The Role of Sales within Account-Based Marketing Strategies

For as long as enterprise software has been around, the default go-to-market (GTM) strategy was to create as much noise as possible to garner attention around your product and go after hand-raisers and high-fit prospects with a sales team. This is what some refer to as the volume lead-based model.

Though this model is not entirely obsolete, it’s proving to no longer be as effective as it once was. This is partly due to the fact that it causes many inefficiencies throughout the sales process but more likely due to the fact that, regardless of the field, most markets software organizations target are becoming overcrowded with vendors. This oversaturation is leading to a lot of noise within people’s inboxes and making it much harder to stand out to actually capture someone’s attention.

What many have proposed as a solution to this problem is an idea called Account Based Marketing or ABM for short. If you’re already working in sales or marketing for a tech organization it’s likely an acronym you’ve already heard many times before. However, it seems to have many different meanings to different people, which begs the question, what exactly is ABM?

ABM takes the traditional lead-based model and flips it on its head. Rather than targeting as many people as possible and having a sales team try and find the needle in a large haystack, this process starts first by identifying high-value clients the company would like to have a very specific focus on. Once this target list has been identified, highly personalized and tailored strategies are then put in place with messaging that will hopefully prove to be too enticing and relevant to ignore.

It is a means of finding greater success with outbound marketing & sales campaigns through more effective collaboration. There are benefits to be gained from simply improving communication among the various departments, tips for which we’ve written about before, but when that isn’t enough leaders need to consider systematic changes to their GTM strategy that can provide greater efficiencies which in turn will hopefully lead to greater revenue.

To some, this may mean simply adding digital advertising campaigns to focus on companies that the sales team is planning to go after. The additional air coverage will very likely have some impact in improving engagement results but ultimately that would only be a piece of the puzzle.

ABM in its entirety should really be a cohesive effort to have a 1:1 conversation with an organization on why and how your solution can provide value the prospect currently doesn’t have at their disposal today. There should be the same unified message being delivered across every channel used to reach these leads/prospects and this message should evolve as the sales cycle continues to develop. 

For example, if we were an ABM platform vendor the first course of action would be to raise awareness on the value of ABM in general to develop an internal need. In a true ABM strategy, there would ideally be material related to each prospect’s situation or environment to more easily help them more concretely envision what benefits they can achieve by adopting a new solution as opposed to proposing hypothetical scenarios.

Once the need has been developed, the next course of action should be to differentiate your solution from other vendors in the market. The messages being delivered here could touch on how your solution works better with the technology investments a company already has in place or superior capabilities you have over your competition. Relevant case studies and customer testimonials would also be gold at this stage in the process. 

As these conversations develop the onus to develop these responsibilities will fall less on marketing and more on sales to receive the baton the bring it across the finish line. From a high-level perspective, there should be a gradient pattern of share in responsibility where early engagements have the ball in marketing’s court and later phases of the engagement would be on the sales side.

Now as a sales professional, marketing will essentially view you as another arm or channel they can use to reach target accounts. Typically though this would be reserved for those accounts that are showing some level of interest. 

From a day to day perspective, your responsibilities won’t change in terms of how you’re carrying out your job. A switch to an ABM strategy will more than likely simply mean a switch in focus for what companies you go after and why. You’ll still need to go through the motions of qualifying your opportunities and facilitating the conversations with a personal touch to bring to close.

In summary, the true role of a sales professional within ABM should be to provide a human touch or element through rapport and empathy that’s often hard for marketing teams to achieve through their typical channels. If you’re interested in learning more please comment below and let us know what you’d like to learn more about.

If you’re looking for other sales advice you’re also welcome to check out our other articles on the Rainmakers blog. Of course, if you’re looking to break into or find a new opportunity within tech sales you can also find listings for your future job on our website at https://www.rainmakers.co/

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Tips to Improve Communication Between Sales and the Rest of the Company

Businesses strive to keep lines of communication open between all of their departments. In particular, organizations aim to keep the sales team in conversation with the rest of the business. The sales team’s gathered information is a goldmine of opportunity for every department, from marketing to finance.

Companies that keep the conversations and discussions happening see numerous benefits. From improving sales processes to aiding project management, teams that implement effective communication channels can continue to grow their sales opportunities.

