desperado

Head of Sales

Acclaimed Answer

Discovery -> Demo -> Trial Conversion Rates?

Hey y'all,

Would like some input on this. I can't give the full story of what's going on without disclosing info that I'm not allowed to share externally. Having some trouble identifying the root cause of our conversion rates in the sales funnel. I have an idea but would like to ask here to hear other opinions. I've dug into this with our CEO and he 100% believes it's a problem with prospecting and opportunity generation, and not the AE we have on these calls.

I will admit our ToFU is abysmal. We have a piecemeal marketing team that just runs PPC, has no real marketing plan, and frankly, no marketing experience outside of a PPC consultant who doesn't take time to learn about the product, which means there is no inbound coming in. We are a content based business and we don't even get any downloads... putting that aside now...

Currently, our Discovery to Demo conversion rate is 73% (From this, 98% are outbound sourced). BDR prospects, conducts discovery call, posts notes and recorded discovery call, etc. I'd say about 90% of the prospects who hop on a discovery call are inside our ICP.

From there, they're handed off to demo to an AE. This is where our conversion rate goes to 33%. (Demo to Trial conversion). It is worth noting that our AE is non-native English speaker, who is hard to understand sometimes, and is selling in the US with no prior experience and no US-native management above him. We have a huge drop-off here, and I personally think the conversion should be higher. (Wondering what other companies are seeing on post-Demo conversion rates).

AE is requiring BDR to post daily updates, because BDR is demotivated since only 4% of the deals he is sourcing are closing. BDR is (obviously) getting micromanaged here by AE.

Let's say we have 100 opportunities sourced outbound. Only 4 will close. On top of that, the AE does not sync his activity with these opps to Salesforce, or post his recorded calls, notes, etc. S there's zero visibility into the opps after BDR hands them off to AE.

There's a lot of things wrong with this, would love y'alls opinions. Will answer any questions I can to help clarify. Thanks!

👑 Sales Strategy

🧢 Sales Management

12

31 comment

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antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

8

Bravado's Resident Asshole

so hire someone who can effectively communicate what you need them to. Nothing discriminatory there. If you have had conversations about them doing the work properly and there is a trail, then you have every right to remove them due to performance. It's not personal, it is just business. 4% is shit.

jefe

Arsonist

5

🍁

I think this is the only answer.
4% might as well be 0.

GDO

Politicker

4

BDM

this right here. You give them a shot they do not perform, you give feedback and they still do not get it.

BTQ

Politicker

4

Account Manager

I don't have a dog in this fight but sounds like the BDR is sourcing pretty good opps if 90% are in ICP and the AE can't get pain.
Idk just my two cents

desperado

Politicker

2

Head of Sales

Yep. Opps fall out of the pipeline IMO because there's no visibility (no communication sync) so when I ask to see his activity he just says "I followed up" There's no way for me to actually help him due to this... but...

1. How is he following up? Is he just bumping inbox, or making thoughtful messaging?

2. I can't see the activity so is it really there? (he blames it on SFDC Gmail integration for emails, and doesn't use the call recording software)

3. CEO is determined to make this guy the next CRO, so nothing is ever his fault + won't take disciplinary action (brown-nosing AF, I'm unable to do anything here because CEO owns all of those decisions.)

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Wait, what? This same failing AE is earmarked for C level? With all these red flags?
Usually when there are gaps in performance like this, the screws get tightened a bit on the rep that isn't performing. Emails and calls are reviewed, if only for enablement and to provide coaching support. The fact that his info isn't updated is a huge red flag in this particular case.

BTQ

Politicker

2

Account Manager

yeah what the fuck lol - this dude botches the job and gets to be your boss hows that work?

desperado

Politicker

1

Head of Sales

Cultural thing if I had to put my finger on a reason

DataCorrupter

Politicker

4

Account Executive

I think you're way undervaluing how important clear communication is. People buy from people that they like. If they can't understand them or their ideas are unclear, they won't like the person they're buying from. If they don't like you or don't understand your product (because of the communication issue), they'll just go to another vendor and you're out of the race. That's it. It's super simple.

