How to Prove Sales ROI to the CFO

Define and Track Relevant Metrics

Samir emphasizes the importance of defining and tracking metrics that directly align with revenue generation and business growth.

Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect the success of your sales efforts, such as conversion rates, deal closures, and revenue generated.

By consistently measuring and analyzing these metrics, you can demonstrate the impact of your sales initiatives on the company's financial success.

Presenting concrete data and trends will help stakeholders understand the ROI derived from your sales activities.

Showcase Efficiency and Cost Savings

Efficiency gains and cost savings are persuasive factors when proving ROI.

Samir highlights the significance of streamlining sales processes and reducing unnecessary expenses.

Identify areas where you can optimize workflows, eliminate inefficiencies, and consolidate tools into a unified platform like GetAccept.

By showcasing how these improvements lead to time and cost savings, you can clearly demonstrate the tangible ROI achieved through increased productivity and resource optimization.

Align Sales Objectives with Business Goals

To prove ROI effectively, it is crucial to align your sales objectives with the broader business goals of the organization.

Samir emphasizes the importance of understanding the strategic priorities of your company and mapping your sales efforts to those objectives.

Present a compelling narrative that showcases how your sales initiatives directly contribute to achieving business goals, such as market expansion, customer retention, or revenue growth.

This alignment demonstrates the tangible value and ROI of your sales efforts to decision-makers.

Wrap up

Proving ROI in sales requires a strategic and data-driven approach. By learning from Samir Smajic, CEO of GetAccept, sales professionals can gain valuable insights on effectively demonstrating ROI to stakeholders.

Define and track relevant metrics that reflect revenue generation, showcase efficiency gains and cost savings, and align your sales objectives with broader business goals.

By applying these lessons, you can build a compelling case for the ROI of your sales efforts, garnering the support and investment needed to drive business success.

Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] Alina Vandenberghe: We are here today at SaaSOpen in New York, and I have Samir, CEO and cofounder at GetAccept, a tool that allows sales teams to get closed won. We're gonna talk about, uh, team structure, marketing, and how sales teams can work better together to, uh, get that, uh, pipeline in great shape.

[00:00:18] Alina Vandenberghe: Uh, Samir, what got you started?

[00:00:21] Samir Smajic: Uh, frustration from doing sales myself, seeing sales being broken, as they were doing more or less the whole sales process in the email inbox. I didn't think that was building the best buyer experience, so I wanted to create GetAccept to help sales rep become superstar sales reps and build the best buyer experience selling more or less whatever [inaudible 00:00:39] are selling.

[00:00:40] Alina Vandenberghe: Tell me more about what differentiates, uh, GetAccept from other solutions in the marketplace.

[00:00:45] Samir Smajic: I would say we compete with quite many [inaudible 00:00:48] since we have a lot of different solutions in one, and that's our unique concept. So, if you are an [inaudible 00:00:54] you should arm yourself with GetAccept, and you take it from opportunity, you have all your sales content in there. You have your customer cases in there, so you can run the process. You can create this one room where you can chat, engage, use video, and then, in the end, we also have the tool part of proposal, contract, and getting that signature done. So that puts us in a unique position, because you don't have to buy three or four different point solutions.

[00:01:17] Alina Vandenberghe: So, who buys, uh, GetAccept, and how do they justify ROI to their CFO?

[00:01:21] Samir Smajic: Yeah, so the main buyer is someone in sales. Sometimes, I mean, we have a free version where they just come in and buy, and then it's can be the [inaudible 00:01:29]. But if we go and hunt, it's the VP of sales, uh, CRO, or maybe then the rev ups and- and the sales m- manager who got a little bit more important now at choosing their tools in the tool stack.

[00:01:40] Alina Vandenberghe: And, how do they justify the ROI to the CFO?

[00:01:43] Samir Smajic: I would say like since, as I said, like we can replace many point solutions, so if you're sitting with many point solutions, which many nowadays are, because they've been buying up and filling up the stack, we can actually remove some of those point solutions, so it becomes more cost efficient. But, overall, what we are pitching is, "Hey, if you're building the best buyer experience, you can be unique in your way of selling, and you can understand the buyer and what they need, then you can close more deals."

[00:02:08] Alina Vandenberghe: Mm-hmm.

[00:02:08] Samir Smajic: So, it's more about, "Okay, how can we get that one extra deal, one for you and your team?"

[00:02:14] Alina Vandenberghe: Hmm. Have you seen, uh, GetAccept used creatively to, uh, get, uh, a close one these days?

