The curriculum on Marketing, Sales & Customer Success - CRO School | 7x Sales Leader | 2x CRO | Podcast Host Better Business Building
Business acumen is vital for your business. But how do we obtain it? The skillset of the reps at the front end, since the split out or predictable revenue, and still to this day in tech saas, has been entry level. We only need to lean back into other industry verticals, or simply remember what it was like prior. Reps at the front end were seasoned veterans with a well honed skills. Why? Coming up in the early 2000s.. you had to prove yourself in CS first. Which meant dazzling on the phones -Activation -Onsell -Upsell -Opportunity spots. -Increasing Contract penetration for 1-2 years for a CHANCE to be a Full Cycle rep. What did this give us? Complete commercial line of sight. We didn’t push up deals that wouldn’t align with CS. We didn’t push up deals that wouldn’t pass credit. We didn’t push up deals that wouldn’t pass legal. This gave you a higher degree of commercial acumen. This gave you a better business impact brain. This enabled, far better business case / proposals to be presented. These are the talent that can speak with your CEO Talk cost saving analysis with your CFO Speak to end to end service delivery with your CRO. This isn't entry level folks. So what does this look like in everyday business?? Founders with funding ramps, that have never worked in sales or marketing, or CS. They have the best idea. They get funding. They hire SDR, AE, CS. They dont know the job functions. They rely on the machine, everyone just looks at each other and points in a circle, and all that transpires is a churny mess of no one actually knows what they are doing. Funding ramp gone. Reps fired. Process starts again. End the madness. Backwards to go forwards. #Marketing #Deals #Sales #ClosedCircuitSelling #Revenue
People went into an industry They learnt about it Now the industry is sometimes 'sales' Sales selling to sales... and arguing about the best way to do it In the meantime those who have gone into an industry do it the 'old' way by learning about customers The ones who do it best look at ways they can understand them better and have more meaningful conversations By not being dazzled by finding the best way to sell they find the best way to sell (You know why I focus where I do 😉)
I would say this sums things up perfectly.
Adem, spot-on insights. Experience at the front lines does wonders for business acumen. How do you think mentorship fits into this growth process?
Excellent breakdown. This one has got to go in the Almanac. For those that are looking at refining and expanding their sales system, this overview should be at the foundation.
It's all about having a clear view of the entire business, not just a piece of the puzzle. Perfectly summed up Adem.
Absolutely, Adem Manderovic! Business acumen is key.
There's much to be said for learning the ropes from the ground up. Getting your hands dirty in CS gives you insights you can't get from reading a book or attending a seminar. It's all about building that commercial acumen and understanding every facet of the business.
Disrupting with simplicity and continuous business basics. If you look closely we have been explaining every aspect of the commercial viability of the business chain, for over 2.5 years without change. Nothing revolutionary here. Just business basics. Let’s get back to that.
☝️ We safe guard you against the workable commercial components so you don't make this mistake, and your reps dont become a statistic.
The curriculum on Marketing, Sales & Customer Success - CRO School | 7x Sales Leader | 2x CRO | Podcast Host Better Business Building
9moTime is now - to learn these skills or continuously be at the mercy of those that have them. Super simple