running too many deals -Discounting and lowering my ACV -Letting large deals slip through the cracks because i was spending too much time on smaller ones Since Q I've cut my win rate in half, but 3x's my ACV What do you think is a healthy win rate? Let me know in the comments

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Missed quota? You’re not bad at sales. Selling is hard. Why? There are so many factors beyond your control: Timing Budget Economic conditions Shifting priorities Personnel changes Product issues High churn Low market awareness The key to tranquility? Detach from the outcome. Detaching does not mean you’re complacent. Detaching is the wisdom of doing your best and yielding to what happens. When you truly and deeply realize that you don’t control outcomes, your heart and mind relax. You no longer have to jump over hurdles; the hurdles fall away. When you lose a sale, you’ll detach and say, “Okay, I’ll ask the prospect for feedback, learn, grow, and move on.” (Hurdle falls.) Be with what is occurring. What comes, comes.

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𝗚𝗧𝗠 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 & 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 separate Strategic CROs and RevOps Leaders from glorified sales managers and systems admins. Getting accurate metrics isn’t easy though. Getting real Insights from those metrics is even harder. You need to: 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 Start by identifying the metrics that matter for your unique GTM motion. To help, our 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 will have a 𝗚𝗧𝗠 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗲𝘅 outlining the most common metrics in B2B SaaS and how to calculate them. 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 P𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 F𝗲𝗲𝗱 M𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 Metrics are only as accurate as the process being executed. If our salespeople don’t know how to qualify deals, for example, our Close Rate will tell us nothing. We have to clearly define processes, train the team, and drive them to adopt and execute in order to be a data-driven organization. 𝗨𝗻𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 It’s not enough to see our Lead Conversion Rate, or Close Rate, across our entire business. These numbers are blended together across different types of leads and lead sources, different segments (SMB, MM, ENT), geos, products, etc. To see what’s really happening, we have to unblend the funnel. More on this in our 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 People only execute processes when held accountable. To get accurate data, we need to inspect the data regularly to be sure it’s accurate. To get real insights into our business, we need to analyze that data regularly to spot trends and take action. This requires the right person/people with the right skills and uninterrupted time to do “deep work.” CROs usually don’t have time to do this well and RevOps can’t if they’re constantly harassed with system admin requests. 𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 As we get to this part of the year, finalizing our annual plan, it’s a bit too late. We have dirty data and have to make some BIG assumptions. If we’re in this boat, we need fix this for next year. Additionally, Annual Plans aren’t set in stone. We need to track them and iterate as we hit or miss goals and milestones. More on this in our 𝗚𝗧𝗠 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 Subscribe to our Newsletter to get it tomorrow: https://bit.ly/49RCm0h If you want a high-res image, subscribe and get it tomorrow, or comment "High Res" below (and send me a connection request if we're not already connected) and I'll DM it to you. ✌️

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Converting your AEs to start sourcing a majority of their own pipeline might not be such a good idea and here’s why: Typically this transition fails for three main reasons: 1) The pipe gen goal that’s assigned is completely made up and is based on the financial model and not relevant sales data 2) You don’t have the right resources in place including an airtight ICP, deep understanding of your persona, the right messaging or tech stack  3) Typically exec or senior level leaders are disconnected from the realities of how difficult cold outreach really is and don’t give the campaign enough time to be successful Here’s what you can do to give yourself a better chance at success: 1) Pick a few key data points to track (such as number of accounts worked, positive contacts, opportunities created, pipeline generated, closed won $$$s) and benchmark these over a period of time that makes sense for your sales cycle. Use this data set to understand what is or isn’t working and make adjustments from there. 2) Start with a small campaign to select accounts within your ICP using targeted messaging and an intriguing offer 3) Cold outreach is a team sport, get your execs and senior leaders involved by having them look through your target account list and see if there are any doors they can open from their network 4) Have some fun while doing it, celebrate the wins along the way! What do you think?

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