[00:02:20] Samir Smajic: Yeah, there- there's many creative way [inaudible 00:02:23] one, but I just saw one the other day, uh, where one rep was using it for inviting for his wedding, which I thought was really fun. Uh, not the sales case, but just getting all their presentations in there about where- where the wedding are, what will happen, the agenda, and also get- gathering everyone coming to the wedding so that the commu- they can communicate, chat, etc., etc. in one place.

[00:02:45] Alina Vandenberghe: [laughs]

[00:02:46] Samir Smajic: There was no signature done in that one, uh, wedding, uh, planning and- and getting that, uh, ring on the finger, the signature was not included.

[00:02:53] Alina Vandenberghe: [laughs]

[00:02:53] Samir Smajic: But, they got all the other things [inaudible 00:02:55].

[00:02:55] Alina Vandenberghe: Well, uh, deals happen in every stage of life.

[00:02:58] Samir Smajic: Yeah, yeah, exactly. That can also be one deal.

[00:03:00] Alina Vandenberghe: Um, you have, uh, sales teams and customer success in your organization. What kind of metrics do you, um, have them aligned on to work well together?

[00:03:12] Samir Smajic: In the end, everyone is focusing on the AR and- and- and adding up to that. I think overall, then sometimes they share, of course metrics, mainly, for example, marketing and sales is looking on pipe- pipeline and how we create value in that pipeline and building it up. Uh, also, our marketing working towards our existing customer base, and then they also share a pipeline, but that's more on expansion deals and how they can bring in those kind of interest in pipeline through webinars, etc., about the products. More it's on the product marketing side. So, I think pipeline and- and AR overall is what brings them together in the most [inaudible 00:03:47].

[00:03:48] Alina Vandenberghe: Uh, you were also talking about aligning them on, uh, some brand metrics. Um, how- how- how do you on-

[00:03:55] Samir Smajic: Yeah, so for example, we have- we work with [inaudible 00:03:58] uh, one of the objective is to be the digital sales room leader. Um, one KR of that is actually getting, uh, G2 reviews, uh, that are topnotch. And, that's one thing that they really align around. Where marketing needs to make sure that we talk about just the salesroom and the brand etc., sales needs to sell to the right companies that are using it in a good way, and then the customer success, when they find happy users, they want to ask them for the reviews. And that's where they unite around, yeah, being the digital salesroom category [inaudible 00:04:30].

[00:04:31] Alina Vandenberghe: Hmm. Hmm. What percentage of your pipeline comes from marketing?

[00:04:33] Samir Smajic: I would say, uh, give and take 50% nowadays.

[00:04:37] Alina Vandenberghe: Fifty percent.

[00:04:37] Samir Smajic: Uh, we have been going a little bit off market, uh, which now outbound stands for more and more of that part, uh, but 50%, um, nowadays is coming to market.

[00:04:46] Alina Vandenberghe: And, uh, what, uh, metrics do you report on board on, uh, from- from the marketing standpoint? How deep do you go into your metrics?

[00:04:53] Samir Smajic: I mean, we go very deep. Of course, it's the NPS and... But, nowadays, it's more NPL value, uh, that is important for us as we're trying to not, for example, include the ones that we call the shrimps that should be self-serve, uh, and focus more on like the high value customers that we are doing. So, NPL, NPL value. Uh, I also think that SQOs, like how much conversion do we have from the NPL to SQOs is something that we track. So, yeah, overall, those metrics. But then, there are many leading detail metrics on top of that.

[00:05:24] Alina Vandenberghe: And, do you do CAC per channel as well? Do you go detailed on, uh-

[00:05:27] Samir Smajic: Yeah.

[00:05:28] Alina Vandenberghe: CAC per paid organic, uh, events, things like that? You do?

[00:05:31] Samir Smajic: Yeah. Yeah, exactly, exactly. So, yeah. We- we- we're very, uh, heavy on calculating those different, uh, ROI metrics on what we spent.

[00:05:39] Alina Vandenberghe: Hmm. Tell me more. What are some of the marketing motions that are working for you where the pipeline is coming from?

[00:05:45] Samir Smajic: Yeah, so, I mean, overall what we've been seeing nowadays, we've been working quite a lot with the brand-

[00:05:51] Alina Vandenberghe: Mm-hmm.

[00:05:51] Samir Smajic: So, we see a lot of organic coming in, actually.

[00:05:53] Alina Vandenberghe: Mm-hmm.

[00:05:53] Samir Smajic: While that work, and that cannot always be attributed. Uh, right now, what we're focusing a lot on is, um, LinkedIn and how to work with re-targeting a customer that has been touching us in different ways.

[00:06:07] Alina Vandenberghe: Mm-hmm.

[00:06:07] Samir Smajic: And, uh, yeah, that has been working quite well to build up a top [inaudible 00:06:11] uh, and- and, yeah. Then, we work with the sales reps to- to nurture the [inaudible 00:06:16].

