The Progression of the Modern Sales Model
Introduction
Sales operations, processes and strategy have continued to evolve at a rapid pace. With new advancements in technology and the popularization of the term “AI” within the general workforce, companies are scrambling to figure out how to modernize, become more efficient and stay ahead of their competition.
But before we discuss the future outlook of sales and how companies can take advantage of this opportunity, it is important to first cover a brief overview of the most common sales models that companies deploy and their pros and cons. It is important to note that there can be many variations of the models discussed below and this is a high-level overview.
There is also no right or wrong answer, different models work for different companies, however, it is important to now understand what work can now be automated at scale (quick answer: manual prospect research).
The Full Cycle Sales Model
The full cycle sales model has sales reps individually handle the entire sales process from start to finish. This means that they are responsible for all the tasks included in prospect research, outreach, meeting setting, pitching the business, and handling client work.
High-Level Pros:
Autonomy: Sales reps have full control over the entire sales cycle, allowing for quicker decision-making and adaptability.
Deep Understanding: Handling every stage of the sales process fosters a comprehensive understanding of the customer journey and pain points.
No Handoffs: With no handoffs between team members, communication is streamlined, and potential bottlenecks are minimized.
Broader Experience: Sales reps get experience in all capacities
High-Level Cons:
Inefficient: Juggling multiple responsibilities can lead to time constraints, potentially limiting the number of prospects a sales rep can effectively manage.
Skill Set Limitations: Not all sales professionals excel at every stage of the sales process, leading to potential gaps in expertise.
Expertise Value: Experienced sales reps are spending time on low-value tasks that can be handled by others
Burnout Risk: The pressure of managing every aspect of the sales cycle can contribute to burnout, affecting productivity and morale.
The SDR/AE Model
The SDR (Sales Development Representative) / AE (Account Executive) model was popularized by Salesforce due to its efficiency. This sales model mimics the industrial automation of the assembly line by the hand-off of tasks from one person to another and divides the sales process into specialized roles.
In this model, the SDR handles the pre-meeting activities (or some variation), while AE’s handle winning the business. The AE would then handle the client process, or, depending on the service/product, a CSR (Client Service Representative) would take over from there.
The Pros:
Efficiency: More efficient and streamlined process
Skill Alignment: Each role requires a specific skill set, allowing team members to hone their expertise in their respective areas.
Expertise Focus: Experienced sales reps can focus on higher level tasks
The Cons:
Handoff Complexity: Passing leads between SDRs and AEs introduces complexities and potential communication gaps, risking lead disqualification or loss.
Coordination Challenges: Ensuring seamless collaboration between SDRs and AEs requires robust communication channels and alignment on objectives.
Overhead Costs: Maintaining separate teams for prospecting and closing can incur additional overhead costs, impacting overall profitability.
Brand Damage: Buyer’s may have a harder time trusting SDR’s. They aren’t compensated to align with long term happiness of the customer and they become an army of sellers incentivized to sell, not serve.
The Future of Sales Operations - Founder Led - Streamlined, Efficient and Strategic
Sales has now become an integration of business development capabilities and IT skills. The sales team of the future is lean and efficient, not headcount driven.
This new model represents a paradigm shift in sales and it will take time for many companies to catch on. The companies that do so before their competitors, will thrive.
No matter their current sales model, companies will hire one expert to handle all prospect research. One expert can now produce more quality AND quantity prospect research than an entire sales team using outdated or manual processes, no matter the size of the Total Addressable Market.
This new system is efficient, streamlined and strategic, arming the sales reps in either model with the prospect research already completed, so that they can begin their outreach.
Efficient: Reps are no longer spending time on tasks that one person can handle and be automated.
Streamlined: With a single expert managing prospect research, there's a unified strategy and seamless execution throughout the sales process. Aligning your entire leadership team around this approach so that you are all talking the same language and using the same vernacular.
Strategic and Founder-Led: Through data and automation, founders can now scale their most creative and important outbound ideas. The biggest limitation founders have is their time. Now, they can communicate which type of companies and contacts they want to reach out to, what information and insights they want to know about them and therefore what they can same to them at scale based off of those insights. TPS can automate that research at scale, bringing these outbound ideas and strategies to life. Companies can also now use data analytics to figure out which targeting and messaging is working best. Once the very best messaging is found, the goal is to de-construct this message and automate it for scale, strategically using volume for growth.
This paradigm shift brings an incredible opportunity for smaller companies to adopt sophisticated growth systems for only a fraction of the cost of hiring an entire sales team and enables larger companies to become more efficient in an increasingly competitive market.
How Can Targeted Prospect Solutions Help Your Company Embrace the Future of Sales Operations?
Whether you are using a full-cycle sales model or an SDR/AE model, one thing is clear, your sales team should not be spending their valuable time manually researching prospects. Outreach can now be more efficient, streamlined and effective. Nearly 71% of sales reps say they spend too much time on data entry and only 33% of a salesperson's time is spent on actual selling.
