You can’t scale if your sales roles aren’t specialized. That’s what Aaron Ross, author of Predictable Revenue, told the SaaStr Annual 2016 audience to launch Wednesday’s second tactical session: “How to Specialize Your Sales Team So You Can Actually Scale.”
Then Aaron opened the discussion to include:
- Bridget Gleason, VP of Corporate Sales, Sumo Logic (@bridgetgleason)
- Don Otvos, VP of Inside Sales & Sales Operations, Datahug (@donnyo)
All three speakers focused on establishing a need for specialization when scaling, while dropping in tips for making that happen. Following is some of the wisdom they shared.
11 Expert Tips on Specializing to Scale:
1. “I’ll tell you: What works for four does not work for 40.” – Bridget Gleason, VP of Corporate Sales, Sumo Logic (@bridgetgleason)
2. “It’s for sure not painless to specialize, to add roles, but it’s better to bite the bullet.”- Aaron Ross, author of Predictable Revenue (@motoceo)
3. “One of the things I try to stay away from is doing one-to-one. Because I think when you have a one-to-one ratio between a prospector and a closer, I think you can get some bad habits.” – Don Otvos, VP of Inside Sales & Sales Operations, Datahug (@donnyo)
4. “In specialization, it’s all about relationships. The relationships between the teams are so important…because that can really tie it all together.” – Aaron Ross, author of Predictable Revenue (@motoceo)
5. “My encouragement would be, even in the beginning…have an eye toward specialization and know that that’s what you’re building towards.” – Bridget Gleason, VP of Corporate Sales, Sumo Logic (@bridgetgleason)
6. “Start thinking about the roles you need to create early, because it’s going to take longer than you think.” – Aaron Ross, author of Predictable Revenue (@motoceo)
7. “Pay really close attention to data. And hire a sales operations person very early on. All of these metrics you’ve got to be monitoring over time [to help determine your specialization strategy].” – Bridget Gleason, VP of Corporate Sales, Sumo Logic (@bridgetgleason)
8. “You can’t have an outbound team that is successful and scales past 3 weeks, unless [you have] data management.” – Aaron Ross, author of Predictable Revenue (@motoceo)
9. “If this isn’t already evident, news flash here: The distance between the idea of specialization and execution can be quite long and bumpy.” – Bridget Gleason, VP of Corporate Sales, Sumo Logic (@bridgetgleason)
10. “Customer Success is not just the role. It’s the teams together, working together.” – Aaron Ross, author of Predictable Revenue (@motoceo)
11. “You have to figure out what your one true source is [for your sales team(s)].” – Don Otvos, VP of Inside Sales & Sales Operations, Datahug (@donnyo)
Make sure to catch SaaStr’s recording for more from these 3 experts, and stay tuned to our blog for more SaaStr coverage.
