The sales process at VanillaSoft was broken, with missed targets, poor conversion rates, and difficulty hiring quality salespeople. An audit found issues with lead quality from marketing, sales staffing and training, and lack of a clearly defined sales process. Consultants were hired to audit the sales structure and performance, and make recommendations. Key changes included focusing on the ideal customer profile, revising sales roles and compensation, improving hiring and training, implementing a best-in-class sales methodology with clear stages and activity tracking, and providing sales reps the right technology stack. The recommendations aimed to get the sales process back on track and scaling properly.

1. When You Suddenly
Realize The Sales
Process is Broken
Darryl Praill, CMO, VanillaSoft
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/darrylpraill
Twitter: @ohpinion8ted
Email: darryl.praill@vanillasoft.com
Highlights of a challenging, but amazing journey

2. Some Self Reflection
• Marketing is tied to the hip with Sales
• Lead definition (MQL) established
• Service Level Agreement (Response time, follow-up attempts, multi-
channel cadence playbook agreed to, etc.) established
• ICP defined
• Personas defined
• Marketing Tactics and Campaigns - aligned
• Candid, blunt, honest, healthy dialog - in place.

3. Is Sales Scaling as Forecasted?
• Missed Targets
• Are the targets valid?
• Do we have sufficient MQL (Inbound) flow?
• Do we have the tools and playbook required for sales-
generated leads (Outbound)
• Do we have the right tech stack to empower the reps to hit
the targets?
• Are new sales reps equipped by Sales & Marketing to hit
numbers ASAP?
• Sales trying to boil the ocean by calling every lead
regardless of vertical, size, & messaging.

4. Is Sales Scaling as Forecasted?
• Lower than expected conversion rates (Lead to Deal)
• Are conversion rates valid?
• Are sales reps following a defined process?
• Are sales reps being coached and educated?
• Are sales reps hitting their activity numbers
• Are sales reps making enough outreach attempts per lead?
• Are sales reps using all channels available to them?
• Are sales reps clear on our value proposition

5. Is Sales Scaling as Forecasted?
• Difficulty finding quality SDRs and AEs in volume
• Do we have a bad brand or reputation?
• Have we been dark for so long that we have not created a brand
that attracts top talent.
• Are we underpaying?
• Is the career progression unclear?
• Are our expectations too high?
• Are we not adequately explaining or hyping the opportunity?
• Is the competition simply better at attracting quality reps than we
are?

6. What Facts Do We Know?
• Lead flow quadrupled in 2018
• Sales did not quadruple in Sales rep hiring lagged against targets
(no office space was a big factor in lagging)
• Leadership is completely aligned
• Politics is minimal
• Category opportunity is huge

7. Considerations
• Is Marketing providing poor quality leads?
• Is Marketing conveying the wrong message, or at the wrong
frequency, for the audience and the solution
• Is Sales not adequately staffed?
• Is Sales not hitting activity or playbook cadence?
• Is Sales not sufficiently trained to close the deal?
• Does Marketing leadership need to be replaced?
• Does Sales leadership need to be replaced?

8. Conclusion – Sales Process is Broken
• Leadership (Sales & Marketing) is solid. Retain them.
• Too many Marketing leads to adequately pursue properly.
• Increase quality of the leads which should decrease volume.
• Lacking best-in class hiring practices for Sales
• Need to revise sales structure
• Need to revise compensation structure
• Need to revise hiring efforts
• Need a clear path to promotion
• Need a clear definition of roles and responsibilities
• Need to build appealing brand culture to attract new talent and retain existing team
members.
• Opportunity Cost
• Need outside help to get this fixed as soon as possible

9. How Do We Compare?
1. Forecast accuracy is poor and off-the-mark.
2. Pipeline visibility is cloudy and speculative.
3. Inability to pro-actively pin-point bottlenecks and barriers to success.
4. Sales performance is inconsistent and unpredictable throughout the sales force.
5. Win rates are declining.
6. Longer sales cycles than forecast or anticipated.
7. Coaching around sales opportunities is ambiguous and general.
8. Inability to quickly leverage and replicate success across the organization.
9. Ramp-up time for new sales people is long and frustrating.
10. Cost of sales is difficult to track and manage.

