Disrupting the Meritocracy of Tech Sales - Deep Trikannad

Deep Trikannad, a former sales engineer, pivoted away from his role and started his journey into disruption when he experienced firsthand the frustrations around how productivity and quality are measured in the world of sales. Now, Trikannad is disrupting the status quo by using a new technology that combines data science and business intelligence to provide leaders with better insights into who their top performers are. 

Key Takeaways 

• There are all kinds of inefficiency in business with respect to the process. A one-size-fits-all approach often leads to business mediocracy. 

• Currently, there is a lack of true insight into sales rep performance. For example, is a higher performing rep leaning too much on product marketing? How much is the rep individually bringing to the table? And how much are they leaning on other people in the organization? 

• Collaboration in sales is not a bad thing. There is, in fact, a sweet spot for the right amount of collaboration, both internally and externally. The key is how does one measure this? 

• Typically, the data that sales leaders use are lagging indicators, such as revenue or closed deals. The problem is that when a sales rep is struggling, sales management doesn’t know they’re struggling until the quarter hits and the lagging indicators are measured. 

• Sales teams are still using the status quo to measure success. Management is looking at calls, emails, and simple touchpoints. They aren’t peeling the onion back and trying to figure out the quality of those touchpoints. 

• Another key factor that indicates the success of a salesperson is the hierarchy of their contacts. For example, getting a janitor on the phone is easier than getting the CEO on the phone. Therefore, measuring a hundred calls with the janitor is not really an indicator of success. 

• The future of measuring sales success is one in which business owners and leaders are looking to see what total contribution an employee is making to the company rather than measuring performance-based metrics alone. 

• Becoming a successful sales rep is similar to getting to the top of a mountain. There are multiple paths to get there. 

• Most underperforming employees do not want to be poor performers. They are simply lacking the road map they need to become a top performer, which is where the right data sets can help leaders leverage every employee’s strengths and help them overcome their weaknesses before it becomes an end-of-the-quarter sales number discussion. 

 

Quote of the show: 

15:47 “Unfortunately it happened to me, which is how I founded Acceledgy. Like I was on the losing end of a political battle. And because of that, I left. After I left, I was thinking this was the third time that happened to me in my 24 years. This is common. If it’s happening to me, it’s happening to everybody. And it’s hurting the business. When someone who’s a high contributor is making a strong impact when they leave, it’s hurtful to the business.” 

 

Links: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deeptrikannad/  

Company Website: https://www.acceledgy.com/  

 

Ways to Tune In: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption 

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 

Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw 

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD 

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption 

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA