The how to guide for creating a modern sales organization from startup to mid sized enterprise. Bonus material for startups includes the maximizing college interns to develop your lead generation marketing team. Zach Curry zczinc@gmail.com

1. Creating a Sales
Organization
Zach Curry, Sales & Finance Professional

2. Table of Contents
 Who
 Ideal Customer
 Buyer Persona
 Job Theory
 Hero Statement
 Buyer’s Journey
 Sales Enablement
 Content Marketing
 Journalist, for college credit
 Organize Assets, Asset Audit
 Ideation Process
 Identifying Quality Content
 How to quantify your Buyer Persona’s as
Revenue and set priorities
 Distribution Channels
 2019 Trends
 Sales
 Sales Funnel
 Correlation to Buyer’s Journey
 NEAT Qualification
 Stages of Lead Qualification
 Sales Methodology, Solution Based
Sales
 Demonstration Fundamentals
 Sales Organization
 Ideal Employee
 Onboarding
 Coaching
 Sales Cycle
 Optimization
 Service Level Agreement

3. Who
 This is specific to every business. You have a service or product with an end
user in mind.
 Who is that ideal customer?

4. Ideal Customer
 Your ideal customer is someone who gets their exact needs met by your
offering.
 Step One:
 Know your product
 Step Two:
 Determine Your Goals, ensuring your customer aligns with your offering
 Step Three:
 Analyze Past Interactions
 Step Four:
 Build Customer Personas

5. Personas
 A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer
based on market research and real data about your existing customers.
 The Four Criteria that should be Collected:
 Background
 Demographic
 Challenges
 Identifiers
 Quality questions to answer regarding each Persona are:
 What are their goals?
 Where do they obtain, seek knowledge?
 What are their shopping preferences?
 When should a sales rep get involved?

6. Jobs Theory
 Theory states people buy products/services to get a “job” done.
 This addresses the Persona’s challenges and determines several items such
as:
 Call to Action
 Content to navigate the buyers journey

7. Hero Statement
 A Hero Statement is sometimes used as a mission statement, when used on
the persona level you can create an immediate empathetic connection
conveying who and how you serve with identifying the tangible benefit.
 Using Hero Statement for each persona can assist with identifying the best
marketing content, and provides a consistent message through the Buyer’s
Journey.

8. Buyer’s Journey
 The Buyer’s Journey is a
framework that acknowledges
a buyer’s progression through
a research and decision
process ultimately culminating
in a purchase.
 Each Persona will have their
own buyer’s journey
determined by their Job to be
Done.
 There can be multiple
combinations of same jobs
correlating to different
Personas and vice versa.
Awareness
• Develop interest, the buyer develops an
awareness that they have a job
requiring consideration of a purchase.
Consideration
• Information gathering, the buyer begins
to gather more information about the
job, and potential solutions.
Decision
• Commitment, buyer uses the resources
available to purchase the appropriate
solution addressing their job to be done.

9. Sales Enablement
 In today’s market buyer’s are empowered to obtain information well before
they engage with a sales agent, if they ever engage with a sales agent. 70% of
buyers do research before making a decision. 59% of buyers do not want to
engage with a sales agent.
 Utilizing content marketing both in a passive and active manner increases the
likely hood of a close sale through empowering/educating each persona.
 Align all teams with a big vision, and measurable goals.
Three Elements for Success
1. Have a clear goal expressed as Revenue
2. Identify the target buyer/persona
3. Utilize a content strategy

10. Content Marketing
 Content marketing is a marketing technique
of creating and distributing valuable,
relevant and consistent content to attract
and acquire a clearly defined audience –
with the objective of driving profitable
customer action.
 Use the SCOPE framework
 S – Standardize
 C – Contextualize
 O – Optimize
 P – Personalize
 E - Empathize
Engage
Delight
Attract

11. Start Somewhere
 Content Marketing does not have to be complicated.
 Working with college students providing college credits is a viable option
for journalist students. Who may become your Content Manager.
 Create a program where your Subject Matter Experts rotate being
interviewed allowing the student to create an E-Book, 3-4 blog posts, and
various social media posts from the material obtained each month.
 If you have the ability to capture video you can also use the interview to
produce YouTube content.

