How Managers Can Use Conversation Intelligence For Sales

Lindsey Plocek on November 20, 2023

As conversation intelligence platforms become a cornerstone of the sales tech stack, sales leaders and their teams are exploring how sales managers can use them to boost results and create a team of top performers.

To answer this question, we’ve put together an in-depth analysis of:

  • What conversation intelligence is
  • Why we believe conversation intelligence is worth the investment
  • How conversation intelligence works
  • The benefits of this new technology for sales teams
  • How managers can use conversation intelligence to improve sales performance

What is conversation intelligence?

Conversation intelligence is a technology that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to review sales conversations and compile data-driven insights for improved sales performance.

It gives your managers and reps a single system of record for elevating rep performance during customer interactions, including:

  • Call recordings
  • Call scoring and analytics
  • Customer sentiment
  • In-line coaching
  • Best practices

This gives your team a single data model to identify top seller behaviors and a single compliance model that ensures everyone is on the same page, implementing best practices.

Is conversation intelligence worth the investment?

The global conversation AI market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 21.8%, delivering a market value of USD $18.4B by 2026, according to Markets and Markets.

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Conversation AI market value by 2026

It gives you complete visibility into what’s happening on deals by analyzing customer conversations on calls and meetings — giving you a 64% increase in revenue generated by reps in their first quarter and a 50% average reduction in new hire onboarding time.

After reviewing these numbers, the real question is: Can you afford not to invest in conversation intelligence?

How does conversation intelligence work?

You’ve no doubt been on a call where a bot is recording the meeting. But what happens with that recording after it’s delivered to a manager’s inbox or stored in the recordings section of a sales platform?

In most organizations: nothing.

But there’s far too much valuable insight there to be ignored or, worse, forgotten about. And that’s where conversation intelligence software comes in.

 

With this technology, your recordings can be used for more than playbacks. It makes it easy for reps and managers to quickly find information in calls. It also does the heavy lifting of analyzing calls and providing valuable feedback for improving customer experience and overall sales performance.

For reps, it shares actionable insights that allow for self-diagnosis and self-coaching. For new reps, it leads to faster onboarding and skill development. For managers, it gives a high-level overview of the team’s performance as well as data for understanding the behaviors of top performers.

Keep in mind that this technology isn’t spyware for keeping tabs on your reps. It provides deep intelligence that empowers managers and reps to get more done, more efficiently, so they can hit quota and beyond.

With conversation intelligence software, teams are moving deals forward faster and quickly identifying signals that indicate they’re stalling or are ready to close.

It’s also guiding product marketing messaging and offers, so future sales conversations become easier.

The benefits of conversation intelligence for your sales team

Conversation intelligence is often mistakenly compared to a transcription tool, but the benefits go far beyond transcripts. Here are some of the top benefits of using this technology for sales.

 

At the end of the day, conversation intelligence is about revenue and creating a better experience for the buyer or customer.

It does this by helping reps be better prepared, both before and during calls. It suggests relevant content that reps can review to prepare for calls. And it frees reps to stop taking notes so they can focus on the conversation.

Reps are able to pay more attention to their selling motions and actively listen to the buyer. As a result, the prospect feels like they’re being heard; like their issues are being addressed.

Conversation intelligence tools give sellers one source of record to get their job done. It provides a library of resources and training, benchmarks for their selling behaviors, and actionable metrics on their calls.

This empowers reps to evaluate and coach themselves, so they can level up quickly.

A 2023 Salesforce study found that sellers spend less than 30% of their time selling. The other two-thirds of their time is spent on everything else.

That’s why it’s vital that sellers have a single platform where they find everything they need in just one or two clicks and automation that frees up their time.

Conversation intelligence is a big step in that direction. The platform records their calls, provides feedback and links to useful content, while helping reps track prospect questions and objections.

Managers don’t always have the time and resources to give personalized coaching. But with conversation intelligence, coaching is built into the platform.

Every call is scored, giving reps immediate feedback on strengths and areas for improvement. And managers can quickly add recommendations and constructive feedback when they review calls.

With this level of feedback, reps are able to coach themselves or seek peer-to-peer assistance.

Managers need to coach sellers, perform call reviews, give feedback that impacts performance, keep tabs on pipeline, and make accurate forecasts. For all of these tasks, conversation intelligence does the heavy lifting.

It gives relevant, accurate data on performance, so managers know how to support reps. It automates call scoring, so call reviews are faster and more precise. And it flags moments in calls that signal intent, so it’s easier to keep prospects moving through the pipeline.

The insights available through conversation intelligence are key to every area of revenue, from marketing to sales enablement to customer support. The challenge has been finding an effective way to share that information.

With conversation intelligence, sales data, and competitive intelligence are readily available to any area of your organization.

With the deep insights available through conversation intelligence, reps get the insights they need to become top sellers.

Call scores tell them whether their messaging landed, what the prospect sentiment was, and how they can improve to stay on message.

They can get off one call, review the feedback provided in the system, and understand where they need to improve — then apply that learning to their next call.

Conversation intelligence also helps them understand whether their messaging is landing. This helps them adjust quickly, when needed, to keep deals moving forward.

Conversation intelligence gives real-time data that’s invaluable for understanding what sellers need to succeed. By reviewing the metrics and call scores, you can identify the skills, competencies, and content that need your focus:

  • Content needed to move a deal forward
  • More accurate customer profiles
  • Market research and competitive intelligence
  • Pre- and post-call coaching
  • Skills exercises and role-plays

 

What are the best ways for managers to use conversation intelligence?

As you can see, conversation intelligence has the potential to transform your sales team. But it only works if you know how to use it. So let’s explore seven ways managers can use conversation intelligence in their day-to-day activities.

1. Leverage data for better results

Conversation intelligence scores your reps’ calls and highlights key moments, so you can manage your reps’ performance in less time. The data will tell you:

  • Are they adhering to MEDDPICC?
  • How are they handling objections?
  • What questions are they asking and receiving?
  • Which competitor mentions are they fielding?
  • How are pricing and negotiation conversations handled?
  • Are there words that need to be said or avoided?
  • Are their deals progressing smoothly?

How to use this intelligence:

Use the data provided in the conversation intelligence platform to help you understand reps’ behaviors. Then leave comments encouraging them, linking to content that can help them, and providing actionable feedback.

Stay alert for trends in calls. If all of your reps are struggling with the same issue, you may need to provide training to improve competencies or alert the leadership team of issues.

2. Study top performers and their processes

Conversation intelligence scores sales calls, so you can quickly identify the key behaviors of your A-sellers:

  • What are the themes they talk about
  • How do they handle objections and competitor takedowns?
  • How many exchanges do they have with a prospect?

This data is valuable for coaching other sellers to uplevel their skills.

How to use this intelligence:

Analyze your top sellers’ calls to identify the behaviors they use consistently to drive results. Use these insights to create a top-seller profile, so the entire team knows the behaviors they need to develop.

3. Faster (and better) onboarding of new team members

It can take six to nine months for new sellers to ramp, and another six months for them to become top performers, according to RAIN Group. And sales managers play a major role in this ramp-up period.

Conversation intelligence allows you to give quick feedback on reps’ performance and suggest content or exercises that will help them level up. By providing immediate, relevant feedback, you can reduce ramp time by as much as 45%.

How to use this intelligence:

Use call scores to identify new reps’ strengths and opportunities. After reviewing calls, add positive and constructive feedback — including inline commentary in their call recordings, so they can understand what they’re doing and how it impacts their performance. And recommend content that will help them boost their skill.

4. Create a continuous coaching culture

Your reps want to succeed. But they need a safe coaching environment, where the entire team works together to improve. With conversation intelligence, you can create that kind of environment.

It gives you a bird’s-eye view of your team’s performance as well as allows deep dives into individual sellers’ performance. It scores each call against best practices, so you understand the competencies that need work.

How to use this intelligence:

Develop quizzes, exercises, and activities that can improve your key performance metrics. Then encourage the team to work together on them.

While you may reward individual seller achievements, focus on the team’s progress. Your goal is to turn C-players into B-players and B-players into A-players.

5. Build seller confidence

Often, sellers are resistant to conversation intelligence technology because it pulls back the curtain on what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. It can feel like Big Brother is watching, making reps afraid of how that will impact their future with your organization.

But conversation intelligence isn’t a performance tracker. It’s a tool designed for sellers to help them succeed. For instance, after implementing this technology:

How to use this intelligence:

It’s important to explain to sellers why you’re implementing conversation intelligence. They need to understand its ability to:

  • Increase productivity
  • Discover self-coaching and peer-to-peer coaching opportunities
  • Gain real-world feedback on their performance
  • Collaborate better with other revenue teams

When introducing it to your team, demonstrate how the technology works, and show them how it can be used to help them get more done, in less time, and with better results.

6. Listen to the voice of the market

Conversation intelligence gives a full transcript of every call. It reveals the questions asked and received and captures prospects’ responses.

This gives you deep insight into the market’s needs. It tells you whether your messaging is landing, and reveals the features or benefits you need to lead with.

How to use this intelligence:

Mine sales calls for the specific words used by your prospects to express their needs, desires, and pain points.

As you review calls, listen to the prospect. What are they saying? What does this tell you about the market? These are points of intelligence that need to be shared with leadership, marketing teams, and other departments.

