Isaac Garcia's Slides from MESHU 2010 Presentation on "Building and Scaling Inside Sales Teams"

1. The Agony & Ecstasy
of Building & Scaling
Inside Sales
Isaac Garcia
CEO / Co-Founder
Central Desktop
May 17, 2010 / MESHU

2. Purpose of This Session
To Understand What It Takes to Build
and Scale an Inside Sales Team and
Whether or Not the Inside Sales
Model is Right For Your Business

3. In This Session We Will…..
• Answer “What is Inside Sales?” and “Who Needs it?”
• Examine Different Types of Sales Models
• Study the Profile of Successful Inside Sales
• What does one look like?
• Look at the People Behind Successful Inside Sales
• Understand the Metrics That Matter
• Provide a Framework for Getting Started

4. First of All, Who The Heck am I?
• First “Tech Job” Was B2B Inside Sales
• First Sales Rep / Inbound / Outbound / Demos / Learned from Founder
• Software Consulting Firm
• Rookie of the Year!
• Founded Enterprise Data Services Company
• Price Points Were $50k - $400k
• Founded B2B Marketplace
• Inside Telesales Team / Low Price Point High Volume

5. First of All, Who The Heck am I?
• CNET Networks
• Inside Sales ($200/mo - $3k/mo)
• Enterprise Sales ($100k - $3 million)
• Landed Google, Ebay, BestBuy, Microsoft
• Central Desktop
• Self-Service / Ecommerce Model ($25 - $249/mo)
• Inside Sales Model ($4k/year - $25k/year)
• Currently in “Scale Mode”

6. First of All, Who The Heck am I?
• Never Sold Anything Before In My Life!
• BA and Masters in English Literature!
• Never Took a Business or Accounting Class in my Life!
ANYONE CAN DO THIS!

7. What Is Inside Sales?
Its Not a Boiler Room!

8. What Is Inside Sales?
Inside Sales is a Progression

9. Wise Nugget #1
As Your Business (Product)
Evolves, So Will Your Sales
Model

10. Types of Sales Models

11. Types of Sales Models

12. It Depends On Your Market
Consumers SMB Mid-Market Large Companies
B2C
B2B
B2B
B2B
SOHO “Small Business” “Medium Business” Enterprise
VSB Departments Departments Fortune 5000
1-5 Employees 100-1000 Employee
5-100 Employees 1000+ Employees
E Commerce
Phone / Inside Sales
Face to Face

13. Don’t Forget The Cost!

14. Don’t Forget The Cost!

15. Tale of Two Companies
Upgradebase Vendorbase
1. $100k+ 1. $25 - $149/month
2. 180+ Days Sales Cycle 2. <30 Days Sales Cycle
3. Face to Face 3. Phone
4. Expensive Reps 4. Ecommerce / Telesales
5. Few Customers 5. LOTS of Customers
6. Net Terms 6. Credit Card!
7. Integration 7. 100% Web Based
8. We Raised Capital 8. We Bootstrapped

16. Dot Com Crash
• 2001
• Cash Crunch
• Customer Crunch
• Business Crunch
• Upgradebase Hurt
• Vendorbase Did Well

17. Wise Nugget #2
It is Possible to Bootstrap
Inside Sales To Success!

18. Inside Sales: What Does It Look Like?

19. Inside Sales: Simplified
Leads
(Inbound/Outbound)
“Potential”
Opportunity
“Accepted”
Opportunity
Pipeline
Measure at Close!
Each Stage!
$

20. Inside Sales: What Does It Look Like?

21. Lead Gen: Inbound
• Reps Qualify Inbound Leads
• Trials, Whitepapers, Email, Chat, Phone, Tradeshows
• First line of defense / Sift Sand
• SCORE Leads To Be Efficient!
• Create “Potential” Opportunities
• Comp’ed on Qualified Opps & Closed Won
• Collaborate with the Account Executive (Closer)
• Ratio is 1 Rep to 3-4 Closers
• SF.com Gives ~250 Leads Per Month / CD 1000 Leads

22. Wise Nugget #3
The Secret to Inbound Lead
Qualifying is to Listen to Your
Customer’s Needs – and
Solve a Problem.

23. Lead Gen: Outbound
• Sales 2.0 / Cold Calling /
Prospecting
• Proactive Outbounding
• Find New Opps for Closers
• Target Higher $$$ Prospects
• Target Ratio is 1:3
• This is NOT Calling the Phone
Book!
• Segments with Higher
Propensity to Buy

24. Wise Nugget #4
The Secret to Outbound Lead
Development is to Respect &
Care about the Prospect!
You Have No Right!
Date Them!

