4 Jaw-Dropping Stats That’ll Change Your Approach to Sales Discovery Calls

Rahul Mathew on August 8, 2024

In many ways, sales discovery calls are the heart of the sales process. Much like a first date, they allow reps and prospects to decide whether moving the relationship forward makes sense.

But discovery calls are like dates in another way, too: They’re your reps’ first — and sometimes only — chance to make a great first impression. If the call is unnecessarily long, one-sided, or confusing to the prospect, there likely won’t be a second date.

So what’s the difference between a great discovery call that leads to a closed deal and a bad one that leads nowhere?

We looked at thousands of discovery calls recorded and included the findings in our 2024 State of Sales Productivity Report to identify the ingredients of a great discovery call. Here are four of our most important findings — and why they should make you rethink your entire approach to the sales discovery call.

What is the sales discovery process?

Let’s get one question out of the way right up front: What is a discovery call?

It may be the first impression — a chance for reps to touch base with prospects, share your value proposition, and address early concerns — but it’s not the first step. A sales discovery call occurs well into the overall sales discovery process.

Before a rep ever reaches for that phone, they’ll likely need to:

  • Perform preliminary lead qualification or scoring
  • Capture valuable information from forms, demo requests, or other interactions
  • Perform research on the lead — including goals, pain points, company background, and more
  • Identify vital points or topics to mention during the call
  • Create a plan, including discovery questions and call duration
  • Request the call in a way that outlines goals and respects the lead’s time

These tasks lay the groundwork for a successful discovery call. They also help ensure that both the rep and the prospect get their questions answered, achieve certain goals, and use the available time well.

Perhaps most importantly, they create an environment that supports sales acceleration and revenue intelligence solutions by setting up your reps to gather the right information at the right time.

Key sales discovery stats

With the basics out of the way, it’s time to discover what a great discovery call looks like. Here’s what our research says:

The average discovery call is

minutes long
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A successful sales discovery call can’t be too long, or prospects may feel it drags and lacks focus. Of course, the opposite is also true; spending too little time on a discovery call leaves unanswered questions and creates frustration.

You should do some digging if your reps’ sales discovery calls are significantly over or under 38 minutes. Consider monitoring the calls to find out:

  • What questions are being asked
  • Who is talking most — the rep or the prospect
  • How the call is structured
  • What the outcomes are

On average, reps talk for

of discovery calls
0 %

That means prospects speak less than half (43%) of the time.

The best reps develop rapport and relationships with their prospects, but ensuring a sales discovery call doesn’t feel one-sided is also important.

If your reps are talking markedly more or less than this 57%, review call recordings or talk to your team to see:

  • How they’re using their talking time
  • What word choices they’re making and whether they’re using too many filler words or unnecessary questions
  • Whether they’re “making up for” a less engaged or talkative prospect by talking more themselves
  • Whether they’re having trouble “breaking in” if a prospect is talkative
  • How they manage the flow of the conversation

The average rep monologue is just over

minutes
0

On average, a rep’s longest monologue should last about 2 minutes and 15 seconds. That gives the rep plenty of time to address the important points and topics identified in their preliminary research, but it also prevents them from dominating the conversation or causing prospects to get bored and disengage.

What if your reps aren’t following this pattern? Uncover details on:

  • An individual rep’s longest monologue time
  • How much a rep is talking overall
  • Which topics take longer to explain (which may indicate a need for sales coaching)

During discovery calls, there are

questions asked
0
questions answered
0

Keep in mind that a great discovery call is always a two-way conversation. Both the rep and the prospect should ask and answer questions, and when things are really going well, these questions will flow naturally into one another rather than feeling like part of a script.

This year, the number of sales call discovery questions from both parties has decreased significantly. This isn’t surprising, as the overall length of discovery calls has also decreased. If you notice your data doesn’t match, find out:

  • Who is asking the most questions
  • What kinds of questions are being asked
  • Whether each question has a complete, accurate answer

Sales call discovery questions

When planning a sales call, reps know it’s important to ask the right kinds of questions. This isn’t the time to ask for answers that are readily available elsewhere — like on the prospect’s company website.

The most productive sales reps ask these four types of discovery questions:

Determine if an opportunity is worth pursuing.

 Identify a prospect’s needs and uncover a hole that only your solution can fill.

Uncover insights that move deals forward, such as who the key decision-makers and influencers are.

Demonstrate an understanding of a company’s business model and industry-specific challenges.

Here are a few example questions:

Qualification

  • What does your budget look like?
  • What are the main hurdles in choosing and implementing a solution?
  • What is your timeline?

Problem area

  • What are your goals, and what’s keeping you from reaching them right now?
  • How satisfied are you with your existing solution?
  • What are you looking for in a new solution?

Methodology

  • Who are the key decision-makers in your organization?
  • What is the size and structure of your team?
  • What does your current tech stack look like?

Credibility

  • How does [industry trend or event] impact your company right now?
  • Why do customers come to you for [product or service]?
  • How do you beat competition such as [competitor] in [key performance metric]?

Reps should always listen for opportunities to up- and cross-sell. However, their main goal should be laying the groundwork for a successful relationship by obtaining sufficient information, having helpful conversations, and presenting your company as the best possible solution to a given problem. They should also quickly lay out the next steps to indicate interest in continuing to support the prospect.

Nail your next sales discovery call

No one goes into a first date without a little preparation. Your reps need support, tools, and strategies for lead research, scoring, question development, call strategy, and more — and that’s where Mindtickle comes in.

Mindtickle is a revenue enablement platform that integrates all your data, processes, training, and prospect or customer conversations. With all this information in one place, you can better prepare your reps for their next sales discovery call. Better yet, you can track sales performance and other key metrics to see what’s working (and what isn’t). 

Better Sales Discovery Calls with Mindtickle

Want to learn more about ensuring every seller is ready to lead discovery calls that clinch that second meeting?

Get Your Demo

This post was originally published in July 2021, updated in May 2023, and again in August 2024.

The Ultimate Guide to Revenue Operations

Rahul Mathew on June 20, 2024

Too many organizations struggle with disjointed strategies and siloed departments across their sales, marketing, and customer success teams. 

And those same organizations are all working toward closing deals faster, launching targeted and effective marketing campaigns, and satisfying their customers. 

Revenue operations is often the missing link between go-to-market teams and a key driver of alignment and success. 

According to research from the Boston Consulting Group, companies that invest in revenue operations report a 10-20% increase in seller productivity. 

According to the Boston Consulting Group

of orgs that invest in revenue operations report a 10-20% increase in productivity
0 %

Many teams, tasks, and processes are involved in generating revenue — and that’s why every company needs a solid revenue operations strategy.

Also called RevOps, this function unites different parts of a business to ensure that everyone and everything is pushing in the same direction. That direction, naturally, is wherever the revenue is.

Here’s the ultimate guide to RevOps strategies and how to leverage them.

What is revenue operations (RevOps)?

If you want a revenue operations definition, be prepared to find some differing data. Although RevOps is basically a process for driving revenue productivity by uniting marketing, sales and customer service teams, every business does it a little differently.

Fortunately, there’s no single “right” way to build a revenue operations model. It just has to check a few key boxes:

Align go-to-market teams

Improve data visibility

Streamline processes

Grow predictably

If your RevOps implementation does all these things, it can have significant benefits. In fact, with revenue operations and intelligence solutions at their fingertips, surveyed companies achieved:

  • 65% more accurate forecasts.
  • 59% improvement in win/loss rates.
  • 69% higher revenue growth.
  • 53% increase in net-dollar retention.

Need one more reason to consider a RevOps strategy? How about this one: 93% of surveyed companies are either already leveraging a revenue operations model or plan to by 2024.

of orgs already leverage a revenue operations model
0 %

What problems does a RevOps strategy solve?

RevOps implementation isn’t just about revenue enablement. No — this process can go much deeper to create stronger procedures, collaboration, and visibility across departments.

Here are just a few problems solved by RevOps strategies:

What happens if your marketing, sales and customer teams never see eye-to-eye? You could miss certain revenue opportunities and make others far harder to reach. RevOps helps unite these teams by clarifying their relationships with one another and empowering them to play their parts more effectively. That doesn’t just boost morale; it also increases agility, efficiency, customer satisfaction, and more.

Disorganized or inefficient sales cycles can cause chaos across teams. With a RevOps strategy, you can streamline individual processes, see how they all fit together and identify their role in creating revenue. With this information, it’s easier to elevate vital tasks and eliminate redundancies, bottlenecks or other frustrations.

Inaccurate revenue intelligence can lead to flawed forecasting — which, in turn, creates misaligned teams, ineffective strategies, and wasted effort. One of the goals of a revenue operations model is to identify these gaps and address them with real-time data informed by multiple teams. That means you’ll have a more accurate view of opportunities and growth — a single source of truth.

When your teams don’t work well together and your approaches are jumbled, customers feel the impact. With the right RevOps best practices, you can streamline internal processes to ensure that every task, solution, and team is supporting the overall buyer experience. That boosts revenue and customer satisfaction.

When you aren’t focused exclusively on your audience, your GTM costs skyrocket as you scramble to decipher what works and what doesn’t. RevOps tools don’t just help you organize your approach — they also ensure you’re looking in all the right places when making decisions and planning GTM strategies.

What are the key metrics for revenue operations?

Like just about everything else in business, RevOps strategies need consistent tracking and analysis. That’s the only way to ensure your efforts are paying off and that you’ve chosen all the proper approaches for your needs.

As you build your own revenue operations definition, keep these key metrics in mind:

  • Customer acquisition cost: This is the cost of acquiring each customer. With this information, you can compare cost vs. revenue and pursue the most lucrative opportunities.
  • Sales cycle length: The more time it takes to close a deal, the longer your sales cycle length. RevOps strategies will generally help you reduce this number.
  • Deal win/loss rate: To find your win/loss ratio, take your wins and divide them by total sales opportunities. This helps you identify where problems may be occurring and what RevOps solution could help.
  • Sales forecasting: This metric goes far beyond any single department to help you see how much potential revenue you’re actually capturing.
  • CLV (customer lifetime value): CLV is a measurement of how much money a customer brings to your business throughout the relationship. You can use CLV to help identify the best sales opportunities and bolster your RevOps implementation.
  • Customer churn: If you have a high churn rate, that means lots of customers are leaving your business. RevOps strategies can help you catch these issues, determine where they’re coming from and put fitting solutions in place.
  • Annual recurring revenue (ARR): ARR is all about measuring the revenue you can count on over time, such as subscriptions or regular billing cycles. It’s helpful to compare this metric with others such as sales forecasting and customer acquisition cost.
  • Sales pipeline conversion rate: Find out how many leads are being converted and what parts of your sales pipeline are most important in this process.

