Insight: SaaS (11) Talent persona and induction training

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We discussed the role and responsibilities of CSM in the process of a SaaS company’s scale in the previous article ‘Insight: SaaS (10) CSM’. This is the final article in the series on the SaaS scale and how to replicate talents and teams.

The premise of duplicating talents and teams is to create a standardized sales process and method. It’s a step-by-step process, and no stages could be overlooked. You can read the article ‘Insight: SaaS(7) Standardize the sales process’ if you don’t know how to set up a standardized sales process. A SaaS company can only know what kind of talent is suitable to join the team if it has a standard sales process and a mature and criterion sales method.

A mature sales method is one that can be learned by the majority. The more demanding of specific salespeople, the worse the sales method is. Through training, successful companies can achieve the effect of getting 70% of their employees to score 80 points. The sales process must be precise, the coverage must be adequate, and the defined indicators must be easy to understand. This is the foundation for duplicating talents and teams.

Create generic talent personas according to different positions.

Various types of work: Marketing / SDR / MDR / FAE /AE / CSM requires different skills and personalities. They must act in various roles when dealing with customers, and seek out potential talent based on the persona of your company’s position.

Recruiting a qualified FAE, for example, necessitates sales ability, industry knowledge, and hard work, as well as the following basic requirements:

Qualifications:

· Bachelor’s (Preferred)

· Sales Experience: 1–3 years

· Driver’s License (Preferred)

Key Experience:

· Professional knowledge of software, including but not limited to SaaS, cloud and etc.

· Sales experience of software or SaaS company sales experience would be preferred

· Excellent communication and interpersonal relation skills;

· Be capable of performing several tasks;

· Be capable of using Microsoft Office;

· The ideal candidates are typical people who have abundant SaaS channel resources and can work with distributors independently

· Good at communicating with customers, continue to make more sales while meeting customer needs.

· This is an ideal job for someone who loves Tech and software.

· Proven track record of successful sales and territory growth in an independent work environment.

Competencies:

· Sales Ability/ Persuasiveness

· Technical/Professional Expertise

· Building Strategic Working Relationships

· Planning and Organizing

· Adaptability

· Energy

Create a comprehensive training program and do a thorough job of eliminating unqualified. It’s critical to know that the talent persona in the recruitment requirements is ideal and that it’s difficult to directly modify each position via recruitment.

SaaS companies must develop their own training mechanisms to ensure that each position has a comprehensive training program. What HR and the department need to know is when and to what extent the candidate is qualified, and if they aren’t, the elimination framework must be practiced.

The most crucial aspect is new salespeople’s induction training. Every salesperson must become familiar with your company’s SaaS offerings. The goal of induction training and assessment is to see if they can quickly push excellent talents to work.

The following is an example of a SaaS company’s training plan. The aim is to screen out qualified Account Executives over the course of two weeks. Their training arrangements are as follows:

This training program has a number of flaws. The first is that on Day 9, there is only one test and no assessments in between. The evaluation should be broken down into stages to give people a sense of urgency. The second point is that the assessment’s key points must be emphasized, and these are the skills that must be mastered.

Three tests are included in the updated training program to assess basic telemarketing skills, product demonstrations, and simulated sales. The basic objective is to end as many candidates as possible who do not work hard and do not pay attention to the test. For example, if a candidate studies a product demonstration on Friday and takes an exam on Monday, he can get a better grade on Monday if he works hard to review on the weekend.

On the first day, the trainer should clearly inform the candidates of the elimination rule, be honest about the difficulty of the exam, the previous pass rate, and emphasize that the likelihood of passing the assessment is very high if you work hard. It will inspire the candidate’s enthusiasm for learning.

The second aspect to consider is which exam score is unqualified. How to deal with candidates who aren’t qualified. According to the plan I laid out, the test’s difficulty will gradually increase. Through practice, the basic skills of the first telemarketing test should be easily mastered. The test’s pass line is set at 60 points. The difficulty level is easy. It’s also simple to eliminate those under 60 points. The second test looks at how well you understand the product completely. The test’s passing line is set at 70 points, and the difficulty is moderate. It is determined whether you are willing to devote some amount of time to your own study, and those who score less than 70 points are eliminated. Simulated sales are the subject of the third test. It assesses your knowledge of and mastery of the sales process, as well as your transaction skills. The test has a high level of difficulty. The passing line is 80 points wide. Those who reach 70 points should be given a second chance the following day. Eliminating candidates should follow the elimination strategy.

Furthermore, each position requires a promotion rule and a fair income distribution strategy in order for talents to grow and work in the company smoothly, and for a good team to be combat effective. The company’s large-scale expansion must be done gradually and methodically. The SaaS stable personnel structure can be built to support rapid growth from the standard process and the team.

The next article ‘Insight: SaaS (12) Freemium is fantastic, but not for every SaaS company.’ is published. Simply send me some claps and feedback if you enjoyed my article.