25. Closers: Account Executives
• Focused on New Business
• “Accept” Opportunities
• Manage a Territory / Patch
• Develop Territory Plans
• Carry a Quota ~5x Total Comp
• Might Manage 10-30 Key Accts
• Incentivized to Close Deals
Monthly / Collect Cash Up Front

26. Wise Nugget #5
The Secret to Closing a Sale
is to Not Sell To them!

27. Nurturers: Acct Management
• Focused on Adoption
• Customer Success
• Nurtures Accounts
• Be Trusted Advisors
• Find Referrals / Upsells
• Manage Renewals
• Collaborate with Sales Closely
• Comp’ed on Retention / Renewal Rates
• This Could Be Two Teams
Upsell / Acct Management

28. Wise Nugget #6
You Don’t Do All of this at
Once – You Iterate Your Way
Into Inside Sales!

29. Who & How To Hire / And When?

30. Hiring Leadership

31. Hiring Leadership

32. Hiring Leadership

33. Hiring Leadership

34. Hiring Leadership

35. Your Sales Leader Needs To:
• Sell
• Manage
• Coach
• Lead
• Schedule
• Report
• Present
• Prospect
• Hire
• Close

36. Be Careful When Hiring Managers!
• Sales People Are Good At Selling Themselves!
• Are They Precise With Their #s?
• Take EXTRA Time When Hiring
• SF.com Managers Spend 50% of Their Time Hiring
• Unanimous Hiring (With Multiple Interviewers)
• Ask Them To Present!
• Make Them Give You A Plan!
• Check Their W2s!
• Did They Try to Close You In The Interview?

37. Hiring Reps
• Develop a Training System (Starts w/Founder)
• Give Them the Equipment They Need
• Good Phones
• Headsets (w/long battery life!)
• Good Chairs
• Good Computers
• Give Them the Tools They Need
• Linkedin / Jigsaw / Hoovers / Insideview
• Give Them Career Paths

38. What About The Profile of Reps?
• Finished College
• Competitive (Sports)
• Driven / Leaders
• Extra-Curricular Activity (Music, Sport, Hacking, etc.)
• Can Relate to Others
• Quick On Their Feet
• Organized / Professional (Did they followup? Try to close you?)
• Sense of Urgency
• Likes / Wants to Win

39. Sales Culture Musts
• Ethical
• Fair
• Professional
• Competitive
• Supportive
• Driving
• Fun
• Money-Centric
Sales Is Not For Everyone

40. What About The Metrics?
• CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
• Churn
• Life Time Value (LTV)
• MRR / CMRR
• Renewal Rates
• ACV (Average Contract Value)
• Cash Collected
Notice These Are Business Metrics?

41. So, Where Should You Start?
• YOU (the Founder) are the BEST Sales Person!
• Learn, Learn, Learn!
• Listen, Listen, Listen!
• Iterate, Iterate, Iterate!
• Your Involvement Will Influence the Company
Forever!
• You Can’t Outsource Passion
• If You Can’t Sell Your Own Product – You Have No
Passion
• No Passion – No Sales – No Success

42. Start Slowly
• Founder’s Should Always Sell In the Early Days
(Especially if Bootstrapped)
• Learn How To Train Others
• Hire a “Whale Hunter” once you’ve got something
repeatable (multiple sales). Bring In Cash!
• Separate the Job Functions / Don’t Expect Your Hires
to all be like you!
• Focus on Market Fit! This is who you Outbound too!
• Measure / Iterate
• Manage to Results (Not Behavior)

43. Most Importantly
• YOU CAN DO THIS!
• This isn’t just for “other people”
• YOU CAN DO THIS!
• Building a Product Isn’t Good Enough!
• You Need To Go To Market With Your Product
• Inside Sales Can Be One of the Most Effective
Ways to Bring Your Product to Market

44. “Go and Do Likewise!”

45. Resources & Special Thanks:
• The Central Desktop Sales Team
• @isaacgarcia / igarcia@centraldesktop.com
• www.Balsamiq.com for mockups
• David Skok @ www.forentrepreneurs.com
• Mark Suster @ www.bothsidesofthetable.com
• Aaron Ross @ www.pebblestorm.com
• Salesforce.com for Inspiration
• Alec Baldwin Cameo in Glen Garry Glen Ross