Pierre Schramm’s Post

Sean's Sales Tip Leveraging Partnerships: The Winning Strategy for Vendors in Today's Market. Mickey B. in response to your great article 🚀 As a Channel Leader, I've had the privilege of witnessing firsthand the transformative power of partnerships in driving business growth. But what are some of the lessons for end-users, vendors, and partners alike?🚀 How Do End-Users Benefit from Indirect Channels? • Lower Cost: Indirect channels often provide cost-effective solutions compared to direct models. • Business Understanding: Partners intimately understand the needs of end-users, offering tailored solutions. • Convenience: One-stop shopping and superior service make the buying process seamless. • Trust and Independence: End-users trust partners to deliver independent advice and solutions. 🛠️ Whole Product and Partners Neither end-users nor partners settle for just a 'product.' Instead, they seek holistic solutions that meet their diverse requirements. Partners play a pivotal role in delivering pieces of the 'whole product,' ensuring end-users needs are fully met throughout the buying journey. 💼 Benefits to Vendors of Working with Partners Vendors: • Expanded Market Reach: Partners provide wider market coverage, extending vendors' reach. • Cost Efficiency: Leveraging partners incur lower coverage costs compared to direct models. • Speed to Market: Partners offer existing skills and local presence, accelerating time to revenue. • Customer Preference: Many customers prefer to buy from trusted partners, enhancing vendor credibility. ⚠️ Common Issues from Vendors about Partners: • Misaligned Objectives: Partners may prioritize their own products and services over vendors'. • Margin Pressures: Constant margin negotiations and discounts can strain vendor-partner relationships. • Lack of Understanding: Partners may not fully grasp the vendor's value proposition, leading to miscommunication. 🔥 Common Issues with Vendors • Competition with Direct Sales: Partners often compete with vendors' direct sales teams for the same deals. • Lead Allocation: Limited sales leads and unequal distribution can hinder partner success. • Communication Overload: Vendors inundate partners with irrelevant emails, causing frustration. 🔍 Why Do Common Problems Occur? Several factors contribute to these challenges: • Segmentation Gaps: Lack of clear segmentation between vendors and partners leads to misalignment. • Unclear Expectations: Partners and vendors may have differing and confusing expectations. • Inadequate Enablement: Insufficient training and support hinder partner effectiveness. Vendors must invest in clear communication, robust enablement, and aligned objectives to maximize the potential of their partner ecosystem. By addressing common issues, understanding partner needs, and fostering collaboration, vendors can unlock new avenues of growth and success. 🚀🤝

Between 2017-2020, I helped Demandbase grow from $50M to $100M+ in revenue as the VP of Sales (and then CRO). Here are the 5 major changes we made to our GTM to hit 9 figures in revenue: 1. We increased the number of closes in the year by focusing on monthly targets Early on in a start-up you can close everything you need to at the end of the quarter, with a mad dash and rush of adrenaline. But there comes a point when you can’t close everything you need in such a limited timeframe. You have to create more closing periods in which contracts are negotiated and closed. Otherwise, there’s an insurmountable amount of work at the end of the quarter. This requires creating a culture of monthly closing, which starts with having monthly targets. I’ve found if you can hit 25% of the quarterly goal in month one, 25% in month two, then it’s likely you'll hit the final 50%+ in month three. 2. We simplified the salesperson's role to ONLY three things As the sales team grows, the job of a salesperson has to be simplified so it can be enabled for consistent success. For us this meant breaking down everything the salesperson does into Building Pipeline, Capturing Attention, and Closing This was how onboarding was structured, all hands were structured, and reps were measured. The reasons we chose these three: it put an emphasis on salesperson ownership of their territory, it pushed us away from slides and presenting, and it made us intentional in hitting our monthly goals. 3. Made SDRs one of the most high-profile roles in the organization The SDR is foundational to the GTM and it’s incredibly difficult emotionally. SDRs have to know what they do matters. This means celebrating wins and creative prospecting. This means they see SDRs promoted and succeeding across Sales, Sales Engineering, and CX. 4. Focused on strategies that made sure contracts got through enterprise procurement in time This is especially important when you’re selling into Enterprise. It takes organizational alignment, enablement, and continued iteration and oversight to ensure enterprise contracts are executed when forecasted. The mindset has to be a combination of constant productive paranoia, scenario planning, and stakeholder orchestration. 5. Believed the keys to our success were within the team If you’ve made it past the early stages, there’s SOMEONE in the Sales org doing the job you need done well. There’s someone doing great prospecting, someone doing great discovery, someone managing the sales process, someone telling your story, someone handling the objectives, and someone closing contracts successfully. Maniacal focus on extracting the best practices, compiling them, and enabling them has tremendous leverage. TAKEAWAY: Every business is different. Whether you're doing $10M or $100M. Different stages require different strategies. The five above had a huge impact for us. But finding what works is a constant process. Keep testing and keep iterating. Don't get stuck.

