Guest Post by Josiane Feigon: Sally has my vote!

It’s so great to hear the community’s reaction to our announcement of Sally Duby’s change in role at Phone Works. Here’s a particularly nice one, celebrating Sally’s contributions to the inside sales profession, from our friend and partner, Josiane Feigon.  Josiane is President of TeleSmart Communications, author of “Smart Selling on the Phone and Online” and writer of the “Cubicle Chronicles” blog, where this post appeared yesterday.

Two weeks from now,  the most influential inside sales experts will gather for AA-ISP’s Leadership Summit in Minneapolis on May 10th and 11th. The line-up of speakers, authors and sessions is impressive. These two days will be packed with information designed to energize and educate you to a new level. If you haven’t signed up, I highly recommend you carve out time to attend this fantastic event. You can even use my promo code “TeleSmart” when registering and get a discount to attend the conference.

One of the highlights of the upcoming  event is the Awards Ceremony, which recognizes some of the most influential inside sales professional. Last year, I was honored with this award and hope to hold on to my crown this year also. But wait, there’s room for more – so Sally Duby gets my personal vote for most influential inside sales professional 2011.

For the past 15 years, Sally has been at the helm running Anneke Seley’s successful company, Phone Works. Her leadership has helped PhoneWorks achieve tremendous growth. She has also been instrumental in developing Silicon Valley’s Telebusiness Alliance which is a thriving professional organizaiton of inside sales managers and directors who meet on a bi-monthly basis to discuss trends, compensation, tools, etc.

Sally Duby and Kevin Bacon have one thing in common, everyone revolves 6 degrees around them. Over the years, I have found myself in so many situations where I mention Sally Duby and suddenly, I’m family – everyone knows Sally!  If I ever start a Perez Hilton–type gossip blog or an Entertainment Today show around the inside sales industry, Sally will be my main source.

There’s nothing worse that being misunderstood and the inside sales field is one of the most complicated and confusing industries out there and many people don’t get it. Sally Duby does–inside and out. She knows the field, the people, the processes, the technology and deeply understands how it all changes within seconds. She knows how a company never really believes they have arrived because once they do, it’s time to tear it down and put it back together.

Sally has recently taken on a new position managing the SMB business for Skype, working closely with another inside sales powerhouse, Cathy Sidwell. These two together will transform Skype and make inroads into areas we never thought possible, so I’m excited to see it happen and wish her luck.

Tags: AA-ISP, inside sales

A New Chapter for Phone Works: A Tribute to Sally Duby

In 1986, a talented young Sally Duby came to interview with me for a job as an inside sales rep at Oracle. Sally exemplified the hiring profile for Oracle’s new phone-based  selling organization: as VP of sales for a computer hardware company, she was at the pinnacle of her sales career in her industry but saw the opportunity to grow and excel in the growth industry of the time: software. She put her ego aside, donned a headset, logged on to OASIS (Oracle’s internal CRM of the time) and started her entry-level sales job. She was in good company: her office was next to another new inside sales hire, a  recent college grad whose ambition was palpable. His name was Marc Benioff (now CEO of salesforce.com.)

Ten years later, after quickly rising to the sales management level first within Oracle and then at Network General and Ingres (Computer Associates), I asked Sally to join Phone Works. I needed a trusted right-hand person to help structure and grow the five-year-old business that I had started after leaving Oracle, in response to the growing market interest in highly-effective, lower cost sales models. I could not ask for a more perfect fit for that role. Throughout the following fifteen years, Sally brought in a team of experts,  established our processes and systems, and ran the operations for the business. In large part because of Sally’s reputation for competence, unique knowledge, responsiveness, trust and reliability with so many executives, Phone Works is now a recognizable and respected name in Silicon Valley and beyond.