[00:06:17] Alina Vandenberghe: Hmm. So, it's lots of social selling?

[00:06:19] Samir Smajic: I think lots of social selling. That has been experimented last half year.

[00:06:22] Alina Vandenberghe: Mm-hmm.

[00:06:23] Samir Smajic: Um, both with, uh, educating the di- different team members, but that takes time, as you know. Like, uh, you need to get your brand and your personal brand in combination with the GetAccept brand out there. Uh, many do come to us, uh, and say like if you're very active, both as a company, but also the individuals, uh, on LinkedIn, Instagram, etc., so, yeah, I think, uh, but it takes time.

[00:06:44] Alina Vandenberghe: Do you have motions that- marketing motions that you've tried recently that ha- haven't worked?

[00:06:48] Samir Smajic: Yeah. I think, I mean, POG was, uh, and is still like a big topic. Uh, we tried it out. I don't know if we tried it out fully, uh, in a way.

[00:06:57] Alina Vandenberghe: Mm-hmm.

[00:06:58] Samir Smajic: But, we saw that we got tons of, uh, uh, leads coming in. We saw tons of sign ups. Uh, but we couldn't really get them converting.

[00:07:07] Alina Vandenberghe: Hmm.

[00:07:07] Samir Smajic: And, they were very small. So, even if we got a lot, we couldn't get the ARR from it, um, but what we got was a good virality.

[00:07:15] Alina Vandenberghe: Hmm.

[00:07:16] Samir Smajic: Because, everyone using GetAccept is spreading the brand through a digital salesroom, and then that's generating higher customer values on the other end, where we saw some sign ups coming in. So, yeah, that was a- a good motion, but also a [inaudible 00:07:30] couldn't get any ARR from, at least not directly from [inaudible 00:07:34].

[00:07:34] Alina Vandenberghe: What's next for GetAccept? What excites you for the future?

[00:07:38] Samir Smajic: Yeah, so right now we're building, uh, the new version of the digital salesroom.

[00:07:41] Alina Vandenberghe: Hmm.

[00:07:42] Samir Smajic: So, we have been pitching, selling, implementing digital sales for- now for a couple years. We have been re... It's more of like an evolution of the platform where [inaudible 00:07:52] releasing the new version of digital salesroom, so I as a product person, I love sitting with the product team. I look very much forward to April, when when we are releasing that, uh, so that is fun for me. Uh, and will be an amazing new version, uh, that I'm- that- that we're releasing here around the corner. Not to tease too much, but, yeah. Check it out soon.

[00:08:11] Alina Vandenberghe: [laughs]

[00:08:11] Samir Smajic: [inaudible 00:08:12]

[00:08:13] Alina Vandenberghe: How, um, we're all [inaudible 00:08:16] founders and we're all in a very interesting market these days, um, where tech is getting affected.

[00:08:21] Samir Smajic: Yeah.

[00:08:21] Alina Vandenberghe: Um, what are some of your challenges from that these days?

[00:08:24] Samir Smajic: Of course, we- we- us, our customer base, of course, many are in tech, but not too much. We are very diversified. So, that has been good.

[00:08:35] Alina Vandenberghe: Mm-hmm.

[00:08:35] Samir Smajic: Of course, we've seen some contraction mainly on the tech side, meaning they're not leaving us, but since there are fewer reps, maybe they- they contract and use, uh, less seats.

[00:08:45] Alina Vandenberghe: Mm-hmm.

[00:08:45] Samir Smajic: So, that has been a impact, uh, but overall, I think we have managed to then pitch the part where you consolidate, where you actually reduce your costs. So, our [inaudible 00:08:55] has been good on top of that, so not too much impact, to be honest. And, we're doing, uh, hopefully, our best quarter ever, so, yeah, looking forward to that.

[00:09:03] Alina Vandenberghe: What do you see, uh, sales people doing these days that you wish they would stop doing?

[00:09:08] Samir Smajic: Oh, I think... I hate- I hate when people sending, uh, PDFs in an, uh, in an email.

[00:09:15] Alina Vandenberghe: Hmm.

[00:09:15] Samir Smajic: I- I really get- it's so boring.

[00:09:18] Alina Vandenberghe: Hmm.

[00:09:18] Samir Smajic: It's what everyone else is doing, and I never open them.

[00:09:22] Alina Vandenberghe: Hmm.

[00:09:23] Samir Smajic: So, yeah. Try to be a little- be- be a little bit different, try to use something else. If it's a digital salesroom or a video or a game, I don't know, but PDFs in emails has never got open in my email [inaudible 00:09:35].