7. Review deals and base forecasts on real evidence

Ultimately, your job is to raise the sales team’s performance to drive consistent revenue growth. With conversation intelligence, you don’t have to depend on sellers’ reports of how their deals are progressing. With just a few clicks, you can review deals and see where they are in the pipeline.

How to use this intelligence:

This technology gives you a 360-degree view of your accounts and opportunities. Use it to keep your finger on the pulse of every deal where it is in the pipeline, how likely it is to move forward, and how fast.

Your forecasts won’t be guesswork. They’ll be based on in-field data. This allows you to give more accurate forecasts and hold yourself and your team accountable.

Bottom line

Conversation intelligence has transformed the sales floor, providing insights to improve onboarding, productivity, and performance.

The biggest challenge is getting sales teams to feel comfortable with this technology. Full transparency can be unnerving.

But if you focus on the benefits of conversation intelligence and the single system of record that elevates rep performance, you’ll get the buy-in you’re looking for.

Essentially, conversation intelligence is the cheat code for success — for managers and reps alike.

Conversation Intelligence in Action

Want to learn more about Mindtickle's conversation intelligence solution, Call AI? 

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This post was originally published in August 2022 and was updated in November 2023. 

How Paytronix’s Revenue Leaders Doubled Win Rates and Improved Conversions by 12%

Lindsey Plocek on November 17, 2023

It’s that time of year when revenue organizations are reflecting on 2023 and making plans for the year ahead.

And Mindtickle customers are setting the bar high for achieving revenue excellence.

We recently sat down with Adam Whiddon, Sales Enablement Trainer at Paytronix to learn more about his plans to boost sales performance in 2024 and beyond. Paytronix is the leading digital guest engagement platform for restaurants and convenience stores. Paytronix offers loyalty and online ordering to such brands as Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Panera Bread, and PF Chang’s,

Adam assists in enabling the 300-person organization, which includes more than 30 sales reps and customer-facing teammates.

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As someone who helped lead Paytronix to double its win rates and improve stage conversions by 12% on key deals, Adam can help guide other revenue leaders to the same success.

Here are Adam’s top learnings using Mindtickle to assist in Paytronix’s revenue transformation:

1. Drive cross-functional revenue team alignment

Paytronix’s leadership team was clear on its intentions: they needed to transform revenue operations in many areas all at once digitally. Everything from improving win rates to streamlining onboarding, increasing deal velocity, growing pipeline, reducing time to contribution, and consolidating its tech stack was on the table.

To do so, Paytronix sought out an easy-to-use centralized hub for all sales training and sales content that could also double as an LMS for the entire company, including customer onboarding.

At the same time, they needed to roll out some of the company’s first formal training programs, drive the adoption of a new sales qualification framework – MEDDICC – and provide scalable, data-driven ways for sales leaders to provide personalized coaching.

Pretty massive change, right?

That was only possible by engaging every level of its revenue leadership team in the process of identifying a revenue transformation partner, including the CEO, CRO, CMO, CPO, VP of Sales, and Sr. Director of Enablement and Strategy.

2. Focus on increasing buyer & customer engagement

As part of the effort to consolidate its tech stack, Paytronix prioritized capabilities that would help the team improve the buyer journey and engagement. This included implementing revenue intelligence to score deal health and provide a full picture of all of the activity taking place within accounts and deals; conversation intelligence to validate that reps were utilizing the MEDDICC framework on calls; and Digital Sales Rooms to arm customers with mutual action plans and provide personalized, educational content experiences.

On deals that leveraged Digital Sales Rooms and had visits, Paytronix saw their win rate double and an average of 12% stage-by-stage conversion rate. The Digital Sales Rooms were particularly successful with high engagement at and after stage two of their sales cycle.

Streamline the sales tech stack

In the past, Adam and others on the Paytronix team tried virtually every LMS and well-known sales technology solution to measure and improve revenue performance.

But more tech did not necessarily result in better sales. In fact, tool sprawl not only drove up sales tech costs but also made it more difficult for reps to find things.

To remedy this, the Paytronix team sought out a revenue enablement platform that would provide all the LMS and content management capabilities he needed and include things like conversation and revenue intelligence to inspect calls and deals. This would enable Paytronix to lay the groundwork for a culture built on data-driven coaching.

Consolidation not only saved Paytronix a sizable amount of money but enabled them to provide every rep with a personalized home page that suggested the top training, content, and calls that were most valuable to their book of business and skillset.

As for his plans for next year? Adam aims to help the sales team increase win rates by another 2%+ in 2024, drive greater accountability to sales best practices, and make it even easier for sales reps to engage buyers at every stage in the sales cycle effectively.

See it in action

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What Is Sales Intelligence and How Could It Increase Your Revenue?

Lindsey Plocek on November 7, 2023

Business intelligence.

Demand intelligence.

Data intelligence.

These days, business-to-business (B2B) interactions are all about having the right information at the right time — and to make it happen, you need intuitive insights at your fingertips.

Naturally, the sales department is no exception. In fact, sales intelligence tools are a great way to increase revenue and give your teams the information they need to thrive.

But what do sales data tools look like? How do you leverage them in B2B interactions?

Here’s everything you need to know.

What is sales intelligence?

“Sales intelligence” is a term that broadly refers to the tools, processes, and systems used to gather information about sales — including potential customers, pipeline health, sales rep best practices, and more.

All B2B sales intelligence solutions are designed to help you make better use of key data. Their benefits can be summarized in two ways:

Sales effectiveness

This is the overall success of each interaction — not measured by dollars or minutes, but by real human connections. If a sale is effective, it’s hitting all the right emotional and logical notes.

A sales intelligence platform helps boost sales effectiveness by helping reps make more informed decisions. With the right data at the right times, your teams always know just what to say to build rapport and develop trust with potential customers.

Sales efficiency

This is the more quantitative measurement of sales. It’s based on speed and accuracy.

Fortunately, sales intelligence solutions help boost efficiency, too. These tools make it easier for reps to boost sales performance by learning from their own habits and comparing them to best practices across the business.

Sales intelligence vs. business intelligence

Although sales data tools might sound a lot like business intelligence, there are actually some key differences. Check it out:

Sales intelligence

Business intelligence

  • Focuses on “why did this happen” data
  • Helps inform sales-related decisions
  • Often looks outward
  • May be built around immediate action
  • Focuses on “what happened” data
  • Helps inform decisions across the business
  • Often looks inward
  • May be built on slower, longer-term growth and planning

Keep in mind that both kinds of intelligence are about gathering and using data in smarter ways — the main differences are:

  • The type of data gathered.
  • The way that data is analyzed and used.
  • The teams that gather insight from that data.

Key components of sales intelligence

Want to jump into the world of data intelligence solutions for sales? You’ll need to take these important steps:

Use real-time data to learn what your potential customers want, why they want it, and when.

Keep a close eye on ups and downs in your industry and maneuver your sales team accordingly.

Use analytics software and other sales enablement tools to get the information you need about the future.

Gather the right statistics from the right sources. (Hint: Automated data entry helps eliminate redundancy, minimize human error, and save valuable time for your teams.)

Review the nuts and bolts of your sales cycle to see where you can make improvements based on evolving customer and employee needs.

Learn from other businesses’ successes and mistakes — and recognize that they’ll do the same to you, particularly if you leverage sales intelligence in all the smartest ways.

Best sales intelligence tools

If you want sales intelligence data, you need sales intelligence software. Here are a few of the best options on the market in 2023:

Mindtickle helps you rethink revenue productivity.

Our conversation intelligence solutions help highlight best practices in real interactions, while our revenue intelligence tools help put that data to work by empowering you with insights about deal health, buyer sentiment, and more.

Zoominfo vector logo

Zoominfo provides a platform for recruiting and operations, prospecting, data management, and more. It also helps analyze conversation data for rich sales intelligence insights.

If you want lead generation, Apollo is a great option. Enriched with decision-maker data and automatic alerts when a change occurs, this platform keeps you ready for anything.

Clearbit is all about timing. It helps your teams tailor individual decisions and entire campaigns based on lead scoring, a huge range of data points, and more.

How to increase revenue with sales intelligence

How can sales intelligence help you boost revenue, increase sales, and empower your team? Here are just a few ways to leverage this approach:

#1: Improve your sales forecasting

Don’t rely on guesswork. The best sales intelligence tools give you data and insights that inform decisions in the immediate future and help you build more effective long-term strategies.

#2: Personalize messaging

No B2B sales intelligence solution is complete without a little personalization. Use the data you uncover to make messages more meaningful, powerful, and memorable to different audiences.

#3: Foster a culture of data-driven sales decision-making

Build your sales decisions around real-time insights and data that provide an in-depth, comprehensive view of your market, your customers, and even your sales reps.

#4: Track performance with the right KPIs

Key performance indicators (KPIs) tell a lot of different stories when they’re on their own. Use sales intelligence software to track these KPIs and combine them into a clear, cohesive view of your entire sales department.

Looking for B2B sales intelligence tools that can help you do all this and more? Mindtickle is here to help. From sales coaching and enablement to forecasting, intelligence, and everything in between, this is the all-in-one platform your sales teams have been waiting for.

Sales intelligence at your fingertips

Ready to see how Mindtickle's revenue productivity platform gives you actionable intelligence to make sure every seller is productive? 