11. Let the Process Begin — Fixing the Structure
• Hired Consultant A to audit existing organizational structure,
compensation plans, career progression, job promotion, activity
levels, coaching processes, etc. and make organizational
recommendations based on best practices.
• Fixed term. Fixed price.
• Best practices based upon similar organizations, similar industries, previous
engagements, and industry benchmarks
• Defined and explicit recommendations to be implemented immediately
• Rip off the Band-Aid. Be prepared for hard conversations. Park
your ego. We all want the same thing.

12. Let the Process Begin — Fixing the Sales Numbers
• Hired Consultant B to audit existing sales reps including individual
activity, messaging, objection handling, cadence, MQL follow-up,
pipeline contribution, etc. along with sales leadership coaching and
rep development
• Six month term, initially. Fixed price. Fractional role.
• Best practices based on proven previous engagements and third-party
endorsements
• Defined and explicit recommendations to be implemented immediately
• Rip off the Band-Aid. Be prepared for hard conversations. Park
your ego. We all want the same thing.

14. Recommendations — Rep Structure
• Focus. Define the ICP by vertical, document the key personas within them, and
align Marketing and Sales to engage and get to opportunity.

15. Recommendations — Focus
• Focus SDRs on A and B list accounts that will fill your funnel.
Collect data on emerging named verticals and promote from B to A
when appropriate. Don’t refuse C list accounts, but don’t outbound
target them. Disqualify C-list accounts aggressively to avoid
wasting cycles there.
A-List B-List C-List Dead Ends
Target Vertical
Accounts
• Develop in-depth
profiles, personas,
messaging
Target Emerging
Accounts
• Start collecting A-
List content, test,
promote to A-List
if success
General Addressable
Market
• Inbound
supported by
Marketing
Time Wasters
• Exclude accounts
based on non-
competitive
verticals, seat size,
attributes, etc.

16. Recommendations — Rep Ratios
• Build the Right Mix —
SDR’s don’t make sense
economically until companies
see average contract values
(ACV’s) per customer beyond
$4k minimum
• Standard is 1 SDR to 2.6 AEs
• “High-growth” companies report
more SDR support / AE

18. Recommendations — Manage the Hire
EXPERIENCE, SKILLS, AND ATTRIBUTES
EXPERIENCE
 SDR1: 0-1 year, could be the first job out of college
or equivalent experience
 SDR2: 1-2 years of B2B Sales
Development/Sales/Customer Care experience
SKILLS
 Business acumen
 Social selling skills
 Organizational skills (process-oriented)
 Written and verbal communication
 Technology aptitude
ATTRIBUTES
 Adaptable
 Articulate
 Coachable
 Confident
 Curious
 Energetic
 Positive attitude
 Self-Aware
POSITION PRIOR ROLE GROWTH PATH EST TIME TO ADV
SDR1 Non-Sales
SDR2
CSM
Marketing
6-9 months
SDR2
B2B Selling-
Adjacent
AE1
AE2G
CSM
9-12 months

19. Recommendations — Recruit Like a Pro
• Target the right candidates
• Sell the VanillaSoft sizzle + why this job
is right for them
• Remove friction from applying
• Map out the interview process
• Have pre-built questionnaires and
candidate evaluation
• Be nimble (it is fierce out there);
2 weeks from application to offer
• Solid career path with supporting
training program
• Offer community outreach or
philanthropic programs
STREAMLINED INTERVIEWING
1. Phone screen - Relevant experience
and requirements
2. 30-minute phone call with Hiring
Manager - Phone presence and thinking
process
3. Semi-Finalists: face-to-face with the
Hiring Manager and Peer - Experience
and values (use scorecard, role-plays,
etc.), day-in-life from potential peer
4. Finalists: Interview with VP
5. Loose ends and additional check

20. Recommendations — Coach to Succeed
• Focus most of your efforts on
the SDRs with the highest
likelihood to improve.
• Typically, your B-levels and
Newbies
• D-levels are often not the
right profile for the job and
need to be moved to
another role or managed out
out
• Coaching A-Levels doesn’t
significantly move the
needle but boosts morale
and retention
PRIORITY SDR LEVEL IDEAL FREQUENCY
1 B, Newbie 3-5 hours / month
2 A 2-4 hours / month
3 C 1-3 hours / month
4 D 1-2 hours / month

