Lift up underperforming reps with HubSpot and tailored sales coaching

Down of the Golden Age of SaaS

In the last decade, SaaS businesses experienced what many hailed as its "Golden Age".

The demand for SaaS products skyrocketed, leading to a hiring frenzy as companies tried to keep up with the market's insatiable appetite.

As long as the market remained strong, meeting sales targets and quotas resembled a Sunday walk.

However, the winds of change began to blow in 2021 and 2022, revealing the cracks that had formed during the hiring spree.

Now, in the aftermath of the "Golden Age of SaaS," these companies are grappling with a stark reality.

Underperforming sales reps are a new normal

According to Winning by Design's latest study, only 32% of their Go-to-Market (GTM) teams are operating at a 'normal' level, while a staggering 68% fall short.

Within this 68%, two-thirds of sales representatives are unable to hit their targets.

To make matters worse, the definition of 'normal' performance has shifted, with high-performing "superstars" now accounting for a mere 4% of the GTM team.

At the same time, concerning 28% are classified as underperformers, unable to meet quotas even with additional support and training.

(Solving Underperformance: How to lift up the 40%, Winning by Desing)

To drive rapid impact, sales teams should focus on the crucial 40% just below the 'normal' performance line—the "swing group."

(Solving Underperformance: How to lift up the 40%, Winning by Design)

Check the full Winning by Design research on how to lift up underperforming reps.

Impact Sprints for tailored sales coaching

Targeted training and coaching can propel underperforming reps to success. 

But to make it happen, you need a proven framework in place. Below you can see the Impact Sprint method proposed by Winning By Design.

(Impact Sprint method by Winning by Design)

As you can see, everything starts with the team's key performance metrics analysis to pinpoint areas for improvement.

And this is where HubSpot comes in.

In the next section, you'll see dashboards that will help you measure reps' performance for future optimization.

HubSpot dashboards for sales performance

Track closed revenue with a total count of deals

In the beginning, start with high-level KPIs.

Measure sales team efficiency by looking at the revenue they closed in the current month vs. previous periods.

This will help you check trends and team performance over time.

Measure deal stage conversion rate for new business

Zoom out to spot where deals are dropping off at the macro level.

Consequently, you gain an overview of your deal pipeline health and identify bottlenecks.

Monitor deals won and closed won revenue by sales rep

Next, go with more granular KPIs like the number of deals won by individual reps and closed won revenue.

(Credits to Mitch Richards)

It allows you to identify the top performers and those at the bottom of the pile.

Identify closed lost reasons by rep 

Learn why buyers are dropping off drilled down by individual reps.

Check the last stage at closed lost deal 

Uncover in which part of the sales process individual reps are losing deals.

Combine these insights with listening to demo calls and reviewing offers as a basis for tailored coaching (e.g improve offering)

Measure sales activities by sales rep

When analyzing a salesperson's pipeline value, those who demonstrate low activity often have subpar ones.

(Credits to Mitch Richards)

When coaching underperforming reps, use this data to emphasize the importance of increasing input for better results. 

Monitor whether sales reps meet SLAs

Here you can find an answer to questions like:

Are your reps working with assigned leads?

How many leads do your reps qualify per working number?

Hence, one reason for a subpar pipeline could be a rep handling too few leads due to slow response time.

Summary

And here we are. 

As you could see, to optimize sales reps' performance you need to start with areas for improvement. 

Sounds obvious, but a lot of companies don't have such a level of visibility into sales KPIs.

This is why if you want your reps to succeed, you should combine science-based coaching with a tool like HubSpot.

If you want to leverage HubSpot for your sales team just