Daedalos

AE / BDRM

Selling to HR

Savages - I've been selling to HR for 2 years now. Is it me? Or is HR one of the flukiest departments to sell to due to the fact that they're not always treated as strategic players for top line revenue?

No matter the pain I discover, the delta I'm able to improve on quantified metrics that have top and bot line impact, the project management done on mutual actions plans,ROI cases done:

They always seem to stall for some unexpected reason: budget / reluctance to give access to ACTUAL decision makers / overwhelmed with other projects while the pain I've discovered is costing them 6/7figs in attrition and recruiting MoM

on top of that, our execs are making us FEEL the pressure they're having from investors - not fun. no matter the work, methodology and all steps we follow that they've told us - they're is ALWAYS something we missed and seems like our fault.

I'm chilling at #1 of AE leaderboard - but frankly, my quota is low due to my abysmal salary benchmarking so it feels easier.

✌️ Growing Pains

🙅‍♀️ Objections

☁️ Software Tech

17

31 comment

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CPTAmerica

Opinionated

7

President/CRO

Lots of time in this space! So you’re probably seeing that even the best sounding deals can all of a sudden fall through. It makes forecasting a nightmare.

The biggest difference for forecast-ability and closes will be getting access to C-suite/decision makers quickly. So many reps get stuck trying to make their main HR contact their best friend. Once the relationship is built they’re afraid to go around their contact to get higher up so they ask permission. Permission is usually denied because the HR contact wants to play quarterback. Welcome to the friend zone! (Not where you want to be)

There are lots of small things you can try. At some point you’re likely going to get a chance to do a group demo which would include actual DM’s. Reach out to each one separately before the demo, “hey I’ve been talking to the team and I think I have a picture of what’s going on but just wanted to see if there was anything specific you wanted to see on our call next week?” After the call same thing, “hey thanks for the time today. If you have any questions for me as you go through your evaluation process fee free to reach out directly.”

Your trying to create a web with as many branches as possible so you can go directly to these folks when HR starts ghosting.

This is such a big deal that it was a major category on our deal scorecard. If you didn’t have access to a DM the deal could not be forecasted higher than 50% (probability to close).

Could go on and on with this one but I think this reply is already long enough. Good luck!

oldcloser

Arsonist

4

💀

Paragraph 3 is gold.

Daedalos

Tycoon

1

AE / BDRM

I joined WR yesterday and it’s pretty evident, I’m enjoying the anonymity 😅

oldcloser

Arsonist

1

💀

Welcome welcome. All kinds of great targeted advice and gems to plagiarize in here. 👍

Daedalos

Tycoon

1

AE / BDRM

Please Cap, entertain me more - not long enough, lol! Thank you so much for the insights, I may have underestimated the sheer importance of C-level in HR deals for accurate forecasting.

Multi-threading goes abysmally bad with outbound prospects (self-sourced VPs of Marquee logo companies and lost momentum because of inability to reach the C-level, with no initiative from their end going on)

Most frustrating thing is, as you very accurately mentioned having experience in this space, that HR contacts (I'm even talking Dir./VP level) want to think themselves of as power players and catalysts of change. Truth is - this is not a Netflix series, and I guarantee they're not the main character :)

My father used to send me to fetch the Allen wrench while working on stuff in the house to feel like I was important, but he never had me help him when he talked about his patients' medications.

Younger self = HR mid-lev. execs thinking they have a say (often accompanied with sassiness when you go around their back as any multithreading AE that respects themselves does)

My father = C-level

CPTAmerica

Opinionated

1

President/CRO

yep you're on the right track. This stuff works when selling to any department but it's especially valuable when selling to a department that typically does not have a real budget they own. Get good at walking this tight rope and you'll kill it.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

6

☕️

Executives that pass on the pressure to their sales teams are trash and should not hold their titles. Fight me.

Daedalos

Tycoon

2

AE / BDRM

Thanks for having my back 🫱🏼‍🫲🏻To be fair, the problem starts when the whole Sales team are people with 0 previous Sales experience (I'm one of them, just almost burnt out to catchup with the learning curve).

I've sniffed around, the base salary is usually the reason for this - US Senior AEs (Ent. especially) know their worth and negotiate HARD.

So, ramping up takes more time, QUALITY formal training was never there, mentoring (and hard times) come from a very seasoned individual on the exec level, whom I respect for some great deals they've pushed through.

But then again - feels tough to feel wrong about everything you do (especially when you've hit 110% and just feel the pressure because the company needs more revenue).

Growing pains!

detectivegibbles

Politicker

5

Sales Director

ZVRK

Politicker

4

Enterprise Account Executive

I share your struggle for almost 3 years now. I`m selling to HR too, Enterprise SaaS.

Eveything you said here - it`s true. HR are most of the times the last to get budget for new purchases, so, the struggle is really not to "convince" HR in the value of what we sell, but rather to BE there when they get the mandate from higher up (often time CEO and top leadership), that something needs to be done in certain area.

So, as far as I can see - TIMING is almost everything here. OF course you need to be ready with a super easy to use solution, cool features, reasonable price, great post sales service, ecosystem integrations... but again, you`ll only sell when they have the budget approved and are now looking to pick the vendor...

