S1E2: Jeremey Donovan: Value Reviews
One meeting that will maximize customer retention
A good value review includes both retrospective and prospective views. In this episode, Jeremey Donovon, the SVP of Sales Strategy and Operations at SalesLoft, breaks down systematic data collection tactics and how to build better relationships with existing customers by delivering value at your next value review meeting. LISTEN TO EPISODE HERE.
Value review show notes:
The golden rule is: Do unto others as you would have done to you. But, the platinum rule is: Do unto others as they would have done unto themselves.
Part of what drives leaders to act poorly to their team is the fear of failure, fear of losing their sense of title, or position that they have.
As you think about transitioning from sales into leadership and the importance of analytics, you don’t need to be excessively analytical, but you do need to think about the concept of A/B testing. Particularly, if you’re prospecting: what is the mix of touches that you need to do? When you do those touches? How do you need to tune your talk tracks? How do you need to tune your emails? Your social engagement, etc.? Look what people are testing and finding, and then attempt those on your own and see if they work for you specifically.
As a leader, don’t become a slave to the dashboard and the data. It’s incredibly easy for a frontline sales manager to get lost in tools and data, and not actually “ride along” either in-person, or by listening to call recordings and providing commentary on call recordings.
Analysis is important as a sales manager, but don’t let that get in the way of actually coaching your reps.
As you move up in sales leadership roles, you should shift to an analytical skill of interpretation and action, rather than an analytical skill of analysis and recommendation.
As a leader, try to delegate deeper analysis work so you can focus on the interpretation of data.
Pipeline coverage is an old school way of forecasting, but it refuses to die.
To assign accounts, look at 10 or 15 diverse sources of information such as LinkedIn, Crunchbase, and then build an algorithm that predicts what is likely to be a good account and what is not likely to be a good account, and then use those predictive scores in order to assign accounts.
A good value review includes both retrospective and prospective views. When meeting with an account, look at what was delivered during the course of the engagement and include a prospective view of, now here are the new ideas that we think are high leverage ideas for you should you wish to continue the relationship.
As you begin working with a customer, be clear on what it is that you are going to measure, either qualitatively or quantitatively, so that when you get to the value review point, you actually have the data. Ask what was the benefit of that for you, and/or just ask about hard ROI or soft ROI from time to time during the course of the engagement.
Don’t presume what value you are giving and don’t ask them three, six months down the road because they won’t remember. Assess in real time what impact you are having.
Collect data on the impact throughout the relationship so that when you do the value review, it becomes much easier and not just much easier to assemble, but much more actionable.
It’s critical to add value during that value review. And that value is less about what happened in hindsight, and much more about what they can do next.
Most companies struggle with the flow of communication from sales and service into product.
Systematic data collection as well as a relationship between your head of support or your head of customer success or your head of sales or whatever it happens to be has to be intentional.
Links mentioned in this episode:
About:
Jeremey Donovan is SVP of Sales Strategy and Operations at SalesLoft, the world’s leading sales engagement platform. Over the past 20+ years, he has had an eclectic career spanning semiconductor engineering to product development/management to sales & marketing leadership at Xilinx, Gartner, AMA, GLG, and CB Insights. Jeremey is the author of five books including the international public speaking bestseller “How to Deliver a TED Talk” as well as “Predictable Prospecting.” He holds a BS and an MS in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
