3. About Aaron Ross
• High school coding geek (NASA)
• Stanford Undergrad + GSB dropout
• CEO of LeaseExchange: ‐$5 Million
• Ironman Triathlon, Boulder Outdoor Survival School
• Created Salesforce.com’s Inside Sales Leadgen Team (&
$100 Million In Recurring Revenue)
• ‘Entrepreneur‐in‐Residence’ at Alloy Ventures ($1B)
• Author, “CEOFlow: Turn Your Employees Into Mini‐CEOs”
Now: I consult with companies on creating predictable
revenue & sales.
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7. Book Coming Fall 2010: “Predictable Revenue”
Early reviewer comments:
“entrepreneurial crack”,
“I couldn’t put it down”, &
“freaking awesome”
Register for a free excerpt at:
BuildASalesMachine.com/book
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9. What Works In Sales Has Changed
1.0 2.0
All salespeople prospect Dedicated prospecting team
ABC / Always Be Closing Is there a mutual fit?
Measure activities (Dials) Measure results (qualified leads)
Cold calls Research, referral calls
Manipulative selling Short and sweet text emails
CRM hurts productivity CRM multiplies productivity
Long letters & emails Authentic selling
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14. Unique Genius Attracts Results
1. What is your purpose that is bigger than
you?
– If your company is on the cover of BusinessWeek
for changing ____, what did you do?
2. Do you only say it or do you LIVE it?
– Salesforce.com “No software”
– Zappos: “Provide the best customer service
possible”
– Google: “Organize the world's information and
make it universally accessible and useful”
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15. Forget About What You “Do”
• Customers care less about what you do than
the results you create
– “We are the leading application platform for widget
integration on the social graph…blah blah”
• My example:
– “I am a sales & management consultant” vs.
– “I help companies create predictable revenue” & “I help
leaders turn their employees into Mini‐CEOs”
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16. Homework
• When someone asks “What do you do?”, pretend
they asked “How do you help customers?”
• What is your Ideal Customer Profile?
• Talk to your customers & ask them:
– What difference have you made to them?
– Why did they do business with you?
– Why do they continue to do business with you?
– Why would they refer others to you?
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19. Distinguishing Lead Types
•Lower volume
•Highest value/lead
•Lower volume •Harder to increase
•High value per lead
•Medium work to increase
•Grew Salesforce.com
Revenue 60%!
•Higher volume
•Low value per lead
•Easiest to increase
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20. Example Nets Funnel
___ Website MARKETING
Visitors
__% Conversion
___ Leads SALES
(Registrations)
DEVELOPMENT
__% Converted
Cost per Lead ___ Qualified
$___ Leads
__% Accepted
___ Qualified SALES
Opportunities
$___ Avg /Oppty
__ Lead Qualification Reps
per __ Leads per Month
$___ Pipeline
___% Close
__ Account Execs per $__
Pipeline per Month Sales Cycle
20 Length ____ $___ Bookings
21. Example Spears Funnel (Cold Calling 2.0)
Define Ideal Target Profile
Prepare Add Target Accounts
Add Contacts
Send __ Cold Emails / Make __ Mapping Calls
Work Responses (9% Response Rate)
Prospect
__ Call Conversations
__ Demos/Appointments
Begin Sales __ New Opportunities
Cycle
__ Closed Deals
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25. 3 Keys To Making Contact
1. Train salespeople to be “business people
who can sell, not sales people”
– Use role‐playing
2. Keep initial emails/vmails short & relevant
– Make it about giving them value, not about you
– If they pick up: “Did I catch you at a bad time?”
3. Propose a specific time to talk
– Wrong: “Reach out when you have time”
– Right: “Are you free Thursday at 9a PST?”
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27. The Simplest Ways To Nurture Leads
• Two SIMPLE options that require < 4 hours
– An email newsletter (email out your blog posts)
– Hold a monthly webinar (or teleseminar)
• Guidelines:
– Share your expertise ‐ TEACH them something
beyond your product
– How can you help them do their job better?
– Be interesting / authentic (don’t be boring)
• More trust = more sales
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30. You’ve Been Doing It Backwards
Cold Calling 1.0 Cold Calling 2.0
1. Cold CALL 1. Cold EMAIL
(9% response rate)
2. Cold Email 2. Warm call people who
respond (internal referrals)
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31. Prospecting Emails: Less Is More
1. You can get a 9%+ response rate asking
for referrals
2. State simply why you are reaching out –
and be honest! (In every way)
3. Make the first email SHORT & SWEET:
easy read & respond to on a blackberry
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32. 5‐Step Outbound Process
Ideal
Build Run Email Sell The Pass The
Customer
List Campaigns Dream Baton
Profile
Highest Import Generate Connect Seamlessly
Revenue Into Internal Their Handoff To
Potential & Sales/Mar Referrals Need To Quota‐
Close Rates keting Your Solution Carrying
Systems Salesperson
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34. Law Of Reciprocity
• If you work to make others successful, they
will work to help you succeed
• Do you know what’s important to your CEO?
– It’s not leads
• All quality CEOs care about:
1.Money (Revenue, finance, metrics, investors)
2.People (Attracting, developing, turning them into
Mini‐CEOs)
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37. What’s The Value Of…
• A clear, step‐by‐step plan to create predictable
revenue?
• The ability to repeatedly source sales‐ready leads
from ideal clients who aren’t calling you?
• The ability to attract and develop driven sales
talent?
• Peace of mind and freedom of predictable results
and self‐managing systems?
38. Contact
Best address for speaking, consulting or
partnering:
info@pebblestorm.com or
emily@pebblestorm.com
(My personal email: aaron@pebblestorm.com)
Thank you!
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