💼 Why Great B2B Enterprise Sales Talent Is Hard to Find and Worth the Effort 🌍 In a world where quick wins and high-volume transactions often steal the spotlight, enterprise sales is a different game entirely. It’s not about how fast you can close—it’s about how well you can position your company to grow strategically with long-term, high-value partners. And that’s exactly where an Enterprise Salesperson comes in. They’re not just dealmakers—they’re growth architects: 1️⃣ Strategic Partnerships, Not Transactions. Enterprise sales are built on trust and an in-depth understanding of a client’s evolving needs. They’re not here to sell a product and move on—they’re here to co-create solutions that drive long-term value. One successful deal can lead to multi-year partnerships, opening doors for upselling, cross-selling, and ongoing collaboration. 2️⃣ Mastering Complexity. Navigating an enterprise deal means working across various departments—legal, procurement, IT, C-suite—and aligning their interests. It’s about solving complex challenges, ensuring seamless integration, and delivering a solution that fits perfectly into the client’s operational framework. It’s not just about making the sale—it’s about architecting success. 3️⃣ Long-Term Revenue Impact. The deals secured often become the cornerstone of a company’s revenue strategy. It’s not about signing many smaller contracts—it’s about landing a few high-value partnerships that fuel growth for years to come. These deals drive substantial and sustained revenue over time. 4️⃣ Deep Industry Expertise. Enterprise sales professionals bring market and industry insights that allow them to act not only as sellers but as trusted advisors. They provide value by shaping how companies approach their business challenges, giving them a competitive edge that goes beyond the immediate product or solution being offered. Personally, I’ve been focused on enterprise sales for a while, and here’s what I’ve learned: finding top-tier executives who are the right fit for your solution is not easy—especially when selling SaaS within startups. But here’s the key point: when you do find them, it pays off massively. The ROI from landing the right enterprise client is undeniable, but it’s not just about the numbers. The way your potential partner is treated and the depth of the relationship built is on a different level altogether. I’ve seen it firsthand when you align with the right executive, the value created goes far beyond the initial deal. It transforms both companies involved. So yes, these roles come with a higher price tag, but that’s because they’re not just employees—they’re strategic growth enablers. When you invest in enterprise sales, you’re not just paying for expertise—you’re paying for someone who can unlock potential and drive exponential growth for your business. Drop your thoughts below! 👇 #EnterpriseSales #Growth #BusinessDevelopment #Partnerships #SalesLeadership #B2BSales

Excellent advice from our CRO turned CEO, Gabe Rogol! I'm perpetually amazed at the discipline displayed by our sales teams and how well they use the data provided by Demandbase to uncover customer pain points and direct their conversations. #enterprisesales #abm