Why Communication is Important

Sales teams spend an enormous amount of time gathering information about a prospective client during the sales process. Even after a client has signed a contract, sales team members hold valuable information and notes from client discussions, all of which are valuable insights for other departments in the company.

By sharing this information, sales teams can lead the company to a successful relationship with a client. Material collected by either sales or other departments benefits everyone in the company. Sharing this information or organizing it in one location through project management helps everyone use it. Sales teams that take the time to discuss when projects need to be completed and what information they’ve gathered on a client aid in the continued success with a client.

Suggestions for Improving Communication

How do businesses bridge the transmission of information from sales to the rest of the company? Try some of the following suggestions to open the lines of communication between the sales team and other departments.

Encourage face-to-face meetings

Businesses can help build conversations between departments by setting aside time for face-to-face discussions. In the digital age, companies can fall prey to doing everything via email. Sitting down for a meeting can help clear up any confusion or reduce the time spent going back and forth with team members.

These sit-down meetings are also an opportunity to discuss goals for each department. Companies can either review individual department goals or cross-department collaborations. Individuals who understand client goals are less likely to spend time doing irrelevant tasks.

The sharing of information during these meetings has benefits for everyone. For the sales department, information swapping helps them gain insights into what options they can offer to prospective clients. For the marketing team, they’ll learn what problems new clients had in the past and what solutions they’ve used.

Find a way to share client data with various departments

Companies need a system to share the sales team’s client information with the rest of the team. This information should include all the relevant data from calls, emails, and in-person visits with a client during the sales process. When the sales team shares this profile with everyone else, other departments have a clearer picture of their client.

Businesses can purchase software systems or platforms for storing and sharing data. Once companies implement this technology, they should do their best to establish a procedure and stick to it. Right now, businesses are using multiple platforms or singular platforms for data collection or predictive analysis.

Project management components of an enterprise resource planning system can help transition new clients from sales to delivery departments. Through planning tools and collaboration abilities, an ERP system keeps data in one place. An additional benefit of this system is businesses can use this data for creating future financial predictions for clients.

Include more cross-departmental roles

In many companies, only sales team members sit in during sales calls. Companies could do better by offering members outside of the sales team the opportunity to attend these calls. By including these people on the call, individuals gain insights from not only what sales does, but what the prospective client wants from the company. This gives non-sales team members a head start on fulfilling client needs after the deal is closed.

Businesses should also offer the opportunity for sales team members to visit other departments. By bringing sales into other business areas, organizations build cross-functional collaboration opportunities and individual understanding of what other people do for a client.

Another way for companies to shift their communications is by creating a place for individuals to share their process- or product-improvement ideas. Requests from individuals can range from different ways of completing a task, to a new product for completing a job. Businesses need to sift through these ideas in order to find the best solution for helping communications or improving processes. By listening to their employees, organizations can increase employee morale and productivity.

Closing Remarks

Companies benefit from encouraging dialogue between departments. This improved communication can help better define client goals, share knowledge for better product delivery, and create new opportunities for productivity gains.

To encourage dialogue, organizations can hold more face-to-face discussions, create procedures for individuals to follow, and expand opportunities for employee inclusion. Companies that carry out any of these practices can help their whole team and their own bottom line.

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Ways to Track and Present your Personal Sales Brag Book

What Is A Brag Book?

Nutshell.com defines a Brag Book as “a collection of testimonials, case studies, or pictures from satisfied customers. For example, a sales rep can present their brag book to prospects to illustrate their prior successes and how they’ve exceeded their client’s expectations.”

As someone in a sales position at a tech company, you know what your sales manager loves to see out of your key metrics. Those same metrics can be used when applying to future sales positions, and that’s why a brag book is an asset to your continued success.

Your brag book should contain records, key metrics, or verifiable numbers that speak to your skills. Include items like:

  • Three years’ worth of sales figures, ranking reports, and awards
  • Any standout accomplishments like “#1 sales rep” in the company
  • Email examples that speak to your talent for communicating with active and prospective clients
  • Three years’ worth of W-2s and YTD earnings to back up any sales claims you make

The key metrics can be broken into two categories: Quantity and Quality.

