Like many of our clients, our firm is at a size where we have to nail down the revenue production of our firm. That is, at our size, we have to have a machine that is now producing our revenue to support our team of 15, as well as the growth we anticipate over the next few years.
Like many things in scaling a service organization, we’re finding that what got us here won’t get us there. We have always been an ORG (“Owner Revenue Generated”) company. As the owner and founder, I’ve always sat in the seat of sales and generated all of the revenue that our team needs. To be sure, I’m pretty good at pricing and actually teach that concept too. But our size requires that we do this differently moving forward because of the volume of revenue we must now produce. In fact, my partner Julie Shipp has sensed this change was needed probably for the past 2 years. She’s had a desire for the firm to not be fully dependent on my network and my ability to ask each new lead to pay us money. So she is looking to nail down our marketing this year in new ways that make revenue production more methodical and predictable. It’s what we’ll need to do to keep growing (which we want to do).
I saw a great article on the Collective 54 blog that discusses this very thing: https://www.collective54.com/blogs/why-we-fail-to-scale/
John Kearney, makes a point about sales that I’ve repeated below:
- Build the machine: Stop hiring sales people assuming they’ll bring the sales approach. You have to own the sales approach and have the sales team follow it. This is critical to reduce variability and allow you to learn how your buyers want to buy and have that intelligence driving your Go-To-Market decision making. This machine should be built into your CRM to ensure it can be measured, monitored and improved. It should serve as a value driver when you scale and prepare to exit.
- Fill the funnel first: Stop hiring big game hunters first. Their ability to hunt big game and deliver on their extensive networks is inconsistent at best. And can be devastating to budgets and chances of scaling. Instead, invest in the top of the funnel. Generate demand through outbound appointment setters and virtual tools like chat. Owners can handle those deals that come in as the funnel is filled. This is both more cost effective and leads to incredibly more consistent revenue scale.
- Build the talent: A team of Business Development Reps (BDRs) setting appointments allows you to build pipeline efficiently. More strategically, BDRs learn to work in the machine and naturally progress to handling more of the sales process over time. They create their growth opportunities by generating pipeline. When they’ve created the demand that requires more Account Executives (AEs), they get promoted. And then the ROI on your sales team vs. big game hunters is wildly more accretive.
- Transition away from sales in stages: I’m sorry – but you can’t go yet. In firms that successfully scale, owners slowly transition away from being the primary revenue generators. The AEs that have been developed through the machine to replace you still need a leader. As AEs evolve, some will begin to exhibit leadership traits. Cultivate these leaders to replace you. From there, never stray too far from the deal. This will always provide some of the greatest insight into the market, and how your buyers buy.
- Take Control: When owners need taxes done, we pay an accountant. We pay the lawyer to reduce liability. We pay the MSP to keep our environments secure. The job is done and the invoice is paid. Too often I hear from you all that you thought the sales team you hired would just sell. Not only do they not sell, but you can’t even articulate what the problem is. Sales is different. It requires the machine, the predictable pipeline build, a talent program to attract top talent. Own it, or be at the whim of your sales team.
Attribution to John Kearney of The Buyer’s Way
From John’s points above, my biggest takeaway for our firm is that we have to take control, own our sales process so that we are never at the whim of a ‘salesperson.’
We’ve made a lot of changes in our 25 year history, and we know this change from being an ORG (Owner Revenue Generated) company to a company with a sales machine will take us a few years. But we can do it. It just takes time, some investment, and trial and error.
Follow us on our journey as we move away from being an ORG! We teach and talk a lot about growth conversations with agency and design owners. You may want to come talk to us! Sign up for our Newsletter and subscribe to our YouTube channel to learn more about the design of growth!