"I'm looking to bring on a VP of Sales to spearhead our market entry into Germany," expressed the Founder and CEO of an Austrian SaaS scale-up, in which I am invested and actively supporting their growth plans.   The conversation quickly intensified as the founder was persistent about the necessity of having someone lead their team of currently 3 AEs and initiate the establishment of the sales team in Germany. While there's no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of when the right time is to hire a VP of Sales, it's crucial to carefully consider all aspects and potential drawbacks before commencing the process.    Let me shed some light on this: Among the most common missteps made by scaling SaaS companies is the hiring of a VP of Sales. Particularly when sales operations have predominantly been led by the founder with a few successful AEs managed directly by them. Often, there's a misunderstanding between the newly hired VP of Sales and the founder regarding the role.    Many VP Sales appointments end in failure, with some not even lasting 12 months. This is critical for a company in scaling mode as it results in a loss of momentum, creates uncertainty within the team, and most importantly, slows down growth plans for the upcoming fiscal periods.    Now, I'm not suggesting that you should refrain from hiring a VP of Sales altogether, but rather ensure that the new hire aligns with your expectations. Here's what you should expect a VP to accomplish upon joining your organiation in scaling mode:    - They should actively participate in deals and support their team as needed. This involves a hands-on approach, joining meetings with AEs, asking pertinent questions, and helping advance deals. Too often, VPs, particularly those from corporate or enterprise SaaS backgrounds, are accustomed to crunching numbers and creating impressive presentations for reporting meetings. - They should dedicate a significant amount of time to maintaining contact with potential candidates. Ensuring that the VP has a strong pool of talent willing to follow them and join your company is crucial for fast growing teams. - ABC! Always Be Closing applies to VPs as well. They should be capable and willing to close their own deals. Building a great sales team requires leading by example, starting with sourcing and working on their own opportunities. - The VP must be a strong cultural fit and aligned with your company's values. Remember, you're entrusting this person to shape the future mindset of your primary growth engine. You want this team to be hungry for success, agile, smart, yet humble, to ensure they remain focused on your company's overall goals. It's hard to pinpoint the exact right time to hire a VP, but it's essential to ensure that expectations are aligned and agreed upon. Both sides should have ample time during the screening process to mitigate risks before embarking on this journey.  #Scaleups #SaaS #salesleaders

⚙️ Mid-market/Enterprise revenue engineering: An amateur guide Two years ago, I started focusing on founder-led sales with our B2B solutions. Initially, it started as adhoc conversations with friends and LI connections who are experts in partnerships, value proposition design and B2B sales. This strategic play is something I think B2B founders should study further, more than #PMF 😅 For context, Mid-market/Enterprise can be defined as accounts bringing $10k to $1m a year (ARR). Having clarity over this sweet spot, helped us to focus which channels and marketing activities would work well. It also helped us cut talent in the hiring process that did not fit into our #GTM playbook or have difficulty adapting to it during their ramp-up phase. 1) Revenue is an outcome of Solution Fit x Credibility x Value Proposition In our #productmanagement training classes, we often stress that revenue is not a key lever in the business but the result of doing value creation and value capture well. In project bids where we have bested the competition, we helped our clients to see how our recommendations fit their needs well and that we brought something more to the table that they find difficult to replicate internally. We can't actually talk value-add, we actually had to show it during the pre-sales and evaluation process. 2) A revenue pipeline can be more sustainable than building a funnel In SEA, there's generally more farmers than hunters; lots of experienced account managers and delivery focused professionals. To take advantage of the talent pool, you either have to build a product-led growth enabled strategy or have POC enabled sales process or learn to build a revenue pipeline from scratch. Revenue pipeline building and good account management goes hand in hand where our solutions find a find within the client's value chain and enable a lean sales team to do more. My preferred way is to build a value exchange dynamic with #community driven partners (not BNI, as it is more suitable for SME market and plug and play solutions due to contract size). One of our partners introduced us one of our longest B2B strategic account relationship that has been going 4+ years strong, we also ocassionally send staff from respective teams to learn from each others' instructors. 3) Skillset of a pipeline builder would differ from a sales rep or account manager While a SDR may think about the current quarter or next, I think in span of a year or more. Next, strategy, scalability and sustainability are top of mind considerations. I continue to spend time thinking about how to create a greater sense of urgency and derisking initial engagements despite the above reflections. I would like to thank Eugene Cheng 🪄, Anthony Howe, Mary Lee, Mateen Kirmani and Ruben Arunasalam for entertaining these ad-hoc conversations :) There's also an excellent podcast + book which helped shaped this essay, drop me a PM or comment below if you would like to learn more.

