Everything that people get wrong with Metrics

Summary

In this enlightening discussion brought by MEDDICC, the speakers Andy and Pim tackle the common misconceptions surrounding metrics within the context of sales processes. They emphasize that metrics aren't easy, which presents a significant opportunity for differentiation in sales. Metrics should not be overly complex nor expected to be readily available from customers. Instead, sellers must relate metrics to multiple stakeholders, uncovered pain points, and the larger business objectives of a client. By understanding and maximizing this aspect, sellers can ensure better integration with customer success, leading to enduring success beyond the initial sale.

Highlights

• Metrics are a big challenge in sales, but mastering them can set you apart. 🌟
• No need for exhaustive McKinsey-level detail in metrics to be effective. 🧐
• Customers often don't have ready-made metrics for you—be prepared to discover them. 🙅‍♂️
• Consider the metrics' relevance to various stakeholders and broader business goals. 🎯
• Metrics play a crucial role beyond just closing a sale; think long-term and across the customer lifecycle. 🔄

Key Takeaways

• Metrics aren't easy, which is actually a great opportunity. 🌟
• Being McKinsey-esque with metrics isn't necessary—it’s about the value. 🧐
• Don't assume the customer has all the metrics ready. 🙅‍♂️
• Align metrics with pain points and business initiatives for success. 🎯
• Think about metrics throughout the entire customer lifecycle. 🔄

Overview

Andy and Pim dive into the misunderstood world of metrics in sales. They point out that while dealing with metrics isn't straightforward, this complexity is where many sellers can gain a competitive edge. By not taking the easy route and instead working to understand and integrate metrics properly, sellers can better differentiate themselves in the market.

Discussing the misconception that metrics need to be highly detailed and immediately available, the speakers stress that neither is true. Effective selling doesn't rely on having McKinsey-esque reports but on how metrics align with business pain and objectives. Thinking that customers have all the metrics is another pitfall; sellers need to uncover what's relevant to their stakeholders.

Andy and Pim highlight the importance of embedding metrics into the entire sales and post-sales process. They introduce their M1, M2, and M3 framework, showcasing how metrics evolve throughout the customer journey. This approach not only helps in winning deals but ensures ongoing value delivery, positioning metrics as a continuous part of the customer relationship rather than a sales checkbox.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Topic Overview The chapter introduces the topic of metrics, specifically focusing on misconceptions and difficulties people commonly face with metrics, particularly in the context of 'medpic.' The hosts, Andy and Pim, acknowledge that metrics are a challenging area where many encounter problems, setting the stage for further exploration and discussion.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Misconceptions and Opportunities in Metrics The chapter 'Misconceptions and Opportunities in Metrics' discusses how metrics in sales are often misunderstood. It emphasizes that while metrics are not easy to understand, mastering them offers a competitive advantage. The difficulty in grasping these metrics means that if a company can effectively utilize them, it sets itself apart from the competition. The chapter highlights the importance of not only having a differentiated solution but also differentiating oneself through better selling strategies that delve deeper into understanding and leveraging metrics.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Importance of Understanding Metrics The chapter discusses the common misconceptions about metrics, emphasizing that they are often viewed as complex and overly detailed reports, similar to those created by McKenzie-esque consultants. However, the essential insight shared is that metrics don't always need to be deeply complex. Instead, simpler metrics can sometimes be equally effective in conveying necessary insights and driving decision-making. The discussion aims to demystify the concept of metrics and highlight their practicality in simpler forms.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Customer Perspective and Multiple Stakeholders The chapter discusses the limitations of consulting firms like McKinsey in identifying inefficiencies and costs solely through superficial analysis. It emphasizes the need for in-depth work to uncover and utilize metrics effectively, challenging the notion that metrics are readily apparent and suggesting that even experts must put effort into understanding them.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Metrics and Business Initiatives The chapter discusses common misconceptions around customer metrics and emphasizes the importance of recognizing the diversity of stakeholders within a customer organization. It encourages sellers to consider the different interests of various stakeholders rather than viewing the customer as a single entity. Sellers should always question who in the customer organization truly cares about the metrics they are tracking.
• 05:00 - 06:00: Scaling and Persona-Specific Metrics The chapter discusses the importance of understanding that not everyone cares about the same metrics in the same way. It emphasizes the need to align metrics with individual concerns and overall business initiatives. People often misunderstand metrics by viewing them in isolation rather than in conjunction with broader business goals.
• 06:00 - 07:00: Use of M1, M2, and M3 Framework The chapter discusses the use of the M1, M2, and M3 framework in understanding various business metrics in relation to stakeholders, organizational goals, and identified pain points. The focus is on ensuring that metrics align with wider business initiatives. It also touches on the importance of scaling solutions by tailoring them to personas and their specific pain points. Emphasizing alignment with the organization’s strategic objectives helps in addressing the issues effectively and scaling solutions appropriately.
• 07:00 - 08:00: Beyond Closing: Full Customer Lifecycle The chapter 'Beyond Closing: Full Customer Lifecycle' discusses the importance of understanding the complete journey of customer engagement post-initial sale. It highlights a strategic framework referred to as the M1, M2, M3 framework, which focuses on leveraging past customer value stories to entice potential new customers. The chapter emphasizes taking the time to understand customer experiences in order to unlock significant value and improve engagement metrics. The narrative seems to encourage businesses to look beyond the initial closing of a sale and foster long-term customer relationships based on proven success stories.
• 08:00 - 09:00: Challenges and Opportunities in Metrics This chapter explores the intricate dynamics of leveraging metrics in business, particularly focusing on the concept of M1 and M2 metrics. It underscores the importance of articulating the value provided to customers and accurately measuring it through metrics. There's a strong emphasis on scaling personalized metrics to enhance customer service and boost the chances of deal success using medpic. Furthermore, it discusses the transition from pre-sales to post-sales, emphasizing the collaborative handover process to ensure continued customer satisfaction and value delivery.
• 09:00 - 10:00: Summary and Key Takeaways The chapter discusses the sales process, specifically focusing on the transition to the M3 stage. It highlights that this phase involves closing deals and selling, primarily using the MEDPIC framework alongside metrics. A key takeaway is the importance of understanding that the value delivery starts earlier than the customer interaction with the seller, occurring even in prior stages, denoted as M1s. The chapter emphasizes that capturing value is not confined only to the conclusion of a deal.