12. Things to Know About Internships
 The employer is not responsible for the college credits, it is with the student
to confirm with their specific career center.
How to Launch an Internship Program
 Assign an Intern Coordinator
 This person will be in charge of collecting resumes, promoting the position, sorting
resumes, coordinating interviews, and providing work space for the intern.
 Outline Your Program
 Create a mission statement detailing what you want to accomplish with the intern.
 Make Task Beneficial for Both Parties
 Make sure the intern is not running personal errands.
 Know your intern’s goals and strengths
 Select Your Dates – Be Specific
 Fall Resumes (July 15th) – September 15th to December 1st
 Spring Resumes (October 15th) – January 15th to April 1st
 Summer Resumes (March 15th) – June 1st to August 1st

13. Framework for Valuable Content
 Provide the journalist a framework to which they can align their production
goals with the business directives.
 Identify your most profitable persona (we will cover next) and create themes for
each quarter.
 Using these themes identify the persona’s jobs to be done and create content
around these items for each step in the buyer’s journey that corresponds with
your sales cycle.
 Then set SMART* Goals for each month and quarterly theme.
 Remember to use Characters, Conflict, Resolution to tell compelling stories.
*Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely: Goals Framework

14. Organize Content
 Organizing your content can assist
sales agents to provide resources
during the sales cycle helping to
ensure higher transition rates from
each sales step.
 If you have previous content that is
not organized complete an audit
to streamline access to your assets.
Organize Your Content
•Content Title
•Buyer's Journey Stage
•Sales Cycle Stage
•Persona
•Pain
•Feature
•Format or Type of Content
•Keywords
•Intended Channels of
Distribution
•Link to Content

15. Ideation Process
 Ideation Process is the creative
process of generating,
developing, and
communicating new ideas,
where an idea is understood as
a basic element of thought that
can either be visual, concrete, or
abstract.
 James Webb Young outlined this
process in his book A Technique
to Producing Ideas
Gather Information
Digest the Material
Unconscious Processing
Eureka Moment

16. How to Identify Content
 Sales Reps are constantly creating content every time they answer a
buyer’s question.
 Identify the three most frequently asked questions and objections monthly
then share these with your journalist intern to guide what content should be
conceptualized.
 Search Quora.com for most frequently asked questions by your persona.
(Also don’t be afraid to answer their questions as well to serve as a subject
matter expert.)

17. Quantifying Persona's Value
 Instead of using lead
generating metrics, as these
can often be misleading and
may or may not contribute to
your top line growth, begin to
track the average of amount
each persona is converting at
the end of the sales process.
Ideal
Customer
Persona A
Job A
1X
Conversion
Priority D
Job B
5X
Conversion
Priority A
Persona B
Job A
4X
Conversion
Priority B
Persona C
Job B
2X
Conversion
Priority C

18. Distribution Channels
 Keep in mind you want to place content where your persona seeks
information.
 LinkedIn
 YouTube
 Udemy.com
 Facebook
 Quora.com
 Instagram
 Company Website/Blog
 And many more!

19. 2019 Content Marketing Trends
 Video Voicemails
 Video in Emails
 Video as an Email Signature
 Onboarding Videos during Handoffs to other Departments

20. Sales
 Before you can evaluate your sales process you have to identify your
buyer’s personas in order to provide education and value ultimately
helping to guide your buyer to purchase your product or service.
 If your buyer is not a good fit the worst thing you can do is close the sale
under misleading expectations. This is not good for the buyer or the
business.
 Now that we have identified our persona(s) and development our lead
generation strategy using Content Marketing we can outline our sales
methodologies, how we qualify, and how we identify the status of each our
leads.
 First we identify how our sales process aligns with our buyer’s journey.

21. Sales Funnel
 The Sales Funnel are the steps that
companies stage prospects when selling
a product or service to a customer.
Identifying what stage of the buyer’s
journey expressed in company labeling.
 Until you implement your content
marketing strategy many businesses rely
on outbound campaigns, but as your
content marketing begins to take effect
the “Visit” stage will be applicable to the
sales cycle. Otherwise you will start on the
“Lead” stage by researching and
contacting a potential buyer who
appears to fit the buyer’s persona.
Visit
Lead
Marketing/BDR Qualified
Lead
Sales Qualified Lead
Opportunity
Customer

22. Buyer’s Journey & Sales Cycle
Awareness
• Visit
• Lead
Consideration
• Marketing/BDR Qualified Lead
• Sales Qualified Lead
Decision
• Opportunity
• Customer
 It is more important to be mindful of the
buyer’s journey than the sales cycle,
being that sales should be buyer-
centric.
 The consideration period is when we
qualify the leads and sales should be
able to accept or decline a lead if they
find the lead is not qualified.
 If Sales declines to accept a lead it
needs to be reviewed by a supervisor,
manager, or oversight committee to
understand where the lead should be
assigned and to avoid future conflict.

