Industry: SaaS
Target market: Enterprise HR
Funding: Series A, $10M
Catalyst for NFS's Involvement
With recent sales leadership turnover and facing inconsistent and declining sales revenue, the client approached NFS to elevate their sales team's performance through sales coaching. Neither domestic nor international Account Executives were meeting their sales goals. The founder felt that sales coaching could help the team develop the necessary skills and strategies needed to achieve sales targets and help ensure a highly performing and motivated sales team.
Underlying issues
NFS’s analysis of the sales process revealed opportunities for change both at the individual level as well as the corporate level. Areas that needed attention included:
- Lack of a Structured Sales Process: There was no systematic approach to sales. No clear path from prospecting to closing which resulted in inefficiencies from scheduling to closing to implementation.
- Time Management Issues: Account executives were busy, but often sacrificing activities which matter most to things which mattered the least.
- Lackluster Communication & Presentation Skills: Everyone understood why their services were valuable, but they had not developed nor practiced an effective way of communicating that with prospective customers.
- Operational and Strategic Support: A broader and immediate need for sales process optimization, pipeline management, and strategic planning was identified.
- Personnel Optimization: In many teams, there will be members who will not embrace coaching and simply won’t align with the work needed to succeed. Such was the case with some team members on this team.
Solutions provided
NFS's proposal encompassed overall sales team development through process enhancement, and individual and team coaching.
- Process Design: Worked with all necessary stakeholders to design a comprehensive, clear sales process including full documentation of sales stages, activities to complete at each stage, and entrance/exit criteria.
- Sales Stack Management: Identified, implemented, and managed the tools needed to support a dynamic sales team. Provided assistance in developing an integrated tech stack with key reports being generated to help provide real time feedback on sales activities and results.
- Individual Coaching & Team Training: Held weekly live coaching sessions & shared asynchronous advice that focused on individualized areas for improvement. Delivered video based materials that spoke to team wide issues and changes needed. Held group training sessions on best practices to establish baseline expectations & habits.
- Pipeline Management: Initiated & managed weekly pipeline reviews to identify and eliminate roadblocks and bottlenecks resulting in more positive deal momentum and greater forecast accuracy.
- Effective Time Management: Introduced tools and strategies for improved scheduling and productivity helping account executives prioritize activities which matter most.
- Value Proposition Communication: Helped build a common understanding and vision of key value propositions as well as how to convey those messages effectively. Designed a demo flow and presentation materials with an executive buyer in mind rather than the user buyer they were used to selling to.
- Personnel Decisions: Aided in rep evaluations and decisions regarding team members who were not adapting well to changes in the demands of the role and associated coaching.
Outcomes
With process changes and coaching from NFS, the client's sales team surpassed the initial goal of performance improvement. NFS's holistic and tailored approach not only addressed the immediate needs but also set the stage for ongoing success, showcasing NFS's capacity to adapt solutions to complex client challenges. Rather than rushing to hire a VP Sales to come solve these foundational problems, the client was able to chart a clear path forward, then hire a leader to drive action and carry on the theme of performance improvement.
Ready to see what NFS can do for you and your team?