Hate to say, but this is an AE issue. You've gotta have someone in territory, whose native language is english, and does have the experience selling to this audience.
Also, this is just my opinion, but the fact that this guy can't update salesforce or post notes is insane. It's a basic requirement of every sales job. And he's asking the BDR to do what he's not? Hypocritical. I'm all for freedom and every man doing his thing accordingly, but that smells.

desperado

Politicker

1

Head of Sales

Exactly my thoughts when zooming out and thinking about the situation, I appreciate the comment. I'm not sure what the process is where he comes from in Japan, but not having clear communication or visibility is definitely hurting us.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

3

🦊

Are the opps actually real? Can the AE close other deals?

desperado

Politicker

1

Head of Sales

Opps are real. AE can only close deals in his origin market (Japan) and he's closed 1 US deal in 2 years. (which was inbound)

Diablo

Politicker

3

Sr. AE

That’s too too low especially if the quality ICP rate is that high. What’s the avg deal size just wondering. Try to get some more new people on board and see if that improves the conversion.

desperado

Politicker

1

Head of Sales

36k ACV, no headcount budget right now either.

They grossly overpay this AE. He makes 160k base + year-end bonus (up to 100k). He has a high base and just sits on autopilot.

Company paid to move him to California from NYC (originally came from Tokyo, JP), where he works maybe 5 hours a day, but CEO trusts him to "get the job done" and they point fingers at ToFU because their opportunity generation goal isn't hit. The opportunity generation goal is based on a number CEO made up by examining "SaaS opportunity generation numbers" and not the company's or market's own data. The product is not even a SaaS. It is akin to Gartner (web-based research reports)

Pay is controlled by CEO, and company pay bands. We are a sub-product inside a corporate incubation unit.

jefe

Arsonist

4

🍁

Jeeeez.
Helluva gig for this guy.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

See above, if I read correctly, he's also being primed to be the CRO.
Failing upward successfully.

jefe

Arsonist

3

🍁

I don't know how these people do it..

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I don't either. Beyond my ability to comprehend.

Diablo

Politicker

2

Sr. AE

🧘🏻‍♂️

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

2

Sales Rep

4% close rate is insanely low, if not the AE is there an issue with the product fit?

The the churn for clients

desperado

Politicker

0

Head of Sales

This company have under 10% churn

LambyCorn

Arsonist

2

A mfkn E

the AE 100% - how does the CEO think its the leads being sourced? Damn.. must be infuriating to see this happening

LambyCorn

Arsonist

1

A mfkn E

you must be feeling *desperado*

oldcloser

Arsonist

1

💀

Yo! When you gonna change your Bravado title to A mfkn E?

LambyCorn

Arsonist

1

A mfkn E

oooof that feels like a big step but, is it time?? Might it be??

LambyCorn

Arsonist

1

A mfkn E

i guess the hard part is done.. will update now to da big boy club :D

LambyCorn

Arsonist

1

A mfkn E

in honor to you oldcloser - the name has been updated as per your suggestion xD

oldcloser

Arsonist

1

💀

Yeahhh! Deewwwitttt. Time to start wearing it… and shopping for a watch. It’s a thing. They go together. That way when people ask how you were able to afford it, you say “Hey, a watch tells more than the time. It tells how you use your time.” Instant baller.

oldcloser

Arsonist

1

💀

😂😂😂😂😂😂 winner

desperado

Politicker

1

Head of Sales

It is very. I am responsible for all of ToFU (incl. Inbound, but that's a different story. I can't get more mktg budget without deals closing). I'm aware I need to move on if this isn't fixed. So been putting feelers out. Honestly, just using this post as ammo from external opinions if I need to get into a debate w/ CEO & AE. Lol

StringerBell

Politicker

0

Account Executive

You need your AE doing the discovery who will then do the demo.

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