Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into a Sales Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of Salesforce.com

What people are saying about ‘Predictable Revenue’...

Reading Predictable Revenue is like having a delicious conversation with a sales guru who generously shares his sales process, results and lessons learned. I’m so impressed, energized and refreshed to hear such relevance mixed with humor and unabashed logic. This book is honest, relevant and logical and it’s rated A++ because it’s guaranteed to make you think and convinces you to change things up….fast. Now, please excuse me as I’m running out to a funeral for my phone. After reading my favorite chapter on RIP Cold Calling there’s no doubt it’s dead and gone and Aaron tells us why.

— Josiane Feigon, CEO of TeleSmart and author of Smart Selling on the Phone and Online

I just finished reading your book. Unbelievable! I now know what’s wrong with our sales process…

— Pat Shah, CEO, SurchSquad

I have read Predictable Revenue and it’s Entrepreneurial Crack!

— Damien Stevens, CEO, Servosity

Working with Aaron Ross has been nothing short of amazing! His methods applied to our sales organization helped us produce a profitable and scalable new stream of predictable revenue. We saw at least 40+% new business growth. The best part is, we had a blast while doing it!

— Michael Stone, VP Sales and Strategy,

WPromote (#1 ranked Search Marketing Firm on the Inc. 500)

The concept of the sales machine is brilliant. Aaron has done a great job distilling a complex concept into a simple-to-read, consummate bible for entrepreneurs and executives.

— Promise Phelon, CEO, UpMo

Aaron has created a work that is useful to established companies and entrepreneurs. The material is easily digested and applicable to businesses large and small.

— Brent Mellow, CEO, akaCRM

The companies I’ve seen that have followed Aaron’s advice have outperformed. What more can I say?

— Tim Connors, General Partner, US Venture Partners

Aaron’s one of the leading thinkers of the Sales 2.0 movement. I am inspired by Aaron’s vision, amazed by his creativity, and thankful for his counsel.

— Daniel Zamudio, CEO, Playboox

Aaron has been a great advisor for AdaptAds. His ‘cautiously but surely’ approach matches that of AdaptAds. He brings invaluable learning experiences in terms of building a sales team. He’s accessible, with the most astute of perspectives.

— Yogesh Sharma, CEO, AdaptAds

Aaron is the quintessential example of how great leaders can be if they set aside their egos, create a clear and bold vision, and empower their people to execute like mini-CEOs. I took over the team that Aaron created at Salesforce.com and I’ve been amazed by his leadership in building a solid foundation set for explosive and sustainable success. Thanks Aaron. You’ve made me look mighty good around here!

— Ryan Martin, Director of New Business, Salesforce.com

Aaron is really unique—on the one hand he is a savvy and experienced businessman, and on the other hand he is a grounded and balanced person who truly enjoys helping others become successful. He’s able to think like a bootstrapping entrepreneur and corporate chief at the same time. He knows that yesterday’s methods aren’t enough to create sustainable and predictable growth in the new economy. It is a real pleasure to know and work with him.

— Eliot Burdett, Founder and Managing Partner, Peak Sales Recruiting

Aaron has an amazing ability to assess, guide, and teach CEOs how to shift their approach to business to help them create more predictable revenue, a sales staff that runs itself as a sales machine, and to reduce stress and increase freedom in their lives. It’s been my honor to work with him and witness the changes he helps others bring forth.

— Onna Young, LifeAfterDebt.us

After attending my first CEOFlow Sales Machine gathering, I realized many of us CEOs face remarkably similar core issues. Better yet: the experience and advice from one entrepreneur is incredibly timely and relevant to another. There’s nothing better than having a conversation with a group of bright, motivated leaders to focus on what makes a company great.

— Andrei Stoica, Founder, ConnectAndSell

There is something extraordinary that happens when smart business leaders sit down to talk about their ideas for transforming business, and Aaron Ross is a master at guiding these conversations to help find the real gems. I think a best-selling business book could come out of every one of these events— wish I had the time to write one of them.

— John Girard, Founder, Clickability

Aaron Ross quickly grasped the issues and provided extremely helpful and creative ideas firmly rooted in his expertise about business growth. Most impressively, he did this with sensitivity to my personal motivations and comfort level. Thanks to Aaron, I now feel at ease moving my business to the national level.

