In this session, Insider Co-Founder and CEO Hande Cilinger will dive into 10 mistakes to avoid in building out a revenue organization. Tune in to this presentation for Hande’s take on how to best hire, enable, sell, and grow.

1. HANDE CILINGIR
CEO & Co-Founder
Insider
@HandeCilingir
Top 10 Mistakes in Building Out Your
Revenue Organization
Hande Cilingir’s Perspective

2. Revenue Organization Flow
Hire Enable Sell Grow

3. Mistake 1

4. Not accepting that you are mistaken

5. Mistake 2

6. Never hire because of urgency!
If they can’t sell to you, they won’t be
able to sell anybody else.
Never hire anybody without Backdoor
references!
Make sure they were hitting their sales
quota in their previous company.
Hiring with urgency!
Hire

7. Mistake 3

8. In SaaS world, we are in a very
competitive and fast paced environment.
No product is perfect!
Hiring sales representatives from non-
competitive background will be the worst
thing for your sales team!
Hiring Non-Competitive Sales Reps
Hire

9. Mistake 4

10. Not all of the sales people
have the unique chance of
learning from the best
The establishment of the
enablement function is the
key in scaling business
Better performance and
shorter ramp up times will be
coming with it
Lack of Enablement
Enable

11. Mistake 5

12. Collaterals, support on strategic pricings,
RFPs, contract processes
Your sales representatives should focus!
Focus on the decks
Focus on the orchestration
Sales Operations / Deal Desk / Marketing
Those functions will be empowering your
Sales Reps
Your reps are not Ironman
Enable

13. Mistake 6

14. Every salesperson should be on top of
their sales pipeline.
They should know where they stand in
relation to their competitors in every deal.
For your customers to get best out from
the sales process,for your sales
representatives to ramp up faster and
perform better, every single step of your
sales process should be defined.
Losing control over Sales Pipeline
Enable

15. Mistake 7

16. Focus is the key for expansion
performance
Who should own it, Customer Support
or Sales?
2 Primary keys to take decision:
1. The length of Sales Cycle
2. The type of Upsell
Lack of focus on Expansion Function
Sell

17. Mistake 8

18. How you package and sell the products
are the is the most important indicator
of the expansion opportunities
Rule: Land, and then expand!
Weak Packaging of the Products
Sell

19. Mistake 9

20. Never avoid the POC, initiate the POC.
Let them taste your product, let them
know the value that you are going to
bring
Avoiding POC
Sell

21. Mistake 10

22. Not having Pricing for Organic Growth
Sell
Find the parameter that is mutual to your
product and your client's use of your product
aka
It should be mutually beneficial
It should be visible to both parties in real time

23. Bonus

24. Focusing on output metrics, rather than input metrics
Sometimes, the number of certain activities are not
directly correlated with the result that you will get
As a company, you can find yourself that activities
are going successfully but the results are not
coming.
"Before you can improve any system . . . you must
understand how the inputs affect the outputs of the
system. You must be able to change the inputs
(and possibly the system) in order to achieve the
desired results. This will require a sustained effort,
constancy of purpose, and an environment where
continual improvement is the operating
philosophy."
Working Backwards (2021, Bryar, Carr)
Grow

25. Summary of Mistakes
1. Not accepting that you are mistaken
2. Hiring with urgency!
3. Hiring Non-Competitive Sales Reps
4. Lack of Enablement
5. Your reps are not Ironman
6. Losing control over Sales Pipeline
7. Lack of focus on Expansion Function
8. Weak Packaging of the Product
9. Avoiding POC
10. Organic Pricing for Organic Growth
Bonus Mistake
Focusing on output metrics, rather than
input metrics

26. Sales Fixes Everything.

27. Growth is the KING.

28. THANK YOU