23. Ideas for Content in Each Stage
Awareness
Consideration
Decision
Blog Posts, Email Newsletter,
Whitepaper/EBook, Tip Sheet, Checklist,
Tool Kit, How-To Video, Webinar,
Infographic, Podcast, Tutorial, Glossary,
Data Visualization, Interview, Template
Customer Testimonials, Advanced EBook,
Catalogue, Case Study, Free Sample,
Demo, Solution Based Whitepaper, Spec
Sheet, FAQ, Product Webinar
Free Consultation, Free Trial,
Pricing Page, Estimate/Quote,
Coupon

24. NEAT Qualification Method
❑N - Need
❑E - Economic Impact
❑A - Access to Authority
❑T - Timeline
 Use this as a check list.
 Use questions to qualify if we have a
good product/service fit with the buyer,
AND if the buyer is ready to move
forward.
 Notice economic impact, this requires a
deeper understanding of the buyer’s
need and in so doing helps to avoid
objections regarding pricing.

25. Stages of Lead Qualification
Sales Sales Nurture
Be
Honest
Be
Honest
Be
Honest
Requested Sales Sales Ready Sales Unready
Good Fit
Poor Fit

26. Stages of Lead Qualification Cont.
 Depending on lead volume the assignments of leads can be sent to nurture
or under heavy volumes take the approach of being honest that they are
not a good fit.

27. Sales Methodology
 Sales Methodologies are unique approaches to driving sales effectiveness
and developing sales skills.
SPIN Selling Four Types of Questions: Situation, Problem, Implication,
Need/Payoff
SNAP Selling Keep it simple, Be invaluable, Always align, Raise priorities
The Sandler
System
Traditional Sales using a Linear Approach focused on objection
handling
Customer
Centric Selling
Focusing on the customer and helping them to differentiate
themselves against their competition
MEDDIC Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process,
Identify Pain, Champion (Good for large complex systems)
Solution Selling Using Gap Analysis convey what the product will solve and relay
the impact to close

28. Demonstration Fundamentals
Intuitive
•Build Anticipation/Best for Last
•Build Value
•Focus on Benefits
•Respond to Questions with well scripted answers
•Name Drop Big Clients
•Prove ROI
•Ask for next steps
Counter-Intuitive
•Most Relevant Feature First
•Give only three to four features and allow for
questions
•Focus on tearing up the status quo
•Maintain control of conversation
•Avoid Generic Social Proof
•Use Customer Stories (Before & After)
•Ask for Next Steps at Beginning
 Make the demo highlight the buyer’s job to be done and do not overwhelm with
additional features. They can begin to feel as that a discount is needed as they don’t
“need” those features or the solution is too complex.
 Demonstrate with a case study and/or market trends how the solution will be a
requirement and not just a nice to have.
 Maintain control by setting the agenda at the beginning where you identify you will
address price at the end. Also say by the end of this presentation I would like to be in a
position where: a) you are interested and we agree on the next steps OR b) you’re not
interested and we can go our separate ways.
 By using other client stories the potential buyer can not argue as it is a story rather than
sharing the expected return on investment when you may not know their entire
background to calculate correctly loosing credibility and creating additional obstacles.

29. Sales Organization

30. Ideal Employee
 Once the team has at least two sales reps identify what qualities drive
success, as the team grows and the positions become specialized this will
change but keep track and identify the qualities in potential new hires.
Continue to test this theory every quarter to keep the qualities for new
applicants relevant.
 While there are several personalities and often individuals will have traits
from multiple personality types there will be a predominate personality
profile that is exhibited.
The Hard Worker
Doesn’t give up
Self-motivated
Interested in
feedback/personal
development
The Lone Wolf
Follows own instincts
Self-assured
Deliver results but
difficult to manage
The Relationship
Builder
Classic consultative rep
Builds advocates
internally
Creates relationships
with prospects
The Challenger
Different view of the
world
Loves to
debate/pushes
customer
Strong understanding
of customer’s business
The Problem Solver
Highly detailed-
orientated
Reliable responds to
stakeholders
Ensures all problems are
solved

31. Ideal Employee Continued
The
Challenger
• Teach, Tailor,
Take Control
Solution
Selling
• Using Gap
Analysis convey
what the
product will
solve and relay
the impact to
close
40% of high sales
performers primarily
used a Challenger
style
High performers
were 2X likely to use
a Challenger
approach than any
other approach
More than 50% of
all star performers fit
the challenger
profile in complex
sales
Only 7% of top
performers took a
relationship building
approach
Personalization
to Prospect
Understand their
motivation
Demonstrate
time sensitive
actionable
benefits