Today we are in the “Sales 2.0″ era. Those of us who grew up in inside sales environments are reveling in the fact that our skill sets are “hot.” Venture Capitalists are requiring their portfolio companies to implement lead generation groups, inside sales teams, hybrid phone/field selling or simply, sales forces that know how to communicate with today’s customers: via phone and online. Large companies with ineffective inside sales groups or field sales organizations that aren’t automated, measured or integrated with marketing and inside sales are losing opportunities to the competition. There are simply not enough senior people who are experienced and credible in the new way of buying and selling to go around. Forward-thinking companies are putting together attractive offers to recruit a new breed of Sales VP.

Sally is the epitome of that new breed. On April 25, Sally leaves Phone Works to pursue her next opportunity with one of the most promising companies offering a “Sales 2.0″ product; she will be heading up North American SMB (Small and Medium-Size Business) Sales for Skype. Sally will not be “leaving” Phone Works per se. On the same day, she’ll begin her new  role with us as a member of the Phone Works Advisory Board.

I interviewed Sally in her final week as Phone Works General Manager, Sales and Service.

Anneke: Sally, the first question I assume will be on people’s minds is “why are you leaving Phone Works after all these years?”

Sally: I am leaving under the best-possible scenario.  Last year, in spite of the downturn, we had a stellar year. We increased revenues 50% with even better profit growth. I wasn’t looking to leave, but after fifteen years, I was ready for a new challenge. Phone Works has always encouraged new learning and Skype offered me a unique opportunity to grow a key part of their business.  I look forward to applying my skills to that challenge while acting as an influential advisor to Phone Works in my new role.

Anneke: What is the outlook for  Phone Works after your departure?

Sally: Phone Works is poised for another record year. The market interest in Sales 2.0, inside sales, sales integration with marketing, social media in sales, sales enablement – all the topics we’ve been helping companies understand for twenty years – has never been higher. I have been inundated with requests from companies who need help with strategy and implementation of innovative sales organizations, testing of phone and Web selling, lead generation or other Sales 2.0 practices, assessing new opportunities for existing sales organizations, and building Playbooks to onboard new hires quickly and create predictable revenue.

Anneke: Who is taking your place?

Sally: Sherry Paterra, who joined the company two years ago to grow our Major Accounts business (now over 50% of our revenues), will be looking after projects with our existing SMB clients, along with our Engagement Managers.  Jodi Maxson will be helping in the interim with new opportunities in small and medium-sized businesses. Jodi is part of our Engagement Management team and is well-versed in the Phone Works approach, having been a VP of Sales at multiple startups and also having been our client. Jodi was the first VP of Sales at NetSuite, so she really understands the unique needs of SaaS businesses.

Anneke: Tell me about your new role. What will you be doing at Skype?

Sally: I’ll be defining, developing and implementing the SMB sales strategy for North America.  SMB sales is outsourced.

With a combination of excitement and sadness, we wish Sally all the best in her new role.  Leave a comment here, expressing your good wishes for Sally!

Video and Playbooks for Sales Enablement

I’m publishing a series of Q&A excerpts from my interviews with Sales 2.0 leaders. This is the second of three excerpts from my interview with Sharon Little, former director of field marketing communications for VMware.

Anneke: Everyone I talk to is excited about the potential of video content. How are you incorporating video into your portal?

Sharon: We’ve noticed video has really taken off in the past year. Within VM Vault, we’ve created VM Video Vault, which is based on technology from Altus. All content is searchable by spoken word and can be downloaded to a phone or other mobile device. This creates a great training tool. It’s very beneficial when learning a pitch to see someone else give the presentation. Our non-English-speaking reps appreciate the ability to read the words and view materials at the same time.

One of our sales VPs for a newly acquired technology recently recorded a video that was viewed by 750 people. This was a very effective way to transfer her knowledge to them and build traction with the new technology.

Anneke: Any words of advice for implementing video programs — or challenges you’ve encountered?

Sharon: Historically, one of the challenges with video is bringing in a $10,000 video crew every time you want to shoot something. That’s not scalable, even for a company with a generous budget. We learned that reps are OK with a lower-quality video for training purposes. We have experimented with low-cost Flip cameras and portable tripods. These videos can be turned around in a couple of days without having to call in the professionals … and the price is right.

