The document outlines 10 lessons learned from growing a sales team from 0 to 32 employees at Customer Alliance. It discusses best practices for hiring, leadership, and processes. Some key lessons include over-hiring to account for turnover, setting clear expectations in interviews, having leaders who do sales and manage employees, establishing detailed documented processes, and continuously measuring performance. The presentation provides insights for building an effective sales team from the ground up.

1. Lessons Learned in our
Sales Team
Startup Camp Berlin
14.03.2015
Moritz Klussmann / Co-Founder & CEO

2. 1. About Customer Alliance
2. Some High-Level KPIs
3. 10 Lessons Learned
Agenda

3. Online Reputation Management
use reviews for online marketing
save time in quality management & analysis

4. About us
Facts about the company
Partner Association
35+
countries
3,000+
hotels
Sponsored by

5. Some High-Level KPIs
2.

6. Employees: 69
Paying Customers: >3,000
MRR churn: < 0.9 %
Customer lifetime: +8 years
Time to recover CAC: < 11 month
About us
Customer Alliance KPIs at a glance

7. Customer Acquisition Cost vs Revenues
Our customer acquisition costs (CAC) are recovered within the first year
Time to recover CAC: 10,5 month
Min. contract duration: 12 month
Customer profitable from year 1
When do we make money?
Compensation for Sales: 86%
Compensation Marketing: 9%
Marketing Expenses: 5%
Composition of Ø CAC 2014
Revenues vs CAC

8. International Markets
Three Sales Teams:
DACH, France & Italy

9. Our Sales Funnel
Gross to Net Call
x%
Net Call to Webinar Appointment
x%
Held Webinars
x%
Paying Customer
x%

10. 10 Lessons Learned
3.

11. 10 Lessons Learned
● Our lessons learned when growing our Sales Team
● Going from 0 to 32 sales employees
Lessons Learned

12. Problem in Germany
● Sales has a negative image.
Hiring

13. 1. Expectations management in
interview process
● Expectations management in interview process:
Call Sales Sales.
● Do a full test-day / assessment center.
Hiring

14. 2. Over-Hire
● Fluctuation in sales is high within the first couple
of months.
● If you need 1 sales rep, hire 2. If you need 3 sales
reps, hire 5
Hiring

15. 3. No Second Choice
● Better hire no-one than a second choice.
Hiring

16. 4. No Gorillas
● Do not hire the Gorillas.
● Most loud people are completely different on the
phone.
Hiring

17. 5. Eight is the Maximum
● Each team leader in sales should not be
responsible for more than 8 people
Leadership

18. 6. Be a leader, not only a manager...
● Founders / Team Leaders need to do sales as well.
Be an example.
Leadership

19. 7. ...but also be the manager
● Constant check of individual sales performance is
needed.
● Check number of calls, number of new
appointments, etc.
Leadership

20. 8. Processes are annoying, but
important
● Have clear and well documented processes.
Spend time and money on it. It will pay off.
● We have 17 documented processes in the team.
⇒ Faster onboarding of new team members
⇒ Better collaboration
⇒ Makes your company scalable
Processes

21. 9. 1-min Reporting
● Everything - including every call - needs to be
measured. No gut feeling.
Processes

22. 10. 3 reps min. to test new markets
● Start a new market with at least 3 sales persons.
● You need to know whether the market or the sales
person is not working.
Processes

23. 1. Expectations management in interview process
2. Over-Hire
3. No Second Choice
4. No Gorillas
5. Eight is the Maximum
6. Be a leader, not only a manager...
7. ...but also be the manager
8. Processes are annoying, but important
9. 1-min Reporting
10. 3 reps min. to test new market
Summary

24. Moritz Klussmann
Co-Founder & CEO