32. Ideal Employee Continued
 The Challenger Personality does not identify as aggressive, it is the opposite. The
Challenger understands the value of educating their prospects and providing
value.
 Challengers understand prospects never argue their own information asking
confirmation questions or for someone to explain why a feature or benefit is
important to them. Then guiding the prospect into what the steps will be by
asking what the prospect believes would be appropriate.
 Example:
Mr. Prospect with your permission what I’d like to suggest as the next step is…
[Insert Next Step]
Would this be appropriate?
OR
Would that work for you Mr. Prospect?
 Example:
Well I do not have anything else to go over with you, it looks like we possibly covered
what you are looking for, really the next step is we make some type of arrangement for
your [Insert what ever you are selling] you can wire or use a card, and at that point we
will [Next steps after purchase]
Would that be appropriate or how would you like to proceed from here?

33. Onboarding - What we do.
 Onboarding is the action or process of
integrating a new employee into an
organization.
 Remember that onboarding does not have
to be all at once as retention will increase
creating modules delivered over time.
 Set Expectations
 KPI’s
 Your Goal
 Identify the different sales roles
 How to do job
 How to be successful in the company
 Identify what core competencies are
required.
 Steps of Training
 Knowledge Acquisition
 Knowledge Sustainment/Reinforce
 Skill Development
 Role Play
 Skill Transfer
 Skill Mastery

34. Coaching - Improve how we do it.
 Each associate should meet with a
supervisor/coach/manager monthly to address their
KPI’s using the GROW framework.
 Review the strengths, and opportunities and then ask
the sales rep what goals they would like to develop.
 Goal is identify the goals you are looking to
accomplish.
 Reality is where they are currently.
 Options are in what ways can the goals be
accomplished?
 Way Forward is the actions that will be taken to
facilitate the goal.
 Make sure you schedule the coaching calls before
the end of the meeting.
❑ G – Goal
❑ R – Reality
❑ O – Options
❑ W – Way Forward

35. Coaching Example
10
8
7
3
2
1
SALES STEP 1 SALES STEP 2 SALES STEP 3 SALES STEP 4 SALES STEP 5 SALES STEP 6
Bobby's April
Bobby's April
 You can see Bobby’s largest delta in his sales process is between sales step
3 and 4 identifying he could use assistance getting buy in during step 3 and
obtaining the information needed to enter step 4.

36. Sales Cycle
 The Sales Cycle is the process that companies undergo when selling a
product or service to a customer. It encompasses all the required activities
associated with closing the sale.
 Two Types of Steps
 Required
 Optional
 This needs to be developed with the buyer’s journey and sales funnel in
mind. What steps for each specific persona are needed to help educate
them to the next step?
 Using this question you can identify what actions and content will be
needed for each step.

37. Sales Cycle Optimization Example
 Just as Bobby had opportunities as an individual, once you deploy a full team
you also need to adjust your sales cycle quarterly for optimization.
100
90
50
45
35
30
SALES STEP 1 SALES STEP 2 SALES STEP 3 SALES STEP 4 SALES STEP 5 SALES STEP 6
Team Agile September
Team Agile September

38. Sales Cycle Optimization Example
Continued
 In this team example the largest delta in the sales process is between sales
step 2 and 3 identifying there could be a few things to consider:
 Can the content being used be improved?
 Are we missing a step that would better align with the buyer’s journey?
 Do we need to update our persona or job to be done working to more
accurately qualify our leads?
 Do not be afraid to experiment using A/B campaigns and monitor the best
option.
 The constant updating is to be expected with more and more information
being provided online and new competitors appearing every day.

39. Service Level Agreement
 A Service Level Agreement is a commitment between a service provider
and a client. In a sales organization it is between marketing/prospecting
and sales. Marketing/prospecting must provide the appropriate amount of
leads to achieve revenue goals and sales must contact each lead in a
reasonable amount of time.
 The faster a lead is contacted after engaging with content or our site the
higher the conversion rate. If a lead is contacted within 5 minutes the
conversion rate is increased 1000X.

40. Sources
 www.InternQueen.com
 The Challenger Sale, by Matthew Dixon & Brent Adamson
 From Impossible to Inevitable, by Aaron Ross
 The Sales Acceleration Formula, by Mark Roberge
 Predictable Revenue, by Aaron Ross & Marylou Tyler
 A Technique to Producing Ideas, by James Webb Young