Anneke: Let’s talk about something else that has a lot of buzz: plays and playbooks. You recently asked us, at Phone Works, to create these for your inside sales organization. What are they all about?

Sharon: Playbooks provide content customized to specific buying scenarios or campaigns. They are particularly useful when you want the sales force to customize to the buyer, the product, the stage of the sales cycle. They guide reps step-by-step through their daily workflow: from pre-call research, to call/online strategy and objectives, to systems use, to competitive selling (which we call “Fight Plans”). Playbooks provide actionable, consumable information and make the sales process consistent, measurable and scalable. And they are integrated with salesforce.com, our CRM system, so a rep can access them directly from a lead or opportunity.

Anneke: Any adoption issues with playbooks?

Sharon: We validate new playbooks with selected field and inside reps, before we roll them out, to make sure they include what Sales needs to close a sale for a particular product or solution. Adoption is streamlined, because field needs are already incorporated into the deliverable. Plus everyone who provided input also acts as a sponsor when a new playbook is rolled out.

Anneke: Do you have any metrics showing that playbooks — or other enablement-content programs — increase sales?

Sharon: It’s very difficult to tie bookings to a single tool or training effort, and it can be a trap to attempt to show ROI on every enablement deliverable. At the same time, success metrics — both objective and subjective — should be created for all enablement efforts, with the understanding that it is not always possible to show a direct cause-and-effect relationship.

What about your organization?  What new opportunities and challenges have you experienced using video?  Have you been able to measure the effectiveness of your sales playbooks?

Read the full interview with Sharon Little in the Resources section of this website.

Tags: enablement content, enablement ROI, inside sales, marketing, marketing and sales alignment, Metrics, playbooks, plays, Sales 2.0, sales and marketing alignment, sales enablement, sales enablement tools, sales playbooks, sales process, step-by-step, validate tools, video content, video training

In a Mature World…

Top 3 Reasons Why Sales Development Still Reports to Sales

Guest Blog by Sally Duby, Phone Works GM

Sally, a veteran of technology inside sales, is a leader in Sales 2.0. Before joining Phone Works, she produced millions in new revenue and dramatically increased the quantity and quality of leads at software giant, Oracle Corporation, going on to replicate those kinds of results for other employers.  Today, Sally focuses on helping companies, from venture-funded start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, create top-performing, cost-effective lead generation and inside sales teams. She has led Phone Works projects for more than 350 client companies.

I recently got my hands on a copy of Marketo’s new e-book (also posted here as a blog) “The Definitive Guide to Sales Lead Qualification and Sales Development.”If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend you do, and not just because they quote from our most recent Inside Sales Compensation Study.  Marketo knows their subject and they practice what they preach. 

In the section about “How to Design and Build a High Performance Sales Development Function,” Jon Miller, Marketo Co-Founder & Chief Strategist, asks the question, “Should Sales Development Report to Marketing or Sales?” He quotes our report, saying, “According to Phone Works, Sales Development teams report to Sales about twice as often as to Marketing.” But he counters with, “I think that reporting to marketing is a best practice.”  I’d like to jump in and talk about why Sales Development still reports more commonly to Sales.

The Top 3 Reasons Why Sales Development Still Reports to Sales

Reason #1: You have to manage what you’re accountable for

In almost all the 350+ companies we’ve worked with, Sales is still responsible for the pipeline.  Why?  Because they’re accountable for revenue.  As long as their feet – and their feet only – are held to the fire over revenue quotas, they need control over the pipeline and the pipeline is built by Sales Development. 

Reason #2:  MQL?  SQL?  Will the real lead please stand up?