Aspiring Enterprise Sales Reps - some tips on transitioning from MM/SMB sales into enterprise (Spoiler - there are no short cuts!) * This is a compilation of info kindly provided to me by some of the many successful enterprise sales reps I've had the pleasure of working with recently and to whom I'm extremely grateful for their advice. 👉 Shift focus from quantity to quality in prospecting: When selling to enterprises, it's critical to prioritize depth over breadth in the prospecting process by targeting key decision-makers. Unlike SMB sales, which can be a numbers game, enterprise sales require detailed research and tailored outreach to ensure you're speaking to the right individuals. 👉 Understand different priorities: Enterprises have more complex priorities compared to SMBs, including maintaining shareholder satisfaction and ensuring steady growth. They are risk-averse and will scrutinize claims, meaning you must provide substantial data and differentiate your solution from competitors effectively. 👉 Conduct in-depth discovery: It's not enough to clarify the "what", you also need to clarify the "why", "how", "what then", "what if" etc. Your questions should uncover the root causes and impact of problems on the business as a whole, and how this affects bottom-line objectives like growth, profitability, employee retention or whatever other factors are keeping the board of directors up at night 👉 Prepare for longer deal cycles: Enterprise sales cycles are much longer than SMB sales, often taking months or years to close a deal. Salespeople need to develop patience and resilience, finding small wins in progress and feedback rather than frequent closures. 👉 Master conversations with multiple stakeholders: Enterprise sales involve dealing with various stakeholders from different departments, each with unique concerns. Building rapport and understanding how to address the needs of different stakeholders is key, while ensuring everyone feels respected as part of the decision-making process. 👉 Leverage content strategically: Case studies, white papers, and other marketing materials are critical in enterprise sales and should be used strategically throughout the sales process. These materials help demonstrate ROI and provide validation for enterprise buyers, who will carefully review this content at various stages. Understand the procurement process: The enterprise procurement process involves multiple layers of approval, often including finance or procurement teams. ☝ In summary, transitioning to enterprise sales requires adapting to longer cycles, engaging multiple stakeholders, and leveraging tailored content. By focusing on key decision-makers, understanding enterprise priorities, and mastering procurement processes, sales professionals can navigate the complexities and set themselves up for long-term success in larger, more lucrative deals.

Building pipeline is the key to selling enterprise B2B SaaS deals. Pipeline is the game. You have to make the dials. Set the meetings. Run the meetings. And you have to keep prospecting for a looooong time before you see results. If you don't have the discipline to stick with it for 6+ months, your outbound campaign will fail. This is why many founders struggle to transition from founder-led selling to building a sales team. The team you build must have the discipline and patience to run the outbound campaign for many months before they see results. I see it all the time. A founder launches an outbound campaign targeted at their top 100 enterprise prospects. They line up the prospecting cadence. They write the call and email templates. And they kick off the prospecting effort. Then 60 or 90 days into the campaign they give up because they aren't seeing results. You can't close enterprise customers without building pipeline. And you can't build a real enterprise pipeline without committing with the campaign for 6+ months. You have to trust the process. There's some good news: The more time you spend prospecting, the luckier you will get. Opportunities will find you, but you have to stay disciplined and keep working the plan. Want to learn how we closed our first $1.5mm ARR in 18 months? Check it out: https://lnkd.in/gSdUXTXw

