00:20:32 · Reggie Marable
[00:20:32] S0: This is an enterprise driven sales motion. So we have really seasoned, really talented, hardworking, intellectually curious technical sellers. Their job is to go out and generate leads through prospecting. We also do events. We go to conferences. We have customer stories. Our our founders are doing podcasts to kinda help generate, you know, interest and help explain who we are and what we do and the value that we're driving. But this is an enterprise AE driven sales motion. So if you wanna work at Sierra and you're a seller, you have to be down to prospect every single day. So that's that's kinda how we go about generating interest and generating leads. So once you get a lead, then you have a couple of meetings, you do discovery, understand the the environment, the use cases, and then we build a demonstration to to show like, what it would look like if we were to handle those use cases with Sierra, like the art of the possible. And then once the client, kinda sees potentially how this would work, then we move into a proof of concept, and then we execute the proof proof of concept. Those run anywhere from two to four months. And then after that, we execute a long term contract. So from first meeting to signing a long term contract, it's about eight months. Wow. Because we have to do discovery, we have to instill confidence, we have to, create a demonstration to show, you know, to bring the art of the possible to life, and then we have to run the proof of concept. And in the proof of concept, we are held accountable to delivering results. And if we don't deliver results and execute those proof of concepts, we don't have a deal. And gee, I'm I'm really proud to report we have a 90% conversion rate on proof of concept. 90% of the time, if a client goes into a proof of concept with Sierra, they're gonna end up being a long term customer.
00:22:17 · Guillaume Moubeche
[00:22:17] S1: And when it comes to, like, the the the part with sales prospecting, how do each AE do, like, their sales prospecting daily? Like, do they have, like, I don't know, like, a a CRO who basically like a split per industry and each, you know, AE will get a specific industry and a set of leads each month that they need to contact? Or is it like each AE is kind of like full sales cycle and is focusing on the on the entire sales cycle from finding the leads to reaching out to them, etcetera?
00:22:52 · Reggie Marable
[00:22:52] S0: Yeah. So we we don't have like a hunter farmer thing. It's it's it's an AE. Once they get the first lead to long term contract, they are aligned to that engagement for the life. Okay. Their job is not only to get the client to... Into a proof of concept, demonstrate the value, sign a long term contract. It's now how can we take this relationship to the next level? Hey, you wanted us to handle your customer service. How about we start working on some proactive sales use cases? How about we start closing deals for you? You're currently using chat. Let's let's take a look at using our voice solution. We have new features to the platform. We have this cool feature called agent data platform. We're now imbuing these agents with intelligence and memory and context. Let's explore that. So at the end of the day, a seller's responsibility is to become the front door of that client's experience and be the way that their customers are interacting with their brand. So it's not just selling one thing and moving on. It's like how do we build a long term relationship so our clients are happy, they're successful, they're connecting with more of their customers? And you can't do that if you're just... You're very... You know, if it's a transactional thing, come in and close a deal and move on. So hopefully that gives you some sense of how we go about our selling motion. Yeah. Definitely.
00:24:10 · Guillaume Moubeche, Reggie Marable
[00:24:10] S1: I think it's interesting because in some companies, would see that you would have, let's say, like an AE team, and then you would have like the expansion team or like CS team sometimes that handles, you know, like customer expansion. But for you, it's like... Because it's such a long term relationship, you want each AE to basically, like, handle their accounts and also be able to also do the upsell because they're bringing more value on different use cases. Is that correct? [00:24:37] S0: That's exactly correct. So... Which is why when we're hiring for sellers, we look for, like, intellectual curiosity. We look for, creativity. We look for, people that have the the ability and the instincts to make things happen, people that know how to... They can... I can put them in the... In front of a CEO, but they can also go have a great conversation to build a relationship with a project leader. So you've gotta have AEs that are sophisticated, that work hard, that are very curious, And that's how you kind of come in and be a business consultant. And not a sales rep, but like a consultant. Like what can I do to make my client more successful? What can Sierra do to help them improve the way they interact with their with their customers and make, you know, better connections and more intimate relations with their customers. You have to have a you have to have a pretty unique seller to do that, which is why I'm very fortunate that we've
00:24:37 · Reggie Marable, Guillaume Moubeche
[00:24:37] S0: That's exactly correct. So... Which is why when we're hiring for sellers, we look for, like, intellectual curiosity. We look for, creativity. We look for, people that have the the ability and the instincts to make things happen, people that know how to... They can... I can put them in the... In front of a CEO, but they can also go have a great conversation to build a relationship with a project leader. So you've gotta have AEs that are sophisticated, that work hard, that are very curious, And that's how you kind of come in and be a business consultant. And not a sales rep, but like a consultant. Like what can I do to make my client more successful? What can Sierra do to help them improve the way they interact with their with their customers and make, you know, better connections and more intimate relations with their customers. You have to have a you have to have a pretty unique seller to do that, which is why I'm very fortunate that we've [00:25:29] S1: got some of the best sellers in the world at Sierra. Nice. And is there like a a particular deal you were like super excited to close or, like, a a funny story of... Is there the early days or with the team, like, a deal that was complex or an industry that you particularly liked?
00:25:48 · Reggie Marable
[00:25:48] S0: I think all of these deals are fun because we're selling... This is a completely brand new, technology that we're selling. Like, agents, didn't exist two years ago, so it's really fun. But I think all the deals are particular one, and I'll I'll keep the company name anonymous, but I remember, and this is the... This is due to the power and the beauty of our of our, selling model, is that we were, in the final stages of the proof of concept. The agent was live. It was delivering results. It was handling some really complex use cases. Our executive sponsor and our technical, executive sponsor both, were let go the ninth hour of a deal cycle... And by the way, this was the largest deal, at Sierra at the time. This is our first year out of stealth. And we're in q four, and we needed this deal to get, you know, to a particular revenue threshold. But because of the value of our technology, because, the client saw us as, like, part of them, we were integrated in all of the... You know, their technical team, their business operations team, The agent was performing. So when the new executives came in, was a pretty clear return on investment. They already saw how powerful the technology was. And also too, our account executive had done a great job of multithreading. So we had relationships with the COO, with the new CIO, with everyone on the project team. So when the new business and technology sponsor came aboard, it was a no brainer for them to continue the engagement. And you know this, Gene, when you lose your executive sponsor, at in, like, in the It gets harder. The final stage. Yeah. Your deal's done. Like, the deal disappears. But because of our business model and our selling motion, our go to market motion, we were able to survive that. And and if you would have told me during that period that we were gonna salvage that deal, I would