The Art Of The Possible – Todd Abbott – Partner Led Growth – Episode #011


Start capturing and utilizing the data you need to improve your sales process and convert more leads. Todd Abbott, a self-professed sales scientist, is sharing the secrets to fixing your B2B sales using insights from a more complete data perspective. You’ll learn about the external perspective of your sales stages, how to accurately track the progress of your deals, and how to provide more predictive analytics.

Takeaways:

  • While creating a reliable forecast is a necessary part of a sales leader’s job, their focus should really be on coaching up their sales teams to improve their ability to close deals, which drives sustainable growth.
  • The reason that sales leaders get caught up in interrogating the funnel is that the system is reliant upon the sales rep as the data source. Sales reps don’t see the ROI from keeping the CRM up-to-date, so they don’t update the records.
  • Using new technology, the CRM no longer relies on the rep and can track the ‘digital footprint’ through the customer journey. With that added data, you can see the full picture of engagement and compare what happened in successful sales and failed sales.
  • The traditional sales stages are insufficient as a way to track the progress of a deal. What you need to know is what are the critical inflection points in your sales process based on meeting number in the sales cycle.
  • Rather than only looking at your internal sales stages, you need to consider the process from an external perspective that factors in what your customers are seeing at each meeting within the stage. This can help pinpoint issues in your sales process.
  • Use an activity capture solution to capture contacts and engagement data from your leads. This not only factors in a lead opening an email but it also includes what they do afterward such as committing to a meeting or responding to the email.
  • You need to know the size of your ideal buying groups and the key decision-makers that are involved. You also need to know when those key decision-makers are being brought in during the process. 

Quote of the Show:

  • “Every sales process is a series of meetings. And every meeting is a critical inflection point to, to ensure that you’ve got the customer’s eyes and ears and interest in your value prop” – Todd Abbott

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