Almost all revenue operations best practices require data from these areas. To make the most of this information, you’ll need RevOps software that can accurately capture data from multiple sources and present it to all relevant stakeholders. (Tip: Automatic data capture is key.)

How does revenue operations work and what are the roles of RevOps team members?

Although every revenue operations responsibility should fall to a specific team member, companies distribute these tasks differently. Various titles include:

Revenue Operations Manager

Chief Revenue Officer

VP of Revenue Operations

Director of Revenue Cycle

Job descriptions for any revenue operations role typically include accountability, collaboration and a solid understanding of the revenue operations model. High-level employees are responsible for connecting processes across departments, interpreting key metrics, driving growth and supporting all the interconnected parts of the larger RevOps team.

The work is data-driven and collaborative, so RevOps leaders generally draw on experience in revenue-focused fields to empathetically respond to sales, marketing and customer success teams simultaneously.

Although the roles and responsibilities differ, the goal is always the same: to help the whole company drive revenue. That means anyone involved in RevOps implementation should have skills such as:

  • Strategic planning
  • Negotiation
  • Communication
  • Data management
  • Process optimization

How is RevOps different from sales operations and marketing operations?

Although part of a revenue operations solution is to bring sales and marketing together, RevOps is greater than — and much different from — the sum of its parts. Here’s a closer look:

Revenue operations vs. sales operations

Unsurprisingly, sales operations are focused on sales. This is great news for your reps, who benefit from processes dedicated to their needs, challenges, and success. However, sales operations are somewhat limited in this regard.

Revenue operations, on the other hand, tells the whole story of the customer journey. Instead of focusing on sales exclusively, RevOps looks at how sales operations connect to other revenue-driving parts of your business.

Revenue operations vs. marketing operations

Although marketing and sales are closely related, marketing operations is built around tasks exclusive to the former. Essentially, this is the marketing team’s chance to be the star of the show, emphasizing processes and interactions other teams may not have to worry about.

RevOps doesn’t replace marketing operations. It just unites this approach with sales operations and other parts of the business to create a more comprehensive view of revenue activity.

Revenue operations vs. customer success operations

Customer success operations is all about answering questions, addressing complaints and delivering top-notch service. Although these processes are highly influenced by marketing and sales, customer success operations is focused specifically on anything the service team is responsible for.

Just like in the other two examples, revenue operations takes these processes and weaves them into other revenue-driven operations. RevOps maintains service and support priorities but puts them in a larger, more comprehensive context to better understand and respond to the customer experience.

Your RevOps strategy

Simply put, RevOps is what happens when you look at all the other operations and see how they fit together, somewhat like assembling a puzzle. It creates something entirely new, but the original pieces are still there and continue to be important.

9 benefits of implementing a revenue operations strategy

A RevOps strategy requires alignment and buy-in from across your go-to-market organization. When done well, you’ll start to see:

  1. Better alignment: Your go-to-market teams work toward common goals, improving collaboration and efficiency.
  2. Data-driven decisions: Data is shared across teams and tools, enabling more informed and strategic decision-making.
  3. Improved customer experiences: Your customers are ensured a consistent and personalized experience at every touchpoint with your org.
  4. Revenue growth: The entire go-to-market process is optimized, leading to increased revenue generation and growth.
  5. Operational efficiency: Silos are eliminated and processes streamlined, reducing redundancies and improving overall productivity.
  6. Accurate forecasting: More reliable forecasting leads to better planning and resource allocation.
  7. Scalability: Your processes and tools are standardized, allowing for smoother growth and expansion.
  8. Performance metrics: Clear metrics and KPIs measure performance, ensuring continuous improvement and accountability.
  9. Competitive advantage: Better adaption to market changes and staying ahead of the competition.

How Mindtickle helps you get started with revenue operations

RevOps may solve a lot of problems, but it has a lot of moving parts, too — from differing roles and responsibilities to a long list of important metrics. How do you ensure all these things come together to create a single revenue operations strategy?

The key is to use the right RevOps software — and that’s where Mindtickle comes in.

Salesforce - Revenue Intelligence

Although Mindtickle can be called a RevOps platform, it’s a whole lot more than that. Combining revenue intelligence, data capture, sales training, forecasting, and more, this software acts as your hub for anything and everything revenue-related. That means all your processes will happen in one place, enabling teams to collaborate more effectively and data to flow more naturally. You’ll have:

When every revenue operations responsibility, task, and solution exists under a single umbrella, it’s easier to ensure that customers get a cohesive, connected experience. 

Better RevOps with Mindtickle

See what Mindtickle can do for your sales enablement and revenue operations.

Get a Demo

This post was originally published in June 2023, was updated in December 2023, and again in June 2024. 

What Is Sales Intelligence and How Does It Impact Revenue?

Rahul Mathew on June 17, 2024

The global sales intelligence market was estimated at $3B in 2023 and is predicted to reach around $8.25B by 2033.

The sales intelligence market is predicted to be

by 2033
0

With the explosion of generative AI and sales tools, it’s no surprise that the market is expected to grow exponentially. But, it can also be more difficult to sift through the tools and identify which ones best suit your needs.

In this post, we share some sales intelligence basics, including:

  • How these tools enable sales reps to make more informed decisions, foster stronger connections with potential customers, and ultimately close deals more effectively.
  • How sales and business intelligence focus on gathering and utilizing data, but serve different purposes and functions.
  • How implementing sales intelligence involves several critical steps, such as monitoring market trends, identifying opportunities and threats, improving sales forecasting, ensuring data accuracy, strengthening sales cycles, and tracking competitors’ strategies.

Here’s everything you need to know.

What is sales intelligence?

“Sales intelligence” is a term that broadly refers to the tools, processes, and systems used to gather information about sales — including potential customers, pipeline health, sales rep best practices, and more.

All these intelligence solutions are designed to help you better use key data. Their benefits can be summarized in two ways:

Sales effectiveness

This is the overall success of each interaction — not measured by dollars or minutes, but by real human connections. If a sale is effective, it’s hitting all the right emotional and logical notes.

A sales intelligence platform helps boost sales effectiveness by helping reps make more informed decisions. With the right data at the right times, your teams always know just what to say to build rapport and develop trust with potential customers.

Sales efficiency

This is the more quantitative measurement of sales. It’s based on speed and accuracy.

Fortunately, sales intelligence solutions help boost efficiency, too. These tools make it easier for reps to boost sales performance by learning from their own habits and comparing them to best practices across the business.

Sales intelligence vs. business intelligence

Although sales data tools might sound a lot like business intelligence, there are actually some key differences. Check it out:

Sales intelligence Business intelligence
Focuses on “why did this happen” data Focuses on “what happened” data
Helps inform sales-related decisions Helps inform decisions across the business
Often looks outward Often looks inward
May be built around immediate action May be built on slower, longer-term growth and planning

Keep in mind that both kinds of intelligence are about gathering and using data in smarter ways — the main differences are:

  • The type of data gathered.
  • The way that data is analyzed and used.
  • The teams that gather insight from that data.

Key components of sales intelligence

Want to jump into the world of data intelligence solutions for sales? You’ll need to take these important steps:

Use real-time data to learn what your potential customers want, why they want it, and when.

Keep a close eye on ups and downs in your industry and maneuver your sales team accordingly.

Use analytics software and other sales enablement tools to get the information you need about the future.

Gather the right statistics from the right sources. (Hint: Automated data entry helps eliminate redundancy, minimize human error, and save valuable time for your teams.)

Review the nuts and bolts of your sales cycle to see where you can make improvements based on evolving customer and employee needs.

Learn from other businesses’ successes and mistakes — and recognize that they’ll do the same to you, particularly if you leverage sales intelligence in all the smartest ways.

Best sales intelligence tools

If you want sales intelligence data, you need software. Here are a few of the best options on the market in 2023:

Mindtickle helps you rethink revenue enablement.

Our conversation intelligence highlights best practices from real interactions, while revenue intelligence delivers actionable insights on deal health, buyer sentiment, and more. Our revenue enablement platform enables sales teams to make informed decisions, personalize messaging, and foster a data-driven culture. Tracking key performance indicators and leveraging advanced analytics ensures your sales strategies are effective and efficient.

Salesforce - Revenue Intelligence
Zoominfo vector logo

Zoominfo provides a platform for recruiting and operations, prospecting, data management, and more. It also helps analyze conversation data for rich sales intelligence insights.

If you want lead generation, Apollo is a great option. Enriched with decision-maker data and automatic alerts when a change occurs, this platform keeps you ready for anything.

Clearbit is all about timing. It helps your teams tailor individual decisions and entire campaigns based on lead scoring, a huge range of data points, and more.

How to increase revenue with sales intelligence

How can sales intelligence help you boost revenue, increase sales, and empower your team? Here are just a few ways to leverage this approach:

#1: Improve your sales forecasting

Don’t rely on guesswork. The best tools give you data and insights that inform decisions in the immediate future and help you build more effective long-term strategies.

#2: Personalize messaging

No B2B solution is complete without a little personalization. Use the data you uncover to make messages more meaningful, powerful, and memorable to different audiences.

#3: Foster a culture of data-driven sales decision-making

Build your sales decisions around real-time insights and data that provide an in-depth, comprehensive view of your market, your customers, and even your sales reps.

#4: Track performance with the right KPIs

Key performance indicators (KPIs) tell a lot of different stories when they’re on their own. Use sales intelligence software to track these KPIs and combine them into a clear, cohesive view of your entire sales department.

What’s next?

