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Sales
Guides

How To: Boost Sales Performance at Every Stage of Your Pipeline

Looking for ways to generate more deal flow? Here’s a look at key pipeline stages and specific areas to examine to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your revenue efforts.

—
The 6sense Team

8 min

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How To: Boost Sales Performance at Each Stage

Chapters

Chapter 1

Introduction

Chapter 2

But First, Some Metrics-Related Context

Chapter 3

Relevant Metrics from ‘Awareness’ to ‘SQL’ (or ‘6QA’)

Chapter 4

From 6QA to Meeting

Chapter 5

From Meeting to Pipeline

Chapter 6

From Pipeline to Closed/Won

Chapter 7

From Closed/Won to Adopt & Grow

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Introduction

Selling and marketing are harder than ever. Old-school tactics are pushing modern buyers away, leaving revenue teams frustrated, inefficient, and unable to compete. In No Forms. No Spam. No Cold Calls, Latané Conant delivers the recipe for scalable, repeatable, data-driven sales and marketing strategies that work today.

In this How-To, we provide a practical, tactical dive into some of the strategies outlined in Chapter 4. 

In her book No Forms. No Spam. No Cold Calls, 6sense CMO Latané Conant points out that B2B revenue teams are always asked to do more. But more rarely means better. In fact, when marketers and salesfolk spread themselves too thin, they’re likely to lose focus and fumble opportunities.

These fumbles, Conant says, are often caused by disagreements within the revenue team on which metrics deliver the most impact to an organization’s pipeline.

She writes: “If we want to get the entire team engaged in creating predictable revenue growth, it’s crucial for sales and marketing teams to align on goals, data, and metrics. A siloed approach sets even the most sophisticated strategies and tactics up for lackluster results. … (A) lot of organizations aren’t even tracking the metrics they need to create and stick to an effective revenue operating model.”

So, what are these most-important metrics? Benchmarking the ones below will provide visibility into your pipeline stages and key activities that can help you progress accounts toward deals.

Chapter 2

But First, Some Metrics-Related Context

As we dive into this topic, you might encounter the names of some unfamiliar metrics — particularly ones mentioned within the early stages of the sales process.

This will be especially so if your revenue team uses traditional MQL-based models, which rely heavily on information that interested buyers provide via webforms or demo requests. This typically occurs near the end of a buyer’s journey.

However, the metrics we’ll share reflect buyer activities that occur much earlier in the buyer’s journey. These activities — which reflect buyers’ online research — are often invisible to selling teams because they’re generated on third-party websites, message boards, digital trade publications, and social networks.

Account-based marketing and sales intelligence tools (like 6sense) can detect, compile, and analyze these early-stage buyer intent signals and convert them into meaningful metrics. These metrics may differ by name, depending on which tool you use. For our purposes, we’ll use terminology from the 6sense platform for consistency.

(Check out this resource if you’d like to compare some of these metrics to their traditional-marketing equivalents.)

With that out of the way, let’s take a closer look.

Chapter 3

Relevant Metrics from ‘Awareness’ to ‘SQL’ (or ‘6QA’)

A buyer’s journey begins as soon as a buyer starts searching for a solution for an issue they need to solve. A tool that tracks these buyer intent signals can help you spot when an account has begun its buying journey.

Tools like 6sense can take this a step further by analyzing signals to determine where an account sits in its buying process. This is important because it enables you to personalize your communication with accounts as they progress through the funnel. It also nails the timing for outreach so you’re not too late (or too early) to start a one-on-one conversation.

As an account’s journey progresses and their interests increase in specific ways, it’s identified as a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL). At 6sense, we call these 6QAs (6sense Qualified Accounts).

This change is based on a combination of how closely an account matches your ideal customer profile (ICP) and how engaged buying team personas are in their research. The goal at this stage of the pipeline is to progress accounts from their initial awareness toward becoming a 6QA.

How well is your organization converting in-market prospects into 6QAs?