Quantity-driven metrics include:

  • Accounts called
  • Leads sources
  • Emails
  • Calls
  • Connects
  • Demos
  • Opportunities

Quality-driven metrics include:

  • Contacts sourced per account
  • Calls per lead
  • Unique leads called
  • Connect Rate
  • Demo to opportunity Conversion
  • Calls per opportunity
  • Connects per opportunity
brag book example

How do you track those, where do you store them, and how do you present them to future hiring managers to ensure you get the job you deserve?

We have found some tools to help you track, store, and share your metrics accurately and somewhat variable way with future hiring managers as you advance your career.

Call Activity Scorecard

This call activity scorecard helps you set goals and track the number of calls you make each quarter, and how many conversions, opportunities created, and wins result from those calls.

Call Activity Scorecard

Weekly Email Tracker

This easy weekly email tracker helps you track the number of emails, unique people emailed, how many new prospects are being contacted, the number of deals closed due to emails, etc.

Weekly Email Tracker

Sales Activity Worksheet

This sales activity worksheet assists in tracking metrics like the number of hours worked per week, your weekly/monthly/quarterly goals, leads generated, the size of details, and contracts signed.

Sales Activity Worksheet

Rekener

Rekener is a sales rep scorecard software provider that helps track leads, quotas, opportunity stages, and KPI trends.

Rekener

Rainmakers

Recording your metrics is an important habit that will pay off when it’s time to look for new sales opportunities. For example, when you sign up for an account on a job site like Rainmakers.co, your numbers and sales figures are displayed on your profile for companies looking to hire proven salespeople.

make a brag book
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Rainmakers Brings the First-Ever Sales Talent Marketplace to the East Coast

Rainmakers.co, the leading technology-focused sales marketplace, is excited to be launching its easy and efficient recruiting platform in the New York City area. Taking what has been proven to work on the west coast with 100’s of companies, Rainmakers is opening up new opportunities for an entirely new region of tech sales professionals and employers.

Rainmakers is led by a team with significant experience in tech sales recruiting including Michael Ferguson, former co-founder and CEO of Swoopt (acquired by theScore) and COO Mike Theron – former director of GRN Recruiting.

From the employers perspective:
“Rainmakers provides an excellent and qualified list of candidates who are open and actively looking for new opportunities. Their platform is easy to use and gives a great high-level overview of the candidate’s experience.” – Zaviear Lue, Recruiting at Algolia.

From the talent perspective:
“If you take your career as a salesperson seriously, Rainmakers is the place to be. I am ecstatic about the company that hired me and I would not have found it without the platform.” – Palmer Johnson, an SDR hired off Rainmakers

To read the full press release, click the image below:

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How to Clean Up Your Social Media Accounts Before An Interview

Resumes used to dictate your job search, and while they still impact the first round of interviews, you also have a digital resume that recruiters will be looking at. All of your social media, from LinkedIn to Facebook can be found with the click of a button. This has its pros as well as its cons. It was reported that 54% of employers have decided not to hire someone based on their social media profiles.

To help get your social media affairs in order, Panda Security has visuals that teach you how to spring clean your social media. Follow through their tips and tricks to make sure your account is safe and isn’t hindering your job search.

LinkedIn

The first place some recruiters may check is LinkedIn. First, make sure that your profile image is clean and professional. Look at the profile images of other professionals in your industry and try to get a similar headshot for yourself.

Update your job history

Look back at your past roles and specify your tasks and the positive impacts they had on the company. You can also upload any relevant links/media that you were a part of.

Leave out the typical buzzwords

Recruiters are used to seeing common words like “passionate,” “strategic,” and “specialized.” Stand out by finding unique words that pack a punch to describe your experience.

Collect endorsements and recommendations

This is a good way to build up your credibility as well as the credibility of others in your direct network. Reach out to people you have worked closely with and ask them for an endorsement that is specific to your skill set, and do the same for them!

Tweak your security settings

To edit your public visibility: Privacy & Settings -> Privacy -> Edit Your Public Profile

To edit the broadcasting of your activity: Privacy -> Share job & education changes -> Yes/No depending on preference

Adjust your activity feed: Privacy -> Blocking and Hiding Followers -> Your Connections

Edit your profile viewing settings: Privacy -> Profile Viewing Options -> Private Mode

More info on LinkedIn

LinkedIn collects a variety of data on its users to improve the user experience and gain insight into the user base itself. Examples of data collected by LinkedIn include:

  • Outlook contacts to improve your networking on LinkedIn.
  • The URL of sits your come from when opening LinkedIn, and the sites you leave to.
  • If you log in with LinkedIn on other websites that use LinkedIn plugins, your data will be collected.