Leveraging sales intelligence tools is critical for boosting your team’s performance and driving revenue growth. To get started, follow these action items:

  • Choose the right software to gather the right sales data and analyze it.
  • Stay informed about industry dynamics to identify opportunities and threats.
  • Use analytics to make data-driven predictions and strategies.
  • Tailor your communication based on insights to build stronger customer relationships.
  • Regularly measure key performance indicators to ensure continuous improvement.

Sales intelligence at your fingertips

Ready to see how Mindtickle's revenue productivity platform gives you actionable intelligence to make sure every seller is productive? 

Get a Demo

This post was originally published in 2023 and was updated in June 2024. 

5 Scientific Tips to Measure Sales Productivity 

Rahul Mathew on June 6, 2024

In ongoing economic uncertainty, many sales orgs struggle to meet their goals. According to Forrester, more than half of B2B sales reps aren’t achieving quota.

But even in these trying times, it is possible to grow a team of top sellers that are equipped to overcome challenges, deliver winning experiences, and close more deals.

All sales leaders understand that improving sales productivity is key to improving sales outcomes. After all, sales productivity measures how effective and efficient your sales reps are. When a sales rep improves their effectiveness and efficiency, they’ll close more deals – faster.

But many sales leaders aren’t quite sure how to best measure sales productivity. We’re here to help solve the mystery.

In this post, we’ll explore everything you need to know about measuring sales productivity – the scientific way. We’ll cover:

  • How Mindtickle measures sales productivity
  • The problem with how sales organizations often measure sales productivity
  • How Mindtickle tracks sales productivity KPIs
  • 5 scientific tips for measuring your team’s sales productivity

How Mindtickle measures sales productivity

At Mindtickle, we define sales productivity as the efficiency and effectiveness of your sales executives in hitting a variety of revenue milestones and goals. Of course, just because reps make more calls and send more emails does not necessarily mean they are progressing sales or generating revenue.

That’s why, in addition to accountability around activity tracking, measuring preparation and improving effectiveness is key.

Here, we use our Sales Readiness Index to measure which reps demonstrate the right skills, will, and in-field behaviors. With our readiness index, we cross-reference who is hitting quota with who is doing all of the other activities that make a rep successful, such as:

  • Conducting effective outreach
  • Engaging buyers
  • Sending educational content
  • Completing new product and competitor training
  • Practicing via AI video role-plays
  • Achieving high call scores
Screenshot of Mindtickle Sales Readiness Index

At the same time, we use revenue intelligence and AI forecasting software through our technical partner BoostUp to help our sellers call their numbers with higher accuracy and confidence.

Deal risk analytics give detailed signals that help reps know exactly what action they need to take when they follow up, such as better multi-threading with a higher number of senior-level contacts.

Salesforce - Revenue Intelligence

Our sales enablement function moved from a traditional approach, where most time was spent creating content and delivering training, to focusing on call and deal reviews. We call this revenue enablement and have rallied our entire organization to ensure sellers focus on closing more deals confidently.

The problem with how sales organizations measure sales productivity today

Many organizations use Salesforce to track revenue metrics and sales productivity. Yet, not long ago, sales professionals started to game the system to hit their numbers. Maybe they exaggerated prospecting or sandbagged their forecast so they could sweep in as the hero at the end of the quarter or got overly optimistic about pricing and happy ears.

Here at Mindtickle, our revenue intelligence and forecasting solution is built into our readiness platform, so our sales managers use a new workflow to gain deeper transparency into deals, calls, and buyer engagement.

You can see that workflow in our interactive sales manager product tour here.

Instead of looking at lagging indicators of success, such as who has the most pipeline or who has historically hit their numbers, we look at what our reps do holistically to prepare for the future climate. We better understand where our reps put their time and calories and have implemented accountability systems to help them uncover risks and focus on truly winnable deals.

This means our executives have real-time visibility into every call, email, and meeting, and they spend more time helping reps uncover deal blockers so they forecast more accurately and help reps deliver faster, better wins.

How Mindtickle tracks sales productivity KPIs

Sales productivity can be tracked in many ways. Here are some metrics we use to keep our sellers and BDRs on track.

With our revenue intelligence solution,every deal is scored and labeled red, yellow, or green so reps know exactly why a deal is at risk, and how to address it.

With our Call AI solution, we score every call against the winning behaviors from top reps on every team, including BDRs, account executives, sales engineers, and customer success executives

We look at not only the number of emails and dials our reps make but also the percent of those connected touchpoints that convert. This helps us understand quantity and quality.

We look at not only the number of meetings that are scheduled but also those that were completed and deemed sales-qualified or not by our reps.

By analyzing all of the calls, emails, and meetings that take place, we are able to uncover keywords associated with deal risks or positive/negative buyer sentiment. Increasingly, buyer engagement and sentiment are a really important metric for us as we look to forecast more accurately and truly assess deal health.

Our sales content management solution tracks metrics beyond just asset views and also looks at content adoption. This includes the number of times each asset has been used in the sales process, the percentage of sellers who have used each asset, and the number of times each asset has been shared in deals progressing in stages including closed/won.

This includes onboarding and ramp-up metrics for new hires like time to onboarding completion, time to first deal/revenue, average ramp time, annual number of new hires, and yearly rep attrition.

We also look at everboarding or ongoing readiness metrics like seconds of training videos watched, pages of documents read, correct answers on assessments and questions asked over time, scores on video role-plays, overall team performance on programs, certification completions, rep feedback on program efficacy, and overall engagement.

We look at whether reps, teams, and regions have enough pipeline coverage to hit their numbers.

5 scientific tips to measure sales productivity

So, how do we measure all of this vast data and make sense of it without creating a ton of work for our operations team, which is in charge of measuring sales productivity and forecasting?

1. End manual data entry

The days of relying on manually entered Salesforce data and trusting it’s correct are long dead. We implemented revenue intelligence and forecasting through our BoostUp integration to track the activities that meaningfully move deals forward (or stall them).

To do this, we started by tracking buyer engagement across every call, email, and meeting – all of which we transcribe and tag when we uncover an important voice of customer insight, such as a competitor or product mention, next step, or strong instance of buyer hesitation.

We use this information to score every deal and proactively uncover risks. At the same time, we improved the way we manage opportunities by pulling together a rich visualization of all of the activity that has taken place—including what emails buyers and sellers have sent, what calls have taken place, what meaningful sales themes have been mentioned, and even whether or not our sellers have created a Digital Sales Room to engage customers with educational content.

This helps us offer reps self-coaching by nudging them with activities we know will move a deal forward, such as follow-up content they might want to send or battle cards they should review before their next call.

Our enterprise team takes a more account-based approach. We track the number and percentage of accounts in each rep’s territory that haven’t had activity logged in the last 30 days.

To ensure our enterprise and commercial teams are multi-threaded, we track the number of personas engaged in an opportunity and whether we’ve reached the VP+ level.

Content analytics are also important to us. This year, we launched our Digital Sales Rooms, a digital buyer experience that helps reps share content, understand what content customers and prospects are engaging with, link to call recordings, and manage the next steps.

Digital sales rooms have helped our sellers better multi-thread and improve engagement with our content by 300%.

2. Cut meetings in half, and reserve more time for practice & coaching

One invaluable tool for sales productivity is Call AI – our conversation intelligence technology that records, transcribes, and analyzes every call while making calls easily shareable with other departments, such as product or marketing.

Now that our sellers can listen to calls on 2X that they weren’t a part of and don’t have to spend time on internal updates calls and hand-offs, it’s faster and easier for every relevant person here at Mindtickle, such as our CSMs, to get the deep details on every deal or account while attending fewer but more valuable meetings.

Where did we reinvest those hours of precious extra time each week?

Into practicing via AI video role-plays and data-driven call coaching.

3. Create better buyer experiences

Sales productivity has never been about drowning customers in emails and cold calls. It’s been about connecting with the right person, at the right time, with meaningful information that helps them solve significant business challenges.

That’s why we started using Databook to provide our sales reps with better information on how their accounts are doing financially and their “big bets.”. This enables reps to provide hyper-personalized outreach and follow-ups.

At the same time, we regularly share call recordings with our customers so that they can include others who may have missed a meeting without slowing the sales cycle down.

4. Leverage AI for more accurate pipeline & sales forecasting

Earlier in this blog, we discussed how sales productivity is a better leading indicator to drive scalable, repeatable sales and enable fact-based forecasting.

Perhaps no group in our organization is better at reaping the rewards of our newfound focus on sales productivity than our operations organization.

Whereas before, reps and regional vice presidents would manually call their number, we now use revenue intelligence and forecasting software to analyze that number and how realistic it is with AI. Then, we uncover pipeline trends and risks that may prevent us from hitting it.

We can also examine week-over-week and month-over-month waterfall charts to analyze where our pipeline is growing and decreasing and better address issues with enablement programs.

This saves our revenue operations more than 30 hours previously spent on manual reporting a week.

5. Consolidate redundant sales technologies

In this economic moment, it’s common for sales teams to be asked to reduce their sales technology budgets by 30-50%, or even more. That’s a lofty challenge, but it’s also a painful reminder that too many teams are using bloated, expensive sales tech stacks that aren’t helping improve their ability to hit their number.

Our 2024-2025 Chief Revenue Officer + Sales Leader Outlook Report found that 66% of respondents indicate there are 10 or more tools to support their tech stack.

of orgs have 10 or more tools in their tech stacks
0 %

However, investing in a sales tool doesn’t necessarily mean the sales team will use it. The same analysis found a consistent pattern: the percentage of tools in the tech stack is often higher than the percentage of tools used daily.

Here are some solutions we use at Mindtickle:

  • Our platform, through which we run enablement, manage content, and operate all of our conversation intelligence, revenue intelligence, and forecasting solutions, including enabling our reps to update Salesforce
  • Outreach.IO for BDR prospecting
  • Databook to uncover personalized account-based insights
  • LinkedIn Navigator & ZoomInfo to find prospects and contacts across our accounts

Supercharge your sales productivity with Mindtickle

Every sales leader out there wants to boost quota attainment. However, focusing solely on what number will or won’t be hit has never helped sales leaders hit quota. Often, numbers are settled well before you enter the quarter. And in this economy, even deals that once looked highly winnable may be lost.

