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The best SDR / AE combos are well-oiled sales partnerships that qualify and sign-up prospects in a continual flow, carefully and efficiently sidelining those who aren’t the right fit. That’s not everybody, though. Teams are blighted by everything from poor qualification processes to inconsistent workflows, and the result can be too much tail-chasing and not enough contract signing.From our experience working with SDRs and AEs across SaaS companies in MarTech, FinTech and other high-growth verticals, here are some thoughts on four simple things that help build a quota-busting partnership.  Let’s kick it off with the SDRs – here are the two most frequent comments we hear from Account Executives on what their top SDRs do that others don’t.1. Push on budget. The most important thing an AE needs to know before scheduling time for a prospect call is whether the customer is serious about spending money on a solution.Many SDRs will go through the motions of asking about budget but will take whatever answer comes first, and then move on in their vetting process. Often customers will explain that they don’t have a fixed budget or are just exploring the market, giving SDRs little to work with. That lack of info then moves upstream, and the AE then has to commit to a call without much sense of financial potential or fit.Feedback from the AE side is that while it’s important not to scare a prospect off, it’s helpful for SDRs to have a few follow-up questions lined up when customers don’t offer a firm budget. This could mean determining whether the prospect is themselves the budget-holder, getting an idea of their overall marketing budget or learning how much they currently spend on other related tools.2. Establish context. Aside from budget, an SDRs function is to help figure out whether a customer’s needs are met adequately by the solution.AEs still have a long road ahead of them if they jump on a prospect call knowing little more about the prospect than they would have been able to find out on line with a simple LinkedIn search, so simply providing this basic data isn’t setting the AE up for a win. SDRs can be very valuable here in asking detailed questions such as what the customer’s team hierarchy and structure looks like, what their current workflow is, whose initiative the potential purchase is etc. This can generate more useful information than simply asking the prospect how many users they think they’ll need – something many customers either don’t know or won’t want to commit to.A strong SDR should be able to present their AE counterpart with a helpful inside look at the customer scenario, allowing for a productive second call focused on a solution.OK AEs, your turn next.Hey, it’s a partnership, right? Gotta go both ways…1. Help your SDR help you. SDRs love working with AEs who are pro-active in coaching them towards delivering higher-quality leads. Although SDRs are typically targeted and compensated on volume of appointment-setting, the majority are also hoping to graduate to a closing role in future, so learning about the full sales cycle and not just throwing dead-end meetings into their AE’s calendar is in everyone’s interest. AEs that work closely with their SDRs by providing feedback on preliminary prospect notes, scheduling regular internal meetings to analyze calls and sharing their own pre-call notes not only help the SDR along their career path, but also fine-tune the lead service they receive from them. Win-win.2. Bring business knowledge to the table, not just product. AEs add a new level of sales experience when they join prospect discussions, but it’s not just the ability to demo a product in depth or drive a conversation towards pricing that SDRs benefit from exposure to. A frequent observation on what makes a top AE is their ability to quickly understand the customer’s problem from a broader business angle. This can actually mean less initial time spent talking about the product and more time discussing the customer’s workflow, goals, clients, competition and current technology setup. Expertise in fluidly creating a 360 snapshot of the customer’s on-the-ground situation then creates a platform to bring technical and closing skills to bear.* * * You can check out all Adaptive Tech’s SaaS sales vacancies here.

Poor sales incentive programs not only fail to get results, they can actually weigh a team down. But done right, SPIFF incentives can be more than just a pat on the back – they can have a long-term strategic impact on a sales organization and culture. Let's have a look at what separates SPIFF programs that fly from those that fail.First up, what's a SPIFF? We'll worry about where the term comes from some other time - the internet is littered with origin rumors dating back to the 1800s decoding what 'SPIFF' might stand for.In most companies, SPIFFs are small incentives for achieving short-term or secondary sales goals (e.g. a sales rep's long-term goal is to hit annual quota, but there may be SPIFFs rewarding things like signing multi-year contracts or landing customers from a specific target list). Though SPIFFs have been around a while, an explosion of popularity in ‘gamifying’ the sales process has brought their potential value back into the spotlight, aided by platforms like LevelEleven, Ambition and Hoopla.* * *It sounds unlikely that an incentive program could disincentivize, right? Especially with sales reps, genetically wired to latch onto any contest going and fight till the bitter end to come out on top…And yes, correctly implemented, SPIFFs are what sales is all about. They're fun, performance-driven opportunities to win something - just for doing your job well. When they misfire, however, they can trivialize the entire sales function. Something designed to fire up competition can quickly nosedive into a demotivating, reductive initiative that compresses the company's vibrant growth vision into a scuffle to win a $50 gift card.So how do you stay out of nosedive territory?In our experience recruiting for hundreds of SaaS vendors across MarTech, FinTech, HRTech and other domains, the smartest SPIFF programs are the ones that align rewards with long-term thinking, and reflect overall company values and vision. It might sound contradictory – SPIFFs are a short-term incentive, no doubt. But motivating sales teams isn’t a short-term challenge, and deployment of short and mid-term sales goals works well if linked to the company’s broader mission.Sure, a $50 gift card isn't bad. Most of us would take it. But it's not usually gift cards that drives us to go to work. If you've picked the right sales team, that's not why they've joined your company. SPIFF incentives have major long-term value when they tap into a really significant driver for the sales rep, such as:Development, networking, collaboration and travel.Examples?We've worked with companies whose sales competitions send the winners to top industry conferences, such as Dreamforce or SaaStr. Events like these don't just offer a ton of networking opportunities and the chance to sit in on presentations and workshops from industry pioneers - they're also a lot of fun (Dreamforce bands have included Metallica, RHCP and U2). International clients have paired reps in different countries across a company-wide league and offered the champions the chance to swap offices for a week. A different spin on the familiar Fantasy Football-style classic but building inter-office collaboration and mixing in a chance to explore the wider business.Instead of a cash bonus or a freebie pizza lunch, some clients arrange for the top two or three contest performers to sit in on select senior management meetings or executive dinners. To an ambitious, career-driven sales rep that's an opportunity that might not come around organically for many years, and a window into a future world that will light a fire that burns longer than any spot bonus. * * *So, what are we saying, a giftcard promo is going to crush morale in your team? Of course not - but along with annual comp plans and career progression, correctly aligned secondary sales incentive schemes which tie in with long-term thinking can have significant impact in reinforcing company culture and values, and show your team you're investing in their success for bigger goals ahead.You can check out Adaptive Tech's SaaS sales vacancies in our job listings here.