Acting Like a Top 25 Salesforce ISV: Designing the Seller's Journey for the Trial Experience

Today’s Speakers:
Sean Hogan
CRO
CodeScience
Craig Rosenberg
Distinguished VP, Analyst
Topo now Gartner

● About CodeScience & Craig Rosenberg of Topo
● Acting like a Top 25 ISV overview
● Quick review of Part 6 (Trial Experience - Buyer’s Journey)
● Trial Experience - Seller’s Journey
■ Tools to Optimize
■ Resources to help you
● Open Q&A in chat please
Agenda

Client success: 10% of the AppExchange

Revenue Stage - Team Design Changes

Technology + Distribution
Blue Halo

Top 25 ISVs Connect Strategy to Functions
Strategy
Product
Management
Product
Marketing
Marketing
Ops
Sales Ops
Customer
Success
Finance
Sales
Sales
Engineers
SFDC
Alliances
Marketing Support
Deploy

Part 1: Insights to Grow Your Business - Appinium
Part 2: Product Marketing Strategies - OwnBackup
Part 3: Demo Org Optimization - nCino
Part 4: How Tech Support Drives ACV Growth - CodeScience
Part 5: Designing a GTM Alliances Team
Part 6: Trial Experience - Buyer’s Journey Design
Part 7: Trial Experience - Seller’s Journey Design
Part 8: Appinium’s Trial to Close Experience
Top 25 ISV Series in Review

Buyer + Seller Journey + Tech = Trial Experience
Strategy
Product
Management
Target
Buyer
App
Exchange
Listing
Product
Marketing
Trial Tech
Report &
Dashboard
Sales
Alliances
SEs
Demo Org Personas
User
Switcher

Seller’s Journey is today’s focus:
Technology
Selection
Buyer’s
Journey
Enablement
Optimization
Outcomes
Part 6 Your Sellers

Welcome, Craig!
Craig Rosenberg
Distinguished VP, Analyst
Topo now Gartner

Your Seller’s Journey is a Team Sport:
Customers Salesforce Internal
Sales Team Alliances Team Exec Team
Sales Engineers
Demo Environment|Product Marketing | AppExchange

DESIGN THE SELLER’S JOURNEY FIRST
© 2019 TOPO. All rights reserved.
The sales process is a standardized set of
activities that provide a common methodology for
determining where a buyer and rep are in the
sales process and what to do next.
- The sales process is the roadmap that
guides sales from qualification to close. It
tells the organization “where they are” and
“what to do next.”
- Process steps and exit criteria must be
clearly defined using terminology that sales
reps understand.
- A well-defined and enforced sales process
provides consistency in quality of
opportunities and better transparency into
the state of the pipeline.
⅔ of best-in-class
organizations have well-defined
sales processes

BUYER-CENTRIC STEP-BY-STEP OBJECTIVE EXIT CRITERIA
Description Account for the target buyer’s
standard purchasing process
Determine the sales plays that reps need
to run at each step of the sales process in
order to deliver what the buyer needs to
move to the next step
Define the objectively identifiable and
trackable criteria that allows reps to move
to the next step in the sales process
Example Build consensus with enterprise
buyers by scheduling multiple
stakeholder meetings to deliver
presentations and demos relevant to
their roles
Common sales plays are Qualification,
Discovery, Demo, Trial, Proposal, and
Close
In the trial stage, the following milestones
must be met: the trial meeting has
occurred, a proposal meeting is
scheduled, and the buyer provides verbal
or written agreement to the final close plan
SELLER’S JOURNEY (SALES PROCESS) METHODOLOGY

QUALIFICATION DISCO / DEMO (TRIAL)5 PROPOSAL CLOSE
% of the Process 10 20 60 80 100
Buyer Objective How do I solve my
challenge?
Can you solve my problem? Does the solution do what
they say it can do?
Who is the best fit for
my needs?
What’s the plan for
the company to
solve my
problems?
Seller Objective Determine the fit Determine whether we can
solve their challenges and
impact their business
Prove that we can solve
their challenges
Propose a solution
and negotiate key
terms
Hand off to customer
success
Steps 1. Qualification call
2. Handoff from SDR
→ AE
1. Account research
2. Disco/demo meeting
3. Confirm qualification criteria
1. Set up meeting
2. Trial kickoff
3. Checkpoints
4. Trial impact meeting
1. Proposal meeting
2. Close plan
1. Contract signed
2. Customer success
handoff
Exit Criteria Buyer • Provided
answers to
qualification
questions
• Agreed to next
steps
• Agreed that the solution
appears to solve their
challenges
• Shared the buying process
Decision maker agreed that
the solution can solve their
challenges
Internal purchase
approver agreed to:
• The close plan
• Manage the
purchase
process
Mobilized internal team
and invited them to kickoff
meeting
Seller • Completed
qualification
assessment
• Scheduled the
discovery call
• Documented the use case
• Documented the
authority, need, and
timeframe
• Documented the top
challenges
• Scheduled the trial kickoff
• Scheduled the
proposal meeting
• Proposal is created and
set to the customer 24
hours before the meeting
• Confirmed the close
plan in writing
• Confirmed
stakeholder
approval
• Documented the
commercial terms
Completed the
onboarding handoff to
customer success
SALES PROCESS DESIGN TOOL
5
For companies with no trial, the next step is a proposal meeting.