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4 Must-Have 2023 Sales Technologies for CROs and RevOps Leaders

Lindsey Plocek on November 1, 2023

Over the last few months, I’ve met with dozens of CROs and RevOps leaders to understand their biggest pain points, all of which have been amplified by the current market conditions. These companies ranged from F500s to high-growth commercial companies in markets like B2B tech, education, finance, insurance, and consumer healthcare. Most had a minimum of 25 revenue-generating reps on their team, but some had several thousand. As I learned about their challenges, it became clear there are some recurring themes when it comes to the sales technologies in their stack.

Here’s what I heard during my tour:

  • “We simply don’t have enough repeatability built into our sales org.”
  • “We need to get better at timing deals and knowing why they’re won or lost.”
  • “One or two over-performers won’t cover our delta. We need the team to scale.”
  • “Too much of our pipeline is high-risk and disengaged. We’ve got to change that.”
  • “My sales team has premature presentation syndrome. How do I get them personalizing and building better business cases?”
  • “An annual SKO is not enough. How do I get my team ‘microdosing’ sales training every day?”
  • “We can’t keep creating enablement from scratch. It’s breaking us.”
  • “How do we get managers to coach more and reps to self-improve?”

These challenges are validated by industry research. We know that the sales process has gotten more complex – 63% of purchases now have four decision-makers involved and the number of buyer interactions has jumped to more than 27. At the same time, sellers have become less productive. Only 32% of a sales reps’ time is actually spent selling and on top of that, according to our 2022-2023 Sales Enablement Outlook Report, the average organization uses more than 10+ sales tools.

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But when it comes to addressing these challenges, which technologies are actually worth using and materially impact revenue? This blog post outlines where to start when you’re looking to build an efficient, seamless sales tech stack and technologies to consider.

Your sales tech stack: Where to start

The biggest mistake CROs and RevOps leaders make is that they throw tools at problems instead of first outlining their pain points, use cases, and desired workflows. This will lead to a bloated, expensive tech stack that doesn’t get used.

Instead, focus on finding solutions that address the following critical use cases:

  • Know which customers to engage, when, and how
  • Capture emails, calls, meetings, and contacts to get insights on how to improve buyer engagement
  • Help sellers know who to follow up with, and which content to send
  • Research relevant topics like products and competitors to personalize your pitch
  • Effectively prepare for meetings and follow-up

Get really clear about outlining the specific things your reps need to do. Some examples include:

  • Logging activities faster, easier, and more accurately (or better yet, automate it all)
  • Managing and prioritizing accounts, leads, and opportunities
  • Managing contacts and auto-syncing them to the CRM
  • Measuring buyer engagement
  • Making sense of their sales performance & coaching opportunities
  • Managing and automating pipeline and forecasting

Conversation & revenue intelligence

This year, it’s all about saving time for your sellers. Conversation and revenue intelligence tools help sellers manage opportunities intuitively and update the CRM without thinking. These solutions automatically sync call notes, contacts, emails, and call recordings to systems like Salesforce so sellers can focus on active listening more.

With a conversation or revenue intelligence solution in place, it’s easier to hand over deal and account history, as well as score deal health or uncover risks within opportunities.

Forecast automation

As I mentioned, making sense of pipeline gaps and forecasting with higher accuracy are two things keeping CROs and RevOps teams up at night. These leaders need complete control of the forecasting process, and to be able to trust the data their team inputs.

With AI forecasting tools, provided by companies like our partner BoostUp.AI, AI can predict which deals will close on time or not. At the same time, it can uncover risks in your pipeline and challenges your team faces driving buyer engagement at specific “problem stages” in your sales cycle.

Buyer/seller engagement platforms

With a buyer and seller engagement solution in place, sellers send more and better emails, make more and better calls, stay focused, and win more deals. These tools guide task prioritization while capturing and matching activity to the CRM.

For example, companies like Lavendar.AI and Regis.AI use generative AI to write emails for you. At Mindtickle, we use tools like LinkedIn Navigator, ZoomIQ, DemandBase, G2 intent data, Walnut, and Databook to drive better, more personalized buyer engagement.

We also offer Digital Sales Rooms so reps can build a personalized deal room for customers filled with content, call recordings, and action plans. DSRs allow you to track which customers engaged, and what content piqued their interest.

Enablement & templates for sales methodology adoption

Most organizations have put a new sales methodology in place to drive consistency in the current market. That might include MEDDPICC, BANT, Sandler, or one of many more.

But if you don’t have the ability to properly enable your team on these methodologies and no data on who is adopting them or not, that’s a problem.

Here at Mindtickle we can see what percentage of every opportunity our sales team creates has followed our preferred sales methodology as well as information gaps. We also offer off-the-shelf templates, sales plays, and other content to enable teams around the latest methodologies.

Some additional tips to consider

If you’re looking to improve and streamline your sales tech stack, it’s important that you consider the following tips.

  • Conduct a seller time assessment to see who is spending time on what topics
  • Examine your current workflow and see if there is an opportunity to reduce or streamline siloed tools
  • Carefully research the click path to not only access insights, but actually do something to move a deal forward, or coach a rep
  • Document the unique nuances of the fields and customization within your CRM
  • Aim to first capture necessary data around pipeline management, forecasting, deals, and calls
  • Build playbooks and enablement that help your sellers act on data. Where possible, empower them with AI-enabled workflows.

 

What's in your tech stack?

Connect with our team to see how Mindtickle fits into (and might replace) some tools in your current tech stack. 

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(This post was originally published in March 2023 and was updated in November 2023. )

Challenger Sales Model: The What, Why and How

Lindsey Plocek on October 25, 2023

You’ve probably heard of the Challenger Sales methodology. With such an evocative name, you may wonder if it could be a fit for your business. Before you decide that, though, you need to ask yourself a few questions — such as “What is challenger sales?” and “It is really right for us?”

Today, we’re rounding up those answers and more. Here’s our in-depth look at Challenger Sales methodology and how to leverage it.

What is the Challenger Sales model?

There are a lot of different sales methodologies to choose from. The challenger selling model is just one, and it’s well-known in the industry because it is the methodology that helped top sales reps win throughout the 2008 Great Recession.

Proposed by Brent Adamson and Matthew Dixon in “The Challenger Sale,” this approach is based on the personalities of your sales team. You’ve got archetypes like the hard worker, relationship builder, and lone wolf — but the challenger is the one to keep an eye on. This person “challenges” the status quo by addressing needs your customers may not even know they have. It’s all about presenting new possibilities — not just a sales call, but a truly collaborative conversation. The results can include more deals, stronger connections, and better business.

Hard worker
Challenger
Relationship-builder
Lone wolf
Problem solver

 

It can be especially helpful during periods of economic difficulty where budgets are restricted and products become harder to sell.

While other approaches may assume the customer knows best, Challenger Sales methodology training helps push your sales reps to take advantage of their own intuition and insights. The idea is to challenge the buyer with ideas they may not otherwise have considered, placing your company and offering in a position of high value.

Is every sales team a good fit for the Challenger Sales model?
The Challenger Sales process is built around a specific personality type. It’s best for reps and teams who can:

  • Take control without being aggressive.
  • Translate insights into actionable value for customers.
  • Present disruptive ideas as helpful and constructive.

Not everyone fits this description — and that’s O.K. There are plenty of other sales models that may be a better fit for different personalities, unique skill sets, and simpler sales cycles.

Challenger Sales model steps

There are plenty of Challenger Sales model examples out there, but they all boil down to a few basic steps:

Start a conversation by asking a disruptive, highly relevant question and “challenging” what the customer thinks they know.

Deliver insights by connecting that question to a problem buyers may not have considered.

Build your case with data, examples, logic, and emotion.

Present an answer that neatly addresses the customer’s new concerns.

Showcase your offering as the best way to reach out and grab that answer.

 

Remember, the success of the Challenger Sales process depends on your reps being both sellers and teachers. Don’t just throw them into this role; build your sales team’s skills to help develop confidence and encourage creativity.

 

Adopting the Challenger Selling model

Ready to get started? Here’s how to adopt the Challenger Sales model:

Use a variety of assessments to determine how your teams approach tasks, handle virtual selling challenges and leverage their talents.

 

Build Challenger Sales training opportunities to help reps learn how to disrupt without offending and teach without patronizing. This often requires a shift in existing mindsets, which may prioritize relationships and “protecting the status quo.”

Provide how-to guides, Challenger Sales model examples, mock sales calls, and sales enablement tools to set your reps up for success.

 

Roll out the Challenger Sales methodology to one rep or team. Compare results against other models to see whether the model is a good fit. For instance, consider using conversation intelligence technology to see if your teams are applying challenger in the field.

Gather and analyze data to better understand what your teams are doing, when, and why. Provide feedback through coaching and ongoing training to help turn every rep into an effective challenger.

 

Although each of these steps is important, you should prioritize training and content. That’s because these two elements can make the difference between success and failure for many reps. After all, the Challenger Sales model might feel like a departure from what they originally learned, what they’re comfortable with, and — sometimes — what they believe about sales overall.

Pros and cons of the Challenger Sales model

Remember, the Challenger Sales methodology is just one option, and it may not work for every team. It’s important to do your research well ahead of time and pay close attention during the Challenger Sales training phase; that way, you can identify whether obstacles are just part of the learning curve or signs that this may not be the right approach for you.

Consider these pros and cons of the Challenger Sales model:

Pros

Cons

  • Leverages behaviors and habits of high-performing sales reps.
  • Helps manage and control complex sales cycles.
  • Presents new ideas for customers and reps alike, helping prevent stagnation and burnout.
  • Provides unique perspectives and insights on the customer’s business.
  • May not work for all personality types and skill sets.
  • Likely not a good fit for simple relationships or transactions.
  • Requires extra research and deep market understanding to remain successful over time.
  • Can come across as aggressive or overly assertive if done incorrectly.