Net New Name (NNN) selling is hard...most would say that it is the hardest form of B2B selling. If you have to ask me why, you probably have never had to do it yourself 😉 Ironically, executing 👉🏼SALES SKILLS👈🏼, especially typical prospecting, qualification and discovery skills is the very thing that makes selling enterprise B2B SaaS assets to a Net New account HARDER, not easier...outside of getting lucky. Heresy? Bear with me, as the reasons for this are pretty logical. 👉🏼 Most enterprise B2B sales skills and processes require sufficient demand to work... with NNN accounts this demand is rarely existent, let alone sufficient. In this case, "sufficient" demand has to be business demand, not just technical demand, in order to create the financial event that we seek, ideally THIS fiscal year, making this a top down process. In the majority of cases with NNN accounts, acquiring our assets (or those of our competitors) is not in their annual operating plans and therefore no budget is allocated, making the B-word not only useless, but also a "shut down trigger". How many times have you heard "we don't have budget for this"? No business need = no demand = nothing to operationalize = nothing to fund. 👉🏼 Their FTEs are already fully committed to executing the tasks required to fulfill their current operating plan requirements (the one that our assets are not part of), which means that starting a new unplanned project (what we call an opportunity🤔) represents disruption and potential risk to their current operating plan. And yet, companies often take on unforeseen projects and consider assets that were not contemplated in their planning if the business value is compelling enough to justify this. So why do we continue to execute typical sales skills when they are not optimized for this motion? For the most part, when we don't know what to do, we do what we know. This requires business skills that many of us have never learned, so we bring the skills that we do have, not the ones that we don't. Enterprise NNN selling has to be a top-down process to work at scale, as strategic business demand must be created first to get out of the tactical, 1-year POC trap that plagues enterprise SaaS selling. We have to give the named executive officers, directly or through their proxies, the business reasons to allocate capital and expensive resources. The good news is that most of our assets are designed to create shareholder/business value through our impact on growth...a key capital allocation focal point. This is a guidance-based motion, not a discovery-based motion. NEO's want to know the net intermediate to long term financial impact realized with any given asset, first...which they would only know if we are proactively sharing our financial models with them. These exist in most cases, they simply need to be operationalized in the selling motion. We can do this now, executing the right skills. #b2bsales #salesenablement

Who makes for better CROs? - VPs of Sales or VPs of RevOps? I’m increasingly seeing a trend among great CROs. Among the CROs leading the highest growth companies, outpacing their competitors, winning awards, and building revenue engines that continue to attract investors even in a downturn, I’m seeing more and more data-driven operationally minded leaders. On the flip side, when CROs’ primary skills still center around closing deals and coaching salespeople, I see real challenges in scalability. The difference is often very stark. 𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗚𝗘𝗧𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗤𝗨𝗢𝗧𝗔𝗦 Starting with the end goal in mind, we still see sales teams driven by pie-in-the-sky targets and unachievable quotas. The best CROs leverage data and process mapping to set the right targets. They carefully refine their ICP and Personas and match their addressable market with their past performance in outbound prospecting and inbound lead flow. 𝗖𝗔𝗣𝗔𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚, 𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚, 𝗢𝗡𝗕𝗢𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 The best CROs are carefully mapping out the sales process and doing a capacity plan to determine how many accounts a rep can run this process on without skipping steps and letting things fall through the cracks. This enables them to create realistic hiring and onboarding plans and give their reps the time and support they need to ramp up while not setting unrealistic expectations. 𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦, 𝗦𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗦 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗘𝗖𝗛𝗡𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗚𝗬 The best CROs have embedded their sales process into the CRM and the rest of their tech stack. They’ve carefully built territories for each rep so they can have a laser focus on the best accounts and a clear step-by-step process in the tools to execute. 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗞𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 The best CROs have tightly integrated marketing so that everyone is pursuing the same North Star, booked revenue. Marketing tools are integrated with the CRM and the CRO and the marketing team are regularly looking at what channels and what campaigns are producing real qualified pipeline and converting to revenue. 𝗖𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗨𝗖𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦 The best CROs have realized their companies will live or die based on their ability to retain and grow their customers. They’ve mapped out clear processes to onboard new customers, to identify unhealthy accounts and get them healthy, to manage the renewal long before the renewal date, and to spot expansion opportunities and treat them with the same rigor they do new business sales. So, who do I think makes the best CROs? VPs of Sales or VPs of RevOps? I expect most people to say VPs of Sales, despite my case here. But I personally know a former VP of RevOps that moved into the CRO role and is now in VERY high demand for his combo skills. What do you think? 🤔