Trialing Experience for Sellers

TRIAL TRENDS AND TRAPS
• In 51% of SaaS-based trials,
sales reps fail to manage buyer
expectations primarily because
their success criteria are not
properly defined before the trial
begins.
• A large number of trials fail to
even get started. 46% of
organizations view trial
adoption as a critical issue.
• In 40% of SaaS-based trials, sales
reps fail to effectively engage with
the buyers, giving them little
opportunity to overcome objections
and make sure the trial is on track.

SET EXPECTATIONS ENSURE ADOPTION MANAGE TRIAL TO
DRIVE PROGRESS
VALIDATE RESULTS
Description Kick off the trial by
establishing success
criteria with the buyer
Schedule an immediate
follow-up on day 2 of the trial;
verify the client has activated
the trial and started using the
software
Use regular checkpoint
meetings to address
problems and/or roadblocks
at strategic points during the
trial
Use the Trial Management
Tool to validate that the
success criteria were met
Example “The purpose of today’s
meeting is to review the
objectives of the trial,
schedule checkpoint
meetings, and determine our
next steps. The outcome of
this meeting will be an
agreed-upon plan for
success and a schedule to
successfully launch and
manage the trial.”
“The purpose of today’s
meeting is to review your initial
trial experience and any early
findings. We want to make
sure we can guide you in the
right direction, and that may
include some course
corrections.”
“The purpose of today’s meeting
is to assess your progress to
date, get your initial feedback,
and answer any questions. If we
identify any issues, we will
resolve them on this call or I will
follow up with you after
the call.”
“We are here to review the
results of the trial and
discuss the impact it had
on your business. We will
also talk about our next
steps and agree on the key
points to emphasize when
we meet with your
executive team.”
TRIAL METHODOLOGY

TRIAL SETUP KICKOFF MEETING CHECKPOINTS END-OF-TRIAL MEETING
Description Pre-kickoff meeting to
review Trial Management
Tool
Meeting with key stakeholders
to set expectations, assign
owners, and schedule key
meetings
Regular checkpoint meetings to address
problems and/or roadblocks at strategic
points during the trial
Final meeting to present findings
from trial, including results, key
insights, and recommended next
steps
Key Steps • Pre-build the trial
management doc
before meeting
• Make revisions based
on champion feedback
• Introduce resources from
both sides
• Review trial management
doc and trial schedule
• Checkpoint meeting #1:
Schedule an immediate follow-up
on Day 2 of the trial; verify the
client has installed the software
and begun the trial
• Checkpoint meeting #2:
Schedule this meeting to be
held within the first 5 business
days of the trial
• Present trial management doc
with updated findings
• Close for next steps
Attendees Internal Sales rep and solution
engineer or customer
success rep
Sales rep and solution
engineer or customer success
rep
Sales rep and solution engineer or
customer success rep
Sales rep, solution engineer or
customer success rep, and sales
leadership
Buyer Buyer champion and
executive sponsor (if
willing)
Buyer champion and technical
and business stakeholders
Buyer champion and technical and
business stakeholders
Buyer champion, executive
sponsor, decision maker, and
technical stakeholders
Next Steps Send updated trial
management tool to
stakeholders
• Send updated Trial
Management Tool to
stakeholders
• Put meetings (checkpoint
and end- of-trial) on
calendars
• Send post-meeting recap with
a list of issues and action items
• Send email updates as action
items are completed
Close for proposal meeting
TRIAL PROCESS DESIGN TEMPLATE

