Using Data to Drive Sales Culture Improvements

Did You Set Sales Goals... Only to Measure the Wrong Behaviors? The problem isn’t that your team isn’t hitting the numbers. It’s that the number isn’t driving the right behaviors. Too many sales teams look successful on paper. While quietly missing opportunities that matters... Here's why: What you measure becomes your culture. And if your sales goals reward the wrong actions, you don’t get performance. You get theater... Here’s how to fix the system and make sure your sales goals actually produce sales success: 1. When Setting Daily Targets ↳ Instead of “Make 30 calls a day.” ↳ Say “Book 3 quality meetings with key decision-makers.” 2. When Reviewing Pipeline ↳ Instead of “How many proposals did you send?” ↳ Say “Which deals are most likely to close this quarter and why?” 3. When Recognizing Top Performers ↳ Instead of “Who wrote the most proposal?” ↳ Say “Who created the most revenue-impacting conversations?” 4. When Coaching Struggling Reps ↳ Instead of “Just increase your activity.” ↳ Say “Let’s analyze what activity leads to your best conversions.” 5. When Measuring Progress ↳ Instead of “Did we hit our sales target?” ↳ Say “Did we build sustainable momentum toward our long-term growth?” 6. When Designing Dashboards ↳ Instead of “Track everything.” ↳ Say “Let’s highlight the KPIs that actually drive results.” 7. When Motivating the Team ↳ Instead of “Hit your number or else.” ↳ Say “Let's see where the system is broken down so we can fix it.” 8. When Creating Incentives ↳ Instead of “Pay for activity.” (Mindless contests)  ↳ Say “Reward the outcomes we want to replicate.” 9. When Holding Managers Accountable ↳ Instead of “Track rep productivity.” ↳ Say “Coach reps to improve performance quality.” 10. When Building Sales Culture ↳ Instead of “Busy is good.” ↳ Say “Effective is everything.” ✅ Good leaders set clear goals. ✅ Great leaders set the right goals. ✅ Elite leaders align every number with meaningful results. So ask yourself: Are you building a sales culture that rewards movement… Or one that rewards mastery? Because if you're measuring noise, don’t be surprised when you don’t get music and that's my two cents... "Lead Different. Sell Smarter. Win with Purpose."  --- ♻️ Share this post with a sales leader who needs to hear it. Follow me for more strategies to grow your team... 👇 👉 Click here: Follow me on LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eA7csH2q 👉 Click here: Beyond The Funnel Newsletter https://lnkd.in/ed3iMb8x 👉 Click here: For my latest e-Book https://lnkd.in/eytkJd7Y PS: Thanks for reading!

I wrote an article for Forbes. Not because we needed PR but because most GTM teams are still stuck in 2015. You can now dynamically convert live web data into sales signals capturing real-time deep hiring activities, shifts in technology/gtm preferences and even subtle product pivots. But we’re still relying on static snapshots: - Crunchbase for funding - ZoomInfo for contacts - BuiltWith for tech stack - Apollo for bulk lead lists Reasoning Agents are here. How we consume the internet has changed. So should prospecting. Instead of blindly hitting the same list of accounts as your competitor, modern GTM requires systems that monitor and reason from live company behavior and surface signals from the accounts that are actually displaying buying behaviour. Here’s a simple 5-point framework to shift from outdated lead scoring to signal-based GTM: Monitor broadly: job boards, social posts, product docs, ad libraries, company updates. Capture nuance: look for subtle changes: new strategies mentioned, sudden hiring spikes for users of your product. Prioritize signals: decide what actually signals buying intent Maintain history: stack and log signals over time to build context and spot real patterns. Make it usable: plug these insights into your CRM or Slack so sales can act fast. Business leaders can make meaningful improvements to their GTM strategies without requiring significant investment More details in the article here: https://lnkd.in/g4YxCfhR Would love your thoughts.

