Hitting quota in SaaS right now: mission (im)possible?
Buzz | Motivation
How is Q1’23 going for you?
Are you hitting your quota?
We’ve analyzed a Reddit thread with 237 comments and counting.
Here’s what salespeople got to say about Q1:
All of my deals are pushing. Everything is so slippery right now. It will either be a really good Q1 or I’ll show up with nothing. Feel out of control more than usual right now
Let’s dig into some numbers.
From 120 answers in total:
- 51 hit quota (42.5%)
- 69 didn’t (57.5%)
Let’s first look closer at those who succeeded:
Industries:
- Insurance software
- Cyber security
- EdTech
- Sales engagement software
- Oil Software
- Sales acceleration software
- Telecom
- Security & Networking
- Atlassian (company)
- Construction Sales
And while they do seem to be on the side where the sun shines brightly, they don’t really feel like it:
2/3 of them think dreadful about the future predicting “dry” months ahead,
Hit 100% last week, mainly due to my Q1 quota being the lowest of 2023 and I had two large deals that were pushed from Q4 close. Pipeline is dry & Q2 is 40% higher. Going to be a bleak 2023.
and about 20% of the winners got their quota hit thanks to the previous pipeline.
Yes…but only because I wasn’t good enough to close then in Q4 so they’re all just roll overs that already has the budget, haha
Now let’s shine a light on those who are failing:
Yup, everyone is being super slow with where they spend their cash. Lots of tire kickers. We’ve started just putting in minimum effort with people in cycle until they started getting more serious and focusing our energy towards bringing more logos on.
Industries:
- Cloud sales
- MSFT
- Category creation
- Government sector
- Business intel
- Data Analytics
- Legal tech
- Content exchange software
- Salesforce (company)
While all the 69 salespeople didn’t hit the quota, about 30% say that their peers are more successful:
I’m getting crushed this quarter, timeline pushbacks, prospects not winning the business to justify the purchase, cheaper competitors swooping in, the works. Some guy on my team is like 250% already tho, so that’s cool for him
But answers like no one from their team will hit the number are more prevalent:
I am not close but have at least sold something and I am generating a lot of pipe. Nobody on my team is close, some haven’t closed anything. Lots of deals are pushing but most agencies have budget in July.
Common threads among winners and failures:
Longer deal cycles, more stakeholders, postponed decisions, and budgets are shrinking.
Deals keep pushing more and more. Literally had one today try to schedule a call and then apologize for jumping the gun and say they wouldn’t be ready for this call for a long time. Like…dafuq.
Salespeople’s advice: ditch email and LinkedIn chats, pick up the phone and dial like your hair’s on fire (if you are still not using Power Dialer – it is time). Prospect every day, and don’t stop trying!
My team did great but I’m down for February. I should have a stronger March but a lot of people are pushing and delaying signings! Gotta keep dialing for dollars. Forget that email stuff!
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