Companies are debating about the value of sales people training…. As B2B SaaS sales brings a new concept of selling; where the product, its benefit, features and innovation are in the center of interest, the sales REP is the final part that must address the same values to complete the puzzle. The mission of having individuals that are fascinated with their sales work and motivated to bring results- could only be gained with well-defined training plan combined with ongoing team & members coaching …that's how you create a winning inside sales team !

1. Igniting Your SaaS Cloud Sales
Training Program
for SaaS B2B Inside Sales Teams
Revital Libfrand, Co-founder
Ignite Cloudware

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It happens in every SaaS Company
Our marketing is doing a great job with generating leads…we need to
build inside sales team to convert those leads into customers….

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So…if I hire today, when would I start and see results?
Average rump up time is 4.2 months (in 2012) comparing with 3
months measured in 2010*
* Inside Sales for SaaS report, published by the bridge group
31%
39%
22%
8%
1-3 Months 3-5 Months 5-7 Months 7+ Months
Average Ramp Time

4. That long?
Maybe we should look for an ideal
candidate to shorten learning curve
timing…?
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Define the ideal inside sales candidate
The ideal candidate would be probably the best inside sales
REP that is being working for my direct competitorin the last 2
years….
Advantages:
 Know the competitors
 Familiar with product capabilities
 Know how to address the value to the customer
 Experience in sales
 And ….we don’t need much to invest in training…

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Why don’t we all do that?
Well….everybody is trying…
Looking at hundreds of inside sales job openings Ads, we see that
many companies seeking for candidates with 2-3 years inside sales
experience (must), a great advantage would be if the experience was
gained in a vertical that is close to the seeking vendor’s business….

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Overwhelmed ? Check out this…
Forbes Magazine [March 2013]
Inside Sales Jobs and Career Growth up
54%
“the hiring landscape has certainly
shifted. Between 2009 and 2011,
demand for lead generation
reps grew 54%. That is significant. With
demand outstripping supply, companies
are moving further down the
experience food chain.”
(by Trish Bertuzzi, President and Chief Strategist
of The Bridge Group, Inc)

8. Let’s redefine our ideal inside
sales candidate so it would
match reality ….
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Redefine the ideal inside sales candidate
 Fluent English/ any other language that suit the targeted
market
 Great communicationskills
 Fascinated about great products that can make a change in
business environment
 Love to speak with people
 Hunger to constantlylearn
 Self learning skills
 Experience in sales- a great plus
At the end of the recruitment process we will have various
candidates with different knowledge level of our scope of
business/product/sales.

10. In order to ensure sufficient level of
knowledge, skills & competencies
among ALL our inside sales people,
we need to build a training plan
10

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Building a training plan – step 1
Define the major areas of knowledge your sales REP must have:
Industry Overview
Company overview
Product Overview
Company Offering
Sales Skills & Process
Personal working plan

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Building a training plan – step 2
For each major area, prepare a detailed list of the topics :
•Cloud industry overview
•SaaS business model
•Vendor industry overview
•Competitors landscape
(SaaS & Traditional)
Industry
Overview
•Company history
•Goals and mission
•Company structure
•Company position in the
market
Company
overview
•Productmodules
•Productdemo
•Self use according to
certain scenarios
Product
Overview
•Focused marketsegment
•Packaged offering for
each segment
•Customers challenges
•Sales kit
Company
Offering
•Research skills
•Lead qualification
techniques
•Sales process
•Supporting systems (CRM,
phones, mail etc)
Sales Skills &
Process
•Targets & KPIs
•Area of responsibilities
definition
•Coaching plan
Personal
working plan

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Building a training plan – step 3
For each topic define the training level within the topic, for
example:
ProfessionalsAdvancedStarters

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Building a training plan – step 4
For each training topic define the following:
• Named
• Internal or ExternalOwner
• Presentation
• Video
• Test & hands-on exercises
Training
Material
• Make sure to make reservation to the needed
meeting room
• Ensure you have the ability to record the sessions
for future needs
Facilities

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Building a training plan – step 5
Prepare a survey for each session, so you (or the trainer) could get
better next time.

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Building a training plan – step 6
Transform your “set-up” training plan into an ongoing coaching &
training plan
Define periodic enhanced trainings for
the team (bi-monthly, quarterly etc)
Encourage your team to come up with
new training topics
Define periodic coaching sessions to
review “real-life” experiences (i.e.
worst call of the week/ funniest demo
with potential lead etc)

17. Major criteria for inside sales success is
keeping high level of enthusiasm and
motivation….
Coaching & Training are critical elements
to make it happen
17
Take out…

18. Are you struggling with inside
sales resources set-up?
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Inside Sales Organization Service
HR Recruitment
- Define candidate pre-requisites :Academic Degree, Language, high
communicationskills
- Phone interviewfollowed with Personal interview
Cloudware School
- General sales topics
- Vendor Tailored topics
Sales Assignment
- OptimizationofSales REP to job
description
Sales kit preparation
- Detailed documented sales
process script
Logistic & Support systems
- Phones, Station work
- Relevant SW : CRM, punch clock
etc
Ignite Cloudware Provides wide Sales & Marketing services to SaaS
vendors.
Our inside sales team setup & ongoing management in a nutshell :

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Ask me how to build an optimized inside
sales team for your SaaS business
www.ignitecloudware.com
+972-72-2116601
revital@ignitecloudware.com