Kevin Ten Eyck

Here’s why sellers need to involve stakeholders early in the process using org charts. Sales reps must understand who makes the purchasing decision before visiting a hospital or lab. Imagine visiting a lab and trying to sell to grad students or lab techs who don’t have the authority to make purchase decisions. Or, imagine you drop in unannounced only to find out your key point of contact isn’t onsite or doesn’t want you onsite. Or, imagine you get buy-in from every clinical decision maker and get shut down by procurement, materials management, or the CFO at the finish line. Creating an “org chart” gives you a visual overview of how your account buys. But creating org charts takes a lot of time if done manually. Data providers like ZoomInfo have already cataloged much of this information and can show you which key stakeholders aren’t yet involved in a deal who need to be. Technology supplements on-the-ground knowledge, allowing you to spend less time on prospecting and more time selling. How are you using org charts in your sales processes?

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Most Sales Leaders I speak with each week, tell me that poor discovery is the biggest reason their team aren’t closing enough deals. Here’s four things you can coach your reps to do, to make them more effective at discovery: 1. Start calls by asking your prospect “What was it about [insert problem you fix] that made you intrigued to talk with me today?” If the prospect struggles to give a reason, then create the demand… “In recent weeks, I’ve heard a lot from other Sales Leaders that they are struggling to hit their numbers, and they point to weak discovery as a key reason as to why they aren’t being more successful. Others share that they simply are lacking the bandwidth to improve selling skills in their team. Which of those resonates in your world?” Get into problems quickly. 2. Get your sellers to practice summarising back to the prospect. It’s a great way of getting them to process what they’ve heard, and to invite a prospect to share more: “So just to clarify what I’ve heard there. You mentioned your big goal this year is to achieve 20% growth in revenue, and that ultimately this is key to unlocking Series B. You did mention though that your team’s win rate has dropped since the start of the year and this is starting to become a bit of a concern in achieving that big goal. You also mentioned you had invested in some external sales training for MEDDICC last year but it hasn’t had the desired effect. What did I miss there and is there anything else that would be useful for me to know?” Summarising makes prospects feel heard. This tactic also almost ALWAYS ends up with them sharing more. 3. Get your sellers to go beyond the surface level pain, by using seven magic words ‘typically when I hear that it means…’ “You mentioned that you’ve observed on sales calls, that your team aren’t asking relevant questions to prospects. Typically when I hear that it means they end up with stuck deals that don’t progress or losing deals they should be winning. Whats happening in your world?” This is a great way to get prospects to take you to big business problems, and away from surface level issues. 4. Get your sales team to share the alternative way of solving the prospect’s problem and why it MIGHT be a better solution in some situations, rather than spending money with you. “One way you could solve this problem is by doing the coaching through your Sales Enablement function. This might be a good solution if they can dedicate at least 2/3 of their time to coaching 1:1, that they are highly skilled at coaching, and that they can separate skills development from things like product training. Is this a feasible option for you?” Get your prospect to validate whether another solution is an option, whilst altenratively getting them to see that it’s likely not going to cut the mustard. Bottom line is - finding the time to do all of the above regularly is tough as a Sales Leader. That’s why MySalesCoach exists.

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Hot Take Alert: Most sales orgs thrive off practice and roleplay culture, but it's NOT for everyone. After hundreds of coffee chats, Zoom calls, and deep dive conversations with CROs and VPs of Sales, I've seen one theme pop up time and again: Some sales teams don't practice! Here’s the thing—when you’re selling low ACV products with an enormous market and cheap lead generation, skipping practice and focusing on activity CAN make sense. Sure, you can afford to burn through leads like they’re infinite. Quantity over quality works when the stakes aren't high. But what happens when you're selling high-ticket items? Where each lead was expensive? When every lead could be the difference between hitting your quota or missing it by a mile? And this is EXACTLY the difference you see with the orgs that had a strong roleplay culture, even before Sriharsha Guduguntla and I started Hyperbound. -- Your reps don't just "wing it" on calls. You're not conducting post-mortems on your lost deals with a conversation intelligence tool, you're proactively identifying, and creating roleplay scenarios that conquer your reps weaknesses. And this is exactly why our knowledge gap identification and patching within Hyperbound has been such a hit for VP's and CRO's alike in orgs that have strong roleplay culture. We're blending the best strengths of AI, with the best strategies from strong sales orgs that practice. Expect some more info soon about our Knowledge Gap Analysis! #virtualsalesgym #sales #roleplay