Facebook

After LinkedIn, Facebook is where recruiters will be poking around for anything questionable.

First, update your “About” section to match all of your other social media accounts. You don’t want there to be any inconsistencies with schools, jobs, or your current city.

Look through all your photos with an outsider’s perspective. Yes, that one epic photo of you doing a keg stand in college might make you laugh every time you see it, but do you want it public for everyone to see?

Scroll through your old posts and delete any unprofessional statuses, especially about your old jobs or classes. To look through old posts that you have liked, you can go to: Timeline -> More -> Likes -> Edit. The same rule applies for statuses, you may want to “unlike” any unprofessional public posts.

Double check your privacy settings. Platforms like Facebook are always changing and it’s important to go through and make sure your page is being displayed to others how you want. Here are some settings to go through:

  • Past Activity: Settings -> Privacy -> Your Activity -> Limit past Posts
  • Future Activity: Settings -> Privacy -> Your Activity -> Who can see your future posts -> Friends
  • Facial Recognition: Settings -> Face Recognition -> No
  • Location: Facebook App on Mobile -> Settings -> Privacy -> Location -> Never share
  • Reviewing Tags: Timeline and Tagging -> Review -> On

More info on Facebook

Facebook collects information on how you use their products, features that you use, the actions you take within the products, and how long your sessions last. Information on the types of devices you use, including battery level, signal strength, storage, mouse movements, and internet providers are also collected.

Twitter

Lastly, scroll through your Twitter and check for similar privacy settings as Linkedin and Facebook.

Choose between public and protected Tweets. Public tweets are visible to everyone, while private Tweets are only visible to your followers. To protect your Tweets, go to: Privacy and Safety -> Tweet privacy -> Protect my Tweets -> Save

Go through pasts posts and clean them up with the advanced search feature. If you want your Twitter to remain public, you can go through old posts using the advanced search option and remove any inappropriate or unprofessional Tweets.

Choose who you follow. Unfollow any inappropriate users, low-quality accounts, or inactive or irrelevant users.

Stop Twitter from using your data to push ads. Turn of Twitter’s ability to use your data for the purpose of serving your advertisements by going to: Privacy and Safety -> Personalization and data -> Edit -> Disable all settings.

More info on Twitter

Twitter collects your personal and device information, including IP address, email address, phone number, address book, and public profile. They also collect data on what you have read, liked, or retweeted.

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Protected: 9 – How to Not Lose a Deal During the Close with Lesson by Steve Benson

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Protected: 8 – How You Can Close Larger Sales More Consistently with Terry Hansen

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Protected: 7 – [Sales Class] Building Emotional Loyalty to Win Business with Dwayne Vera

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Protected: 6 – Understanding Buyer Psyche with Zach Barney

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The Tools You Need To Nail That Tech Sales Job

Now that you are past the basics of landing the tech sales job you want, let’s get into some more of the advanced concepts. One major part of the application process that people don’t take advantage of is the vast amount of tools available to you.

Companies make it their job to help you get a job. One of the best things you can do is to utilize the tools and services available to you. For example, Rainmakers.co specializes in helping aspiring sales-people get the jobs they need to further their career.

Is a recruiting agency right for me?

Sales agencies pride themselves on their ability to land jobs for their clients, but not all agencies are created equal. Your best bet is to seek out agencies that have connections in the industry, are focused on a limited amount of companies, and provide coaching throughout the process.

You may be asking yourself if it’s worth going through the process of finding an agent. Well, consider it like this, an agency is going to get you a job that’s best for you at your stage in your career. An agency that promises you a CEO job at Apple is obviously not telling you the truth.

Nailing the right job, and not necessarily the best job, will maximize your growth and profits. All of this will greatly outweigh whatever cost you incur by hiring an agency to help you along this process.