Instead, focus on leading indicators – like sales productivity. Doing so provides a better way to understand how prepared your reps are to sell and how quickly your team is improving. By using the tips we shared in this blog, you can start measuring sales productivity – in a scientific way.

Increasing sales productivity doesn’t happen by chance. Instead, you must equip your sales reps with the right tools, training, information, and sales content they need to be effective, efficient sellers.

Better sales productivity with Mindtickle

The world’s best revenue organizations depend on Mindtickle to ensure their teams have everything they need to increase sales productivity – all in one platform.

Request a Demo

This post was originally published in December 2022 and was updated in June 2024. 

11 Steps to a Powerful Go-To-Market Strategy

Rahul Mathew on May 30, 2024

Launching a new product or expanding into a new market can be exciting for a business. A launch can also be a powerful way to set yourself apart from the competition and grow revenue.

But anyone who’s ever been involved in a launch knows that success doesn’t happen by chance. Instead, it requires careful planning.

The truth is that a lot of behind-the-scenes planning must take place before a new product hits the market. Creating a go-to-market strategy is a key part of this planning.

In this guide, we’ll explore what a go-to-market strategy is and why it matters. We’ll also share practical, proven best practices for creating one for your next launch.

What is a go-to-market strategy?

The phrase go-to-market strategy (or GTM strategy, for short) is used often. But what is it, and who needs one?

Let’s set the stage by reviewing the basics.

Go-to-market strategy, defined

A GTM strategy is a detailed plan for launching a new product into the market or expanding into a new-to-you market.

Customer

Product

Market

Reach

The strategy lays the foundation for a product launch, taking into account details including:

  • Who your ideal customers are, and what challenges do they face
  • What product you’re selling, and how it helps your ideal customers overcome their challenges
  • What markets you’ll target, and what they look like in terms of demand and competition
  • How you’ll reach your target audience

Who needs a go-to-market strategy

Now, we’re aligned on the basics. But who needs one?

Some may think that go-to-market strategies are only needed for brand-new businesses launching their first product. But that’s not the case. Every business—from startups to established organizations—needs one when it introduces a new product or service or expands into a new market.

Some specific examples of who needs a strategy include:

  • A company introduces a new product or service to a market they already serve. For example, a coffee shop chain introducing a new line of breakfast food items.
  • A company looking to introduce their existing products into a new market. For example, a US-based SaaS company may plan to start selling its products in Europe.
  • A company that is testing a new product in a new market. For example, a technology startup may launch its first survey app.

Why a go-to-market strategy is important

A go-to-market strategy is key to supporting an effective product launch. When developing a GTM strategy, consider the many moving pieces of an upcoming launch. This exercise can help you avoid pitfalls and improve your chances of success.

Aligning your teams

Customer understanding

Competitive advantage

Identifying problems

Let’s examine some of the key ways it can benefit your launch and your business.

More aligned teams

Teams often focus on their work – disregarding what other teams do. This misalignment can cause problems down the road.

Developing a go-to-market strategy must be a collaborative effort. When teams come together to develop a strategy, everyone is aligned. There’s a clear understanding of who is responsible for what, and everyone can work towards achieving the same end goal: a successful product launch.

Solid understanding of customers

Before you can help your customers address their needs, you must understand them.

A huge part of developing your strategy is understanding your customers’ unique goals, needs, and pain points. This intel can help you optimize your products and sales and marketing approaches.

Competitive advantage

No matter the challenge, multiple vendors offer a solution to solve it. It can be easy to get lost in the mix.

When creating a go-to-market strategy, you must deeply analyze the competition, how you stack up, and what sets you apart. This exercise informs messaging that articulates why you are the best choice.

Identifying problems early on

There are a ton of moving pieces involved in any product launch. Developing a go-to-market plan forces teams to think through these moving components. That way, you can identify and work through any kinks before you launch your product.

Go-to-market strategy vs. marketing and sales plans: What’s the difference?

When it comes to product launches, three terms are often used: GTM strategies, marketing plans, and sales plans. It’s easy to assume the three are synonymous, but they’re not. GTM strategies, marketing plans, and sales plans are related, but they’re different.

A go-to-market strategy is something that’s created for a specific launch. A GTM strategy details an organization’s steps when launching a new product or service or expanding its existing offerings into a new market.

For example, an e-commerce software company would develop a GTM strategy when releasing new product ratings and review offerings. As another example, a UK-based SaaS company might establish a GTM strategy before offering its existing CRM platform in Asia.

Marketing plans aren’t launch-specific. Instead, they spell out how a company intends to execute its marketing strategy.

For example, a B2B marketing team may aim to generate 1,000 qualified leads per quarter. The marketing plan would detail the ways the team plans to accomplish this goal, including promoted LinkedIn posts, content marketing, and email campaigns.

Finally, sales plans define how an organization will sell its products and services. For example, prospects may be able to purchase the product on their own with a credit card, a strategy known as self-service sales. Or, a sales rep may be responsible for guiding prospects through the funnel. This may be an inside sales rep using video conferencing and digital sales rooms or a field sales rep visiting prospects on-site.

Revenue organizations might have different sales plans for different products. For example, a SaaS company may traditionally sell via a team of inside sales reps. However, it may launch a lower-priced product for small businesses that it makes available via self-service sales.

Go-to-market strategy vs. marketing plan vs. sales plan

Go-to-market strategy Marketing plan Sales plan
Purpose Provides the steps an organization will take when launching a new product/service or introducing an existing product/service into a new market Defines how the marketing team will reach the right audience at the right time with the right messaging Defines how the company will sell its products (i.e. self service, inside sales, channel sales)
Time frame Launch specific Long term Long term
Responsible party Cross-functional Marketing team Sales team
Goal Ensure a successful launch Ensure the organization achieves the objectives set out in its marketing strategy Sell products and services as effectively and efficiently as possible

How to build a go-to-market strategy

Now that you have a solid understanding of a strategy and its importance, it’s time to build your own GTM strategy. Read on as we explore some tried-and-true tips for building a winning GTM strategy that sets you up for a successful launch.

#1 Start with a go-to-market strategy template

Creating a strategy can seem overwhelming, especially if you’ve never done it. A template can alleviate some pressure and be a great starting point.

Once you have a basic framework, you can adapt it to fit your organization’s needs and your launch.

#2 Form your team

Creating a go-to-market plan isn’t something a single person does alone. Instead, it’s a collaborative effort.

Be sure to establish a team that includes representatives from key teams throughout the organization, including sales, marketing, sales enablement, and product (among others). Each team will bring unique ideas and perspectives. Furthermore, aligning key teams helps ensure everyone is working toward the same goals and understands their role in achieving them.

For example, marketing can’t create effective campaigns for a new product launch without clearly understanding the target market and how the product solves their challenges.

#3 Diagnose the problem

The best products and services solve customers’ challenges. For example, meeting scheduling software enables sales reps to avoid the time-consuming back-and-forth of scheduling meetings with prospects. Video conferencing software enables teams to effectively engage with each other—even when members are geographically dispersed.

It’s important to determine what challenges your prospects are facing. This will require research, including reading industry publications and discussing with current and prospective customers.

#4 Determine your target audience

Acquiring customers is key to a launch’s success. Determining your target market is an essential step in developing your go-to-market plan.

A common way to do this is to create buyer personas. Buyer personas are fictitious representations of who you are trying to target with your new product or service.

Often, multiple types of people use a single product or service. For example, sales enablement software is used by teams including:

Each of these groups has unique goals, challenges, and needs. As such, it’s important to create buyer personas representing your target market’s different segments.

Another popular way to define your target audience is by creating an ideal customer profile – or ICP for short. Essentially, an ICP paints the picture of what a perfect-fit customer looks like for your new product or service offering. An ICP can include components like:

  • Industry
  • Company size
  • Geography
  • Budget
  • Job title
  • Pain points

#5 Gauge demand and scope out the competition

Once you’ve determined your target audience and their pain points, it’s time to do some research. Start by doing your homework to determine the demand for a product like yours. High demand will help ensure a full sales pipeline.

Then, find out who’s already trying to solve your target market’s problems.

Make a list of your direct and indirect competitors. If there’s too much competition, your product offering will likely get lost in the mix – especially if nothing sets you apart from other options.

Once you’ve made your list of competitors, look closely at each to determine their strengths and weaknesses. Then, see how your product stacks up against each one. A sales battlecard is a common way to compare your product or service offering against one or multiple competitors.

#6 Develop relevant messaging

Once you have a solid idea of your target audience, you can develop messaging that will resonate with them. Messaging is one of the key components of a go-to-market strategy

Generic messaging that focuses on features and benefits isn’t effective, though. Instead, it’s important to consider the needs of each of your buyer personas. Then, you can develop tailored messaging that:

  • Addresses the needs and pain points for each buyer persona
  • Articulates how your product or service can help each persona overcome their challenges and reach their goals

When prospects feel you truly understand their pain points, they’re more likely to engage with your brand.

#7 Determine your pricing strategy

Properly pricing your new product offering is a balancing act. If you price your product too high, your sellers will struggle to close deals. But if you price it too low, you’ll struggle to meet your revenue goals.

Creating the proper pricing strategy requires extensive research. You need to determine customer demand—that is, how many customers are searching for a solution like yours and how much they are willing to pay for it. Of course, you must also consider your competitors’ pricing strategies.

#8 Map the buyer journey

As the name suggests, the buyer journey is the path people take to become customers. It includes everything from a prospect identifying a problem to considering their options to signing on the dotted line.

Mapping your buyer journey is key to ensuring your customers have sales content and experiences that resonate with them – wherever they are in the sales funnel.

#9 Incorporate your marketing plan

Your marketing plan will spell out how you’ll reach the right prospects with the right content and messaging at the right time. There are many types of marketing channels to consider, including:

  • Content marketing
  • SEO
  • Email marketing
  • Social media
  • Paid search ads

The channels you choose depend on who you’re trying to reach and where they are in the purchase journey.

#10 Include your sales plan

The success (or failure) of your product launch depends on how much you sell. You must determine how you’ll sell as part of your SaaS go-to-market strategy.

