The Ambition:
Accepting a high-risk leadership role or a better rewarding individual contributor role?
In a pivotal interview, the hiring manager presented me with two distinct roles. One was to join a high-performing team as an individual contributor . The other—a colossal challenge—involved managing a struggling lead generation team. I was informed that the Senior management was frustrated, and if significant improvement wasn’t achieved in 90 days, there was a looming decision to disband the team and outsource lead generation to an external agency.
As someone who thrives on challenges and solving complex problems, the prospect of a high-stakes opportunity out weighted the prospect of a stability and success within an established team. This choice did not just mean accepting a leadership title, but a clear mandate to deliver substantial results within a stipulated timeframe. The urgency and gravity of the situation were palpable, demanding immediate action and strategic foresight to transform the team’s fortunes.
The Action:
Understanding the challenges
- <20 leads generated, with none progressing to qualification stage in the last 60 days.
- Despite seven months of effort, achieved zero business wins from generated leads.
- Sales leaders felt that leads were with misaligned customer expectations and wasted their time.
- SDR’s were required to maintain CRM records on number of calls made, where each task took over 3 minutes!
- Team comprised internal job posting candidates from other processes with limited industry knowledge.
- Due to constant customer rejections on calls the team had low morale and high attrition rates.
Addressing the challenges: One step at a time
- Implemented multi-channel lead generation campaigns with a system driven 8 touch point over 2 Weeks approach.
- Assigned team members single industry verticals and company capabilities to expedite learning and expertise in specific use cases.
- Encouraged a culture of self-learning and coached on company services, industry use cases, and solutions.
- Instilled a problem-solving mindset with a client-centric approach, emphasizing understanding customer-specific issues and proposing targeted solutions.
- Introduced basic CRM automation to reduce data fields and reduce manual entry to 3 steps reducing the time to log a call to <10 seconds.
- Implemented MEDDIC and BANT-based lead qualification criteria, negotiating a focus on quality over quantity with management, aiming for 15 qualified leads per month with clear next steps.
- Fostered a culture of strategic engagement and solution-oriented client interactions, reducing attrition rates and boosting team morale.
Realizing the Ambition:
- In a span of 30 days the team was able to generate 12 qualified leads, and in an 12 months >57% of total business wins were attributed to leads generated by the team.
- The team grew from 9 members to 23 members, strategically replacing existing vendor work, eventually elevating the team to Global Sales Support and Sales Operations unit.
- 8 years form then most of the team members are senior leaders, department heads and manage much larger portfolios and responsibilities than what we managed initially.This journey underscores our passion for tackling challenges and our commitment to achieving meaningful outcomes in our work.