Which SE’s Should Go To Club?

How do you make a rational decision about which SE’s should go to club? Even though a company may invite SE’s, the criteria aren’t always laid out in advance.

There is rarely a “if you do this, then you go” line in the sand. Considering that most SE’s get hammered in the head with “customer success criteria” and “understand how you are going win” the fact that this logic doesn’t apply to qualification is counter-intuitive.  However, it is what it is – so here are some guidelines to make the process easier:

 

1.   If there is a 1:1 match between a SE and Rep. The SE goes if the rep qualifies.

2.   If there is a 1:1 match between a SE leader and a sales leader – if the sales leader  goes, the SE leader goes.

3.   If a pool of SE’s supports a sales district, then use the ratio – if it’s 3:1, then for every 3 reps who go – 1 SE goes. If the district hits its overall number, or 110%, then set a definitive number of SE’s to qualify regardless of how many reps made it. (See rule #5)

4.   If the SE has an actual personal quota – then they qualify on the same basis as a rep. (This is common for overlay positions).

5.   Base the quota qualification hurdle on a number that someone in sales cares about and gets paid on. (i.e hurdles like “75% of reps qualify”

There are many other guidelines, but these are a good start. So now you know how many SE’s can attend club – but which ones should go? Some more guidelines:

1.  Use annual performance ratings – so 1’s and 2’s get preferences over 3’s and 4’s and 5’s – on a 1 through 5 scale.

2.  Look at Big Deals. Which SE’s supported the largest deals. This works for Enterprise, you need a different variant for SMB and Partners.

3.  Use a SE of the Quarter award as a preference.

4.  Track Revenue per SE – even unofficially.

5.  Look at other contribution. Which SE’s helped other SE’s be more productive (built a demo, developed a new presentation or competitive strategy, simplified POCs etc.)

6.  Seek input from sales – without it becoming a popularity contest.

7.  Use your SFA system to track contribution. If it’s not in there it doesn’t count.

Again – there are many ways to skin this – the point being that SE’s hate uncertainty. You usually can’t take care of all the vagaries of qualification, but you can at least set a bar which needs to be beaten even to merit consideration. Note the comment on my previous post - the SE Leader should always have a list of achievements and be ready with a stack-ranked list of who goes. Always.