Efficiency on a Smaller Scale: Advice from Aurelien Mottier, CEO and Co-Founder of Operatix, and Guy Rubin, CEO of Ebsta

This week on the Revenue Insights Podcast we are joined by Aurelien Mottier, CEO and Co-Founder of Operatix as he interviews Guy Rubin, CEO of Ebsta.

In this episode, Guy and Aurelien discuss the results of the 2023 Ebsta B2B Sales Benchmark Report. They delve into how you can improve the efficiency of your sales teams; strategies for noticing  and preventing deal slippage; and what you need to learn from the 23% of sales representatives contributing 83% of revenue.

Guy Rubin is the Founder and CEO of Ebsta and is passionate about helping B2B sales teams scale their revenue engine. Having been founded in 2012, Ebsta now delivers real-time forecasting tools and uses engagement trends to benchmark live pipeline against previously close won deals.

Aurelien Mottier is the CEO and Co-Founder of Operatix, a sales acceleration company helping technology companies across Europe and North America to identify new revenue streams, increased qualified sales pipeline, and accelerate channel development. He is also the host of the B2B Revenue Acceleration Podcast, dedicated to helping software executives stay on the cutting edge of sales and marketing in their industry.

Guy Rubin on LinkedIn

Aurelien Mottier on LinkedIn

Operatix Website

B2B Revenue Acceleration Podcast

Time Stamps (these will need to be updated once episode is edited):

• 00:20 – All about Guy Rubin and Ebsta
• 02:00 – Background of the Ebsta B2B Sales Benchmark Report
• 03:48 – Why are only 27% of sales representatives achieving quota?
• 07:02 – Are opportunities staying in the pipeline for longer because of the market or qualification?
• 09:52 – Revenue leaders’ feedback on the market
• 12:34 – Strategies to minimize deal slippage
• 21:59 – Why is target ICP so low?
• 29:23 – What can we learn from the 23% of sales representatives contributing 83% of the revenue?
• 38:33 – Looking ahead to the future landscape of sales

Highlights: 

Efficient Sales Teams

The hiring of sales representatives has slowed by 65% and sales teams are 22% smaller this year than previous. Thus, sales teams need to be efficient, and this begins with using data to understand the sellers’ strengths, and then playing to those strengths. Not every seller can be expected to be an all-star; instead, lean on what they are best at to improve their quota attainment.

Market Conditions vs. Sellers’ Ability

There’s a recurring theme here where market conditions are improving for sales teams, but the seller’s ability is not, with only 27% of reps hitting quota and 23% of reps contributing 83% of the revenue. For businesses to grow consistently, they can’t rely on market conditions always blowing in their direction. Instead, they need to pay attention to the behaviors that top-performing sellers are using to successfully close more deals than their peers, and implement strategies based on them.

Dealing with Deal Slippage

39% of deals are slipping and deal slippage is a nightmare for any business. It’s the cause of bad forecasts and missing targets. A slipped deal is when a deal is expected to close, but then slips to the next quarter or is lost at the last minute. The knock-on effect for the team is that they can’t invest further in growing as a result. But there are practical strategies for spotting it early and taking a proactive approach to prevent it, as Guy shares in this episode.

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Recommended Episodes:

• A New Focus For CMOs: Achieve More with Less with Jeff Marcoux of Bombora
• How to Prevent Deal Slippage in 2023 with Brad McGinity at Hone
• Mastering the Art of Relationship Building with Jaime Konzelman, Vice President, Sales at Unisys
• Establishing a High-Performance Business through Efficient Change Management with Zach Gropper, Founder, and CEO at Insight Revenue