The key takeaway here is that you can’t adopt the Challenger Sales model — or any sales methodology — as a one-size-fits-all solution. You have to take everything into account, from your reps’ unique personalities to your customers’ expectations. That’s how you stay flexible, scalable, and customer-centric in an increasingly complicated (and competitive) market.

Helping your teams become challengers

The Challenger Sales process may feel like a new approach, but it’s based on things you already know — like how to get more out of a customer conversation and which skills to encourage among your reps. If you want to succeed with this model, you’ll need an in-depth understanding of your market, customers, and offerings — plus teaching techniques, assertiveness skills, coaching opportunities, and more.

To bring all of these things together, it’s best to unite your approach with sales training software like Mindtickle. Whether you’re exploring the Challenger Sales model, onboarding new team members, providing ongoing training or just communicating helpful feedback, sales training software keeps your most important tasks in one place.

Scale Up your Sales Training

Want to see for yourself? Schedule your free Mindtickle demo today.

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7 Sales Pitch Examples (+ 10 Tips for A Winning Sales Pitch)

Lindsey Plocek on September 28, 2023

There’s no overestimating the importance of a good sales pitch — but where do the best pitch ideas come from? Do you always have to use sales pitch templates or is it better to do what feels best? And is there even a “right” way to sell something?

At the end of the day, it’s up to you and your teams to perfect your approach. Fortunately, there are plenty of good sales pitch examples out there to light the way.

Here’s how to make a sales pitch that really shines.

  1.  What is a sales pitch and why is it important?
  2.  What makes a good sales pitch?
  3.  Types of sales pitch
  4.  Mistakes to avoid while creating your sales pitch
  5.  Craft your perfect sales pitch

What is a sales pitch and why is it important?

According to Merriam-Webster, a sales pitch is “a speech that is given […] to persuade someone to buy something.” Seems simple, right?

Not so fast.

The complexity comes in when you consider a few key parts of that definition:

How long should this pitch be? What format should it take?

Should you be talking the whole time, or can customers ask questions?

What words do you use to establish trust, credibility, and persuade someone? How much pressure is the right amount of pressure? What stats, testimonials, and other validation can you use to build trust?

Who is the customer? What do they want? What do they not want?

What are you selling, what problem does it solve and how are you going to frame that?

That’s why it can be so difficult to know how to pitch a product: These variables mean there’s no “magic bullet” that will always win you a sale. Still, pitches are vital to customer experiences, relationships and potential transactions — so you can’t afford to wing it.

Instead, you need to find a template or approach that can be changed on the fly. The bones stay the same, but you dress them up in different ways depending on factors such as “who,” “what,” “why” and “how.”

Your mission is to build good bones — and that requires knowing what makes a good sales pitch.

What makes a good sales pitch?

There are just a few factors standing between compelling, memorable sales pitch ideas and totally forgettable ones:

If you want to master the “who” and “why” elements of your pitch, it’s critical to research your target audience and create buyer personas. This helps you know how to tailor your message depending on buyer intent, job description, pain points and more.

Your unique selling proposition, or USP, is the thing that makes you stand out from the crowd; it’s the “what” and “how.” In many ways, all sales pitch templates should be built around your USP — because otherwise, you could be selling any product or service in the world.

Clear goals and objectives help keep your pitch on track. They also give you an easy way to judge success after the conversation — and to make improvements where necessary.

A sales pitch should always follow some kind of structure, for the same reason good stories have clear plots: You don’t want to lose your listener. The most basic example is:

  • Opening statement: This is your hook, where you get the customer’s attention or pique their curiosity.
  • Body: Here, you’ll share specific details, stats, use cases or benefits that highlight your USP and put your product or service in the spotlight.
  • CTA: The call to action inspires the customer to — you guessed it — take a specific action.

 

7 good sales pitch types

Need an example of a sales pitch? Look no further:

#1: Email sales pitch

All good sales pitch email examples have one thing in common: brevity. Here, powerful subject lines and preview text can work wonders — and simple, compelling body copy (ideally with bullet points) is your best friend. Most of the power rests on an eye-catching CTA button with clear value for your reader.

Example:

Hey [Recipient’s Name],
Hope you’re doing well. I came across your [work/article/profile] recently and was genuinely impressed. Would love to chat and share some ideas around [helping you solve Y problem]. Are you up for a virtual coffee next week?

Cheers, [Your Name]

#2: Phone pitch/cold call script for B2B sales

Business-to-business or B2B sales pitch examples are a little more difficult to pin down, particularly when they’re done over the phone. Cold calls can still work — they should just be highly personalized, relevant, and full of immediate value.

“Hey [Recipient’s Name], it’s [Your Name] here from [Your Company/Organization]. I stumbled upon your [work/profile/website] recently, and [X specific thing] caught my attention. Got a quick moment to chat?”

#3: Sales presentation pitch

If you go looking for sales pitch presentation examples, you’ll probably find a whole lot of PowerPoint. That’s not a problem, but it can be a limitation if you don’t follow best practices. Focus on creativity and clarity, keep your customer’s attention, and use the format to your advantage (that is, don’t just read exactly what’s written on your slides — let the media enhance your message).

What a great sales deck should include:

Capture your audience’s attention immediately. Start with a compelling customer story or fact related to your product or service.

Clearly identify the problem your product or service solves.

Clearly identify the problem your product or service solves.

Highlight the key benefits of your product or service, and how it stands out from competitors.

Showcase success stories or quotes from happy customers.

If applicable, visually demonstrate how your product works.

 Clearly lay out the cost and what’s included.

Introduce key team members and their credentials, especially if they add credibility to your offering.

End with a clear CTA, whether that’s scheduling a follow-up meeting, starting a free trial, or another desired next step.

Always include an easy way for potential clients or investors to reach out.

 

#4: In-person sales pitch

In-person pitches present unique opportunities for connection. You can use tone indicators and body language cues that might not work as well in other formats — plus, you can read these same things from your customer. Build these pitches around real-time interactions and physical examples or visual aids where possible.

Utilize face-to-face interactions to create a personal connection. Start with small talk, read body language, and establish trust.

Take advantage of tangible materials like brochures, samples, or prototypes.

Live product demos can be more interactive. Let prospects touch, use, or experience your product/service.

Observe audience reactions and adjust your pitch on-the-fly based on their body language and facial expressions

Spontaneous questions can arise, and you have the opportunity to address concerns immediately.

Think about the location’s logistics, seating arrangements, audio/visual capabilities, and potential distractions.

#5: Elevator pitch

An elevator pitch summarizes a lot of details in a short period of time — which means it has to be informative and compelling at the same time. Prioritize the most important, interesting, or valuable parts of your story and leave the details for a longer conversation.

Here’s an example of an elevator pitch you can use in your own outreach:

“Hi, I’m Alex from AquaPure.

Did you know that over 2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water? Our portable, eco-friendly water purification system can purify any freshwater source in just 30 seconds, making it safe to drink.

We envision a world where clean drinking water is always within reach, no matter where you are. Imagine the impact we could make together!”

This pitch is effective because it:

  • States the problem: Highlights a significant global issue.
  • Introduces a solution: Describes the product’s unique selling point.
  • Invokes emotion: The idea of making a positive change in the world.
  • Ends with a Call to Action: Invites the listener to be part of the solution

#6: Follow-up sales pitch

When making a follow-up sales pitch, the focus is on continuing, expanding, and enriching a conversation to close more deals. That means you want to recall specific details from the previous interaction and respond intuitively to approaches that worked.

Subject: Thank you for Yesterday’s Discussion – Next Steps for [Your Product/Service]

Hello [Recipient’s Name],

I hope this email finds you well. Firstly, thank you for taking the time yesterday to discuss [Your Product/Service]. I appreciate your insights and feedback on how it aligns with [Recipient’s Company’s objectives/needs].

To recap our conversation:

  • Benefit A of our product can address [specific challenge they have].
  • Our recent success with [similar company or case study] showcases the results you can anticipate.
  • I’ve attached [a case study, product specs, trial version, etc.] for your further consideration, as discussed.

You had a great question about [specific question]. I’ve looked into this and [provide a detailed answer or solution].

#7: Social media pitch

With internet users worldwide spending an average of 151 minutes per day on social media, this is a perfect chance to reach customers where they’re at. Social media pitches should be slightly less formal, more action-oriented and — above all — brief.

Here’s an example of a social media pitch:

Hi [Recipient’s Name],

I hope this message finds you well. I’ve been following [Company’s Name] and am truly impressed with your recent [specific campaign or content piece, e.g., “brand relaunch”]. As a Content Marketing Strategist with over 7 years in the industry, I’ve assisted brands like [Brand A, Brand B] in boosting their online engagement by an average of 40%.

I see potential areas where [Company’s Name] could further enhance its content reach and engagement, especially in [specific area, e.g., “interactive content” or “SEO-driven blog posts”]. I’d love to discuss a few strategies that could align with your current efforts and drive tangible results.

Would you be open to a brief call or discussion next week? I promise to keep it concise and value-packed.

Best regards,
[Your Name]

Mistakes to avoid while creating your sales pitch

Fine-tune your sales pitch templates with these 10 tips:

Dos

Don'ts

  • Personalize

Build your sales pitch around the customer’s unique needs, pain points, questions and experiences.

  • Tell Your Story

Your USP and differentiators should come across in every part of your pitch, from the hook to the CTA.

  • Ask Questions

Choose relevant, valuable questions that provide important information or set you up for a particular statement.

  • Be Specific

Specifics help customers remember what you’re offering and why it matters. Use stats and numbers where you can.

  • Connect

Anecdotes and personal background can help build rapport and make your listeners more comfortable.

  • Copy and paste

Never “copy and paste” templates across different formats, customers or products. Your listeners can tell when you’re reading a standard script.

  • Dump all the details

If you do your job right, there will be time for more detail in future conversations. Keep sales pitches focused and powerful.

  • Make customers lead

Questions can be helpful, but they shouldn’t make listeners feel like you don’t know what your goal is or what you’re supposed to be doing.

  • Complicate everything

Speak the customer’s language. That means using industry terms they’re comfortable with but skipping complex jargon.

  • Make it all about you

Don’t spend too much time talking about yourself. Even when “selling” the company, product, or service, focus on why this matters for the customer.

 

Craft your perfect sales pitch

At the end of the day, all the B2B sales pitch examples in the world won’t make a difference if you don’t have the right content management and sales enablement solutions on your side. Fortunately, Mindtickle is here to help.

By providing the perfect coaching and training to your reps, Mindtickle helps you master the “who,” “what,” “why” and “how.” Deliver the right content at the right time, learn from previous conversations, and help your teams bring sales pitch templates to life.

Train all your sellers on the perfect pitch

Connect with our team to see how Mindtickle will help you build a team of sellers who can deliver the perfect pitch each time.

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Sales Methodology: What is it and How to Choose One for Your Business

Lindsey Plocek on June 9, 2023

If your team doesn’t have a sales methodology, you need one — and fast.

You also aren’t alone.

According to our 2022 Sales Enablement Outlook Report, less than half (43%) of respondents say their organizations have an institutionalized sales methodology.

0 %
Organizations with institutionalized sales methodology

The best sales methodologies act as a framework, guiding reps through each stage of the sales process. These approaches should be scalable, measurable and — perhaps most importantly — repeatable. But there are tons of common sales methodologies out there, and while each has its benefits, you need to know which fits your business best.

Here’s your guide to sales methodologies and how to make the right choice.

What is a sales methodology?

A sales methodology is like a thread uniting different stages of the sales cycle. When your reps follow this thread, they know exactly what to say and when to say it, what buyers are thinking at different times and how to build better relationships. While the customers, products and teams may change, the best sales methodologies can stay consistent because they’re based on best practices.

Of course, that’s not to say that a sales methodology is “one size fits all.” These frameworks can and should scale depending on new training materials, shifting buyer expectations and what you learn in the ever-changing world of sales.

Why is a sales methodology important for any business?

Sales reps might feel they have an instinct for making all the right moves in customer communication — and they could very well be right. The best sales methodologies don’t replace those instincts, but rather build on them to create a shared, consistent approach that keeps every individual and team pushing in the same direction.

Here are a few more reasons you need a sales methodology:

 

  • Understanding target customers and their needs

    Solid sales frameworks are flexible enough to enable accurate, personalized responses without changing your approach for every individual buyer.

  • Finding best practices to guide a sales team to success

    These guidelines are informed by sales performance metrics and best practices, which means they’re based on what actually works instead of what should work.

  • Managing a sales pipeline

    A single sales methodology unites many sales processes to encompass every activity, interaction and stage for both buyers and sales reps.

  • Qualifying leads and opportunities

    Skip the guesswork and let your sales frameworks identify where and when a lead fits into your pipeline.

  • Handling objections and closing deals effectively

    ith the right set of guidelines, your reps will be better prepared to overcome challenges, address hesitations and build trust — the first step toward more and better deals.

  • Leveraging data to navigate ongoing change

    s your business and customers change, your sales methodology will too. You’ll have the insight, data and tools you need to identify what’s working, what isn’t and where improvements need to be made.

What are some common sales methodologies?

When choosing the best approaches for your teams, it’s often helpful to have sales methodology examples in front of you. Here are just a few to consider:

MEDICC

MEDDIC is an acronym that represents a comprehensive sales qualification framework. Each letter in stands for a key element in the sales process.

  • Metrics refers to understanding the quantifiable goals and objectives of the customer.
  • Economic buyer refers to identifying the person who has the authority and financial power to make purchasing decisions.
  • Decision criteria involves understanding the specific requirements and criteria that the customer uses to evaluate potential solutions.
  • Decision process refers to comprehending the steps and individuals involved in the customer’s decision-making process.
  • Identify pain involves discovering and understanding the customer’s challenges, problems, and pain points.
  • Champion refers to finding an internal advocate within the customer’s organization who supports and promotes your solution.

Takeaway: Use the MEDDIC framework to thoroughly understand customer needs, decision-making process, and leverage internal champions for successful sales.

BANT

BANT is a sales qualification methodology and assesses potential customers. It stands for Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline. Each element represents a crucial aspect of determining the viability of a sales opportunity.

  • Budget refers to understanding the prospect’s financial resources and whether they have the means to make a purchase.
  • Authority involves identifying the decision-makers and influencers involved in the buying process.
  • Need refers to assessing the prospect’s specific pain points and determining how well your product or service can address them.
  • Timeline involves understanding the prospect’s urgency and when they intend to make a decision or implement a solution.

Takeaway: Assess leads effectively using BANT: Determine budget, authority, need, and timeline to prioritize sales efforts and qualify potential opportunities.

Consultative selling

The most important part of consultative selling is right in its name: the consultation. Buyers come to you because they have unanswered questions, and they need your reps to act as guides. Key processes involve listening, communicating and collaborating.

Takeaway: Consultative selling builds trust by being primarily informational instead of promotional. ​

Solution selling

Sometimes, customers already know exactly what their problem is — all you have to do is tell them what the solution can look like. Even before the first call, this sales methodology requires that your reps have a particularly solid understanding of:

  • The buyer
  • Their needs and challenges
  • The most targeted offerings for their situation

Takeaway: Solution selling is more focused on addressing a problem than selling a particular product or service.

Provocative selling

When you use this framework, your reps need to be able to identify pain points before buyers do and then provoke them to research solutions. In many ways, reps are “selling” problems first and products second.

Takeaway: Provocative selling is all about being proactive and giving customers what they didn’t even know they needed.

Challenger sales

Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson developed “The Challenger Sales Method.” In their book of the same name, they discuss various seller archetypes and identify the most successful: challengers, who represented 40% of high-performing sales reps in the authors’ study.

Takeaway: Challenger sales methodologies focus on empowering other rep archetypes to teach prospects, tailor their communications and take control of sales.

Inbound selling

In this sales methodology, you acknowledge that buyers are doing more work themselves and may not contact your reps until they’re well into the pipeline. That means sales might take a back seat for your reps as they educate and advise buyers.

Takeaway: With inbound selling, qualified leads come to you instead of the other way around — so while the sales processes might look different, they may be far more efficient.

SPIN selling

Neil Rackham’s book, “SPIN Selling,” builds a sales methodology around four key kinds of questions:

  • Situation: What is the customer’s current need or challenge
  • Problem: Where is the problem coming from?
  • Implication: What happens if nothing is done?
  • Need-payoff: What are the benefits of solving the problem?

Takeaway: When strung together, these kinds of questions allow reps to lead buyers on a kind of realization journey in which they connect their problems to specific solutions.

Target account selling

This sales methodology is all about research and automation. It’s an approach that emphasizes the importance of choosing the right accounts to focus on — those that will be most responsive and easiest to sell to.

Takeaway: Research is vital in all the best sales methodologies, but it’s at the heart of target account selling — so reps must fully understand personas, key decision-makers, in-depth challenge breakdowns and more.

Sandler Selling Method

This approach is built on the concept that buyers and sellers must trust one another to have a successful relationship. That means there has to be communication, collaboration and mutual respect. This methodology is similar to consultative selling but has a more prescriptive framework: building a relationship, quantifying the lead and ultimately closing the deal.

Takeaway: The Sandler Selling Method works best when buyers want and need to be able to lean on reps as decision-making partners, not just sales experts.

How to identify and choose the right sales methodology for your business

Say you have a Software as a Service (SaaS) company. You do some research and find common approaches — but the best sales methodology for SaaS organizations isn’t the same as the best sales methodology for manufacturers, retailers, food sellers or real estate agents.

So how do you choose the right one for you?

 

#1: Evaluate your business goals and objectives

Whether you’re trying to improve sales performance, boost revenue, grow your business or hit some other goal, it’s important to keep the future in mind when deciding on a sales methodology. This helps align your sales team with your overall business objectives and makes sales activities that much more efficient.

#2: Analyze target market and customers

To find out what works best for your customers, you have to know who they are, how they think and what markets they spend time in. With this analysis at your fingertips, you can choose methodologies that will resonate with your audience instead of relying on an ill-fitting or “tone-deaf” approach.

#3: Consider business size and industry

Think about how many people and resources you can dedicate to a sales methodology. Is there too much to do, or do the tasks and approaches seem well-balanced? The size of your business will have a big influence on this, but so will your industry, which dictates much of what customers expect and how your sales processes need to work together.

#4: Experiment and evaluate

Remember that sales methodologies can be mixed, matched and combined to make them work for you. Keep track of relevant data to see whether a certain approach is working or if you need to weave in concepts, processes or theories from other frameworks.

How to get started with implementing a sales methodology for your business

Once you’ve chosen a sales methodology, it’s time to jump in. Here’s how to get started:

Evaluate current skills

It’s important to know what your reps bring to the table and what they’ll need to learn to adapt to a new sales methodology. This is also a chance to reflect on your sales training methodologies and fill in any gaps.

Create new training material

As you train reps on the new sales methodology, make sure to cover:

  • Which of their former processes are sticking around
  • Which processes will be updated
  • Which processes will be completely changed
  • What your overall philosophy is
  • What your goals look like.
  • The benefits of the new methodology

Remember to make this training material consistent and easily accessible — not just to the sales teams but to all departments,

Assess and provide feedback

Track your reps’ learning curves and provide support, feedback or coaching where they need it most. Remember to capture best practices and particularly helpful examples to build out your methodology going forward.

Putting your sales methodology to use

If you want to choose, implement, track and improve a sales methodology, you can’t afford to do it in disparate systems. That’s not just bad news for your business outcomes; it also creates frustration for sales reps, other teams and even customers.

Instead, unite your sales activity in a single platform. From onboarding and training to data capture, performance reviews and ongoing learning, Mindtickle is your best bet for getting more out of sales methodologies.

Ready to see for yourself? 

 

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Video: Why CROs are Focused on Revenue Intelligence

Lindsey Plocek on June 6, 2023

 

Episode summary

In this video, Mindtickle’s Lindsey Plocek shares three different use cases for why CROs are focused on revenue intelligence. She explains the different ways sales leaders and CROs now have visibility into deal health and can more accurately forecast with revenue intelligence. She also outlines how sales coaching is data-driven with managers now able to have more impactful coaching conversations with more reps. Finally, talks about focusing on the entire customer journey rather than just deal closing. Watch this video if you’re a CRO curious to know more about how organizations can use revenue intelligence or if you’re another leader trying to make a business case for investing in it.

Key highlights

  • CROs can now address known deal risks and identify low customer engagement. Reps and managers can see things like where they need to multithread or when competitors are mentioned.
  • Leaders can now forecast based on reality rather than opinions. Historical performance and deal nuances go into deal health scores so CROs can more confidently and accurately forecast.
  • More reliable data means managers can do more accurate, holistic deal reviews.
  • Fewer managers can manage more reps and have data-driven conversations about each deal.
  • Orgs are now focused on the entire customer journey – not just closing a deal. Every single handoff in the process now has full transparency and visibility.


Video transcription

Hi, everyone, I’m Lindsay Plocek with Mindtickle and I’m going to be talking about why CROs are focused on revenue intelligence right now. Let’s start with a couple of use cases and what revenue intelligence even means.

The first is really solving buyer engagement issues at every stage in your sales cycle. Revenue intelligence will basically transcribe and score every email meeting and call so that you can really focus on those truly engaged winnable deals. Your team can go in and they can address known deal risks, or issues of ghosting or low customer engagement to really win more.

This is a little bit of what it looks like. Our reps like to go in and, and self-coach or get some guidance from their manager on where prospects are unresponsive, where they need to multithread, where a competitor was mentioned. And so that is the first use case.

The second solves meeting to forecast on reality and not opinions. So a lot of folks, forecasts historically in CRM data was very inaccurate. With revenue intelligence, we can forecast with 95% or higher accuracy, because we take into account each rep and team’s historical performance and some of the unique nuances of each deal by scoring deal health. And that helps us forecast with more confidence.

The third use case is really about improving pipeline gen and win rate by building a data-driven coaching culture. So historically, people wanted to do dealing call reviews. But it was a little difficult to scale when you didn’t have that single pane of glass view when you didn’t have really great data. Now we’re seeing more managers, or excuse me, fewer managers can manage more reps. And they can do two or three times more deal and call reviews by leveraging revenue intelligence.

Some of the other reasons why I think this is happening now at this moment in the market. The first is really alignment. So we’re moving away from a world where people are just focused on revenue and sales to one where they’re focused on that entire customer journey. Every single handoff and every single stage in that process needs to provide full transparency and visibility and a follow-up playbook.

Increasingly, we’re also seeing that more people are involved in closing a deal. So there’s a bigger need for collaboration. And this can play a big role in that data and insights specifically on how people are performing in the field, not just the activities they’re doing, but the quality of their communication with customers whether the engagement is real or not.

Perhaps even more importantly, unlocking those really great customer insights on what customers are saying or doing or responding to. So that you can ultimately improve that customer experience and really personalize it.

And as I mentioned, a culture of coaching is a really important one. And this helps with that. So we at Mindtickle recently put out a report [The 2023 State of Sales Productivity Report] on this whole topic of driving revenue productivity. We interviewed CEOs and executives from 400-plus companies, so you can go and check that out.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with us, we offer a revenue productivity platform. We give reps all of the training content and insights they need to drive deals forward. And those that include solutions for sales enablement as well as sales operations. So please, if you have questions, drop them in the comments and we’re happy to answer them.

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Revenue Intelligence Fundametnals

Behind its shiny wrapper and market buzz, we’ve boiled down revenue intelligence into 4 fundamental elements that actually matter.

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How To Build a Sales Pipeline: The Step-By-Step Guide

Lindsey Plocek on May 31, 2023

Although it’s helpful to put yourself in a prospect’s shoes to more fully understand your lead generation, sales funnel, and deal health processes, that’s often not enough. You also have to create and manage the experiences that take them from “potential customers” to “long-time fan.”

That’s where the concept of a sales pipeline comes in. The term is so widely used that it’s practically a buzzword — one that refers to everything from a certain number of deals to the value of a qualified lead. As it turns out, it’s actually more helpful to think of a sales pipeline as a sort of road through your sales process.

Here’s how to build a sales pipeline and why it matters.

What is a sales pipeline?

A sales pipeline is a series of stages, often represented visually. It’s built around a prospect’s experiences as they get closer to becoming a customer. This helps sales reps better understand what a potential buyer needs and when.

Let’s say the sales pipeline really is like a road. That would mean you need two perspectives:

What processes are required to build the road? Where does it begin and end? Does it need ongoing maintenance and repairs?

How does it feel to use this road? Are there bumps, potholes or other frustrations that might make a driver turn around? Why did the customer turn onto the road in the first place and what do they hope to find at the end?

 

Simply put, a sales pipeline empowers your sales team with the information they need to engage more empathetically based on what stage a prospect is in.

Sales pipeline vs. sales process

You might think that the “sales process” is a similar concept, and you’d be partially right. The difference is that a sales process is focused on your internal team and the steps, decisions and procedures involved in closing deals. A sales pipeline, on the other hand, encompasses the sales team and prospect perspectives in one ecosystem. You can think of it as the quality and conversion rates of the important touch points along the way that roles like marketing, BDRs, and sales reps use to drive customers forward, It may be helpful to think of a sales process as part of a sales pipeline.

Sales pipeline vs. sales funnel

Another similar concept is the sales funnel — but once again, this term isn’t synonymous with “sales pipeline.” The former is more about numbers, while the latter is about experiences and interactions.

Imagine the shape of a funnel: It’s wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. This describes the dwindling number of prospects as they make their way toward sales and deals. Meanwhile, a pipeline is straight and horizontal. It keeps track of experiences leading to a sale, not necessarily the number of prospects taking part.

For best results, it helps to put these two together. Here’s how they help inform one another and your sales activity:

Here are the steps a prospect takes to become a customer and which interactions happen at which stage. 

Here’s where some prospects abandon the pipeline and who goes on to become a customer.

 

Stages of a sales pipeline

A sales pipeline generally has seven stages:

  1. Prospecting
  2. Lead qualification
  3. Demo/meeting
  4. Proposal
  5. Negotiation/Commitment
  6. Win
  7. Post-purchase

Each stage involves different experiences, needs, and goals for both the prospect and your sales team. While you could combine or eliminate some of these stages — for example, a particularly qualified lead might want a proposal as part of your initial meeting — it’s wise to keep this standard pattern in mind. Why?

  • It helps space out interactions to keep your sales activity from feeling pushy or spammy.
  • It gives your sales reps a more organized structure for what to say and when to say it.
  • It enables granular visibility into successful messaging, revenue forecasting, churn rate predictability, the effectiveness of sales enablement content, and more.

The seven stages of a sales pipeline

Building a sales pipeline means taking disparate experiences and uniting them based on how they progress through the customer journey. If you want to learn how to build a sales pipeline, look no further than these seven stages and the tech, roles, and processes that make them possible:

Stage 1: Prospecting

Much like lead generation, this first stage is about building familiarity and creating interest. Your goal is to reach people who may be interested in your brand, product or service.

 

Top challenges

For many companies, prospecting feels like starting at zero. Common struggles include:

  • Getting a prospect’s attention.
  • Receiving substantial responses.
  • Lack of appropriate skills or training for the prospecting phase.
  • Managing the number of prospects.

Key tech

The best technology for this stage depends on your approach. Common examples include social media and email platforms, but you might also want:

  • Sales prospecting tools
  • Live chats
    Self-service options that automatically capture and flag noteworthy interactions

Important roles

Depending on the nature of your prospecting activity, your sales reps might not be involved yet. Instead, your social media team, email marketers, content writers, and other experts may be doing the heavy lifting. Other approaches, such as cold calls and events, may require sales team input.

