175 (Lead): Lessons From A Renowned CRO: Evolving Your Sales Team Through Process And Accountability (Stevie Case @ Vanta)
Nov 16, 2023
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In this podcast, renowned CRO Stevie Case shares actionable leadership takeaways including conducting a burn down practice and focusing on what is not working. They discuss the importance of managing a large team and open deals using a spreadsheet, driving sales success through leading metrics and AI, and the significance of coaching and technology for sales reps. They also explore breaking bad habits for sales leaders and discuss Stevie's people-first leadership style.
Conducting a daily burn down meeting to discuss the status and next steps of open deals drives urgency and accountability to close deals.
Sales leaders should focus on addressing misses and targets that are being overlooked, which builds trust and demonstrates commitment to continuous improvement.
Deep dives
Driving Inspection and Urgency with the Burn Down
The first main idea from the podcast is the practice of conducting a burn down at the end of every closing period. This involves holding a 30-minute meeting every morning in which the sales team discusses the status, blockers, and next steps for each open deal. The key is to keep these updates concise, around 30 seconds or less, with a focus on the heart of the matter. The purpose of the burn down is to drive accountability and urgency to close deals.
Flipping the Focus: Emphasizing What's Not Working
The second main idea centers around sales leaders shifting their focus from celebrating wins to addressing what is not working. The goal is to intentionally inspect and address misses and targets that are being overlooked. This involves regularly stack ranking the top three misses and discussing how to address them. By addressing and resolving problems proactively, leaders can build trust with their team and demonstrate their commitment to continuous improvement.
Empowering Reps to Solve Problems and Move Up
The third main idea highlights the importance of enabling team members to problem-solve and become self-sufficient. Leaders are encouraged to create a culture where reps are not dependent on them for every answer or solution. Instead, reps should be empowered to seek answers within the organization and develop their own problem-solving skills. By freeing themselves as the linchpin and understanding their boss's priorities and challenges, reps can take initiative and step into leadership roles.
Leveraging Technology for Sales Performance
The fourth main idea explores how AI-powered tools can enhance sales performance. The podcast discusses the potential of AI to assist sales reps in real-time during sales calls, providing relevant case studies, objection handling tips, and other resources. This technology can also be leveraged for automated call coaching, allowing managers to provide consistent feedback and help reps improve key actions like discovery. Implementing a value-based selling framework and leveraging AI tools can bring quantifiable improvements and drive better outcomes for sales teams.
Burndown: Every day before the end of the month, make your team put all open deals in a spreadsheet with a two-line update.
When you’re rolling out a methodology like command of the message, you can’t stop at the initial training. Every single new product launch needs to be trained in that framework, otherwise, it’s forgotten.
Make sure your reps tell you what role you need to play on calls! Your CRO can always freestyle, but they much prefer you tell them what to do.
80% of the upward communications should be focused on the problems you need to solve. Often times your CEO just wants to know that you’re aware of the problems.