Use the metrics below as a guide:

Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Web Traffic

How many of your targeted accounts are visiting your website? This is an indication of how well you’re reaching and enticing target customers.

ICP Engagement

How actively are accounts researching the problems you can solve, the solutions you can offer, your brand, and competitors?

Predictive Model Metrics

How many of the accounts in your pipeline are a “strong fit” — meaning they closely resemble past deals? AI and machine learning scores all of your opportunities to determine which accounts are “strong fit” vs. “moderate fit” or “weak fit.”   

Segmentation

How precisely are you able to segment your audience? This provides insights into the accuracy and robustness of your account data.

Share of Voice (SOV)

How visible is your brand compared to competitors? Are you reaching your ICP often enough to make an impression, even amid competition?

Accounts Reached

This represents how many unique contacts within target accounts are seeing your marketing content, indicating the effectiveness of your methods for segmenting and targeting prospects.

View-Through Rate (VTR)

How much of your audience takes further action after viewing a piece of content? Thanks to buying signals that track account behavior, you can see how campaigns influence research — no clicks required.

AR (Accounts Reached) Engagement

Which of your campaigns are influencing pipeline, and is that influence growing or shrinking?

CTAs

What are the conversion rates for your calls to action? Which CTAs attract the most engagement with certain audience segments? 

Creative & Content

Which types of content and creative have the most influence? Should you double down on certain content types? Is there a piece of content that is underperforming and may need to be reworked?

Keywords

Are you tracking the right keywords and topics? Look at which accounts are progressing and the keywords being used. Consider expanding your targeting to include related keywords.

Chapter 4

From 6QA to Meeting

Once accounts become 6QAs (or SQLs), it’s time for your reps to engage in live conversations. 

Consider these factors as you evaluate efforts to book meetings:

Conversion Rate & Velocity

How quickly accounts are progressing through the pipeline? Which outreach efforts are in getting the right people in meetings?

Cadence

How often are you reaching out and engaging with accounts? 

Service-Level Agreements (SLAs)

Once a lead is qualified, you should have an agreed-upon timeframe for reaching out. Is the sales team consistently meeting that timeframe? If not, what can be done to overcome any obstacles? 

6QAs Worked

How many 6sense Qualified Accounts (aka Sales Qualified Leads) are currently being engaged? Are your marketing efforts successfully turning strong fit prospects into 6QAs, and are those 6QAs being reached by sales reps? 

ICP Engagement

This shows how engaged ICP accounts are with marketing content and advertising. Critically, consider how many buyer personas are engaged and the steps you can take to increase the number of buying team members exposed to content.

CTAs

Which calls to action (CTAs) are leading to meetings or engagement? 

Web & Content Experience

How effortlessly can contacts at target accounts move through your website and access relevant content? Look at page depth, time on site, and other metrics to find ways to improve the user experience. Consider how you can use intent data and audience segments to personalize the website experience for prospects.  

Bot Conversations

Live website chat, Conversational Email, or other AI powered bots can be powerful tools for increasing conversion rates — but only if they are triggered appropriately and deliver a personalized experience.

Chapter 5

From Meeting to Pipeline

You’ve had the first conversation. 

It’s time to examine what might be preventing prospects from taking the next step.

Conversion Rate & Velocity

Again, keep a close eye on how long accounts stay in each pipeline stage. If they are lingering, that’s a red flag to look at your process.

Aging Reports

Even with a great process, some accounts will linger. Set up a report to hone in on the accounts stuck in the meetings and 6QA stages, and consider setting up specific campaigns for moving them forward (e.g., offering a discount or other incentive).

Conversation Intelligence

Review your team’s sales calls and listen for topics discussed, questions asked, and more to determine whether seller behaviors are working to advance accounts. If you’re not already recording your sales calls, invest in conversational intelligence software like Gong, Chorus.ai, or Salesloft. 

Cadence

How often are you reaching out and engaging with accounts? A certain number of touch points are typically needed to move an account forward.  