Vital processes

At the prospecting stage, the most important thing a sales rep can do is communicate — whether with other teams (such as marketing) or directly with potential customers. It’s equally important to keep track of key data, flag skill or information gaps, and create tentative plans for promising prospects.

Stage 2: Lead qualification

Much like lead generation, this first stage is about building familiarity and creating interest. Your goal is to reach people who may be interested in your brand, product or service.

 

Top challenges

At this point, you might notice stumbling blocks such as:

  • Too many low-quality or disinterested leads — a problem that drains resources and indicates flaws in the prospecting phase.
  • The wrong skills or approaches may indicate that your team is too sales-driven this early in the pipeline.
  • Lack of integration makes it difficult to qualify leads from various channels.
  • Disjointed processes result in delays, which can let a potentially high-quality lead go cold.

Key tech

At this stage, you’ll want to start relying on your customer relationship management (CRM) software. You’ll also need lead enrichment tools, call tracking and analytics, various chatting options, and more.

Important roles

Just as lead generation can be a team effort, lead qualification might require work from both marketing and sales teams. This all depends on your processes — and for best results, it should depend on the lead, too. Respond to prospects based on the approach that first sparked their interest; that way, you build relationships and leverage personalization early on.

Vital processes

Lead management is key during this phase. Your sales reps need to know which leads have been qualified and which haven’t. There also needs to be a clear, cross-departmental understanding of what “qualified” means so reps can take appropriate next steps.

Stage 3: Demo/meeting

Prospecting and lead qualification set the stage; the demo or meeting phase is your sales team’s opportunity to start the show. This is where you’ll have your first formal interaction with a prospect, and the stakes are a little higher on both sides because there’s proven interest. In many ways, it’s like a first date.

 

Top challenges

At this point, your sales team might note challenges including:

  • Difficulty getting a prospect to agree to a meeting.
  • Trouble scheduling or sudden silence from prospects after indicating they want to meet.
  • Lack of skills and tools necessary to properly manage a demo, ask the right questions, and get the right information.
  • Inability to address certain problems, requests, or customer concerns due to gaps in training.

Key tech

Video conferencing, screen sharing and transcription tools are among the most important solutions for the demo/meeting stage. You’ll also want call tracking and analytics software to help you learn more about how your sales team handles these opportunities and where your training or enablement content can be improved. Sales enablement platforms come in handy, too.

Important roles

Your sales team is front and center. They should stay in contact with anyone involved in prospecting and lead qualification, however — because if someone made a promise during those phases, your sales reps need to follow through. This is also a great time for sales leaders and coaches to take an active role in addressing skills gaps, training new hires, recording best practices, and gathering key data for sales forecasting.

Vital processes

The most important tasks in the demo/meeting phase include:

  • Preparing questions and talking points.
  • Sharpening time management skills.
  • Ensuring sales enablement and demo content are readily accessible.
  • Sending agendas ahead of time.
  • Researching the individual/s who will be present at the meeting.

Stage 4: Proposal

If everything else goes well, this is the stage where a sales rep gets to put your offerings on full display. A proposal should always be customized to meet the potential customer’s needs as discussed in all the previous phases. It’s not just proof of what you can do; it’s proof that you listen as well.

 

Top challenges

During the proposal, sales reps may struggle with:

  • Poorly managing the tone, coming across as either too modest or too overconfident.
  • Providing too much information or not enough.
  • Failing to refer to pain points or topics mentioned in previous interactions.
  • Not getting the right information from cross-departmental teams.

Key tech

Sales proposal software is particularly effective at this point, as is sales enablement software and any communication or conferencing platform you’ve already been using. Sales reps need to keep track of the promises they’re making so other team members know how to follow through.

Important roles

While your sales team is still taking the lead in this part of the process, they might need input from legal, product, or service experts. If there are any special offerings or discounts, a sales manager or other leader might need to give the green light, too.

Vital processes

Drafting and checking the proposal is perhaps the most important step your teams will take at this point. Verbiage needs to be clear and concise without making any guarantees you can’t deliver upon; there also generally needs to be some acknowledgment of:

  • Price points
  • Delivery or due dates
  • Contract terms if relevant
  • Expectations on both sides

Stage 5: Negotiation/Commitment

This stage is highly variable and depends on your prospect, sales team, relationship management and plenty of other factors. If negotiation is necessary, remember that it’s a built-in part of the sales process and is a stepping-stone to commitment.

 

Top challenges

At this point, challenges may include:

  • A prospect continually changing their request.
  • Seemingly endless negotiations due to a lack of sales rep comfort or skills.
  • Unclear next steps.

Key tech

Most of the tech required for negotiation and commitment is related to strong communication. That means email platforms, CRM tools, and video conferencing solutions should all be top priorities.

Important roles

If your sales rep needs an extra push to get a prospect over the line, they might call in help from a leader or manager to help with negotiations. You may also need particular people in a meeting depending on the nature of the commitment or contract.

Vital processes

Consistent communication should be at the heart of this sales pipeline stage. However, capturing sales rep habits and data is equally important, as this is an opportunity to record best practices, make targeted improvements and keep track of any offers or promises.

Stage 6: Win

When your sales reps close deals, there’s plenty to do — such as informing other departments about upcoming work. It’s also key to reflect on the processes, decisions and sales activity that made this possible.

Stage 7: Post-purchase

Winning deals doesn’t mean your reps can sit back and relax. They still need to build relationships in the post-purchase phase, which can involve everything from answering questions to up- and cross-selling.

 

Top challenges

After a purchase, sales teams might struggle with:

  • Staying in contact with customers.
  • Responding effectively to questions or requests that may fall outside the sales team’s expertise.
  • Navigating negative feedback or reviews.

Key tech

CRM software is perhaps most important during this stage, as it helps keep track of a customer’s purchase history and what that means for the ongoing relationship. Sales enablement material should become product or service support material at this point, but sales reps should still know how to access and share it with customers.

Important roles

Now that the deal is complete, some sales reps might take a back seat while others — such as the product and shipping teams — take over. However, customers may still see the sales team as their main point of contact, so this is far from the end of the story.

Vital processes

The key to succeeding in post-purchase relationships is to provide what the customer needs, whether that’s answers, support, exchanges or refunds, additional products, or just an opportunity to offer feedback.

Putting it all together: Building a strong sales pipeline

Once you have all the individual pieces figured out, you’ll need to unite them in a cohesive sales pipeline. Follow these steps to get started:

Outline each step

Think of your sales pipeline as a roadmap and outline every “stop” a prospect will make before they reach their destination, which is a purchase or deal with your company. Think about what a potential buyer needs at each stop and how your sales team can deliver without pushing the prospect too quickly (or letting them lose interest).

Prepare your technology

Every stage of a sales pipeline relies on intuitive, integrated technology. Get rid of single-function tools where possible and use platforms that unite:

  • Sales enablement
  • Sales readiness
  • Onboarding, training, and coaching
  • Performance measurements
  • Revenue forecasting

Create your sales enablement strategy

Sales enablement strategy planning helps you make use of all the moving parts in a sales pipeline. When you can analyze key data, better understand sales reps’ needs and make targeted improvements, your prospects and your pipeline will benefit. You’ll also have the information you need to define different stages of the sales process and how this impacts your reps.

Prepare for the future

Ensure that your sales team approaches each stage of the sales pipeline as a springboard to the next level. If they get too caught up in one area or task, they might lose out on their next big sales opportunity. Often, this means providing the training, enablement material, and ongoing support they need to adapt to changing market conditions and anticipate customer demand.

Update as necessary

Part of building a sales pipeline is reviewing your current stages, habits, and processes to find more effective paths forward. Use call recording and analytics, CRM tools, deal health insights, and other key data to establish best practices, then get to work on sharing those changes with your teams.

Get the sales pipeline support you need

If you’re still wondering how to build a sales pipeline and what to do once it’s completed, you aren’t alone. Sales pipeline management requires skills, technology, and insight that don’t just appear out of thin air.

That’s why many businesses turn to a platform like Mindtickle, a sales readiness platform that’s so much more. From sales enablement and training to analytics, dashboards, conversation intelligence, and more, this is your single home for all things sales.

Want to see for yourself? Request your Mindtickle demo today.

The Magic of Bringing Your Technology Stack Under One Roof

Lindsey Plocek on May 26, 2023

Nearly every sales organization today is being forced to consolidate its sales tech stack to reduce burn rate, improve efficiency, and drive higher ROI.

Revenue leaders have long lamented that their bloated tech stacks are not leading to higher quota attainment, and are often creating organizational silos. While many of these tools were purchased with good intentions to help reps sell in a hybrid or mostly remote world, it’s not uncommon to hear revenue leaders realize that perhaps things have gone overboard.

It’s simple: too many tools create revenue chaos, and reps don’t know where to focus, or what to do each day.

With nearly 30% of sales teams using 10 or more tools in a given day, it’s obvious that the experience for reps to get onboarded and trained, work and win deals; find content, and personalize buyer experiences has grown quite complex.

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Number of tools sales reps use in a day

Now, though, there is a renewed urgency to consolidate. In this blog, we’re here to help you understand:

  • Benefits of consolidating your sales tech stack
  • What types of technologies to consolidate
  • Top use cases for consolidation
  • Questions to ask yourself before consolidating
  • DOs and DON’Ts of consolidating successfully

Benefits of consolidating your sales tech stack

There are many benefits of consolidating your sales tech stack.

