Is there a more iconic line than Jerry McGuire screaming into the telephone:
“SHOW ME THE MONEY!”
For every sales organization out there, for as much as we talk about culture and charisma, at the end of the day, our aim is to close deals for our company, and to get those customers to show us the proverbial money.
Which is why on this episode of the Sales Engagement podcast, we sat down with Oyin Bamgbose, VP of Sales at Infinity, for a conversation all about the sales cycle, and more specifically, understanding the target addressable market.
Some things we talked about:
- The sales cycle as a whole
- Understanding the target addressable market
- Creating a culture around closing deals quickly
- The challenges of getting everybody on the same page
- The biggest time waster when it comes to the target addressable market
Let’s dive in.
Understanding the target addressable market
If the goal of a start-up, scale-up organization is to build a sustainable and repeatable way of generating revenue, then you must understand your target addressable market.
What is a target addressable market?
It’s the people you add value to — where they are and what they can pay for your product or service.
These are the people you are trying to sell to.
How will you achieve your target sales number?
(Not by motivational speeches alone!)
We achieve our sales number by wrapping our sales and marketing resources around the target addressable market to extract the required revenue in the required time frame.
As a sales leader, you aren’t just managing a number. You’re managing your buyers’ and your sellers’ emotions with clarity and confidence.
Creating a culture around closing deals quickly
What are some ways that you can inspire your sales leaders to take ownership around closing deals quickly?
- Keep your messaging clear. Clarity is one of the key things you have to provide your team, and you can use different forums to articulate that message to the team.
- Communicate with a cadence. What Oyin means by that is, use your meetings to your advantage. You have a weekly sales team huddle, and you have one-on-one meetings with each member. Maybe add in a training session on Wednesday mornings. That’s three key meetings a week. Use every one of them to help your team understand the value of their work and to clarify key processes in your sales cycle.
- Stay the course. Follow the process. The rest will take care of itself.
You can’t just win deals and forget about them. You also have to set up your customer for success. What are your customers looking to achieve from partnering with you?
Key takeaway: It’s not enough to win the deal. It’s only enough when everyone involved is a success.
The challenges of getting everybody on the same page
Old dog; new tricks.
Change is the one constant in life, and everyone is change averse in some way. Getting some of the more seasoned reps to adopt new processes can be a challenge. They know that what they were doing was working. So why change?
That’s a very, very valid question. And you need a very, very valid answer for it.
One of the key things Oyin says to the more seasoned sales reps is, “Look, I’m not here to teach you how to sell. I’m here to show you how to sell within this new framework.”
The biggest time waster when it comes to the target addressable market
Only one part of the sales process is truly valuable. But your sales reps are spending major time on minor tasks — guaranteed!
Sure, SalesForce admin, proposals, all value proposition statements all have to get done, but the one thing that matters is being in the presence of the prospect. Everything else is — to some extent — a time waster.
Time with the prospect is game time. Make sure you’re prepped and ready to go. Know exactly what you want out of that meeting. More importantly, know what your prospect wants out of that meeting.
Want to be effective? Draw a map that cleanly outlines how you are going to get from where you are with this prospect to where you want to go.
You can’t wing it. You can’t be focused unless you prepare. You can’t answer questions if you haven’t thought about them in advance.
Time with the prospect — that’s what moves your needle.
Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:
For more engaging sales conversations, subscribe to The Sales Engagement Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.
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