patatas

Sales Development Representative

Valued Contributor

SQO’s are not objective

I work for an early stage startup with lots of potential. Really like the product and who we are selling it to (mostly corporate investors).

Problem is that we are a small team and the CEO is very involved with sales. We the sdrs are under a lot of pressure (we are only 3) to reach quota, but there is not a well defined way to qualify an oppprtunity.We presented one and got it approved by the Head of Sales, but the CEO is still not happy about it and pushing back.

at the moment, it seems that the only way to reach quota is to have the head of sales at intro calls and that is not sustainable (be barely has any time)

we are a young company and I only joined 3 momths ago. And the reasom i joined is I wanted to be in a place with lots of potential where I could be important sooner rather then later. But not clear if this dynamic between ceo and head of sales is normal and when is it good to ride the wave

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15 comments

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Sunbunny31

Politicker

6

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

So as of now, there’s no agreement on what a qualified opportunity is?

And if there’s no agreement, why does having the head of sales on intro calls change the situation?

TennisandSales

Politicker

2

Head Of Sales

Great question.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

1

🦊

👀🍿

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

0

Bravado's Resident Asshole

asking what really matters

RandyLahey

Politicker

0

Account Executive

This^

Pachacuti

Politicker

3

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

One of the dynamics of start ups is the heavy involvement of the CEO/ founder in the sales process. It’s just the way it is. Sometimes that is good and sometimes bad.

Asking for a defined process is the smart way to go. If the CEO pushes back then he ought to provide an alternative. He doesn’t want to because that signifies losing some control over the sales process.

You need to just keep your head down and get the meetings. That is the real metric. Anything else is superfluous.

nomdeguerre

Executive

0

Account executive

Classic startup founder stuff

patatas

Valued Contributor

3

Sales Development Representative

We have a matrix that defines that qualification of a call. Mostly based on BANT. But an AE has to be present on the call in order to qualify and at the moment the only AEs ramped up are the Head of Sales and the CEO.

Also, although we were told the matrix was approved, the CEO apparently wants to make changes and he doesnt follow it.

The end result is us sdrs prefer to have the HOS on calls and he has of course a limited amount of time to offer

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

How long before the rest of the AEs are ramped enough to get calls qualified?
And surely even your CEO will notice that he's causing a massive jam up in creating pipeline? What does he expect you to do with no AEs to qualify the calls? Wait around? Time kills opportunity.

punishedlad

Tycoon

1

Business Development Team Lead

Yeah, you've gotta get your HoS and the CEO on the same page before anything can really move forward. If the CEO wants to be that involved, as a team you need to be given direction on how to attain what he wants (and to know what it is that he wants!)

Maximas

Tycoon

2

Senior Sales Executive

Get him to put the whole 3 of you into a meeting and explain the situation and ask him to advise a better coordination plus increasing the headcount to above 3 if that would help to resolve the problem 👍

TennisandSales

Politicker

2

Head Of Sales

I don’t think this is a reason o leave just yet. It doesn’t sound like you have an easy job but that’s what you kind a signed up for haha.

HVACexpert

Politicker

1

sales engineer

I have heard of this from start ups. Sometimes the sales culture and operations are not always vetted out and it is sort of a “fly by the seat of your pants” approach. The CEOs are basically running on investor money until they become solvent and that only happens with major sales growth so there is a lot of pressure. I would say decide on a procedure or an approach that everyone agrees upon and can work off of, as for a progress, leads, and tracking. Then go from there.

GDO

Politicker

0

BDM

whats the definition of a qualified call? Presence of HOS?

Diablo

Politicker

0

Sr. AE

I guess the CEO doesn’t want to lose any prospects coming in. With growth, I won’t imagine this to keep happening.

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