There are several different sales strategies, including:

Customers purchase the product or solution without the involvement of a sales rep. Usually, they do so with a credit card.

Your sales reps work directly with prospects to guide them through the purchase journey. They work within a home or business office and use tools like email, video conferencing software, and digital sales rooms to engage with buyers.

Sales reps sell in the “field,” – which could be at a prospect’s office, factory, job site, or other location.

A partner sells your products or services for you.

Some organizations pick one sales strategy and stick to it, while others use a combination of the strategies listed above. There’s no right answer here. The key is to build a sales plan that works for your company and your product launch.

#11 Establish clear goals and measure progress

Goals are key to any go-to-market strategy. Without goals, there is nothing to guide your actions and no way of determining whether your launch was successful.

Don’t set vague goals that are impossible to track. Instead, use the SMART methodology to develop your go-to-market goals. SMART goals are:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Attainable
  • Relevant
  • Time-bound

Once you’ve established your goals, be sure to measure your progress towards achieving them regularly. This will help you identify where you’re on track and where there may be opportunities for improvement.

Set your launch up for success with a solid GTM plan

Launching a new product or entering a new market can be a great way to grow revenue. But you can’t take an ad hoc approach and expect success.

Instead, set yourself up for success by creating a winning GTM plan. Though the process might sound daunting, it doesn’t have to be. The 11 tips we shared in this post will have you well on your way to crafting a go-to-market strategy that helps ensure your launch is a smashing success.

Ready to see how Mindtickle can equip your sales reps with the training, enablement, tools, content, and revenue intelligence they need to be ready to sell new products in new markets?

Go to market better with Mindtickle

Discover how Mindtickle equips your sales reps with essential tools and intelligence for new market success.

Request Your Demo

The Ultimate Sales Hack: Mindtickle’s Call AI Turbocharges Your Team’s Productivity

Rahul Mathew on May 16, 2024

Meeting revenue targets isn’t just a goal—it’s a priority that comes “BAE” (Before Anything Else).

At Mindtickle, our mission revolves around assisting our customers in overcoming obstacles that obstruct the productivity of their sales teams.

Central to this mission is our product offering: Call AI, a conversation intelligence tool enablement and sales teams leverage to access customer conversations in one central repository while enabling them to analyze seller interactions and track deal progression effortlessly.

As we launch new features, we build solutions that address daily challenges that enablement teams and sales managers experience to enhance enablement and sales team experiences and improve overall productivity.

Let’s look at how Mindtickle’s latest set of features are simplifying the lives of enablement and sales teams.

Evaluating Call AI adoption

Enablement admins use several tools and platforms daily. While managing these tools and platforms is a top priority, understanding how they are used regularly and their adoption is critical to ensuring maximum utilization.

The challenge is that several existing solutions in the market do not provide these insights, leaving admins unable to gauge the effectiveness of their tool adoption strategies.

Our latest release addresses these challenges for our Call AI admins by providing frequent and timely insights into adoption trends. Whether analyzing calls reviewed by sales managers, feedback shared with sellers, or sharing calls internally or externally by sellers. We provide a holistic view of adoption metrics. These insights empower enablement admins to assess user behaviors and refine their Call AI adoption strategies.

Real-time access to Call AI data on the new data platform

Enablement admins need access to raw data beyond the standard reports available in Call AI analytics. However, there is no way to extract this data in real time we are addressing this challenge by providing real-time access to this data via Snowflake (NDP). Another challenge we saw while working with our customers was the inability to continuously develop dedicated integrations with each dialer in the market today.

In our upcoming release, we address this challenge by introducing a seamless SFTP-based integration solution that bridges the gap between Call AI and dialer systems.

Customers can now integrate Call AI with any dialer in the market, improving customer engagement, agent performance, and overall business outcomes. The solution ensures:

  • A seamless integration with dialers via a secure SFTP-based mechanism.
  • The highest level of data security, compliance, and encryption.
  • Insights and analytics derived from conversations.
  • Compatibility with a wide array of dialer systems facilitated through a secure SFTP mechanism.
  • User-friendly interface for easy adoption and utilization.

Empowering sales managers to select other stakeholders to coach sellers

Sales managers managing big teams are often inundated with so many other responsibilities that providing personalized coaching to sellers on calls is hard. Additionally, not having the ability to assign an expert or external training prevents sellers from being coached for specific calls could delay the effectiveness of sellers in the field.

In this release, we are addressing this challenge by enabling sales managers to assign a coach to reps whether it be:

  • Their reporting manager
  • An assigned mentor or peer to coach the seller
  • An external trainer or a group of trainers (coaching is outsourced) who can coach a rep on calls

This makes sales managers more efficient and ensures sellers receive the right guidance without unnecessary roadblocks.

Giving time back to sellers

Sales managers can find reviewing each seller call tedious. With a conversation intelligence tool, sellers can have all the sales calls in a centralized location. Mindtickle’s Call AI provides a Copilot interface to ask important questions and get appropriate insights.

However, this is not scalable if a sales manager has to listen to many calls.

Mindtickle Call AI summaries

We addressed this challenge by helping sellers stay on top of their calls. After each call, Call AI automatically generates a call summary that captures key highlights, attendees, and any action items for follow-up.

This summary is easily accessible for sales managers within the Call AI details page, via email, or available directly in the call record in Salesforce. The call summary ensures you have all the crucial information of the deal at your fingertips, saving time and keeping everyone aligned.

To learn more about how we continue to innovate and empower enablement and sales teams worldwide to improve productivity and achieve unprecedented revenue growth and success, register for the upcoming webinar, Sales Superheroes Unleashed: Transforming Sellers into Superstars with AI, on June 5, 2024.

Mindtickle's 2024 Spring Announcement webinar

Learn how forward-thinking teams can change sales behaviors at scale. Speakers from Cisco and International (formerly Navistar) will discuss how they use AI and other capabilities to positively impact their businesses.

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7 Sales Pitch Examples (+ 10 Tips for A Winning Sales Pitch)

Rahul Mathew on May 16, 2024

There’s no overestimating the importance of a good sales pitch — but where do the best pitch ideas come from? Do you always have to use sales pitch templates or is it better to do what feels best? And is there even a “right” way to sell something?

At the end of the day, it’s up to you and your teams to perfect your approach. Fortunately, there are plenty of good sales pitch examples out there to light the way.

Here’s how to make a sales pitch that really shines.

  1.  What is a sales pitch and why is it important?
  2.  What makes a good sales pitch?
  3.  Types of sales pitch
  4.  Mistakes to avoid while creating your sales pitch
  5.  Craft your perfect sales pitch

What is a sales pitch and why is it important?

According to Merriam-Webster, a sales pitch is “a speech that is given […] to persuade someone to buy something.” Seems simple, right?

Not so fast.

The complexity comes in when you consider a few key parts of that definition:

  • Format & pacing: How long should this pitch be? What format should it take?
  • Interactivity & engagement: Should you talk the whole time, or can customers ask questions?
  • Trust, credibility, & persuasion: What words do you use to establish trust, credibility, and persuade someone ? How much pressure is the right amount of pressure? What stats, testimonials, and other validation can you use to build trust?
  • Someone: Who is the customer? What do they want? What do they not want?
  • Something: What are you selling, what problem does it solve and how are you going to frame that?

That’s why it can be so difficult to know how to pitch a product: These variables mean there’s no “magic bullet” that will always win you a sale. Still, pitches are vital to customer experiences, relationships and potential transactions — so you can’t afford to wing it.

Instead, you need to find a template or approach that can be changed on the fly. The bones stay the same, but you dress them up in different ways depending on factors such as “who,” “what,” “why” and “how.”

Your mission is to build good bones — and that requires knowing what makes a good sales pitch.

What makes a good sales pitch?

Just a few factors are standing between compelling, memorable sales pitch ideas and totally forgettable ones:

Research

If you want to master the “who” and “why” elements of your pitch, it’s critical to research your target audience and create buyer personas. This helps you know how to tailor your message depending on buyer intent, job description, pain points and more.

Unique selling proposition

Your unique selling proposition, or USP, is the thing that makes you stand out from the crowd; it’s the “what” and “how.” In many ways, all sales pitch templates should be built around your USP — because otherwise, you could be selling any product or service in the world.

Goals

Clear goals and objectives help keep your pitch on track. They also give you an easy way to judge success after the conversation — and to make improvements where necessary.

Structure

A sales pitch should always follow some kind of structure, for the same reason good stories have clear plots: You don’t want to lose your listener. The most basic example is:

  • Opening statement: This is your hook, where you get the customer’s attention or pique their curiosity.
  • Body: Here, you’ll share specific details, stats, use cases or benefits that highlight your USP and put your product or service in the spotlight.
  • CTA: The call to action inspires the customer to — you guessed it — take a specific action.

7 good sales pitch types

Need an example of a sales pitch? Look no further:

#1: Email sales pitch

All good sales pitch email examples have one thing in common: brevity. Here, powerful subject lines and preview text can work wonders — and simple, compelling body copy (ideally with bullet points) is your best friend. Most of the power rests on an eye-catching CTA button with clear value for your reader.

Example:

Hey [Recipient’s Name],
Hope you’re doing well. I came across your [work/article/profile] recently and was genuinely impressed. Would love to chat and share some ideas around [helping you solve Y problem]. Are you up for a virtual coffee next week?

Cheers, [Your Name]

#2: Phone pitch/cold call script for B2B sales

Business-to-business or B2B sales pitch examples are a little more difficult to pin down, particularly when they’re done over the phone. Cold calls can still work — they should just be highly personalized, relevant, and full of immediate value.

“Hey [Recipient’s Name], it’s [Your Name] here from [Your Company/Organization]. I stumbled upon your [work/profile/website] recently, and [X specific thing] caught my attention. Got a quick moment to chat?”

#3: Sales presentation pitch

If you go looking for sales pitch presentation examples, you’ll probably find a whole lot of PowerPoint. That’s not a problem, but it can be a limitation if you don’t follow best practices. Focus on creativity and clarity, keep your customer’s attention, and use the format to your advantage (that is, don’t just read exactly what’s written on your slides — let the media enhance your message).

