Assessment
Services

Just like it sounds.  This is the big one.  Whether you're ready to scale-up, transform or it's just time to evaluate it all, this is the right engagement.  We will assess every element of your revenue organization including:  ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) Identification, Business Development, Demand Generation, Lead Conversion, Rev Ops, Sales Ops, Inside Sales, Sales, Customer Success, Compensation, Customer Segmentation, Pipeline Hygiene, Sales Process, Forecasting, Quota Setting, Sales/Marketing/Product Interlock, Indirect Sales, Partnership/Alliance Management, OEM Management, Pricing, Sales Enablement, Sales Tech Stack, Sales Play Effectiveness, etc.

You've decided that you'd like to focus on one (or a few) areas rather then taking a holistic look, it's a common way to start.  You can choose any (or a combination) of the areas listed above and we can get you started down the right path.  Examples below:

The Business Development Assessment can cover a lot of ground and represents a deep dive into how you're approaching everything on the buyer's journey and pre-sales side.  We'll evaluate the way leads are generated, engaged, converted, nurtured, attracted and, ultimately, transitioned as "sales ready."  We'll also take a look at your inbound sales and event strategies along with a thorough review of your current sales tech stack (as it applies to Business Development).  Lastly, we will conduct a "Friction Analysis" to identify areas that are slowing down or, even worse, damaging the sales cycle such as:  delayed/complex/underperforming POCs, providing limited-to-no access to a developer sandbox, ineffective demos, poor presentations, etc.

The ICP Assessment Service is a collaborative, data-driven process that involves working closely with your team to:

​

• Gather and analyze customer data: We will utilize various sources of data, including customer relationship management (CRM) systems, marketing automation platforms, customer surveys, and win/loss analyses. This data will be used to identify patterns and trends in your customer base

​

• Conduct customer interviews: In-depth interviews with key stakeholders within your company, including sales, marketing, and customer success teams, will provide valuable insights into customer needs, challenges, and buying behaviors

​

• Develop a buyer persona framework: We will work with you to refine your existing buyer persona framework or create a new one from scratch. This framework will outline the key characteristics of your ideal customer, including:​

​

• Firmographics: Company size, industry, location, and revenue

​

• Technographics: Technology stack, infrastructure, and data management practices

​

• Geographics: Geographic location, demographics, and firmographic characteristics of decision-makers

​

• Psychographics: Values, needs, challenges, buying motivations, and pain points

​

• Validate and refine your ICP: Through data analysis, customer feedback, and internal discussions, we will help you refine and validate your ICP to ensure it accurately reflects your ideal customer

​

• Develop ICP activation plan: Finally, we will work with you to develop an actionable plan for activating your ICP across your sales and marketing efforts. This plan may include:​​​

• Aligning your product roadmap and development priorities with the needs of your ICP

​

• Tailoring marketing messages and campaigns to resonate with your ideal customer

​

• ​Developing targeted sales plays and prospecting strategies.​

​

• ​Refining your sales qualification criteria to focus on high-potential leads

As forward-looking revenue leaders, the pipeline is who you are and for field sales personnel, the CRM system of choice needs to be their daily dashboard.  The 2002 approach of your pipeline needing to be 3x of your revenue goal is outdated and lazy.  Pipeline size, while still interesting, is not a one size fits all metric and should vary according to several factors:  installed base revenue, new customer attainment, new market entry, new product launch, volume vs. value sales, etc.  We will review your current pipeline and corresponding management metrics and, if necessary, introduce some productive analytics to gauge:  pipeline shape (early vs. late stage), deal velocity, stage velocity, win rate, 6-month rolling, etc.  When married to a sales process, pipeline analysis becomes an enlightening business indicator.

Nothing turns off your top performers more than comp plans that continue to deteriorate year over year.  Every company has a goal to responsibly manage operating expenses, turning the screws on your top producers is not the way to do it.  At the same time, you don't want to pay individuals on a given deal with which they had zero involvement.  Just like you want to distribute quotas that are a reasonable stretch, your compensation plans should drive motivation to overachieve not dampen spirits.  With the right blend of quota setting, mutually beneficial accelerators and incentive programs (on-top cash bonuses, spiffs, etc.), you can offer a compensation program that rewards the right behavior and reduces attrition.

​

We can assist with benchmark compensation, base/variable percentages, matrix organization plans or anything other sales comp topic.

We all know the statistic of it costing ~5x more to obtain a new customer than it does to a retain an existing one.  Offering the best possible customer experience represents the other half of your sustainable growth formula (along with creating a frictionless buyers' journey).  The natural reflex of business leaders is to promote the notion of "we'll just cross-sell/up-sell more product to our existing customers."  If only it were that easy.  Similar to winning a new client, all business is earned.  While you have a captive audience with your existing accounts, if they've had difficulty adopting your product or, worse yet, if it has not lived up to expectations, good luck getting them buy more.  The goal of every Customer Success organization is to progress customers through their experience as adopters, loyalists, advocates and, ultimately, becoming an ambassador for you.  Almost every new business sale requires a reference check and there is not a better sales person around than your own happy clients.  Your customer success team should be a valuable component in handling tactical items while uncovering potential opportunities for expansion revenue.

Often overlooked, suboptimal Customer Segmentation can be a revenue inhibitor.  While there's no one, singular approach that has proven to work better than another, segmentation brings inherent focus to the sales team.  Whether it's aligning by industry, geography, customer size, prospect size, direct vs. indirect coverage, etc., the right segmentation approach can eliminate internal conflict, provide clear internal resource alignment and help bring clarity to your partnership/alliance organization.  We'll take an in-depth look at your current segmentation approach.