High touch

High touch is an industry term used to describe the relationship an agency has with its customers and clients. The term symbolizes honest human interactions over corporate jargon. We are all human beings, no matter what job we have. When an agency can achieve a real relationship with both potential employers and potential employees, the process becomes much more natural. Relationships based on high touch last longer and yield greater results.

You can test out how an agency performs by simply giving them a call. If you have to go through two automated call responses and three customer service reps before you can have a real conversation about your goals, then they are not the agency for you.

The way an agency deals with you is the way they deal with their potential employers. Poor communication, overly complicated processes, and stale results are red flags to anybody looking for an agency to get them hired.

Limited amount of companies

An agency will usually ask you what companies you would like to work for. Perhaps your dream jobs and what jobs you think you are capable of handling today. An easy tactic used by sleazy agencies is to immediately promise your biggest goal right up front. But the truth is, an agency cannot have connections to every single company that has a sales department.

A good agency will have solid connections to a limited amount of companies. Usually, those companies will be focused in a particular field. This allows an agency to create deeper connections with companies. Deeper connections lead to more clear understandings of what a company actually needs.

This may sound simple, but consider how important that single fact above is. Let’s say a company is growing and has developed a relationship with a hiring agency. Part of what makes the agency great is the understanding of how companies in their sector grow. Certain companies go through particular stages of development that are trackable. For example, one of the first hires a company should make is an account manager, any good agency will know this and know what hires to make next.

The agency is an aid to the company as it grows because it provides them with employees who fill the necessary roles as they become available. This relationship is invaluable and it shows the skills of an agency when they have multiple relationships like this on the books.


Good opportunity for coaching during the process if you pick the right one

Good coaching will make or break your career. If an agency advises you to take a position you are not ready for, then your reputation in the industry can be ruined. On the other hand, if you are recommended a position you are overqualified for, you can be stuck in a job you don’t need for years.

A good coach is always a positive asset no matter what industry you’re in. That’s why having a high touch relationship with your agency is primary to your success. A good coach will help you land the right job at the right company which will multiply your success.


What about Job platforms/marketplaces?

If you’re not ready to go the agency route just yet, there are some other options available to you. There are plenty of websites that post jobs and help you connect with potential employers.

Monster / Indeed – low quality except for junior roles

Websites like Monster and Indeed have helped a lot of people land jobs. However, the jobs available on these sites are most likely low quality except for junior positions. For those just graduating college, or taking their first steps in a new industry, these resources are great.

For the more ambitious job hunters though, these options may be a bit lackluster. What an agency provides is a position that is finely tailored to your skills and goals. The types of jobs you get from Monster and Indeed will be jobs that require some kind of repetitive and non-creative skills. However, that may be what you need at this point in your career.

LinkedIn – good if used for a targeted approach

LinkedIn is a very powerful resource in the job market. The site provides you with direct access to the people you want to talk to. Let’s say you want to work for Uber. The head of hiring at Uber definitely has a LinkedIn profile. She may be busy but at least Uber grants you that direct connection for you to make an attempt to impress her with your resume.

LinkedIn is best for a targeted approach. The previous lesson is all about how to perfect your presence on this site and we can’t hammer it enough how important that is. Hitting a potential at the right time with the right profile can land you a job you may have thought was out of your league. But this requires a lot of time and effort. And just because a company looks good on the outside, doesn’t mean the culture on the inside is profitable and has room for growth. This is why having an agency may be better suited than the LinkedIn route.

Rainmakers – lots of opportunities, companies approach you directly

With Rainmakers.co we provide our employers with a ton of opportunities. Because we are focused on a particular niche, we are able to develop a skillset that caters to potential employers perfectly. We understand how companies in this field grow and what they need. We also provide in-depth coaching and to our clients which helps us determine your skills and aspirations.

Companies will approach you because they know we only deal with serious and motivated clients. Not only will they approach you, but they will make it clear exactly what they are looking for and what they can provide. There will be no need to accept the first offer you get because we have many opportunities to choose from.

Conclusion

Yes, there are many ways to get a job but at the end of the day, a great agency will save you time, money and effort. Why take a chance on getting a job that is not right for you and wasting your time there. Working with an agency like Rainmakers will ensure long-term growth for your career because we specialize in making sure the position you get is perfect for you. Why waste your time doing anything else?

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