What a great sales deck should include:

  • Strong opening: Capture your audience’s attention immediately. Start with a compelling customer story or fact related to your product or service.
  • Problem statement: Clearly identify the problem your product or service solves.
  • Solution: Introduce your product or service as the solution to the previously stated problem.
  • Benefits: Highlight the key benefits of your product or service, and how it stands out from competitors.
  • Testimonials and case studies: Showcase success stories or quotes from satisfied clients or customers.
    Product Demo or
  • Screenshots: If applicable, visually demonstrate how your product works.
  • Pricing and packages: Clearly lay out the cost and what’s included.
  • Team: Introduce key team members and their credentials, especially if they add credibility to your offering.
  • Call to Action: End with a clear CTA, whether that’s scheduling a follow-up meeting, starting a free trial, or another desired next step.
  • Contact Information: Always include an easy way for potential clients or investors to reach out.

#4: In-person sales pitch

In-person pitches present unique opportunities for connection. You can use tone indicators and body language cues that might not work as well in other formats — plus, you can read these same things from your customer. Build these pitches around real-time interactions and physical examples or visual aids where possible.

  • Build rapport: Utilize face-to-face interactions to create a personal connection. Start with small talk, read body language, and establish trust
  • Physical materials: Take advantage of tangible materials like brochures, samples, or prototypes.
  • Engage with demos: Live product demos can be more interactive. Let prospects touch, use, or experience your product/service.
  • Read the room: Observe audience reactions and adjust your pitch on-the-fly based on their body language and facial expressions.
  • Q&A: Spontaneous questions can arise, and you have the opportunity to address concerns immediately.
  • Venue considerations: Think about the location’s logistics, seating arrangements, audio/visual capabilities, and potential distractions

#5: Elevator pitch

An elevator pitch summarizes a lot of details in a short period of time — which means it has to be informative and compelling at the same time. Prioritize the most important, interesting, or valuable parts of your story and leave the details for a longer conversation.

Here’s an example of an elevator pitch you can use in your own outreach:

“Hi, I’m Alex from AquaPure.

Did you know that over 2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water? Our portable, eco-friendly water purification system can purify any freshwater source in just 30 seconds, making it safe to drink.

We envision a world where clean drinking water is always within reach, no matter where you are. Imagine the impact we could make together!”

This pitch is effective because it:

  • States the problem: Highlights a significant global issue.
  • Introduces a solution: Describes the product’s unique selling point.
  • Invokes emotion: The idea of making a positive change in the world.
  • Ends with a Call to Action: Invites the listener to be part of the solution

#6: Follow-up sales pitch

When making a follow-up sales pitch, the focus is on continuing, expanding, and enriching a conversation to close more deals. That means you want to recall specific details from the previous interaction and respond intuitively to approaches that worked.

Subject: Thank you for Yesterday’s Discussion – Next Steps for [Your Product/Service]

Hello [Recipient’s Name],

I hope this email finds you well. Firstly, thank you for taking the time yesterday to discuss [Your Product/Service]. I appreciate your insights and feedback on how it aligns with [Recipient’s Company’s objectives/needs].

To recap our conversation:

  • Benefit A of our product can address [specific challenge they have].
  • Our recent success with [similar company or case study] showcases the results you can anticipate.
  • I’ve attached [a case study, product specs, trial version, etc.] for your further consideration, as discussed.

You had a great question about [specific question]. I’ve looked into this and [provide a detailed answer or solution].

#7: Social media pitch

With internet users worldwide spending an average of 151 minutes per day on social media, this is a perfect chance to reach customers where they’re at. Social media pitches should be slightly less formal, more action-oriented and — above all — brief.

Here’s an example of a social media pitch:

Hi [Recipient’s Name],

I hope this message finds you well. I’ve been following [Company’s Name] and am truly impressed with your recent [specific campaign or content piece, e.g., “brand relaunch”]. As a Content Marketing Strategist with over 7 years in the industry, I’ve assisted brands like [Brand A, Brand B] in boosting their online engagement by an average of 40%.

I see potential areas where [Company’s Name] could further enhance its content reach and engagement, especially in [specific area, e.g., “interactive content” or “SEO-driven blog posts”]. I’d love to discuss a few strategies that could align with your current efforts and drive tangible results.

Would you be open to a brief call or discussion next week? I promise to keep it concise and value-packed.

Best regards,
[Your Name]

Mistakes to avoid while creating your sales pitch

Fine-tune your sales pitch templates with these 10 tips:

Do

Don't

Craft your perfect sales pitch

At the end of the day, all the B2B sales pitch examples in the world won’t make a difference if you don’t have the right content management and sales enablement solutions on your side. Fortunately, Mindtickle is here to help.

By providing the perfect coaching and training to your reps, Mindtickle helps you master the “who,” “what,” “why” and “how.” Deliver the right content at the right time, learn from previous conversations, and help your teams bring sales pitch templates to life.

Train all your sellers on the perfect pitch

Connect with our team to see how Mindtickle will help you build a team of sellers who can deliver the perfect pitch each time.

Get a Demo

This post was originally published in September 2023 and was updated in May 2024. 

Challenger Sales Model: The What, Why and How

Rahul Mathew on May 6, 2024

You’ve probably heard of the Challenger Sales methodology. With such an evocative name, you may wonder if it could fit your business. Before you decide that, though, you need to ask yourself a few questions — such as, “What is Challenger Sales?” and “It is really right for us?”

Today, we’re rounding up those answers and more. Here’s our in-depth look at Challenger Sales methodology and how to leverage it.

Key takeaways

  • Evaluate your sales team’s skills, personalities, and market context to determine if the Challenger Sales model is a good fit.
  • Provide training and education to equip sales reps with the knowledge, skills, and mindset needed to become effective Challengers. 
  • Equip your sales team with the necessary resources, content, and tools to support their adoption of the Challenger methodology.

What is the Challenger Sales model?

There are a lot of different sales methodologies to choose from. The challenger selling model is just one, and it’s well-known in the industry because it is the methodology that helped top sales reps win throughout the 2008 Great Recession.

Proposed by Brent Adamson and Matthew Dixon in “The Challenger Sale,” this approach is based on the personalities of your sales team. You’ve got archetypes like the hard worker, relationship builder, and lone wolf — but the challenger is the one to keep an eye on.

This person “challenges” the status quo by addressing needs your customers may not even know they have. It’s all about presenting new possibilities — not just a sales call, but a truly collaborative conversation. The results can include more deals, stronger connections, and better business.

Hard worker
Challenger
Relationship-builder
Lone wolf
Problem solver

It can be especially helpful during periods of economic difficulty where budgets are restricted, and products become harder to sell.

While other approaches may assume the customer knows best, Challenger Sales methodology training helps push your sales reps to use their own intuition and insights. The idea is to challenge the buyer with ideas they may not have considered, placing your company and offering in a high-value position.

Is every sales team a good fit for the Challenger Sales model?

The Challenger Sales process is built around a specific personality type. It’s best for reps and teams who can:

  • Take control without being aggressive.
  • Translate insights into actionable value for customers.
  • Present disruptive ideas as helpful and constructive.

Not everyone fits this description—and that’s okay. There are plenty of other sales models that may be a better fit for different personalities, unique skill sets, and simpler sales cycles.

Challenger Sales model steps

There are plenty of Challenger Sales model examples out there, but they all boil down to a few basic steps:

Start a conversation by asking a disruptive, highly relevant question and “challenging” what the customer thinks they know.

Deliver insights by connecting that question to a problem buyers may not have considered.

Build your case with data, examples, logic, and emotion.

Present an answer that neatly addresses the customer’s new concerns.

Showcase your offering as the best way to reach out and grab that answer.

Remember, the success of the Challenger Sales process depends on your reps being both sellers and teachers. Don’t just throw them into this role; build your sales team’s skills to help develop confidence and encourage creativity.

 

Adopting the Challenger Selling model

Ready to get started? Here’s how to adopt the Challenger Sales model:

Use a variety of assessments to determine how your teams approach tasks, handle virtual selling challenges and leverage their talents.

 

Build Challenger Sales training opportunities to help reps learn how to disrupt without offending and teach without patronizing. This often requires a shift in existing mindsets, which may prioritize relationships and “protecting the status quo.”

Provide how-to guides, Challenger Sales model examples, mock sales calls, and sales enablement tools to set your reps up for success.

 

Roll out the Challenger Sales methodology to one rep or team. Compare results against other models to see whether the model is a good fit. For instance, consider using conversation intelligence technology to see if your teams are applying challenger in the field.

Gather and analyze data to better understand what your teams are doing, when, and why. Provide feedback through coaching and ongoing training to help turn every rep into an effective challenger.

Although each of these steps is important, you should prioritize training and content. That’s because these two elements can make the difference between success and failure for many reps. After all, the Challenger Sales model might feel like a departure from what they originally learned, what they’re comfortable with, and — sometimes — what they believe about sales overall.

Pros and cons of the Challenger Sales model

Remember, the Challenger Sales methodology is just one option, and it may not work for every team. It’s important to do your research well ahead of time and pay close attention during the Challenger Sales training phase; that way, you can identify whether obstacles are just part of the learning curve or signs that this may not be the right approach for you.

Consider these pros and cons of the Challenger Sales model:

Pros

Cons

  • Leverages behaviors and habits of high-performing sales reps.
  • Helps manage and control complex sales cycles.
  • Presents new ideas for customers and reps alike, helping prevent stagnation and burnout.
  • Provides unique perspectives and insights on the customer’s business.
  • May not work for all personality types and skill sets.
  • Likely not a good fit for simple relationships or transactions.
  • Requires extra research and deep market understanding to remain successful over time.
  • Can come across as aggressive or overly assertive if done incorrectly.

The key takeaway here is that you can’t adopt the Challenger Sales model — or any sales methodology — as a one-size-fits-all solution. You have to take everything into account, from your reps’ unique personalities to your customers’ expectations. That’s how you stay flexible, scalable, and customer-centric in an increasingly complicated (and competitive) market.

