My presentation from HostingCon 2013

1. 6 Keys to Improving Sales
Results
HostingCon 2013
Stacy Griggs
Vice President of Cloud Enablement
Cbeyond

2. A Little About Me
• Technology Entrepreneur
• Former SVP and CSO at HostMySite
/ Hosting.com
• Former SVP and CSO at
MaximumASP
• @ Cbeyond – have built the cloud
sales team, sales engineering and
currently building cloud
enablement.
• Vice President of Sales for 3
different Inc 500 Companies.

3. State of Cloud and Hosting Sales
• Sales are great, but sales teams are not.
• Most companies excel in marketing and
automation, but frankly aren't good at
selling.
• A quality sales team can be one of your
most effective tools in competing with
AWS, Azure and Google.
• As legacy companies (like IBM, Verizon &
CSC) continue to enter our market, sales
competencies will become more
important.
• Large companies are more responsive to
sales, which has slowed their adoption to
IaaS and Managed Hosting.

4. #1 Get Addicted to Data and Metrics
• Start with a good SFA.
• Add a proposal generator, with e-
signature.
• Require activity logging for
commission payment.
• Manage to metrics, but the ultimate
measure is results.
• During ramp, people need to show
they are doing the right things - until
they get the right results.

5. #2 - Hire Sales Reps That Fit Your
System
• Define your system or it will
define itself.
• Great reps from one company
may not be successful in
another system.
• Pre-employment testing for fit.
• Benchmark psychometrics on
normative industry data and
your top performers for best
results.
• Admit mistakes fast.
• One size (or management style)
does not fit all.

6. #3 - Pay Well & Pay for Results
• Hunters should make more than
farmers.
• Sales isn’t just for sales reps –
incentivize support for
producing leads or upsells.
• High risk, high reward.
• Incentivize over-performance
and consistency.
• Compensation includes a lot
more than just pay.
• Keep bases low and commission
potential high.

7. #4 – Sell Different Ways
• High preforming companies sell –
direct, indirect and referral.
• Reps should include Channel
Managers, Inside and Outside.
• Packaging can make a big difference.
• Help your partners sell.
• Automate and integrate to scale.
• Find a way to say YES!
• Alignment between
sales, marketing, operations and
product is critical (this is not an issue
when you are small)
"The best way to have a
good idea is to have a lot
of ideas."
Linus Carl Pauling, 2x
Nobel Prize winner

8. #5 - Celebrate Success
• Culture is as important as
pay.
• Sales people are
competitive, keep score.
• Great teams produce better
results than great
individuals, incent teamwork.
• Have Fun!

9. #6 – Consistency is Key
• Change is needed to improve, it
needs to be thoughtfully
implemented to be successful.
• Constant tweaking to
commission plans, can lead to a
retention issues.
• Stability in accounts and quotas
lead to better results.
• Involve the team in creating the
future.
• Also extends to training and on-
boarding. You need to create
sales rep factory.

10. Questions / Contact Info
Stacy Griggs
Vice President – Cbeyond
Stacy.Griggs@cbeyond.net
Twitter @stacygriggs
Blog - http://www.thewhir.com/blog/profile/stacygriggs