Reverse-engineer & smash your 2024 quota.

Happy Thursday to 10,925 SaaS sales professionals!

Today let's talk about numbers. Yes, sales is still a numbers game.

And knowing your numbers will make the difference between:

• executing a plan and making data driven decisions, and;
• scrambling all year and being inconsistent

Let's dive in👇

Why Sales Is A Number's Game

Sales is a game of conversion rates.

If you want to systemise your sales success, you need to know your numbers.

If I woke you up at 2AM in the morning could you tell me:

1. Your annual quota
2. Your average deal size
3. Your pipeline conversion
4. Your meeting to pipeline conversion
5. Your call to meeting booked conversion
6. Your dial to connect ration
7. Your email open & reply rates
8. Average meeting show up rate

No? But how will you know then:

1. How many deals you need to close this year
2. How many deals you need to source via prospecting
3. How many meetings you need to book with prospects
4. How many outbound calls & emails you need to make every day

I have the answer for you: you won't know it.

And if you don't know your numbers you won't know if you are doing enough.

You won't know if you are on track to make your number this year.

You won't know whether your conversion rates are good. You won't know which areas of your sales game you need to focus on.

"You can't manage what you can't measure" - Peter Drucker

How To Rig The Number's Game

Every salesperson needs to work off a Quota Attainment Plan (QAP).

A good QAP reverse-engineers your annual sales target down to daily & weekly inputs.

At Salesforce it was mandatory to update our QAPs every quarter. But it was a tedious.

Why? Because we treated it as an admin exercise. A necessary evil. But that's not how a QAP unfolds its power.

You need to LIVE your QAP. It should be your guiding compass every single day.

You should check in with your QAP on a regular basis.

Example of a thorough QAP (for AEs)

Why Your QAP Will Be A Game Changer

Clarity: your QAP tells you exactly what you need to do every day to achieve your sales target. It helps you focus on what matters, and ignore the distractions.

Accountability: a QAP tells you exactly how you are doing today. Are you crushing it? The QAP will tell you. Are you falling behind? Your QAP will tell you. You will procrastinate less. You will feel more compelled to take action.

Insight: Your QAP shows you your REAL conversion rates. This will help you identify strengths and weaknesses in your sales game. It will help focus your training/coaching/education efforts on the areas that need it the most.

QAP Process

1. Build your QAP based on numbers from your sales org. The best data source is your CRM. If any numbers or conversions are missing, google your industry averages. Be conservative in your approach. This 1st version of your QAP is only as good as your assumptions.
2. Measure your own numbers. For example, is your dial-to-connect ratio actually 10%? Is it more or is it less? Once you start executing, the real numbers will show (for better or worse).
3. Update your initial QAP with your own numbers. That way, you close the 3-step feedback loop. Your initial QAP might have been either too optimistic or pessimistic. Update it with your real numbers from the trenches on a regular (say, monthly) basis. This will ensure it's validity.