Implementing the Challenger Sales method

To get your team started with the Challenger Methodology, start by taking these first few steps: 

  1. Assess your sales team’s current capabilities, strengths, and areas for improvement. Identify reps who align with the characteristics of successful Challengers and evaluate your organization’s readiness to embrace a new sales approach. This assessment may involve conducting personality assessments, skill evaluations, and market analyses to understand the context in which the Challenger methodology will be applied.
  2. Provide comprehensive training and education to equip your sales team with the knowledge, skills, and mindset necessary to become effective Challengers. This training should cover not only the principles of the Challenger Sale but also practical strategies for implementing these principles in real-world sales scenarios. Offer workshops, seminars, and coaching sessions to reinforce learning and encourage the adoption of Challenger behaviors and techniques.
  3. Equip your sales team with the resources, content, and tools needed to support their implementation of the Challenger methodology. This may include developing tailored sales collateral, presentation materials, and messaging frameworks that align with the Challenger approach. Additionally, leverage technology and sales enablement tools to streamline processes, gather insights and provide ongoing support to sales reps as they navigate the Challenger journey.

Helping your teams become challengers

The Challenger Sales process may feel like a new approach, but it’s based on things you already know — like how to get more out of a customer conversation and which skills to encourage among your reps. If you want to succeed with this model, you’ll need an in-depth understanding of your market, customers, and offerings — plus teaching techniques, assertiveness skills, coaching opportunities, and more.

To integrate all of these things, it’s best to unite your approach with sales training software like Mindtickle. Whether you’re exploring the Challenger Sales model, onboarding new team members, providing ongoing training, or just communicating helpful feedback, sales training software keeps your most important tasks in one place.

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This post was originally published in October 2023 and was updated in May 2024.

Sales Mirroring: What is it and How to do it Well

Rahul Mathew on April 18, 2024

Building relationships is essential in sales. Once you’ve established rapport and earned a prospect’s trust, they’re more likely to make a purchase and stay long-term.

Modern sales reps leverage many different techniques to build rapport. Sales mirroring is one that’s especially common and effective. In fact, research shows that sales mirroring can increase sales reps’ closing rates by 17%.

Sales mirroring can increase closing rates by

0 %

But what it? And what techniques can help you close more deals?

In this blog, we’ll discuss what mirroring in sales is and why it’s a powerful approach for closing more deals. We’ll also explore some techniques to consider – and some common pitfalls to avoid.

What is sales mirroring?

Sales mirroring (also known as sales mimicking) is a strategy sales reps use to build rapport and earn their prospects’ trust. But how exactly does it work?

Sales mirroring is based on psychology. Essentially, it involves a seller observing a prospect’s verbal and non-verbal cues – and then “mirroring” that communication style. The prospect feels heard and understood, which increases their likelihood of purchasing from the seller.

Sales reps can use mirroring when interacting with prospects at every stage of the sales cycle—from initial outreach to discovery to demo to negotiation to close—and everything in between. Sales mirroring (when it’s done well) can significantly impact a rep’s ability to move deals through the sales pipeline and ultimately close more of those deals.

Of course, mirroring can be used during verbal communication – such as sales calls and video conferencing. However, this technique can also be used in email and other written communication.

What are the benefits of sales mirroring?

In today’s world, 78% of B2B buyers expect companies to understand and adapt to their changing needs and preferences. Rattling off a generic list of product features and benefits won’t cut it.

of B2B buyers expect companies understand and adapt to their needs and preferences
0 %

Many sales reps practice sales mirroring to build customer relationships and earn trust. But why is this approach so popular?

Let’s examine some key reasons why sales mirroring is an important (and popular) tool for sales reps.

Sales mirroring helps sales reps build trust with prospects

When a seller earns a buyer’s trust, they’re more likely to win their business. Research from Forrester found that 83% of B2B buyers would recommend a trusted vendor to others outside the company.

The bottom line is that earning a prospect’s trust is foundational to winning and retaining customers.

Mirroring is a powerful way to build trust with prospects. When sales reps use sales mirroring, the buyer feels heard and respected, which increases trust and the prospect’s likelihood of making a purchase.

Sales mirroring builds relationships

Any successful sales rep knows that relationship-building is key. Strong relationships lead to more deals, renewals, and referrals.

Practicing mirroring is an effective way to grow relationships with customers. For starters, sales mirroring helps sales reps demonstrate commitment to understanding a customer’s challenges. When a buyer feels understood, they’re more likely to listen to a seller’s recommendations.

In addition, mirroring can help a prospect and sales rep identify things they have in common. These commonalities can help build strong, long-term relationships.

Sales mirroring helps sales reps understand a customer’s needs

Before recommending a solution, a seller must understand a buyer’s needs. Sales reps who practice mirroring observe a buyer’s verbal and nonverbal cues. By listening to what the prospect is saying—and how they’re saying it—the sales rep can truly understand the prospect’s unique needs. Then, they can develop a solution to address those needs.

Sales mirroring helps reps close more deals faster

Putting a lot of pressure on a buyer can seem like an effective way to move a deal forward. But the truth is, this approach often has the opposite effect. When a sales rep is pushy, it can scare buyers off for good.

On the other hand, when a sales rep uses mirroring, their buyer doesn’t feel pressured to buy a product that may or may not truly fit their needs. Instead, they know the seller understands their needs. This reduces the buyer’s resistance and can speed up the sales cycle.

How to practice sales mirroring

Mirroring can effectively build rapport, earn a prospect’s trust, and, ultimately, close more deals. But how exactly does it work?

Let’s take a closer look at some proven sales mirroring techniques.

#1 Listen to the prospect

Verbal cues are important, so pay attention to what the prospect says and how they say it.

Take note of their speaking cadence. For example, do they talk quickly or take frequent pauses? In addition, take note of the words or phrases they use often.

You’ll also want to pay attention to their speaking style. Are they formal, casual, or somewhere in between? Do they incorporate humor, or are they all business?

Use these verbal cues to adapt your speaking style. But find ways to do so subtly. If you go overboard, you’ll come across as insincere.

#2 Tune into non-verbal communication cues

Research tells us that at least 50% of communication is nonverbal. As such, it’s imperative for sales reps practicing mirroring to pay attention to body language. Be sure to pay attention to non-verbal cues, including (but not limited to):

  • Eye contact
  • Posture
  • Hand gestures
  • Facial expressions
Eye contact
Posture
Hand gestures
Facial expressions

This is certainly easier to do in person. However, with the rise of video conferencing, sales reps can more easily notice a prospect’s nonverbal cues even when they’re not sitting in the same room.

For example, if you notice a prospect sitting tall in their chair, do the same. If the prospect looks more relaxed, change your posture accordingly. If the prospect maintains consistent eye contact, try to do the same.

Again, be sure to incorporate these non-verbal cues into your communication subtly.

#3 Find common ground

Some prospects join a call, ready to get down to business. Others prefer to chat first. Gauge your prospect’s preference – and adapt accordingly.

For example, if the prospect shares a story about a recent trip or special interest, reciprocate by doing the same. Ideally, you’ll find something in common to help build the relationship. But don’t force it, lest you come across as phony.

#4 Perfect the art of asking questions

Asking the right questions is key to uncovering your customer’s unique needs and challenges. According to the 2024 State of Revenue Productivity Report, sales reps ask an average of 20 questions during discovery sales calls.

Sales reps ask an average of

questions during discovery calls
0

So get your prospects talking. Avoid yes/no questions as much as possible, and opt for open-ended ones. You’ll get more valuable information from your prospects and have more opportunities to observe their communication and practice sales mirroring.

#5 Practice active listening

When a prospect answers a question, don’t zone out. Instead, remain present in the conversation and follow up by summarizing what the prospect has said. This will show that you’ve made the effort to truly know and understand them. It’ll also allow them to delve deeper into something you may have missed, which will help you develop and deliver the most relevant solutions possible. Finally, actively listening will give you more insight into the prospect’s communication style and more insights for sales mirroring.

5 Sales mirroring mistakes to avoid

Mirroring can be an effective strategy for building rapport and trust. However, sellers often approach it incorrectly.

If you want to succeed with mirroring in sales, you must avoid a few common mistakes.

When it comes to sales mirroring, less is more. It’ll turn off prospective buyers if your mirroring is too obvious.

So, don’t go overboard in your sales mirroring. Instead, keep it subtle and natural.

Emulating body language is a component of sales mirroring. However, sales reps should only attempt to mirror a prospect’s body language if it’s positive or neutral.

In other words, if a prospect is scowling and defensively crossing their arms, this shouldn’t be emulated by the sales rep.

Listening to a prospect – and then summarizing what they’ve said – is a key part of sales mirroring. However, simply repeating what a prospect says without taking the time to understand isn’t the way to do it.

Instead, tune in to what the prospect is saying and seek to understand. Ask follow-up questions to dig deeper. In addition, consider using a conversation intelligence solution (like Mindtickle’s Call AI) that records and analyzes sales calls. That way, you can remain present and not have to spend your time taking notes.

When engaging with a prospect, you may notice they frequently use certain unique words or expressions. Avoid mirroring these specific words or expressions. It can be phony (at best) or mocking (at worst).

Instead, the goal should be to mirror the prospect’s general behavior. Speak naturally while incorporating some general traits you’ve noticed during your encounters with the prospect.

Asking questions is key to getting the prospect to open up. But you have to ask the right questions.

Avoid asking questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no. In addition, avoid general questions that you could have answered independently with some research. Instead, pose questions that demonstrate you’ve done your homework.

Empower your reps to master the art of sales mirroring

Mirroring in sales is an effective way to build rapport with prospects. With it, reps can earn prospects’ trust – and their long-term business,

While mirroring is popular, not all sellers know how to do it well. Revenue organizations must ensure sellers have what it takes to be successful.

Winning revenue organizations depend on Mindtickle’s integrated sales productivity platform to deliver the training, sales enablement, reinforcement, and coaching sellers need to perfect the art of sales mirroring.

Of course, completing a sales mirroring training or sales enablement exercise doesn’t mean a seller is putting these skills into practice while in the field. Mindtickle incorporates Call AI, a conversation intelligence solution that records, analyzes, and scores sales calls. Sales reps get real-time feedback on improving deal outcomes, and managers can easily identify when they need additional coaching on sales mirroring or other key skills.

In addition, Mindtickle incorporates revenue intelligence, which helps revenue teams boost their forecasting, pipeline, and deal confidence.