Worked Opps Accounts

How many opportunities is sales engaging with at a given time? Do you have enough resources to handle all of the conversations? 

Web & Content Experience

Take a look at the prospects in this pipeline stage. What content are they consuming on your site, and what topics are they reading about elsewhere? Do you need to add or strengthen content that is of interest to buyers at this stage?  

Chapter 6

From Pipeline to Closed/Won

The finish line is within reach, so make sure there are no remaining bumps that prevent the account from crossing it. 

Investigating these metrics will set your team on a path to win:

Win Rate (Compete)

How often you are closing new customers when you’re up against competitors? This gives insight into your ability to demonstrate your differentiators and unique value.

Win Rate (Non-Compete)

How often you are closing new customers when you’re not up against competitors? This gives insight into how effectively you’re reaching the right accounts before they’ve spoken to other vendors. 

Cycle Time

The average time it takes to get an account through your buying journey, providing visibility into the overall efficiency of your sales process, as well as an indication of how quickly you will be able to book revenue. 

Annual Contract Value (ACV)

The annual revenue a specific account brings in. 

Engagement Trends

Campaign and content performance month-over-month or quarter-over-quarter.  

Worked Opps Accounts

How many opportunities is sales engaging with at a given time? Do you have enough resources to handle all of the conversations? 

Web & Content Experience

Take a look at the prospects in this pipeline stage. What content are they consuming on your site, and what topics are they reading about elsewhere? Do you need to add or strengthen content that is of interest to accounts at this stage?

Chapter 7

From Closed/Won to Adopt & Grow

You’ve closed the deal, but you’re not done. Now it’s time for the customer success team to provide a positive experience that makes accounts stick around for the long haul. 

You can also use the customer journey to identify patterns in your sales and onboarding process that predict the lifetime value of your customers. 

Here’s what you should examine: 

Net & Gross Retention

How many new accounts do you acquire, and how many do you keep year-over-year? New sales are nice, but customer retention is key to growing your revenue baseline. It can also tell you whether you’re signing on the right kind of customers for your product and delivering good value and customer experience.

Time to Go-Live

A measurement of how quickly your solution is implemented and adopted after a customer signs the contract, indicating the efficiency of your onboarding program.

Usage

How many people are using the product, and how often? Low usage is an early indication that a customer’s employees may not be adding the new tool into their workflows. Why? 

Adoption

Adoption goes beyond usage to ask: How many people are using the product meaningfully and for its intended purpose? Are they getting the expected results? If not, why not? Do they need additional training support, or are they in need of additional solutions?

Personas Engaged

Who is using the product and how? As you build success with initial users, are there opportunities to serve others within the company?

Relationship Map

What are the relationships between engaged customers and others in the company? Understanding those relationships can help you spot opportunities to grow sales in other parts of the organization, and which customer contacts may be most influential for expansion.

Value Metrics

The goal is to capture profit while still delivering great value based on your pricing model. Does fixed pricing, tiered pricing, or per-use pricing make the most sense for your customers? Are you losing customers because they have a limited (but valuable to them) use case, but you only provide an enterprise-level solution? Are you only selling space shuttles when two-thirds of your customers just need a Volvo?

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

A measurement of customer experience and satisfaction with your brand that predicts business growth.

Learn More in Our ‘No Forms. No Spam. No Cold Calls’ Resource Center

Interested in learning more about taking your sales and marketing effort to the next level by uncovering and targeting the accounts most likely to buy? Visit our Resource Center to find more How-To’s like this one inspired from the pages of Conant’s book.

All of 6sense’s proceeds from book sales go to GoodSense, the charitable arm of 6sense whose mission is to do our part for our community and beyond.

No Forms.
No Spam.
No Cold Calls.

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The 6sense Team

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The 6sense Team
6sense helps B2B organizations achieve predictable revenue growth by putting the power of AI, big data, and machine learning behind every member of the revenue team.

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