Page 154 - The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to go from $0 to $100 Million - PDFDrive.com

4. Assemble the team: Most experiments require a team to run, especially in
sales. I strongly urge you to assign at least two people to every experiment. I
also recommend you choose top performers, rather than average performers,
to be part of the experiment. What I am looking for in the first experiment
phase is a “true negative.” If I put two top sales performers on the
experiment and the experiment fails, there is a high probability that the idea
wasn't feasible. If two of our top people could not pull it off, how could we
roll this out to the broader team? On the other hand, if I put one average
salesperson on the experiment and I don't see promising results, I haven't
necessarily learned anything. Did the experiment fail because I had the
wrong person involved or did it fail because it was not a feasible idea?
Execute the first phase of the experiment with multiple top performers and
look for “true negatives.”

5. Establish routine check-ins: Set expectations on how often the company will
evaluate the progress of the experiments. We held a monthly experiment
meeting with senior leadership to review data. The experiment leader, along
with her team, would have 30 minutes to present their progress and address
questions from the executive team. If progress was weak, there might be a
decision made to discontinue funding. If success was apparent, there might
be additional funding allocated or expansion plans discussed.

To Recap

Great teams have a core philosophy of continual improvement. A key
ingredient to the sales acceleration formula is fostering a culture of
experimentation.

A key role of the executive team is to set up a culture around innovation,
rather than generate all of the big ideas themselves.

Follow a specific formula for experiment execution so that you can be
confident your experiments are efficient and effective.