If you aiming to build a “sales machine” that generates repeatable, predictable, scalable and sustainable revenue and growth, you need to first systematize your sales – i.e. you have to develop a System for yourself. Such system, just like coaches develop for their professional sports teams, in turn comprises several sub-systems and they all have to be consistent, repeatable, clear and simple. These systems will help you operationalize all your selling – i.e. define the otherwise fuzzy selling motions into well-defined, clear, discernable, measurable, and well-functioning processes that help you drive and grow sales effectively.
A System is a group or a set of multiple interacting things/entities that work together as parts of a bigger, interconnected mechanism or a unified whole (which is your sales group and the results of its effort). A system is also a term used in science and engineering but applies perfectly to growing companies and to managing sales in a well-defined way.
Here is also my personal note on a Sales System – in sales, a system is something that is composed of well-defined, consistent and operationalized (defined clearly for your sales team) processes, detailed procedures (sub-processes or tasks), workflows, sales strategies applicable within this system, tried and true best practices that work for the particular sales organization, methods, applicable policies, various work instructions, sales playbooks, sales motions, work requirements, decision-making checklists, tactics and techniques, documentation, metrics and KPIs, or even training materials, aids, tools, even relevant sales tech stack or apps, and all the key elements for your selling and managing of the sales group which all are interconnected interact together to make up the overall system to work optimally and produce best results for you. The whole goal here is to take the complexity of managing sales and make it simple and clear so that way you can repeat all the work consistently to scale sales revenue in a sustainable, repeatable and predictable way.
Note that within each such system and for each of the processes within each system that all compose the overall total System for how you as a CEO, CRO or an EVP of Sales will lead your revenue growth, remember to have the following characteristics – it must be: clear and well defined so your team can clearly understand everything, be customer-focused, should add and create value, must be personalized in the context of your particular organization (while a System is high-level, all its details and nuances and sub-processes and procedures should not be just plainly and directly copied from the one you used at another company although the high-level commonalities will definitely exist consistently across many B2B SaaS companies), should have defined KPIs for each sub-system.
Over the past many years, I created my own 12 Sales Systems that in turn allow for repeatable, predictable, scalable and sustainable sales growth. Every VP of Sales / CRO and CEO should focus on creating their own Sales Systems based on the commonalities that produce measurable results plus the specific unique processes that have helped you manage your sales teams to succeed. The systems have to be documented and they will help you simplify and operationalize your Sales processes and create the kind of consistency & repeatability that you need.
Here are the 12 Systems that I created over the year – within which I have consistent processes and key actions required to execute effectively within the system:
- System 1 – Building a Winning Team / Recruiting Talent
- It’s a System for building a “winning sales team” – Selection, Interviewing & Hiring
- Processes to select the right-fit sales candidates into your System
- Processes and methods for how to interview
- Using a standardized Scorecard process to grade candidates objectively
- Approaches to being a great evaluator of talent
- System 2 – Team Development
- Processes for Onboarding your new hires
- Processes and techniques for Continuous, Ongoing Training
- Processes for Development, Micro-learning, P2P role playing and practice
- Methods for Effective 1-on-1 Coaching
- System 3 – Sales Culture
- Development of Sales Team Core Values & Standard of Performance
- Approach to proactively designing a Sales Culture & Sales Traditions
- System 4 – Sales Management
- Processes for Sales Meeting Cadences (Monday Weekly Kickoffs, Friday Wrapup & Wins, QBRs, etc.)
- Processes for how to do Deal/Opp Reviews, Forecasting, Pipeline Management, etc.
- Approaches for effective leadership and how to inspire (not just motivate) your team to succeed
- Approach for how to bring out the best in your people
- Systematizing your unique and repeatable Sales Process
- Process and methods for Sales & Marketing Alignment
- System 5 – Selling, Methodology & Technique
- Chosen methodology and its detailed Playbooks – Sandler, MEDDIC, CHAMP, etc.
- Steps for matching your selling to the way customers want to buy
- System 6 – Sales Messaging Architecture
- Sales Team’s Unique Value Proposition, Sales Differentiation
- Development of Problem-based messaging, etc.
- System for having a Sales Center – Sales Team Knowledge Hub / Tribal Knowledge
- Playbooks that include Competitive Battlecards
- System 7 – Sales Pipeline Growth & Acceleration
- Process for generating sales pipeline growth through Demand Generation
- Process for Prospecting effectively (Inbound & Outbound SDRs)
- Alignment and methods for accelerating pipeline growth
- System 8 – Sales Execution & Performance
- Blueprint for auditing and assessing your sales strengths
- Process for Making the Number
- Blueprint and Process for Sales Execution
- Blueprint for How to Scale Sales Fast
- System 9 – Market Targeting & Segmentation
- Process for your Account Segmentation
- Territory Management
- Target List Management
- Account tiering proecess – Tier-1, Tier-2, Tier-3, etc.
- Leads Distribution for Inbound lead flow
- Hand-off methods for SDRs to AEs to Customer Success, etc.
- System 10 – Metrics & KPIs to Measure, Manage & Grow
- The set of Dashboards and the key Sales Metrics you use to measure and grow
- Sales activity metrics, Pipeline metrics and Sales Results metrics
- Dashboards for tracking Scheduled Demos or Sales Calls (aka Discovery Calls)
- The key Analytics or Reports that you need to understand the key factors to scale
- The set of Dashboards and the key Sales Metrics you use to measure and grow
- System 11 – Compensation & Quotas
- Your processes to align to what is plausible so that Reps can execute
- Compensation / OTE (On Target Earnings), Incentives, Splits, Commissions/Variable, Accelerators
- Methods for quota-setting based on a variety of factors & best practices
- System 12 – Business/Organizational Management
- This is a System for ensuring the Sales Leader manages the “Business Manager” role of these 4 Roles of a Sales VP
- It is a subset of the Simple 6-Step System to Manage an Organization or Business Unit/Group/Division
- This includes managing the department/group/division and includes budgeting/cost management – it goes beyond just managing sales and people
- This is a System for ensuring the Sales Leader manages the “Business Manager” role of these 4 Roles of a Sales VP
Source: see the original post on Revenue-Inc.com