How Do Top Reps Reach Power?

Reaching power is a critical step in every closed deal – you must make contact with decision-makers as early as possible. 

And the top reps know this. They know how to develop relationships with stakeholders at the executive level (or close to it) and understand their pain points. 

Selling a solution that addresses a leader’s priorities is going to boost win rates. 

But how do the top reps get in front of this audience? 

Here’s what they DON’T do: 

Send more emails. 

We analyzed millions of Salesforce records of top performing sales reps (as measured by quota attainment) and we looked at their activity levels as compared to the average-performing rep. 

We found that the top reps send the same amount of emails (or less) than others, yet have 64% more active Director+ contacts. 

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Mind. Blown. 

Here’s the full readout on how the top reps stack up when it comes to email activity volume.

So what do they do to get these results? 

What behavior sets top reps apart when it comes to reaching power? How can you and your reps penetrate accounts earlier and more effectively? 

Here are four tips from three sales experts: 

#1: Multi-thread as a team.

Kevin Mulrane, Sales Lead at SaaStr, published an insightful LinkedIn post on one of the biggest missed opportunities in multi-threading: it’s not all on the individual salesperson to multi-thread. 

“Both sides need to be multi-threaded. Meaning, if you're the only person from your organization building relationships and speaking with your prospects or customers, it's a missed opportunity.

The more relationships that are built, the more likely you are to win that deal. This is across all levels of the organization.

A simple way to action this is to create peer to peer relationships. If you sell to marketers, get your CMO to reach out to their CMO. We all know the CFO is involved, have your CFO reach out to theirs. Bring another AE or senior sales person to join your calls.”

Read his full post here.

#2: Prove you’re not a time-waster. 

In a podcast interview with 30 Minutes to President’s Club, Kyle Asay, RVP North America at MongoDB, says one of the common misconceptions sellers have about multi-threading is that it’s not hard – you’re just asking for a quick intro email. But that’s not really what you’re requesting. 

“You’re actually asking your buyer to bet their credibility on you.” 

How do you prove you’re not going to waste their bosses’ time? 

“Build their confidence by always adding value when you meet with them.” 

Kyle uses the analogy of value-add interactions as making deposits into an account.

“If you’re constantly making withdrawals, they view you as someone that makes withdrawals. They don't want you to meet with the CTO and do a bunch of withdrawals, right? As you make deposits, we start to buy into how you sell.” 

Check out 30 Minutes to President’s Club and Kyle’s full podcast here.

#3: Don’t multi-thread in the moment. Have a plan.

Colin O’Neill, VP of Sales here at SetSail, knows that you can’t leave multi-threading to chance. It’s not an ad hoc ask at the end of a call – it’s a pre-planned, well-thought out approach that top salespeople use to get results. 

“Have a pre-call plan for the two or three angles that are possible next steps where you can gain commitment from the buyer,” he said. “Know what you want to propose and recommend.”

The top reps are willing to spend the extra time in the preparation phase to get this right.

#4: Define “reaching power” in your unique sales process. 

Colin also points out that there is no one concept of reaching power. It’s totally different for every company. 

“The best level of power is broadly dependent on the product you sell. It’s important for companies to know what reaching power means in their sales process. Being specific about what it means to reach power while selling their solution will make or break whether reps achieve it consistently or not.” 

In other words – don’t relegate your multi-threading goals to title alone. A more junior-level stakeholder may be the center of gravity for certain companies’ solutions. It’s all about knowing and doing what wins in your unique sales process. 

Do your top reps reach power? 

Figure out what sets your highest-performing reps apart – see what they do differently with SetSail Discover.