— Klia Bassing, CEO, VisitYourself.net

Aaron is insightful, intelligent, and highly dedicated to the missions he designs for his life. The focus, drive, and determination Aaron demonstrates are admirable qualities that inspire. I would recommend Aaron to any company that is looking for a good person who is also a strong and formidable leader.

— Kim Santy, Founder, Soul Shui

You are doing good helping people, Aaron – your work will not go unnoticed. Sharing and helping others is a true talent of yours.

— Ryan Born, CEO, AudioMicro

Aaron has always looked out for and fought for the best interests of people who work for him. Beyond that, he is smart, strategic, and can go just about anywhere he wants to go in this industry. He’s a quality guy who I would jump to work with in the future.

— Brendon Cassidy, VP Sales, EchoSign

As usual, Aaron’s inspiring and his innovative Cold Calling 2.0 tactics are refreshing. I love that Aaron makes sure to include helpful advice on how to hire and compensate the best talent for maximum success. You can have great sales tactics and tools, but it will all be wasted if you put the wrong butts in the seats and neglect that talent! Follow Aaron’s hiring advice and you’ll see great results like I did.

— Kevin Gaither, Founder and CEO, InsideSalesRecruiting.com

Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into a Sales Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of Salesforce.com

ISBN: 978-0-9843802-1-3

Copyright © 2019 Aaron Ross. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying, without written permission of the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission from the publisher.

Aaron Ross

Predictable Revenue, Inc.

8605 Santa Monica Blvd, #39743 West Hollywood, CA 90069

Contact: air@PredictableRevenue.com (310) 751- 0656

www.PredictableRevenue.com

Limits of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty

The author and publisher shall not be liable for your misuse of this material. This book is strictly for informational and educational purposes.

Warning – Disclaimer

The purpose of this book is to educate and entertain. The author and/or publisher do not guarantee that anyone following these techniques, suggestions, tips, ideas, or strategies will become successful. The author and/or publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to anyone with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book.

Acknowledgments

Thank you, Rob Acker, Shelly Davenport, Cary Fulbright, Frank Van Veenendaal, Ryan Martin, Marc Benioff, Jim Steele, Brett Queener, RTL, John Somorjai, Erythean Martin, all the past, present, and future members of the Enterprise Business Representative sales teams around the world, and my many other Salesforce.com friends and supporters.

Thank you, Tim Connors, Roberto Angulo, and John Girard, for getting me started on the sales consulting path after Salesforce.com.

Thank you, Jon Miller & Maria Pergolino, for your support with the Predictable Revenue book and message.

Thank you to my Co-CEO Collin Stewart, for working together to build and grow PredictableRevenue.com.

And last and most of all, thank you to my wife Jessica Ross, the most loving, honest, authentic and fun woman ever, who unfailingly believes in me, supports me and helps me grow.

Foreword

It’s popular now to believe you can grow a business through values like purpose, happy employees and customers, vision and fulfillment. They work, as proven by companies like Zappos (acquired by Amazon.com for $1.2B)!

But purpose isn’t enough, and if your sales are sucking wind, it’s hard to be happy.

It’s all well and good to want to make a big difference, make money, create a fulfilled, happy workforce and change the world... but how are you going to do all that if you are living month-to-month, paycheck-to-paycheck, struggling constantly with your financial goals?

In order to make a difference that sticks, you also need solid, simple and sustainable sales practices.

What if you could implement an enjoyable sales process that can generate a predictable flow of highly qualified sales opportunities, month after month?

What would your company’s revenue and growth look like if you could grow new business sales by 40% to 300% – without having to make another unproductive cold call ever again?

This book can help you feel the success, freedom and peace of mind that comes with predictable revenue.

Jealously guard your enjoyment.

Contents

Where the $100 Million Came From

Start Here

The ‘Hot Coals’ Sketch

The Painful Planning Mistake Boards & Sales VPs Make Every Year

Have You Ever Felt Like an Utter Failure?

The $100 Million Sales Process

Make Your Lack of Money an Advantage

Cold Calling 2.0: Ramp Sales Fast Without Cold Calls

The First Breakthroughs

Terms and Abbreviations

RIP Cold Calling

Salesforce.com’s Cold Calling 2.0 Story

Cold Calling 1.0 Vs. Cold Calling 2.0

Could Cold Calling 2.0 Work for My Company?

