PebbleStorm: CEOFlow

Aaron Ross

Past

• CEO of LeaseExchange: $0

• Director at Salesforce.com: $100 Million

• ‘Entrepreneur-in-Residence’ at Alloy Ventures ($1B tech/life sciences fund in Palo Alto)

• Consulted for dozens of CEOs/exec teams

Aaron Ross

Main focus:

• PebbleStorm: “Make money through enjoyment”

• CEOFlow

And…• ColdCalling2.com: “Create predictable revenue”

• DataSalad: “Fresh B2B marketing data”

• Nitro.la: “Get more companies funded in LA” (nonprofit)

• On 8 or 9 advisory boards in Silicon Valley, investor in a half dozen companies

CEOFlow: Help CEOs Cross The Hot Coals

Business Is Shifting To Attraction

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1. Insight – Blogs, CEO interviews (coming), book (future)

2. Expert advisory help– Monthly “Sales Board Meetings”

– Consulting on creating predictable revenue, sales productivity, Cold Calling 2.0

– CEOFlow.com/advisory

3. A CEO peer community– Referral-only groups in SF and LA that meet monthly

Three Ways CEOFlow Helps CEOs

1. Revenue

Lead generation

Sales

Customer Success

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Example: Salesforce.com

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Distinguishing types of leads

Example Spear: ColdCalling 2.0

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Incremen

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Cultivating SeedsHow can you spark and encourage word of mouth?

• Thought leadership

• It’s your responsibility to help customers succeed– “Frictionless/Instant Karma”

• Authentic self-expression through blogs, video, events, word of mouth…– Ex: Rubicon Project, Zappos ($1B revenue)

• Community– Events that mix clients and prospects (online or offline), like

webinars, online communities, cocktail parties, dinners

– Local user groups

– Annual conference / host an event at someone else’ conference

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What Is Your Unique Genius?

How are you uniquely different,

in what, how, or why you do what you do,

in ways with which customers connect?

Prospects Don’t Care About…

• ..what you do– “I do sales advisory & consulting”

• They care what you do for them– “I help companies create predictable revenue”

How can you describe yourself in a way that’s meaningful to what they care about?

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Layers of the Onion

“Squirrel Feeding”

Magnets

• Magnet: something that sustainably / persistently attracts new prospects or talent

• Such as: – Happy customers– Any content online (blogs, videos…)– Partners, Employees, Advisors– Events (online or offline)– Books, published material– PR (if it’s regular)

/Magnets/Seeds

Immediate leadgen

• “Attraction” can take a long time to build • In the short term:

– What else can you offer to current customers?• Have you reached out to them lately?

– Community mixers (online or offline), combining prospects and customers

Separate the core functions

“Outbound”

Customer Success & Renewal

SalesFrontline

SalesOrganic &

Marketing Leads

“Inbound”Qualified Opportunities

New Customers

Ideal Customer Profiles

Ideal Customer Profile

Having Trouble Closing?

• Does your positioning or value proposition have to change?

• How can you sell higher & create more “pull” from above?

• Packaging: add a new layer to the onion to make it easier to get started / pay for it– Different product, more payment structures, free trial, etc

• 3rd party validation or perspective

• Starting asking “What would it take to get this done?”

• Change target customers (F10,000 vs F500)

The 3:15 Sales Process

• 15 minute introduction• 1 hour spent with the point person• 2 hour working session with the decision

team= 3h 15m invested per pre-sales cycle

Goal: determine 1) if there is a fit or not, and 2) the timing

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Do Enough Customers Renew?

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How most companies sell

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“Sell To Renewal”

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Danger Zone

2. Space

Predictability

Self-managing systems

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Customer lifecycle waterfall

___ Website Visitors

___ Leads(Registrations)

___ Qualified Leads

___ QualifiedOpportunities

$___ Pipeline

$___ Bookings

__% Conversion

__% Accepted

__% Converted

$___ Avg /Oppty

___% Close

SALESDEVELOPMENT

SALES

MARKETING

Sales Cycle Length ____

__ Lead Qualification Reps per __ Leads per Month

__ Account Execs per $__ Pipeline per Month

Cost per Lead$___

Monthly Metrics

Self-Managing Systems: Semco

• A $300m self-managing, distributed organization

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Stress source: Multiplying problems

3. Enjoyment

Motivation

Inspiration

Creativity

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Trust => extraordinary growth

Example: Zappos!

• Ranked #23 on Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For

• Zappos’ revenue was more than $1 Billion in 2008

• “Zappos avoids serious titles & uses parties, parades and decorations to open up trust and communication between depts…and to bring customers in on the fun.”

• And Google, Facebook, Salesforce.com…

The CEO Starts The Ripple

Sweetspot

The CEO’s alignment matters

NO SURPRISES!

• No one likes surprises:– CEOs– Boards– Executives– Employees– CUSTOMERS or PROSPECTS

• But they do like gifts!

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Stress source

Enjoyment map

Conscious “Push” v “Pull” choices

Extra slides

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PebbleStorm: “Make money through enjoyment”

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PebbleStorm “Sun” Visualization

Notes from CEOFlow call 10.21

• This is THE key to creating predictable revenue: – It doesn’t matter how long a sale takes, or how many steps– The only thing that matters is your understanding of the causes,

effects and measurements along your waterfall (leadgen, sales cycle, client success & renewing)

• This requires “space”, because you need clarity and time to figure it out– Space = mental (destress / connect with nature, people, fun),

and time (reduce expenses, increase runway, reduce pressure)• Revisit all pre-downturn assumptions

– Current customers & their success expectations– Old waterfall or baseline metrics

• “Sell to success” / Sell-to-renewal– What do you have to, beyond closing a customer, to make them

successful, help them see that they are successful, and then equip them to get approval from a boss?

Notes from CEOFlow call 10.21

• Don’t assume word-of-mouth spreads on its own, how can you help your happy customers spread word of mouth? (No badgering)– Example: online & offline gatherings that mix customers &

prospects

• 3:15m sales process: design a sales process that only requires a fixed amount of time invested per prospect.

1. “What are your goals?”

DISCOVERY

2. “Should we work together?”

BUSINESS CASE

3. “How we will work together”

SUCCESS PLAN

4. “Handshake”

AGREEMENT

6. “Ongoing success”

5. “Get started”

“Sell to Success”1. Transparent2. Collaborative w/customer3. Increases effectiveness for both parties

What does it take to acquire a customer, make them successful, help them understand they were successful, and then renew them?

(Close)

Where the pain comes from