Q & A with Derek Wong, Geopointe Sales Development Supervisor
Many modern sales teams are implementing a Sales Management System that integrates with their CRM in order to motivate, engage, and coach their teams around the behaviors that support their business goals. After implementing this type of solution, companies typically see a significant increase in their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). For example, Geopointe implemented LevelEleven this past winter. Since then they’ve increased their calls per month by 25 percent, brought in 73 more live connects per month and increased monthly sales opportunities from 94 percent to 107 percent to goal.
To learn more about Geopointe’s experience and the results they saw from using a Sales Management System, we caught up with Geopointe Sales Development Supervisor, Derek Wong. Here’s what he had to say about his team’s first six months with LevelEleven, and the corresponding results they achieved:
Q: How Were the Implementation and Adoption Processes?
A: I had a lot of questions during the implementation and LevelEleven’s CSM team was able to answer all of my questions right away. They showed me how to create contests, how to set goals for the Sales Development (SDR) team, and how to group teams since we have different levels of SDRs. In one quick 15-minute call they were able to walk me through all of that and give me a firm understanding of the basics of the platform. This gave me the tools to help motivate, engage and coach my team around the behaviors that drive results for our company.
Q: What Initially Excited You Most About LevelEleven?
A: As a sales manager, the Sales Contests excited me the most. We’re in sales and salespeople like incentives. For example, this month we’re having a contest revolved around new opportunities created for an Account Executive). At the end of the month, the SDR with the highest number of flips gets a $50 gift card of their choice. We just started the contest a few days ago, and we’ve already had 30 flips. That is a 50% increase over what we were doing this time last year.
Q: How Has LevelEleven Helped Your Team Focus on Key Sales Behaviors?
A: We make it clear to our SDRs that we want them to find and create new opportunities because that’s the most important thing for our sales team. But Molly [Geopointe’s Sales Development Coordinator] and I have also been increasing their focus and awareness of leading indicators, such as importing leads and making calls, because that is what they have control over and that’s why LevelEleven is so valuable. It helps every team member realize that they’re in control of their own destiny and they now have the tools needed to achieve their goals.
Q: What are the KPIs for Geopointe SDR Team?
A: We measure 3 KPIs for the SDR team: sales opportunities created, daily lead imports and daily sales calls. SDRs are expected to import 25 leads a day and make 50 calls a day. By measuring the leading indicators of imports and calls, each SDR should have enough connected calls to bring in 20 sales opportunities a month. With the implementation of a Sales Management System like LevelEleven, we were able to improve our monthly sales opportunities from 94 percent to 107 percent to goal. Our Account Executives have taken notice and really appreciates the increased pipeline that we are generating for the business.
Q: How Has LevelEleven Helped You Visualize Your Team’s Progress?
A: We previously used Salesforce dashboards to keep track of our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), but now with LevelEleven, we see everything in one profile without having to look at multiple dashboards. Now I can compare multiple KPIs side-by-side in one window, rather than having a window open for each metric. Most people don’t have enough computer screens to do that, or enough time, for that matter.
In addition, we found that reports and dashboards often lacked context for individual team members to know how they were performing against their goals and what they needed to do to get back on track if they were behind. LevelEleven solves this problem so our team can make course corrections in real-time and not wait until the end of the month, week, or quarter to make adjustments.
Q: How Has LevelEleven Helped You as a Sales Coach?
A: Having a Sales Management System with real-time Scorecards with all of our KPIs readily available allows me to be a more agile sales coach. Whether I’m preparing for a formal coaching session with a struggling team member or just having a casual catch-up conversation at lunch or in the hallway, I can immediately see where that team member stands relative to their goals and provide feedback and advice as needed. That type of flexibility is extremely valuable as a sales coach.
With LevelEleven’s Coaching solution, we are also able to log those conversations and action items directly in our CRM so that we can reference them in the future. It really helps bring structure and context to our coaching discussions.
Q: How Has Geopointe’s SDR Team Used LevelEleven to Improve their Process?
A: The great thing about a Sales Management System like LevelEleven is that every SDR can easily keep track of themselves to improve their performance in real time. They can also ask me for help when they are not hitting their goals.
For example, an SDR may come to me and say, ”Hey, I’m meeting my activity goals, but my connects are down. How do you think I should approach it?” That’s when I can step in and give them more granular advice, like to switch up their call times to increase their success rates. That type of feedback helps my team fine-tune their craft and earn more money, which in turn helps our company build pipeline and scale.
Q: Can You Give an Example of a Time You Successfully Coached Someone on Your Team with LevelEleven?
A: One of our SDRs was new to outbound sales, which requires that you focus on two primary behaviors: importing leads and making calls. Initially, he was struggling a little bit with managing his day. We looked at his LevelEleven Scorecard it turned out that he was not importing enough new leads into his cadence. It wasn’t that he wasn’t doing his job well, he just wasn’t efficiently importing leads because it was a new process for him.
Once we had identified the issue, we sat down and figured out how he could build a process that allowed him to import as many leads as possible in a two-hour window. From there, we saw a bump in the number of leads he was touching each day which allowed him to fill up his pipeline and hit his call numbers. Now, he’s consistently making 40 to 50 calls a day and hitting his weekly goal for new opportunities created. In fact, he already hit his new opportunities goal for this week with a day to spare.
Q: How Has LevelEleven Added Value to Your Team’s Day-to-Day Process?
A: Because everyone can see Channel11 (LevelEleven’s TV Broadcast) around the office or on their laptop, we are always aware of what contests we’re running and how the SDR team is progressing. That’s pretty cool because they’re able to get recognition when they have a big day or week. On the flip side, it also helps senior management quickly see how the entire team is progressing, which frees up time for them and us.
Q: How Has the SDR Team Used LevelEleven Boost Morale?
A: Every metric has a goal and every goal can have its own custom celebration that our SDRs can personalize. Whether that’s a theme song or a YouTube video, it comes on LevelEleven for everybody to see. For example, yesterday one of our reps hit his goal for new opportunities with two days left in the week, and everybody saw it and congratulated him afterward. That type of recognition really helps to build a culture of performance that centers around healthy competition within our team.
Ready to learn more about LevelEleven’s Sales Management System? Follow the link below to take a product tour!