Reps are trained faster

The biggest benefits are often felt by reps. Our customers who have consolidated with Mindtickle say their reps are trained 40-50% faster and improve their overall sales efficiency.

While reps in organizations with siloed tech stacks spend just 30% of their time actually selling, with consolidation, reps know what tools to use each day, and spend less time looking for content. They are also better able to work each stage of the sales cycle and match content and next steps to what that particular buyer needs.

Managers can coach more people at scale

Prior to consolidating its sales tech stack, one Mindtickle customer could count on a manager to oversee 4-5 people. After consolidating and improving the scalability of coaching and deal reviews, this same manager can successfully coach 8-9.

Reduced time and administration

Anyone who has ever participated in getting a sales technology off of the ground knows how time-consuming it is to:

  • Get to know the new tool

  • Implement it

  • Customize and support it

  • Drive usage and adoption

  • Continue justifying the investment and proving ROI

Working with too many sales tech vendors spreads teams thin, and makes it difficult for those organizations to partner together to truly help you drive a sales transformation. Rather than focusing on streamlining workflows, reducing clicks, and driving revenue goals, your time gets sucked up being courted by dozens of vendors who are often primarily thinking about how to keep their seat at the table in this precarious economy. That is not productive for you.

Reduced compliance and security risks

A goal of any good cybersecurity and compliance strategy is to reduce the sales tech stack. Why? Because every new vendor you add opens up risk. Not only do you need to constantly onboard and offboard employees, but there is another team of people with access to critical documents about your strategy and products. As much as possible, it is best practice to focus on fewer trust-worthy partners who follow best-in-class compliance protocols.

Create a culture of collaboration

When teams start to use too many different sales technologies, they inevitably adopt different sources of truth and workflows. This can lead to big discrepancies between how people think about business performance, people performance, and what to even do each day. In the world of revenue tech, RevOps might work in one platform and see issues with the forecast or pipeline that don’t properly get communicated to enablement.

Enablement might be looking at sales engagement and program statistics that show their efforts are paying off, but have little to no idea that a specific person, team, or sales stage is suffering so they can target and personalize their efforts.

Managers and reps might be completely misaligned on what deal risks even exist, how responsive prospects actually are, and the activity volumes that take place each day.

And CROs, who are responsible for reporting to the board, often get stuck finding problems, but not actually providing the team with strategic guidance on how to go beyond and fix those problems.

As much as possible, building a single data model for the sales org gets the whole revenue team aligned.

Positively impact cash flow and spend.

Here at Mindtickle, we know that the average 40-person selling team that consolidates its tech stack saves upward of $150,000 annually. For enterprise organizations, the potential financial benefits are much, much steeper.

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Annual savings with consolidated tech stack

While cost does not mean you have to sacrifice quality and results, it should not go unmentioned that organizations that do streamline their sales tech stack and eliminate redundant sales technologies reap big savings.

Tech consolidation is key to revenue productivity

Now that we know why organizations are consolidating their sales tech stacks, and why so many are urgently doing it now, what use cases exist? What types of technologies are they even consolidating?

There are many, but the biggest trend in consolidation right now is in connecting sales enablement and sales operations solutions with the goal of helping reps work and win more deals consistently and at scale. Another good way of putting this is that revenue orgs today are focused on helping reps know what to say, show, and do to win every sales stage.

At Mindtickle and other organizations, these new consolidated platforms are often referred to as revenue productivity platforms. The big idea behind revenue productivity platforms is that they not only help you identify people, deals, and teams that need your attention but actually drive change management at scale.

In a nutshell, revenue productivity platforms help you uncover insights on what deals, teams, and people need your attention but also go beyond to fix them with built-in enablement.

Here are some of the top use cases to consider when consolidating.

  • Reps can find top sales content easily

    With a unified user experience, it’s much easier for reps to find the content that best wins deals without much thinking. The ease of accessing sales content empowers reps with the knowledge and resources they need to effectively engage prospects, build relationships, and ultimately close deals.

  • Enablement can produce ROI-driven content and training programs.

    By connecting your content and sales training programs to revenue operations Platforms that do things like help you uncover issues with your forecast, pipeline, and quota attainment, organizations are also able to create more relevant, ROI-driven content and training programs.

  • Programs and content are rooted in data and real field evidence.

    At the same time, by empowering revenue teams to work in a platform where they can not only launch programs but deep-dive specific deals and calls, they are able to better root their programs in real field evidence.

Dead are the days when enablement teams would launch a program and cross their fingers that reps actually adopted it in the field. With a consolidated tech stack, the whole team works as one. It’s much easier to hold reps accountable for using the messaging and doing the activities you’ve prescribed as part of your new sales process or sales methodology. In fact, most organizations that consolidate their tech stacks are able to significantly scale deals and call reviews.

With a unified tech stack, not only can you decode what top reps do differently to win more, but you can also drive scalability and repeatability by rolling out things like templates and sales plays.

One of the top use cases is to encourage reps to build Digital Sales Rooms for customers and work deals diligently using Mutual Action Plans.

Better performance benchmarking and analysis of key sales outcomes

With a consolidated sales tech stack, organizations can start to get really clear about what their Ideal Rep Profiles and competencies look like. This means that instead of relying on manually input CRM data to predict who will hit quota or not, organizations can start to define the skills, activities, and in-field behaviors that make reps successful or not.

Once those Ideal Rep profiles and competencies are defined, organizations can better benchmark who is ready or not to hit quota. At Mindtickle, we call this the Sales Readiness Index. Dozens of our customers use it to know which teams and people need their attention.

This level of benchmarking is only possible when you unify your sales tech stack and begin to create a single data model around all of your buyer and seller interactions, as well as your sales competencies.

A culture of practice, reinforcement, and coaching

Sales coaching is essential, and it’s proven to drive bottom-line results. In fact, companies that provide quality coaching can reach 7% greater annual revenue growth. But why do so many fail to go beyond the one-way training provided through a typical Learning Management System?

A siloed sales tech stack is often the culprit.

By unifying your sales tech stack, you can enlist sales managers to participate a whole lot more. Finally, you can deliver insights like these to sales managers:

  • Deal health score
  • Deal risk insights
  • Visibility into calls, emails, and meetings
  • Visibility into buyer engagement
  • Adoption of sales processes and methodologies, such as MEDDPIC

Once sales managers have access to this data in one place, they can prescribe training programs and content reps should check out.

At the same time, features like AI video role-plays and reinforcements help reps overcome the forgetting curve by helping them practice and retain knowledge.

Questions to ask yourself before consolidating

Now that you know why businesses are consolidating redundant sales technologies, and the use cases they are pursuing, here are some questions to ask yourself.

  • When it comes to my current tech stack, what needs and pain points does my team have?
  • Where are we paying for redundant features?
    What tools are driving the most/least usage for us?
  • What tools are creating silos and misalignment between different departments?
  • Which of our vendor relationships are the most efficient and successful? Which ones are lacking, or taking up too much of our time?
  • Are our sales tech costs where they need to be?
  • Do the sales technologies we use integrate nicely?

Ready to see the magic of consolidating your revenue tech stack into a single platform?

Now that the benefits of consolidating your tech stack are clear and you’ve asked yourself if i makes sense for your organization, you might be ready to start evaluating a single-platform solution. If that’s the case, here are some dos and dont’s that will serve as a valuable guide when choosing a technology partner:

Dos

  • Do assess your current sales tech stack

    Take inventory of your existing sales tools and evaluate their effectiveness, usage, and integration capabilities.

  • Do define your objectives

    Clearly outline your goals and desired outcomes for consolidating your sales tech stack. Identify the specific functionalities and features you need to support your sales process.

  • Do prioritize integration capabilities

    Look for tools that seamlessly integrate with your existing systems, such as CRM, marketing automation, or customer support software. Smooth data flow and automation are crucial for a consolidated tech stack.

  • Do involve your sales team

    Seek input from your sales team throughout the consolidation process. Consider their needs, pain points, and preferences to ensure the new stack aligns with their workflows and enhances their productivity.

  • Do choose scalable solutions

    Select tools that can accommodate your business's growth and evolving needs. Scalability is essential to avoid the need for frequent changes and migrations in the future.

  • Do consider user-friendliness

    Opt for intuitive tools that require minimal training and onboarding. User adoption plays a significant role in the success of your consolidated tech stack.

Don’ts:

  • Don't overlook data security

    Prioritize the security of your sales data when selecting tools. Verify that the vendors have robust security measures in place, including data encryption, access controls, and compliance with relevant regulations like GDPR.

  • Don't forget about training and support

    Plan for proper training and ongoing support to ensure a smooth transition and user adoption. Neglecting training can hamper your team's ability to effectively utilize the consolidated tech stack.

  • Don't neglect cost considerations

    While consolidating your tech stack can bring efficiency and cost savings, carefully evaluate the total cost of ownership, including licensing fees, implementation costs, and any potential hidden expenses.

  • Don't overlook future needs

    Anticipate your future requirements and select tools that can adapt and grow with your business. Avoid short-term solutions that may become obsolete or inadequate as your sales operations expand.

Ready to learn more about how to consolidate your sales tech stack? Get in touch with our team so we can talk through your challenges and understand how a consolidated tech stack will help your sellers be more productive. 

This post was originally published in January 2022 and was updated in May 2023. 

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