Deal Doctor – 2023 Sales Success
Requirement
As an owner founder, sales whilst critical becomes a “side of the desk” activity and not something which perhaps is natural to a software / operational professional. The need was around bringing some structure to the sales plan for 2023, to set goals, monitor progress against those goals and to plan a set of campaigns / activities to drive pipeline and close new business deals.
Approach
We started the year with a “Look Back / Look Forward” Exercise. The scope of this engagement was to review 2022 sales performance, benchmark the current pipeline and process and then define a 2023 plan to manage to for the remainder of the year. The “Look Back” established that in 2022, new business licence/SaaS recurring revenue was £200,000 approx. The channel mix was 75% referral and 25% “inbound”. We agreed that any growth beyond the “status quo” level of £200k a year would need to be achieved through more intentional and proactive sales campaigns and by feeding the inbound channels.
A stretch target of £320,000 in new first year recurring revenue was agreed. This would be supported with a Pipeline Target therefore £1.3m approx. (4x cover from 20% or above). The benchmarked existing pipeline at the beginning of the year was £570,000. Showing a gap of approx. £750k.
Following the initial analysis and target/planning. The working practise of the monthly “Deal Doctor” meetings with a standing agenda of: Pipeline Review and Actions, Content, LinkedIn activity, US Campaign, Conferences, Network Activity and Partner Activity was defined.
Results
The December 2023 close position underlined what a fantastic year it had been for our client. New business secured across US, Australia and UK achieved £385,000 ARR which represents 20% above target on new business recurring revenue! The results were achieved through intentional campaigns in the US, networking, partner activity and conference attendances building pipeline consistently to the target of £1.4 million. Attention to detail in the sales process, focus on the late-stage opportunities and strategies to keep the process moving through the pipeline until close are key and have improved average time to close. The Deal Doctor program has been extended for another year in 2024, with a increased stretch target of £400,000 of new business ARR. With 2023 target achieved now is the time to make plans and sales and marketing investments to go to the next level in 2024.