What drives the success of top-performing sales teams? Our newest analysis at Worklytics has identified the key behavioral drivers of quota attainment within sales teams. We've closely studied the time allocation, activities, and efforts of effective sales reps to pinpoint key factors that influence sales performance. 📊 Here is a data-driven breakdown of what makes a top-performing sales team: Below Average Performance: ➡ Prospect response time > 24 hrs (-21% lower performance): Slow response times to prospects lead to a significant drop in sales performance. ➡ Inconsistent client outreach (-16%): Irregular contact with clients results in decreased performance. ➡ < 1 manager 1:1 per month (-16%): Infrequent one-on-one meetings between managers and team members correlate with lower performance. ➡ < 2 hours prep time per day (-11%): Limited preparation time each day reduces team effectiveness. ➡ < 30 mins per week with Account Teams (-9%): Minimal interaction with account teams is linked to lower performance. ➡ Limited inter-team connections (-9%): Lack of collaboration between teams hinders overall performance. ➡ Over 8 hours weekly internal meetings (-8%): Excessive internal meetings can be counterproductive and negatively impact performance. Top Performers: ➡ Multiple client stakeholders (+13% higher performance): Engaging with various client stakeholders significantly boosts performance. ➡ Rapid prospect response (<24 hrs) (+9%): Quick responses to prospects are a strong positive driver of sales performance. ➡ Manager involved in high % of sales calls (+9%): Managers who actively participate in a large percentage of sales calls contribute to higher performance. ➡ Recurring calls with customers (+9%): Regular follow-up calls with customers enhance sales performance. ➡ In top 40% of slide/document activity (+9%): High activity in sharing slides/documents correlates with better performance. ➡ Broad internal network (+8%): A wide internal network supports better collaboration and performance. ➡ > 2 weekly touchpoints per prospect (+6%): Maintaining frequent touchpoints with prospects is crucial for top performance. For the full details on our Sales Effectiveness Analysis, check the comments below. What data-driven strategies have you found most effective in boosting sales team performance? #PeopleAnalytics #SalesPerformance #HRAnalytics #TalentManagement #TalentAnalytics

In 36 months, I scaled a hunting team at AWS from $0 to $25M Though it was seen as a great success by many, there are 5 critical shifts I’m applying to build a modern outbound engine at Yess: WHO, WHY, WHEN, TO WHOM, and HOW LONG. Here’s the breakdown: 1️⃣ WHO is reaching out: - Old Way: entry-level SDRs flood inboxes with spam. + New Way: Team-selling facilitated by SDRs. Decision makers prefer talking to other decision makers. Executives and peers should engage directly. companies should move from old-school outbound to team selling model that is facilitated by SDRs and driven by signals and intent data. 2️⃣ WHY we're reaching out: - Old Way: Generic emails saying, 'I see you're the {job title}...' + New Way: Relevancy > Generic personalization. Generic outreach that lacks relevance and personalization is dead. Look for accounts that visited your website, engaged with your social media, or showed intent through third-party data to craft contextually rich content driven by intent data and real-time signals. 3️⃣ WHEN we reach out: - Old Way: As soon as a new lead gets into the CRM, no matter what. + New Way: Engaging contacts when they show interest. Sales isn’t about immediately pouncing on every lead anymore. Leading sales teams will strategically time their outreach with behavioral signals, like site visits or content engagement. 4️⃣ To WHOM we are reaching out: - Old Way: Single (ICP) persona within the account. + New Way: Target the entire buying team, with personalized touches. Modern outreach should involve the entire buying committee. Each stakeholder has different needs and goals. Use detailed persona data to create messages that hit home for everyone. 5️⃣ HOW LONG we reach out: - Old Way: same 18-step generic sequence for all accounts. + New Way: Dynamics playbooks based on live engagement data. Dynamic playbooks help sales teams tweak their outreach using live data. Sequences adapt to prospects' actions in real time, keeping the prioritization of accounts updated and dynamic. TAKEAWAY: The outbound paradigm is shifting and pushing us to focus on precision over volume. Outbound should leverage: + WHO is reaching out,  + tailor WHAT they communicate,  + sync it perfectly with WHEN it matters the most, + strategically choose TO WHOM they reach out to,  + and dynamically adjust HOW LONG they engage based on data. Keep them in check. 

Sales Leaders please remember this. Data doesn’t tell you what’s wrong. It just tells you where you need to look. It is still surprising to me how non data driven a lot of sales managers. VPs and CROs are But even with the ones that are they tend to stop too short. Ok close rates are low? Why? Now we need to go see where in the cycle the are getting kicked out. Ok most aren’t making past POC. Ok now we need ti go review the POC process. Listen to those calls. Review those emails. NOW we are getting closer to the cause. Show rates are bad? Ok we need to go review how far our they are being booked, what the calls sound like, what lie confirmation process is, etc If data told the whole story we wouldn’t be needed as leaders. Data tells you where to look. We bring the context from what we find there. Dig deep this next quarter. Pick ONE MAJOR METRIC and diagnose the living you know what out of it. Find the WGLL Then 4D it. Define Document Demonstrate Deliberately Practiced Go get it.