The Seller’s Trial
Management Template

ELEMENT OBJECTIVE FINDINGS
Business Objectives “Reduce engineering costs by >15%.” “Saw a 12% decrease in outsourced development time; expect this to increase as users get more accustomed to using
the software in their workflows.”
“Decrease application delays by 3-4 months.” “Estimated initial decrease of 3 months. As the solution is optimized, estimated decrease is 4-5 months.”
“Add 2 more releases to 2019 release schedule.” “Increase in speed; lowering of audit time should allow for more work on extra release dates going forward.”
Trial Success Criteria “50% less manual effort on 3 specific tasks.” “Roughly 40%, but with more practice, we are confident we can reach 50%+.”
“Accuracy of real-time production visibility.” “Looked at reporting daily and verified data; no inaccurate numbers.”
“Benchmark develop cycle time.” “Three hours faster development time.”
Requirements “Integration with Tableau.” “One early issue, but was user error; otherwise, it works.”
“Work with Rational ClearCase.” “No problems.”
“Support global dev environment.” “Tested simultaneously with 4 geos; no latency.”
BUILD A TRIAL MANAGEMENT TEMPLATE TO FOCUS BUYERS ON THE
RIGHT THINGS FROM START TO FINISH
CRITICAL PATH FORWARD/NEXT STEPS
MILESTONE STAKEHOLDERS DATE STATUS
Kickoff Meeting Jim Smith, VP of Engineering Bill Johnson, Director DevOps
Kelly Blue, Project Manager
1/2/21 “Buy-in from all parties on objectives and timetable of trial.”
Checkpoint #1 Kelly Blue, Project Manager
Joel Michael, IT Business Analyst
Felipe Gonzalez, Manager DevOps (tester)
1/3/21 “Initial testing kicked off. Identified two issues – (1) Integration with Tableau – resolved (2) Looking at
wrong reports to determine success of workflow process – resolved. New request for bug tracking.
Kicked off and launched with buyer team.”
1/10/21 “Bug tracking testing complete and successful. No other testing required.”
End-of-Trial Meeting Ken Golding, CIO Teresa Silver, CTO
Jim Smith, VP of Engineering Bill Johnson, Director DevOps
Kelly Blue, Project Manager
1/21/21 “Pre-meeting check-in scheduled for 1/19.”

Business Objectives “Reduce engineering costs by >15%.” “Saw a 12% decrease in outsourced development time; expect this to
increase as users get more accustomed to using the software in their
workflows.”
“Decrease application delays by 3-4
months.”
“Estimated initial decrease of 3 months. As the solution is optimized,
estimated decrease is 4-5 months.”
“Add 2 more releases to 2019 release
schedule.”
“Increase in speed; lowering of audit time should allow for more work
on extra release dates going forward.”
Trial Success Criteria “50% less manual effort on 3 specific
tasks.”
“Roughly 40%, but with more practice, we are confident we can
reach 50%+.”
“Accuracy of real-time production
visibility.”
“Looked at reporting daily and verified data; no inaccurate numbers.”
“Benchmark develop cycle time.” “Three hours faster development time.”
Requirements “Integration with Tableau.” “One early issue, but was user error; otherwise, it works.”
“Work with Rational ClearCase.” “No problems.”
“Support global dev environment.” “Tested simultaneously with 4 geos; no latency.”
TRIAL MANAGEMENT TEMPLATE PART I: OBJECTIVES OVERVIEW

Kickoff
Meeting
Jim Smith, VP of Engineering Bill
Johnson, Director DevOps Kelly
Blue, Project Manager
1/2/21 “Buy-in from all parties on objectives and timetable of trial.”
1/3/21 “Initial testing kicked off. Identified two issues – (1)
Integration with Tableau – resolved (2) Looking at wrong
reports to determine success of workflow process –
resolved. New request for bug tracking. Kicked off and
launched with buyer team.”
1/10/21 “Bug tracking testing complete and successful. No other
testing required.”
End-of-Trial
Meeting
Ken Golding, CIO Teresa
Silver, CTO
Jim Smith, VP of Engineering Bill
Johnson, Director DevOps Kelly
Blue, Project Manager
1/21/21 “Pre-meeting check-in scheduled for 1/19.”
TRIAL MANAGEMENT TEMPLATE PART II: TIMELINE

Seller’s Journey: Close Step Checklist
Tool: Optimized: 3rd Party
Reviewed:
Your Competitor:
Design seller’s journey Y/N
Design stages of the
seller’s journey (process)
Y/N
Define objectives of each
stage
Y/N
Define key steps/activities
in each stage
Y/N
Define concrete
milestones
Y/N
Train sales Y/N
Embed into
Salesforce.com
Y/N

Seller’s Journey: Trial Experience Checklist
Tool: Optimized: 3rd Party
Reviewed:
Your Competitor:
Design stages of trial
experience
Y/N
Define trial setup process Y/N
Define kickoff Y/N
Define checkpoints Y/N
Define end of trial meeting Y/N
Build trial management tool Y/N
Train sales Y/N

Demo Org Excellence:
Demo Org Optimization - nCino

Salesforce Alliances Excellence:
Designing a GTM Alliances Team

Craig’s Final Thoughts:
Sellers are
Meeting-Centric
Team Sport

Please Submit Your Questions Below
Open Q&A

Contact Us:
Sean Hogan
Continue the Conversation
sean@codescience.com
Craig Rosenberg
craig@topohq.com

TRIAL SETUP KICKOFF MEETING CHECKPOINTS END-OF-TRIAL MEETING
Description
Key Steps
Attendees Internal
Buyer
Next Steps
TRIAL PROCESS DESIGN TEMPLATE

Business Objectives
Trial Success Criteria
Requirements
TRIAL MANAGEMENT TEMPLATE PART I: OBJECTIVES OVERVIEW

Kickoff
Meeting
Checkpoint #1
Checkpoint #2
End-of-Trial
Meeting
TRIAL MANAGEMENT TEMPLATE PART II: TIMELINE

Acting Like a Top 25 Salesforce ISV: Designing the Seller's Journey for the Trial Experience

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