With Mindtickle, you can boost your team’s productivity with sales training, enablement, call insights, and revenue intelligence – all from a single, integrated platform.

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What is Inside Sales? A Complete Overview

Rahul Mathew on April 9, 2024

In the past, most B2B sales were conducted face-to-face – perhaps in a prospect’s conference room or at a golf course. Many deals are closed today without the buyer and seller meeting face-to-face, a practice known as inside sales.

The shift to remote sales accelerated during the pandemic. But it will only continue to grow. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions will occur via digital channels.

By 2025

of B2B sales interactions will happen via digital channels
0 %

When it comes to inside sales, you may have questions like:

  • What is inside sales?
  • What do these teams do?
  • How is it different from outside sales?
  • What skills and tools do reps need for success?

We’ll answer these questions (and more) in this post.

What is inside sales?

There’s no doubt you’ve heard the term “inside sales.” But what is it?

It’s a model in which reps do their jobs from “inside” an office rather than face-to-face in the field. Some reps work from a company office, some from home, and others from both “inside” locations.

Inside sales teams leverage technology to connect and engage with prospects. Some methods inside sales reps use to engage with prospects include:

Phone calls

Video conferencing

Email

Social media

Other online channels

Conversely, outside sales reps rely on face-to-face conversations. We’ll examine the difference between inside and outside sales later.

Today, inside sales (also referred to as remote sales) have become the dominant model of B2B sales, especially in industries such as technology and software as a service (SaaS). It’s also gaining popularity in B2C sales, especially for high–priced, big-ticket items.

Why an inside sales strategy is important

Inside sales teams are a critical part of the revenue organization. But why is it so important?

There are several reasons why revenue organizations are investing in these strategies. Let’s take a look at a few that top the list.

Meeting buyer expectations and preferences

While in-person sales were once the default, many B2B buyers prefer to engage with sellers remotely. Consider that in 2017, 20% of industrial companies preferred digital interactions and purchases. Today, that number has grown to 67%.

In 2017

In 2024

0 %
0 %

of industrial companies preferred digital interactions and purchases

With a strong strategy, organizations can engage with prospects how they want to engage. When you meet buyers’ expectations, they’re more likely to stay engaged – and make a purchase.

Faster sales cycles

Traveling back and forth to a prospect’s office takes a lot of time, so sales cycles tend to be long in outside sales.

When sales reps sell from an office, they can close deals faster and work on multiple opportunities concurrently.

With inside sales, reps can close more deals faster, which is great news for your bottom line.

Lower cost per sale

Any sale has costs. However, the costs associated with inside sales are significantly lower than those associated with outside sales.

According to the Harvard Business Review, when appropriately utilized, inside sales “reduces cost-of-sales by 40-90% relative to field sales, while revenues may be maintained or even grow.” In other words, an inside sales strategy positions you to grow sales while decreasing costs.

What do inside sales reps do?

Inside sales reps – like any sellers – aim to make connections with qualified prospects, understand their needs, and work to deliver solutions that address their key challenges. What sets these reps apart is where they accomplish this work.

Reps sell from a corporate or home office rather than in the field.

Inside sales roles

Typically, the inside sales team has several different roles, each responsible for a different stage of the sales process.

The makeup of team varies from organization to organization. However, there are some common roles.

SDRs are typically focused on inbound sales. These are warm leads from prospects who have taken action to indicate their interest. Some such actions include downloading a report, requesting a live demo, interacting via live chat on the company website, or registering for and attending a webinar. An SDR will make initial contact with these leads and then pass along the qualified ones to an account executive (AE) on the team.

BDRs are typically focused on outbound sales. In other words, they make cold calls and send cold emails to connect with qualified prospects. Often, these are enterprise accounts. Once they’ve made initial contact and qualified a lead, they’ll pass it along to an AE.

AEs are responsible for taking leads from BDRs and SDRs and guiding them through the sales cycle.

An inside sales manager oversees a team of inside sales reps. They have myriad responsibilities, including setting sales goals, forecasting, hiring, and delivering personalized coaching that helps each seller understand inside sales best practices – and reach their full potential.

Different factors, including industry, prospect company size, product or service offering, and geography often segment teams. Segmentation depends on the needs of the revenue organization.

What’s the difference between inside and outside sales?

In the business world, “inside sales” and “outside sales” are two phrases thrown around a lot. But what’s the difference?

Both are responsible for closing deals. They do so by getting to know a prospect’s needs – and then working to address them.

However these two teams go about it differently.

Outside sales teams – also referred to as field sales – meet with prospects face-to-face. Meetings could happen at a prospect’s office or another location, like a tradeshow booth or industry event. Inside sales, on the other hand, engage with prospects remotely. Inside sales reps can guide a deal to the finish line without ever being in the same room as the prospect.

Outside sales teams rely on face-to-face meetings to build relationships and close deals. They can schedule these meetings by cold calling, seeking referrals from existing customers, or visiting an office location.

Inside sales teams rely on other channels to engage with buyers, including phone calls, video conferencing, email, and social media. Many teams also use digital sales rooms to communicate and collaborate with prospects. Digital sales rooms are especially effective when buying committees are large—and they often are. According to Forrester, 63% of purchases involve more than four people. In 2017, that was the case for 47% of purchases.

Inside sales Outside sales
Also known as Virtual sales Field sales
Work location At company or home office In the field, which may include a prospect’s office, another facility like a factory or plant, trade show, or industry event
Key customer engagement channels Phone calls, video calls, emails, social selling In-person meetings

What are the characteristics of a successful inside sales rep?

To be successful in their roles, reps must master certain skills and competencies. It’s important to identify these skills. A good way to do this is to closely examine your most successful reps and determine what they’re doing differently. You can document key skills, characteristics, and behaviors in an ideal rep profile (IRP).

Ideal rep profile competencies

Your IRP can guide your hiring process. It should also guide the ongoing sales training, sales enablement, and coaching you deliver to ensure your inside sales reps are set up for success.

So, what are the skills and characteristics needed to succeed? The short answer is, it depends. However, certain characteristics are required for just about any rep to make their sales quota.

Product knowledge

Reps must be experts in their product and service offerings. This requires ongoing sales training, enablement, and coaching as product offerings always evolve.

Of course, reciting a list of product features isn’t enough. Instead, reps must articulate how a specific solution can solve a prospect’s key challenges.

Research skills

B2B buyers are no longer satisfied with generic information and experiences. Instead, they expect every experience to be tailored to them.

Reps must be prepared to deliver value right from the start. First, they must do their homework.

With the right tools, reps can uncover much information independently. However, they should also be skilled at asking the right questions to uncover key information.

Cold calling and cold outreach

Cold calling and cold outreach are key. Reps must be comfortable picking up the phone or contacting a prospect via email and skilled at getting prospects to engage.

They should also be experts on their organization’s buyer personas and know what questions to ask to determine whether a prospect is a good fit. That way, account executives spend their time with the most qualified leads.

Discovery

Before presenting a solution, reps must understand a prospect’s pain points. They must also have strong discovery skills to determine a customer’s key opportunities and challenges quickly.

Objection handling

Reps are bound to face objections from prospects. But objections don’t necessarily mean a deal is dead in the water.

They must be equipped to address and overcome key objections. When a rep expertly navigates objections, the prospect is more likely to purchase.

Communication skills

Every sales rep needs strong communication skills, but inside sales reps must also be skilled at effectively communicating and building relationships remotely.

They must be able to communicate clearly with prospects. However, they must also be great listeners and know what questions to ask to get prospects talking.

Internal communication skills are also critical for inside sales reps. A sales rep must know when to involve others in the conversation and effectively brief them before engaging with the prospect.

Technology skills

Reps require the right technology to be effective and efficient. For example, a rep may depend on a sales enablement platform to learn about a new product and access the right content to share with prospects. They may also rely on a customer relationship management (CRM) tool to stay on top of the many moving pieces of a deal.

Reps need to be familiar with the different tools of the trade and willing (and able) to learn the unfamiliar ones quickly.

Data-driven

Reps must take a personalized approach to selling. While it’s important to follow the established sales process, they must also be adept at examining the data available to them and adapting accordingly.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can make this easier. For example, AI can analyze data to suggest what step an inside sales rep should take next – such as sharing content that’s worked in a similar sales scenario.

What are the tools needed for success?

To be successful, inside reps need certain skills and behaviors. An inside sales strategy also requires the right tools.

Inside sales software stacks vary from company to company. However, there are certain tools nearly all inside sales reps need to achieve their sales quota.

Building relationships is key to any sales strategy. A CRM like Salesforce helps sales reps manage the many moving pieces of these relationships.

Reps need to master certain skills to be successful. An integrated sales enablement platform like Mindtickle enables inside sales teams to can access the training, information, and coaching they need to build key skills. A sales enablement platform like Mindtickle also incorporates sales content management, which enables sales reps to quickly and easily find the right content for any sales scenario.

Content is an important tool for moving deals forward. But it can be challenging for sales reps to find the right sales content. A sales content management tool can help inside sales reps surface content proven to improve outcomes.

Some inside sales interactions take place via phone calls. However, video conferencing allows reps to see prospects face-to-face and deliver more dynamic presentations and demos.

Inside sales reps are responsible for finding and connecting with good-fit prospects. The right prospecting tools make this easier. For example, LinkedIn Sales Navigator enables inside sales reps to leverage their LinkedIn networks to connect to the right people at the right companies.

Scheduling appointments is essential to inside sales reps. But finding a time can be time-consuming. An appointment scheduling tool automates the process, saving reps’ time.

Mindtickle empowers winning inside sales teams to close more deals

A strong sales inside team can make a huge impact on revenue growth. But the role of a rep isn’t easy.

They face increasingly complex markets and buyers with extremely high expectations. Revenue organizations must ensure inside sellers have the right skills and tools to overcome key challenges and close more deals.

With Mindtickle, teams have access to the training and enablement needed to master the skills needed for success. Reps can also access reinforcement, practice opportunities, and coaching that help ensure learning sticks.

In the world of B2B inside sales, content is king. Mindtickle enables sales reps to surface the right content for any selling scenario quickly.

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