caffeinatedsales

Account Exec

One-on-ones with management during ~light quarter

Hello! Anyone have any tips for handling one-on-ones with your manager during a quarter that's looking...grim?

For context, I am in an enterprise territory with long sales cycles and oftentimes one or two make-or-break deal. The fiscal as a whole isn't looking terrible, but nothing promising for our Q2 (which ends in November). Anyone have thoughts here on conveying this to management? Thanks!!!

👑 Sales Strategy

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Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Talk about your activity. A lot of quota attainment can be forgiven if they think/know you are putting in the work. I know its saved me more than once. To that end, you should be often talking with your boss about what you are doing specifically to move deals forward. That way, if a deal doesn't close, they know you at least put the effort into it.

caffeinatedsales

Executive

Account Exec

great thanks!!

butwhy

Politicker

Solutions Engineer

For me, I still try to keep it positive and at this point I would start to talk Q3 and Q4 pipeline and activities instead. We all know in enterprise, if it's not in by late October, it's going to be very hard to get in until late January. And with a 6-10 month deal timeline, it's more important to focus on how you're going to slay the year.

Let them know what I am doing, maybe think of an extra project/collaboration idea with my "extra time," and just keep pushing.

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I agree. Over most of my career, I almost always have one quarter that's a bit light, and the other three more than make up for it. Focus on how you're going to finish out the year and how you are going to manage the close for all the deals in pipeline for your FY.

caffeinatedsales

Executive

Account Exec

that is helpful thanks :)

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Yeah, you're Enterprise. Ideally we're closing business quarter over quarter - and that's what you're striving for, of course. But some of these deals take more time, and/or become all eggs in one basket, and when they slip or (sadly) go another direction, it can be a big hole. What you are trying to do is build up a good pipeline that will ameliorate any chance that you have a bad quarter, but realistically, that is uncommon. However, building up a big pipeline IS something very positive to talk about in your 1:1.

caffeinatedsales

Executive

Account Exec

appreciate it, thank you :)

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

The best way to show this is pipeline development and having a MAP with your key/must win accounts. Showing that you will get the annual number, it’s just the timing of the economic cycles, will buy you a little time. If you can identify action items for management to help you close, that is a plus as well.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

ERP Sales

Come prepared and control the narrative, if you are doing the best tell the manager where you need support

SerialBiller

Executive

Enterprise Account Executive

Make yourself feel better by applying for some jobs 😜

caffeinatedsales

Executive

Account Exec

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

🐺

Just lie, and when theyre all like what happened to that deal just be like 🤷🏻‍♂️

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Focus on what went well 😉

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

I have noticed that as long as you don't go all negative panicking, they are usually okay. If you are doing your best, they will see it.

JustGonnaSendIt

Politicker

Burn Towns, Get Money

As others have said, call it what it is and focus on what you can do about it.

The general perspective I take to all of my 1:1's as an Enterprise / Strategic rep, is that I am the CEO of a franchise of my business. So I essentially present a business plan.

Where is the expected revenue?
Where is the upside?
What support do I need to move upside to commit?
What am I doing in terms of Channel, Marketing, etc... to create new opportunities?
What issues are my customers facing, and are any of these within our control? (support, for example)Are we facing any challenges in delivery of won deals?
What other help do I need / What's working / What's not?
Who are the people supporting this?

In my experience in the enterprise space, I do ~5-8 deals / year. Most of these lump into just one or two quarters. So most of the year looks grim until the big ones pop off.

There is also an annual cycle, which seems to be about 3 - 3.5 years in frequency. Usually out of the 3 years, one is huge (200%+), one is average (120 - 150%), and one is a struggle (80-100%). This is even more of a long-term planning consideration if you have a specific vertical you serve, such as Retail, Defense, Financial Services, etc...

GDO

Politicker

BDM

It’s all about activity and pipe imo

pirate

Big Shot

Account Executive

Yeah focus on your learnings and focus on your initiatives in other areas? Then focus in on what you could bring in from next quarter

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

Pipe build and what you'll do different.

AnchorPoint

Politicker

Business Coach

Your pipeline should tell the story.

President

Activity + Sales = Success. If sales are not where you want them to be, make sure your sales activity is very high. Walk your manager through the activities you are doing to reassure them (and hence upstream) this short term dip is not a long term concern.

gmc

Member

VP/Director of Sales

Speaking as a manager, it shouldn't be a surprise to me that your Q2 is looking grim-- this should have been communicated and obvious for at least the last few weeks with management (particularly if you have a long sales cycle, which of course means any change in timelines moves things back by orders of months)
That being said it's best to first acknowledge your Q2 grimness, and then focus on what you have coming early in your Q3 so that you can point to some positive impacts in the near(ish) term.
All long term sales cycles are cyclical, and everyone goes through troughs. I've always appreciated when I've gotten a 3 tier forecast for the rest of the year-- something like a worst case/likely case/best case set of scenarios for your remaining FY.