Commercial Integrator May 2023 - 13

MAKING WAVES
Lessons Learned from NSCA's BLC 2023
Key guidance for improving the overall sales process and getting the most out of your team.
By Cory Schaeffer
IF YOU'VE NEVER ATTENDED the NSCA
Business & Leadership Conference (BLC),
you should seriously consider adding it
to your list of conferences to attend next
year. In my opinion, this conference does
an incredible job of creating an environment
for leaders to focus on improving
their businesses.
The talent that NSCA invites to speak
is of a caliber unlike any other industry
conference. At the opening night
reception, Tom LeBlanc, NSCA's executive
director, queried a panel of award-winning
integrators about the changes they've
made to their organizations, which earned
them the recognition of those awards. Two
things stuck with me from that panel:
1. Each integrator spoke with openness
and transparency.
2. A comment was made about reviewing
forward-looking metrics, as opposed
to past-performance metrics.
Willingness to Share
These organizations' willingness to share
openly the changes and focus areas
they've implemented was refreshing. The
room was full of what some would view
as their competitors. Yet, even so, they
were open and transparent, discussing
their business models and changes they've
made to improve.
Reviewing forward-looking metrics can
help organizations respond to change
more quickly. And, in today's ever-changing
world, that's what we need to be doing. As
an example, forward-looking metrics can
improve sales and the overall sales process.
Here are a few things to consider:
The Sales Pipeline: Check out the
average project/deal size. Analyzing
how much revenue your typical projects
bring in will allow you to know which
verticals are serving your business well and
create ways to increase revenue on future
projects. Plus, it's helpful for planning to
allocate future resources as needed.
Sales by Sales Rep: Looking at this
commercialintegrator.com
Cory Schaeffer receiving the NSCA Education Foundation Founders Award at BLC 2023.
number will give you the insight to discover
your top-performing reps. You might
already know them, but you also might be
surprised. Once you have this information,
speak with the top performers to learn
what, if anything, they would recommend
putting into a sales-training program to help
everyone on your sales team. Following a
successful sales process ensures consistency
for both customers and employees.
Win Rate: Are you paying attention
to the number of deals won versus the
number of quotes created? You should be!
If the number of deals won is increasing or
decreasing, it's important to look into the
" why. " If it's increasing, that's fantastic -
but is it sustainable? If it's decreasing, consider
asking the sales team for their insight
and input. You might need to consider
adding more training or better tools, or you
might need to improve your processes.
Measuring Costs
Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC): You
need to measure how much it costs to
gain a new customer - from both a sales
perspective and a marketing perspective.
Obviously, you want this number to be as
low as possible. If you're finding a higher
cost, this creates an opportunity to look at
areas to reduce business expenses and/or
focus on verticals with the lowest CAC.
Average Sales Cycle: How many days
does it take to close a project? You should
measure that and have that information.
With that knowledge in hand, you can
identify deals that are stagnating in the
pipeline. You should know which deals
have been in your pipeline longer than the
length of your average sales cycle. Examining
this will provide you with information
to dig into what went wrong and how
you can strategize on making progress
faster. Ideally, this should be an automated
follow-up process with ways to pull the
information needed from these customers.
Deals Lost: Take a sampling of deals lost
and dig into the " why. " Doing a postmortem
on lost deals can help you course correct
and close more deals moving forward.
Every lost deal is a learning experience;
surveying them to learn why will likely
improve your future outcomes.
I'm retired, so I won't be putting any
of these tips into practice. But I'm more
than happy to share them with you so you
can improve your business and see those
results!
Cory Schaeffer, now retired, is an advisor
to the Women in AV/IT (WAVIT) board. She
is also the 2021 Adele De Berri Pioneers of
AV Award winner and former director of
alliances and ecosystems at QSC.
MAY 2023 Commercial Integrator 13
IMAGE COURTESY OF NSCA.

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Commercial Integrator May 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Integrator May 2023