We’ve all heard the whining, “It’s not our fault we didn’t make quota, Marketing didn’t give us enough qualified leads.”  Maybe the issue is not with the number of qualified leads, but in how each department defines “qualified.”  For most of our clients, a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a lead that needs to be further qualified by Sales Development, while a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is ready to become an opportunity. Perhaps if Marketing was responsible for turning over SQLs rather than MQLs, Marketo’s model would make sense for more companies.  I might add that very few Marketing departments today have adequate demand-generation budgets to develop and nurture the quantity and quality of leads Sales needs for a robust pipeline.  Which leads us to reason #3.

Reason #3: We’re not all as mature as Marketo

Seriously!  Maybe in the next two to four years, as the Sales 2.0 world matures, we will see more Sales Development teams reporting to Marketing, as Marketo describes.    

In a mature Sales 2.0 world, Sales and Marketing will share responsibility for revenue and, therefore, the pipeline. In that world, Sales Development can report to either team equally well.  Sales will communicate openly and strategize with their trusted Marketing partner about the type of leads needed and how best to reach them.  That’s Sales and Marketing alignment, something Phone Works helps clients work towards.  But it’s not today’s world for most companies…yet.  It is what Marketo is describing, and where they live today.  My hat is off to you.  Thank you for the opportunity to generate some discussion about the state of Sales and Marketing alignment today.

Let’s get some dialogue going.  Where does Sales Development report in your company?  Who is responsible for the pipeline?  Is Sales and Marketing alignment a pipe dream or reality for your organization?

Tags: defining a lead, lead qualification, marketing and sales alignment, Marketing Qualified Lead, MQL, pipeline accountability, pipeline development, responsibility for the pipeline, revenue accountability, Sales 2.0, sales and marketing alignment, sales development, sales lead qualification, sales pipeline, Sales Qualified Lead, SQL

Defining Sales Enablement

I’m publishing a series of Q&A excerpts from my interviews with Sales 2.0 leaders. This is the first of three excerpts from my interview with Sharon Little, director of field marketing communications for VMware.

Anneke: You have a mission statement for your sales enablement group. What is it?

Sharon: To deliver high-value consumable information that builds competency, drives culture and enables performance for the field.

Anneke: Isn’t that Marketing’s job? What’s the difference between what your group does and what Marketing does?

Sharon: We do the translation and packaging of information created by Marketing and other sources. Our job is to make that content prettier and more actionable for the sales team. For any content, we can determine what’s missing and fill in the pieces to make information worthy of the sales person’s time.

Anneke: What’s the difference between Sales Enablement and Sales Operations?

Sharon: In my view, Sales Operations sits between Finance and Sales, while Sales Enablement is the liaison between Marketing and Sales. Sales Operations works on behalf of Finance on things such as budgets, compensation plans, metrics and technology to make sales people more productive. I believe that, over time, Sales Enablement will provide the same service for Marketing.

Anneke: What are the most important words of advice you’d give sales executives looking to implement a sales enablement program?

Sharon: I would start by asking them to open up their perspective on how they view sales enablement. This is about transformation — not just training, communications and kickoff. Every sales leader must be thinking about how to prepare their teams for the next hurdle — a well-articulated sales enablement operation is strategic on many levels. At a minimum, sales leaders must insist that programs and tools be consumable, actionable and easily absorbed by the sales team, and in a format that can be put to use with a customer immediately, without hours of modification. Equally important, they should be integrated and aligned with the rest of the tools the sales organization uses on a regular basis. They should tie together, support each other and just make sense. I call this, “The golden thread of sales enablement.”

I truly believe that, five years from now, every sales executive will insist on having an experienced sales enablement team at his or her disposal. Sales enablement is the key to solving sales and marketing alignment issues, and it is the lever sales leaders need to drive performance. Sales operations measures what you are doing and predicts future performance. Sales enablement makes it actionable.

Read the full interview with Sharon Little in the Resources section of this website.

Tags: actionable content, content, marketing and sales alignment, marketing communications, marketing materials, Sales, Sales 2.0, sales and marketing alignment, sales enablement, sales enablement tools, sales materials, sales operations, sales process, sales programs, sales support, sales tools, sales training