If your 1:1 meetings with your reps resemble an interrogation scene out of The Usual Suspects, you're doing it wrong. And you may be in for a surprise ending.
For those who don't know the movie, it boasts some of the greatest interrogation scenes of all time, most of which center around the rarely seen, nearly mythical crime lord, Keyser Söze (pronounced "so-zay"). In sales terms, Keyser Söze is the mother of all deals.
After a lengthy 1:1 that includes hours of back-and-forth banter, hearsay, and diversionary tactics, the detective finally coaxes his witness to give up the information he's been after—or so he thinks.
If that sounds a little like your last 1:1, it's time for a remake. Your meetings with reps are supposed to be coaching opportunities, not tedious cross-examinations. But if you're like most sales managers, you have very little visibility into pipeline health and rep activity, which means you have no way of knowing for sure if a deal has real potential or if a prospect is even truly engaged. So, you head into your 1:1 with more questions than answers. That means two things: it's going to be a long meeting and you're probably not going to get what you came for.
The fact is that it's impossible to get an accurate read on pipeline when your reps fail to log their activity or capture only vague deal details that don't tell the whole story. Without up-to-date deal data, you're forced to retrace steps and fill in the gaps any way you can, so you line up the usual suspects and commence the grilling. And down the rabbit hole you go...
Are You Missing Your Moment?
There are critical moments during every week, month, and quarter that determine how you execute sales. At Clari, we refer to these recurring points in time collectively as the "sales operating rhythm."
At each juncture or sales moment, there are key questions you need to be able to answer quickly to drive your opportunity-to-close (OTC) process and ultimately close more deals predictably. The Rep/Manager 1:1 Meeting is one of those moments—and Clari can help you ace it every time.
The 1:1 is your moment to strategize and motivate and dedicate cycles to the deals with the greatest potential. Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), Clari shows you precisely where to focus so you can predictably close more deals. You can see at a glance deal changes in real time, and you can view the communication flow between your reps and their prospects. Clari automatically captures details from every meeting, email, and more—relieving your reps of burdensome CRM updates and freeing you both up to do what you do best.
Because you get real-time visibility with Clari, you can go into your 1:1 with an action plan (and a close strategy). And Clari even generates an Opportunity Score to clue you in when a deal may be at risk so you know exactly when and where to provide that critical extra guidance. With instant insights from Clari, you can finally focus limited 1:1 coaching time on the opportunities that matter most and start having productive conversations with your team. If you'd like to learn more about how you can run a more effective 1:1 right from Clari, download our step-by-step guide.
Speaking of productive 1:1s, let's connect at Dreamforce. Clari is scheduling private executive briefings Monday through Thursday at the InterContinental Hotel. We'll also be co-hosting an EXCEED Happy Hour at Bain Capital and an exclusive Sales and Marketing Social at 25 Lusk. We look forward to seeing you (and the usual suspects) at Dreamforce 2017, November 6-9.