22. Recommendations — Define Your Stages
Sales Stage Actions Exit Criteria/Disposition
Perform account research
New Contact account to introduceVS and createinterest Discovery call scheduled
Marketing lead Identify need / interest
or Target account Confirm contact is an influencer or DM
Gain agreement on next step
Send calendar inviteto prospect & VS AE
Updatestatus results codeDiscovery call scheduled
Discovery call takes place- AE/Prospect moving forward
Discovery call completed SDR
Comped
or Agreed upon next step
Discovery Call Set Discovery call takes placeAE/Prospect not moving forward DQSDR Comped
or
No show
DQ- goes back to SDR for rebooking
or DQSDR No Comped
Demo AE conducts Demo Next step agreed upon
AE works with prospect on their 15 day trial
Trial Determinesuccess factors Successful trial results
Uncover their purchaseprocess
Confirm #users, timeframe, signatore, go livedate
Identify their level of urgency
Identify all of their objections Agreed next step
Proposal Present pricing proposal Forecast closedate
Pricing accepted Prospect has approval and wants to moveforward
Establish implementation
timeframe
Closed-Won VS has received appropriatesignatures and new customer Customer successimplemntations
Closed-Lost
Prospect indicates no go or prospect goes silent from any stage
ofDiscovery call completeonward
Mark as closed lost, determinelost
reason and indicatein VS,
Marketing nuturecampaigns

23. Recommendations — Manage Activity
• To drive accountability, both
reps and leadership need to
understand:
• the inputs (i.e. activities)
needed to achieve
• the outputs (i.e. objectives and
results) desired.
METRIC BENCHMARKS
Daily Dials SDR1: 43
SDR2: 52
Activity Mix SDR1: 65% email + 35% phone
SDR2: 40% email + 60% phone
Daily Quality
Conversations
SDR1: 5.7 avg. per day
SDR2: 5.1 avg. per day
Monthly Meetings
Passed
SDR1
o 25th percentile: 18
o 75th percentile: 25
SDR2:
o 25th percentile: 14
o 75th percentile: 20
Stage 0 to Stage 1
Conversion
Intro DC: 50-65%
Fully Qual: 62-75%
Meetings Accepted to
Closed-Won
25 – 35%

24. Recommendations — Implement the Right Cadence

25. Recommendations — Measure Your AE’s
Activity
60/day
Dials, emails, social, etc. Measures AE effort and is 100% within their control.
Stage 0 to Stage 1
Conversion
50-75%
How effective is the AE taking a prospect that has curiousness and interest and
moving them into an active sales cycle?
Pipeline Coverage
AE1 avg: 3.2x
AE2 avg: 4x
Does the AE have enough pipeline to meet their monthly quota?
Pipeline Progress Is there a certain stage that is consistently taking longer than it should?
Pipeline Speed
AE1 median: 22d
AE2 median: 50d
How efficiently is the AE moving the prospect through the sales stages?
Closed Won Rate
AE1 median: 27%
AE2 median: 20%
How effective is the AE at closing business?
Closed Lost
To competition: 20-25%
To no decision: 45-60%
Is AE losing for a specific reason repeatedly?

27. Recommendations — Build A Winning Stack
AE1 Median monthly spend per rep: $300
• 79% use sales engagement tech
• 50% use sales intelligence data
• 48% use a premium version of LinkedIn
• 38% use call recording/coaching tech
AE2: Median monthly spend per: $425
• 85% use sales engagement tech
• 65% use sales intelligence data
• 64% use a premium version of LinkedIn
• 46% use call recording/coaching tech
*Excludes CRM

29. Final Thoughts
1. A broken sales process is not uncommon. We’re all broken to some extent.
2. Ignoring the brokenness is bad (a process can be broken despite the sales results
being acceptable or even great)
3. Accepting you may not like the truths revealed during the diagnosis is difficult
4. Establish alignment among key leaders before commencing, to ensure all
understand the objectives and are clear on the process
5. Build the organization that’s right to succeed, rather than the organization that’s right
for ‘right now’.
6. There will be casualties. Treat them right.
7. Focus on the end goal.
8. Over communicate as much as possible.

30. When You Suddenly
Realize The Sales
Process is Broken
Darryl Praill, CMO, VanillaSoft
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/darrylpraill
Twitter: @ohpinion8ted
Email: darryl.praill@vanillasoft.com
Highlights of a challenging, but amazing journey