Too many salespeople think they know the company or team's mission, let alone the mission of their prospects. This is far from the truth. This presentation from the TOPO Summit on March 21, 2018 in San Francisco highlights table stakes to consider for teams unclear on the mission.

1. Plan the Work and
Work the Plan
How Large Sales Development Teams
Go North
Ralph Barsi

2. Background
Lead Global Sales Development at ServiceNow
Speaker at TOPO Summit 2017 & 2018
Mentor at Women in Sales Awards, GrowthX
Co-founder of Gable Heart Beats Foundation
25 years in sales, always learning

3. Find true north

4. True north for sales development
REVENUE PIPELINE
Qualify leads (Inbound)
Prospect target accounts (Outbound)
Follow-up all leads (and lead sources)
Work in multiple BU’s, segments
Adhere to SLA’s (speed-to-lead)
Canvas target accounts and contacts
Qualify with rigorous criteria
Hire top notch candidates (Recruit)
Promote top performers (Develop)
Attract (don’t pursue) candidates
Show a well-lit career path
Train and certify SDRs on core competencies
Coach SDRs on personal branding and reputation
Illustrate a strong organizational culture
PEOPLE PIPELINE
Drive a Drive a

5. Establish and execute the path (plan)
Craft a Plan on a Page
• Identify priorities, SMART goals, owners, and statuses
• Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-Based
Take action
• Publish a playbook, certify on key skills, run pitch competitions, use simple messaging
Communicate progress via multiple channels
• Email/Cascade weekly updates, broadcast job openings, host certain internal meetings
• Leverage dashboards and reports, but push relevant metrics to teams
Expect problems
• Anticipate all hell breaking loose but manage the risk via contingency plans

6. Craft a Plan on a Page (PoP)
SALES DEVELOPMENT PLAN ON A PAGE – FY18
Priority SMART Goal Owner Status
Revenue
Pipeline
• Improve qualified meetings to sales 20% YoY {from 10k to 12k}
• Assist sales in reducing 75% of dormant opportunities {from 132 to 33}
• Maintain service level agreement of 8-10 touches in 20 days on all leads
• Aim for 65% of team achieving quota (by Geo and per quarter) {+10% YoY}
Ralph
People
Pipeline
• Host 3 recruiting events/qtr; maintain bench of 5 “on-hand” SDRs per Geo
• Drive SDRs to complete 75% of certifications on key skills/competencies
• Promote 20% of SDRs to the field (globally)
• Host 2 sales training workshops for SDRs (one in 1H, one in 2H)
Kathryn
Clear indicators:
red, yellow, green
One ownerNo more than 3-5 goals
per priority
No more than
3-5 priorities
Specific, Measurable, Actionable,
Realistic, Time-Based goals
(think “from x to y”)
The most important
components for heading north

7. Take action
PLAYBOOKS CERTIFICATIONS
PITCH
COMPETITIONS
Ensure the team sings
from the same hymn book
Prepare the team for producing
(in current and subsequent roles)
Dial-in the teams’
conversation flow

8. Type of Outreach Plays to Consider
Voicemail
Yes, leave one
• Short and to the point
• No need to call me back
• I’ll follow this with a brief email
Phone Conversation
Sell the meeting
• Establish flow with open-ended questions
• Keep it about them, not you, your company, or service
• Connect the dots for them, tell them why
Email
More powerful than you
think
• 99% of business people read email on their phones
• Be mindful of your email’s aesthetics
• Include one question mark to evoke a response
Social
Tailor to the medium
• Tell a story
• Adapt to the channel (Twitter posts differ from LinkedIn posts)
• It’s about engaging
In person
You’re prepared, yes?
• Find common ground
• Look people in the eyes
• Call people by their first name (“it’s the sweetest sound”)
Simple messaging

9. Communicate via multi-channels
SEND WEEKLY UPDATES
Senior leaders send to leaders,
leaders send to teams
BROADCAST at SCALE
Key highlights from updates
are shared via video broadcasts
REINFORCE LOCALLY
Discuss priorities and goals
in team meetings and 1:1’s

10. EVERYONE HAS A PLAN
UNTIL THEY GET PUNCHED IN THE MOUTH. Mike Tyson
LOSERS HAVE GOALS,
WINNERS HAVE SYSTEMS. Scott Adams
THE WAY WE SEE THE PROBLEM
IS THE PROBLEM. Stephen Covey
Expect problems

11. In case you were wondering…
…this is north

12. Thank you
Ralph Barsi
@rbarsi
in/ralphbarsi
ralphbarsi.com