Prerequisites to Deal Creation
Before creating a deal, it’s critical to have the right information so that we, as a sales team, can leverage that data to work smarter. Some prerequisites you need to know before creating a deal:
1. Accounting ERP Software
What is the accounting and/or ERP system they are using (Netsuite, Xero, Microsoft Dynamics, Quickbooks, FinancialForce, Sage Intacct, SAP, Infor, Plex, Magento, etc.)
2. Use Case
Are they looking to improve Accounts Receivable (AR) automation and/or reduce AR costs? Are they looking to become a payments facilitator? Are they looking for solutions in the Accounts Payable space?
3. Discovery Call Meeting Date
Is the discovery call date confirmed and in one month or less? If not, set a task within Hubspot to create the deal within the 1-month window and update the Hubspot contact’s lifecycle stage to “In Progress” to avoid further sequence emails.
Step 1: Find the Right Contact
It’s important to always associate the contact with a deal so that anyone looking to understand the details of a deal can immediately understand which contact prompted the deal to be created. Start by finding the contact that led to the opportunity to open a deal and click the + Add button within the “Deals” area on the right-hand side of the contact page.
Note: Make sure to add any additional contacts to a deal if they are involved by selecting the Add Existing Deal tab and searching for the correct deal.
Step 2: Fill Out Required Deal Properties
Make sure to fill out the appropriate fields:
Deal Name
The Deal Name will automatically be filled out as “Company Name - New Deal” if you’ve created the deal from a contact page.
Pipeline (EXTREMELY IMPORTANT)
If the prospect is looking for solutions in the AR space, select the Sales Pipeline. The vast majority of deals and team members are focused on the Sales Pipeline.
Deal Stage
Unless a Discovery call has already taken place, choose the “SQL” stage for Sales Pipeline.
Accounting ERP Software
Select the correct software they are using. This is a critical piece of information as it determines which Account Executive team will be working on the deal.
Use Case
Select AR for prospects looking for AR solutions.
Amount
This is the associated deal amount (MRR), not the annual revenue of the company. Until a Discovery and more probably a Demo call has happened, this should be tentatively filled in as $1,000 before knowing what Paystand modules they’re looking for and their annual revenue / processing volume.
Close Date
This should be set to 33 days (our current sales cycle) from the Discovery call.
Deal Owner
This should be set to the right Account Executive who will be working on the deal. If you’re a BDR, follow the round-robin assignment. If you’re an AE and it’s self-generated, mark this as yourself or to another AE if the prospective company is not within your focus area (e.g., it’s a Netsuite company but you’re on the Magento team).
Create Date
Set to today.
SDR
This field gives attribution to whoever sourced the prospect. For AEs, it should be left to “Mark Fisher” if it’s an inbound SQL and set to yourself if the SQL was self-generated. For BDRs, it should be marked as yourself whether it’s a qualified inbound MQL or if you generated it from outbound efforts.
Strategy
Did this SQL originate from Marketing? If not, set to Outbound (Marketing leads will automatically be set to Inbound).
Associate Deal with:
Company
Make sure the right company is selected (it will automatically be filled out if you created the deal from the contact page. It is recommended that you check the “Add timeline activity from “company name” to this deal.”
Contact
This should automatically be filled out if you created the deal from the contact page. It is recommended that you check the “Add timeline activity from “contact name” to this deal.”
Step 3: Add Annual Revenue to Company Property
If you know the company’s annual revenue, go to the company page and fill out the “Annual Revenue” property.
Step 4 (for BDRs): Set Up Pre-Discovery Call Sync with the Account Executive
Whether it’s an inbound or outbound SQL, make sure to set up a 5-10m sync with the AE ahead of the call, preferably the same day as the call or the day before. You should cover all the information you’ve gathered and specific questions that the prospect has asked or requested to cover in the Discovery call. Also, consider anything that you think is critical for the AE to know context-wise in order for a smooth Discovery call to happen.
Step 5 (for BDRs): Attend the Discovery Call
Attend the Discovery calls you book so that you can understand the context of what happened on the call. Many lessons can be learned from each Discovery call to see how AEs speak to prospects so that cold-calling, objection handling, topics of interest become more refined over time, leading to more qualified prospects you book.
Step 6 (for BDRs): Stay on the Google Meet for 3-5 Minutes to Gather Feedback from the AE
After each Discovery call you attend, you and the AE should stay on the line for 3-5 minutes so that the AE can provide feedback on what was good or could use improvement. They will also walk you through why they accept or do not accept it as a SAL. Gong recorder should remain on the call to record the feedback.
Step 7 (for BDRs/AEs): Update Meeting Properties
Make sure to fill out the appropriate fields:
Discovery Call Happened?
This is a Yes, No or Pending set of options.
Discovery Call Date
The date of the Discovery call.
Note: these two fields will be used for reporting to cross-reference commission sheets, so it’s critical for BDRs to make sure these are filled out properly for all sourced deals.
Step 8 (for AEs): Accept or Reject SQL with SAL? Field
Make sure to fill out the appropriate fields:
SAL?
This is a Yes or No set of options.