Outbound SDR teams sell to companies, not individuals, so your outbound prospecting funnel should be focused on companies. Having a deep understanding of your outbound prospecting funnel is necessary for forecasting and improving your team's performance. In this presentation, we'll talk about the metrics that make up your funnel and why they are critical.
Created by Taft Love & Chris Bryson.
3. E-mail: taft@icebergops.com
Web: icebergops.com
03
A LITTLE HISTORY
Chris and Taft worked together to build Sales
Development and Operations functions for PandaDoc
and SmartRecruiters before moving into enterprise
sales and sales leadership.
Led 5 teams across 4 cities
Hired more than 50 SDRs together
Generated over $150m in AE pipeline
Helped build and improve dozens of SDR programs
4. UPLEVEL THE SDR FUNCTION.
Help SDR leaders and their teams get a seat at the executive table.
OUR GOAL
5. E-mail: taft@icebergops.com
Web: icebergops.com
05
WHO IS THIS FOR?
Teams doing focused outbound prospecting in Mid Market and Enterprise.
Leaders
Understand your funnel
and plan accordingly
Reps
Understand your funnel
so you know what inputs
lead to pipeline
Execs
Know what metrics you need
from SDRs to forecast
outbound pipeline
6. E-mail: taft@icebergops.com
Web: icebergops.com
06
WHAT WE NOTICED...
Data-driven outbound Sales Development wins up-market.
Outbound programs are the new norm in MM and Enterprise.
BUT THERE’S A PROBLEM...
Sales Development doesn’t have a seat at the proverbial table.
Few SDR leaders can accurately project outbound pipeline.
7. E-mail: taft@icebergops.com
Web: icebergops.com
07
VP SALES
A qualified VP Sales can reliably forecast her
output with four metrics:
# Opportunities
$ Average Opp
% Win Rate
T Sales Cycle
SALES
Outbound
Prospecting
Inbound
Marketing
?
8. “Tracking sales velocity over time allows you to benchmark your own sales velocity against other teams, compare the
effectiveness of individual reps or regions, and see how changes to the sales processes impact your business,
for better or worse.”
- Marketo Blog (Source)
E-mail: taft@icebergops.com
Web: icebergops.com
08
SALES VELOCITY RATE
SVR =
Deal Cycle (T)
# Opps Avg Opp $ Win RateX X
13. E-mail: taft@icebergops.com
Web: icebergops.com
13
Qualified
Meeting Set
Engaged
Activated
Who: SDR & Marketing
• Mark Accounts as active in CRM
• Create account plan with Sales
• Add relevant Contacts to Account
• Begin outbound sequences
Who: SDR & Marketing
• At least 1 prospect responds to outreach
• SDRs qualify before passing to AEs
Who: SDR
• Meeting set btw prospect and AE
• Logged as Event in Salesforce
Who: SDR & Sales
• Opportunity created
• Passed to Account Executive
• This is the top of the Sales funnel
OUTBOUND PROSPECTING FUNNEL
14. E-mail: taft@icebergops.com
Web: icebergops.com
14
METRIC 1
Activated Accounts Per Opportunity
On average, how many accounts do you need to approach to create a new opportunity?
You have to clearly define “active”.
For example: 3 contacts have received at least 1 touch.
Activation should be measured, not self-reported.
It’s difficult for SDRs to focus on their job and tracking their own metrics.
Activation should be the north star.
Nothing else matters if you don’t approach the right number of acounts.
Separate values for different segments.
Don’t blend MM, and Ent opportunities into a single value.
15. E-mail: taft@icebergops.com
Web: icebergops.com
15
METRIC 2
Average Opportunity Value
On average, how much pipeline does an opportunity add?
Only factor in
Outbound opportunities.
Until you can measure it, guess conservatively.
This is especially true for Land-and-Expand sales.
Separate values for different segments.
Don’t blend MM, and Ent opportunities into a single value.
16. E-mail: taft@icebergops.com
Web: icebergops.com
16
METRIC 3
Outbound Cycle Time
How long does it take you to create a new opportunity via cold outbound?
To measure this, you have to mark when an account is activated.
This is why clearly defining activation is so important.
Separate values for different segments.
Don’t blend MM, and Ent opportunities into a single value.
18. E-mail: taft@icebergops.com
Web: icebergops.com
18
WHY DOES
THIS MATTER?
Standard SDR metrics like call volume, connect rate, and email
response rate are tactical and focused on individuals, not
companies.
Sales Development earns a seat at the table when they can
quantify AND project their contribution to the business.