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🎉 The Winter Olympics are coming back to Utah in 2034! 🎉 And guess what? I just happen to live in Utah! 🏔️ Coincidence? I think not! 😉 Here's the fun part: The Winter Olympics need a RevOps superstar, and I just happen to be open to work. Sounds like a match made in snowy heaven, right? ❄️ Imagine this: It's a 10-year runway to land the coolest job ever (pun intended). Helping the Olympics run smoothly, from the slopes to the spreadsheets. Living the dream right in my backyard! So, if you’re reading this and happen to know someone who knows someone (you get the idea) involved with the 2034 Winter Olympics, let’s connect! ⛷️ Who wouldn’t want a RevOps guru who’s as passionate about efficiency as they are about hot cocoa and ski lifts? ☕🚡 P.S. Do you have any tips on how to make my LinkedIn post go viral? Asking for a friend. 😜 P.P.S. Repost this if you believe in dream jobs and serendipity. ♻️ Thank you! #WinterOlympics #Utah2034 #RevOps #OpenToWork #DreamJob #JobSearch #CareerGoals #Networking #Olympics2024 #SnowyHeaven #EfficiencyExpert #HotCocoa #SkiLifts #LinkedInTips #GoingViral #Serendipity

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I never missed a monthly number as an AE. Part of my success was strictly hustle. My activity was constantly higher than anyone else on the teams. Part of my success was my diligence in recording my customer conversations as best I could. I’d juggle a headset, frantically jotting notes during calls—disjointed scribbles that captured the conversation but distracted me from the customer. If I went in person I'd do my best on the subway rides back to the office to write all my notes down on my phone then copy them into Dynamics. I believed that if I nailed the notes, future conversations would be more fruitful. But I had to sacrifice focus to do it. If I were my own revenue leader, and had the AI available today that didn't exist when I was an AE, I'd go get a tool like WINN.AI strictly to limit the administrative work for your salespeople. 1) They don't want to do the admin work either so getting on them to get it done isn't helpful. 2) Salespeople want to spend their time with customers. That's $ for them 3) The best thing I can do as a revenue leader is enable the sales team to speak with more customers, not less. #Sales #Marketing #AI

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fun interaction today with prospect: "when you first reached out to me, I assumed the product wasn't far along but wanted my team to be aware of what is out there. I've never seen our team get so excited about a product ever. I am also now seeing the product can drive more value than I initially thought with your project dashboards for an executive. This might be the alternative to P6 we've been looking for" #constructiontech #scheduling

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Please don't show up to your first call with a customer and introduce yourself as their Trusted Advisor. The title Trusted Advisor is earned not given. Just because you're a CSM supporting a customer does not mean they view you as their trusted advisor. I was fortunate enough to have a leader when I first started as a CSM who required that everyone on the team read the book, The Trusted Advisor by David Maister, Charles Green and Robert Galford. While I was never a fan of "required reading" this book helped me better understand how to bring value to my customers and how to earn their trust over time. Too often I see and hear CSMs introduce themselves as their customer's Trusted Advisor, but that's not something you are it's something you aspire to be seen as. So a better way to say this would be, "Hi, my name is XYZ and I am your CSM. My role in the partnership is ABC and hopefully in time you will view me as your Trusted Advisor in the partnership." You've made your aspirations clear to them, but you still need to deliver. So if you want to be achieve this coveted relationship status focus on the following: ▶ Become a product expert; understand the use cases and best practices of your solution. Learn how other customers are creatively using your product and share that with customers. Be able to effectively train and enable your customer to use the product in accordance with their goals - don't just show them features that are irrelevant. ▶ Do what you say you're going to do; make sure your follow up game is strong. Ensure good communication and follow through on tasks and projects with your customer. ▶ Focus on building good relationships with your customer; everyone is different so make sure to get to know what they value as an individual and show up for them appropriately. ▶ Make sure your motives align with their success. If you're a CSM who's responsible for upsell or cross-sell, understand where new products are relevant and going to provide value for your customers. Focus on providing value to customers and not just checking an internal box for activity tracking and you'll start to see that your customers will view you as an extension of their team ... And when they do, you'll know. Happy Monday!

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