Sales Transformation Strategy | SBI TV

When I walked into Bravo Solution as head of sales for the Americas, the company had a European pedigree, flat U.S. revenue for three years running, and a leadership team asking for 25 percent growth in a market we'd barely tapped. I told Matt Sharrers on the SBI Podcast that the first problem we found was that our client list looked like Noah's Ark — two of every type of company instead of a real focus.

We built what I still think of as a bowling-pin strategy: find the one type of customer you can win again and again, hit it hard, then use those wins to open doors with their competitors and neighbors. We built a universe list of 4,000 target accounts, split territories evenly so results reflected talent instead of luck, and got disciplined about the fact that it takes about 17 touches before a prospect will take a call. We also started running mock sales calls in interviews, because a great handshake in a conference room tells you almost nothing about whether someone can actually close.

What got you here won't get you there — that was true of a company moving from flat revenue to aggressive new-logo growth, and it was true of a sales team that had gotten comfortable. We hit the 25 percent number. We actually beat it.