Why Account Executives Should Not Make Cold Calls

Executing Cold Calling 2.0

Getting Started With Cold Calling 2.0

Why Sales Development and Market Response Should Be Separated

Choosing a Sales Force Automation System

How Cold Calling 2.0 Works – The Process

Step 1: Get Clear on Your Ideal Customer Profile

Step 2: Building Your List Of Targets

Step 3: Run Outbound Email Campaigns

Step 4: Sell the Dream

Step 5: Pass The Baton (When Is an Opportunity Qualified?)

Improve Call Effectiveness Without Scripts

Move Prospects Through ‘Account Status’ Assembly Line Stages

SDRs: Account Executives Are Your Customers

Prospecting and Sales Best Practices

A ‘Day in the Life’ (SDR Example)

The Top Six Prospecting Mistakes Reps Make

My Favorite Prospecting Questions

Quick Prospecting Tricks

Time Management and Focus Tip: '3 Goals For The Day'

Example Dashboards in Salesforce.com

Sales Best Practices

Sell to Success

9 Ways You Lengthen Your Sales Cycles

Obsess About the Decision-making Process, Not the Decision-maker

9 Steps to Create Free Trials That Maximize Conversion Rates

A 3-Hour-and-15-Minute Sales Process

Killer Salespeople Uncover True Problems Behind Desired Solutions

Prospects Should Earn Proposals

My Favorite Sales Call Question of All Time

Lead Generation and ‘Seeds, Nets & Spears’

Distinguishing Leads: ‘Seeds, Nets and Spears’

Defining Prospects, Leads, Opportunities, Clients and Champions

Use ‘Layers of The Onion’ to Sell for You

How to Generate a Steady Flow of Inbound Leads

Marketing Automation Best Practices: How Marketo Uses Marketo

Maximize Your ROI From Tradeshows and Conferences

Seven Fatal Sales Mistakes CEOs and Sales VPs Make

Even Experienced CEOs and Sales VPs Make These Mistakes All the Time

Sales Machine Fundamentals

Happy Customers Create Extraordinary Growth

Sales 1.0 (Promotion) and Sales 2.0 (Attraction)

Nine Principles of Building a Sales Machine

Separate the Four Core Sales Functions

If You Sell to Sales Executives...

A Totally Different Vision for Structuring Sales Teams

Cultivating Your Talent

Happy Employees Develop Happy Customers

‘Where Do I Hire Great Salespeople?’

The Very Best Salespeople...

Should You Consider Commission-only Salespeople?

The Importance of Follow-through

The Best Kind of Sales Training

A Self-Managing Weekly ‘SalesforceU’ Training Meeting

Leadership and Management

6 Responsibilities of a Manager

Retaining Star Employees

How We Created Sales Machine Alignment Through Salesforce.com’s V2MOM Planning Process

Three Ways to Inspire and Improve the SalesOrganization

Why Do Salespeople Resist Following Directions?

How to Design Self-managing Teams and Processes

Engage the Whole Team in Designing Their Compensation

10 Ways to Improve Sales Force Automation Adoption

Next Steps and Resources

Where Will You Go From Here?

Sales Training and Consulting Services

About Aaron Ross

About From Impossible To Inevitable

1

Where the $100 Million Came From

I’d never done business-to-business sales before I joined Salesforce.com, and ignorance helped create breakthroughs…

Start Here

I’m going to start by addressing head-on one of the biggest misconceptions in modern, effective sales: that adding salespeople is what grows revenue.

Do you want the peace of mind that comes with knowing your own sales organization will be a Sales Machine, cranking out predictable revenue, generating new leads on demand, and meeting your financial goals without your constant focus and attention?

I created a sales lead generation process and team at Salesforce.com that helped increase revenues by more than $100 million in the first few years. Partners and I then taught the same process to other companies, helping them double and triple their new revenue growth – like Responsys (bought by Oracle for $1.5B), WPromote (the #1 search engine in the Inc 500), and Acquia (fastest growing private software company in North America). It’s common for 80-95% of our clients’ sales pipeline to come from this outbound process, driving the bulk (or all) of their growth.

Of course you want more revenue, but what good is it if it isn’t predictable? One-time revenue spikes that aren’t repeatable won’t help you achieve consistent year-after-year growth. You want growth that doesn’t require guessing, hope and frantic last minute deal-hustling every quarter- and year- end.

The book is based on almost 20 years of experience at Salesforce.com, and consulting and studying hundreds of other