Daedalos

Tycoon

2

AE / BDRM

Feels amazing knowing I'm on the right track of solving the riddle.

I come from 0 Sales Experience before 2020, 1st Sales IC in a startup with limited resources for formal Sales training, and all I've learned is through the community, books and being mentored/borderline bullied by my execs.

My imposter syndrome has been kicking in ever since we've tried to shift to Enterprise for the big $$$, and I thought it was my fault. But having people confirm this + us checking all boxes you mentioned in your last paragraph, I just have to keep on hunting other initiatives in prospects' companies to get cross-function buy-in.

Otherwise, I (and my funnel) will be slaves to their timing - and as every control-freak AE, I hate relinquishing control :)

ZVRK

Politicker

1

Enterprise Account Executive

You said it :) you (and i ) need to get infront of a bigger number of qualified leads. Whatever helps get you there, do that.

In our case, partnerships and alliances with the big core software vendors brings great results for example.

Daedalos

Tycoon

0

AE / BDRM

Say that again.

Just signed a HUGE enterprise partner running plays with us since Feb. - it's early to tell, but I'm trying to discipline myself to stay loyal to the company until deals start coming in.

It would be a shame to have gone through the startup's 4-fig ARR days (and all that entails 🥹) all the way to 7figs now, just to leave before we break that 8fig ceiling.

Thank you so much for the tips and sharing your thoughts.

punishedlad

Tycoon

3

Business Development Team Lead

I used to sell to HR and it is an absolute nightmare. They have next to zero purchasing power. Allowed to get one shiny new toy once every 2-3 years.

Daedalos

Tycoon

0

AE / BDRM

I’m using that last sentence somewhere.

Pachacuti

Politicker

2

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

It’s not much different selling to other departments. But I can imagine selling into HR is it’s own special hell.

Daedalos

Tycoon

0

AE / BDRM

Thanks for this Pachacuti, definitely helps knowing it's like this. I wonder if our Cybersecurity folks can contribute here, it's the next space I'd consider getting into if getting out of HRTechell.

Happen to know anyone you can mention to drop their 0.02$?

Diablo

Politicker

2

Sr. AE

Overall almost everyone is having challenges selling to any dept but to the HR team it’s difficult as the ROI isn’t visible. Those guys have to run helter skelter just to take approval of even a few dollars . You are doing a good job and being at #1 is a proof :)

Daedalos

Tycoon

1

AE / BDRM

I mean, I feel like a softie after seeing you've done BioTech Sales - surely you have great stories from that sector as well?

Thanks for the comment - helps knowing consensus is that HR has its issues.

Epad

Executive

2

Snr Business Development Executive

This was a great thread to read through. Glad I wasn't imagining some of this stuff

Daedalos

Tycoon

1

AE / BDRM

Definitely helped tone down my imposter syndrome paranoia

Maximas

Tycoon

2

Senior Sales Executive

Damn you're good,don't let yourself feel uncertain that the reason behind those sales is a competent salesperson, cuz these good achievements won't even come up without a good job you made!

Daedalos

Tycoon

1

AE / BDRM

Selling to HR is as unpredictable as being a Liverpool fan - so proud when you make it, but you’re probably gonna lose by Leeds and Nott Forest despite being on the CL final last year.

Having said this, I appreciate the vote of confidence @Maximas

(P.S. YNWA / Did we just become best friends?)

Maximas

Tycoon

2

Senior Sales Executive

Sure my pleasure:)
Here's my email [email protected]

Carlosg

Politicker

2

SDR

Which is the biggest stopper or objection that you find when selling to HR?

Daedalos

Tycoon

1

AE / BDRM

When it comes to progressing the deal: Access to real Decision Makers (which affects budget decisions)

When it comes to prospecting (pretty common stuff): budget / hot potato "oh this is the person to talk to etc." / "we're covered" (they're not, I've seen their horrendous 6m attrition problems meaning they're unable to hire the right people and keep 'em or pay bad.)

1

Account Executive

Hey brother, this post is the first one that I am reading on this app (reason for just commenting now).
I could not be more happy that yours turned out to be the first one. It feels like you are describing my current situation to the exact.

Btw Cap - your advice was extremely helpful and I will make sure to implement this.

I’m also the number #1 rep at my company but I feel like I’m still missing out on a lot of deals that just lag as you described.

Daed - where are you at now after possibly implementing new tactics?

Love to see the deals closing on your page so things must be rolling!💪

Daedalos

Tycoon

0

AE / BDRM

appreciate it man, i’ve made my transition to HR benefits, getting onboarded as we speak. shall have new deals coming in Q4 so i’ll keep you posted

1

Account Executive

Much luck! Mind if I ask why you made the transition?

Daedalos

Tycoon

0

AE / BDRM

not at all, happy to share. previous employer started to miss sales targets (i was the only bread winner), pressure increased, micromanagement and PIPs ensued, long term business outlooks seemed increasingly risky for me.

having experience and a network in HR, made the hop to somewhere i negotiated well in terms of equity, pay and long term professional development if i achieve targets.

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

0

Account Executive

You cannot get access to executive power? No ability to gain a champion? No one willing to use political clout to get that deal closed?

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