Everything that people get wrong with Metrics Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] welcome to madman this is Andy and that's Pim and what are we talking about today Pim today we're talking about what people get wrong with metrics yes metrics is probably no not probably it's definitely the the element of medpic that people have the most problem with right and I think that's fair enough because I they're not easy are they pimp they're not easy and I think that that's
• 00:30 - 01:00 like the very first thing to say here right assuming that they're easy well that's that's that's a mistake but equally it provides a great opportunity right the fact that they're not easy if you can do it like you have the edge yeah it's like one oh like a lot of things in selling if it's easy if it's if your competition is doing it then you're not differentiated so just like your solution needs to be differentiated you can differentiate Yourself by selling better and by getting deeper into the metrics there's a lot of value
• 01:00 - 01:30 for you behind the difficulty that metrics hold yeah and and you know one of the things I think on this topic that people often get wrong about metrics is that they think they have to be some sort of what I call like mckenzie-esque oh yeah I like human full report yeah completely detailed and it's like yeah I know what you mean and I think there's there's some interesting Insight in that thought as well because what we're saying is metrics don't have to be that deep sometimes they can't be
• 01:30 - 02:00 that deep right and the reason they can't be that deep is because McKinsey they're pretty good at going and getting that stuff but even they don't walk in and just sort of lick their fingers stick it in the air and go oh wow this this process here is inefficient 23 and it's costing you 3 million a year yeah they have to do the work and that's what you have to do with metrics yeah that's true but at the same time it's also not that you go in with the expectation like okay the customer has these metrics and I can now just uncover and extract it
• 02:00 - 02:30 from them right yeah yes exactly right and you know when you say that the customer has these metrics I think one of the things that I think that people do really get wrong is they they think about the customer as like a single entity rather than an organization full of multiple different stakeholders who all have different interests so you know if you're a seller listening to this right now consider a deal you're working on consider that if you've got metrics on it if you think they're great then that's cool but you know ask yourself who cares about those metrics
• 02:30 - 03:00 and if you think that they've you know everybody cares about the same metric in the same way probably not it's very unlikely what you need to make sure you're doing is kind of getting into what each person cares about and that goes back to pain of course doesn't it goes back to pain it goes back to making sure that the metric attaches to the overall business initiative that's that's really what the business is driving towards so you know what people get wrong about metrics they see them in isolation they don't think
• 03:00 - 03:30 about them in relation to multiple stakeholders they don't think about them in relation to the pain that they've uncovered and implicated they don't think about it in terms of how does this metric support this organization's wider business initiative yeah and I you know that that's the issue but if you start doing it it also skills right as it pertains to Persona when you identify the typical way that that a pain would look like for the Persona as it pertains to the the pain that you would solve for like that scales up right so if people
• 03:30 - 04:00 do go down the path of really getting to do to an understanding here and again that takes time it's difficult a lot of value to be unlocked yeah and I think that's a really good point in terms of if we are you know we we have our M1 M2 M3 framework which we can talk about in a moment but the the concept behind an M1 is where you're taking value that you found with other customers to a potentially new customer and using that story behind the value the story behind the metrics of you know what state they're in before what value was you know what value was being lost what
• 04:00 - 04:30 value we uncovered for them and delivered to them and the metric that measures that value that is the the nucleus of an M1 and she'll point there about it scaling the more you talk metrics the more you can deliver personalized metrics to the customer which is what we call an M2 and then of course once you win the deal because you will be more likely to win it if you're using medpic you can then do the Handover to our friends in post cells yeah where an M2
• 04:30 - 05:00 becomes a an M3 and this is again a point where I think a lot of people go wrong right it's like okay we have the closing and the selling medpic is taking place there and and metrics by extension as well and so deals one okay Biometrics like we want the deal right so that's done but really it extends beyond beyond that and and the M ones they are already delivering value for your business before the customer is talking to you as a seller right so yeah so I think that
• 05:00 - 05:30 uh the thing of getting wrong there is thinking about metrics only in that closing and selling stage opposed to the entire customer lives because once the M3 is in place which is being like the the target of the partnership right after the deal has been won yeah when that is delivered when that value is delivered and after sales and or yeah customer success is clear on that being the target and it's now realized it becomes an M1 again right so marketing yeah yeah and I
• 05:30 - 06:00 don't want to you know I want to stay away from Solutions too much because but the challenge or the yeah the thing that people get wrong is quite clear the flip side of it's like massive opportunity right if you start doing this yeah so summarize it's not easy it's not easy you don't have to be mckenzie-esque yeah and you shouldn't be expecting that the customer has the metrics for you yes yeah the customer is very unlikely to have metrics it's almost like if they do what's gone on as has a competitor been in like you know there's question marks
• 06:00 - 06:30 there yeah it's that mindset of like hey professional seller professional buyer probably not right yes 99 of their day-to-day is spent in other activities yes other than buying your type of solutions yep so not easy don't be Mackenzie ass don't expect the customer to have metrics make sure that you tie your metrics back to the pain back to the stiff make sure you're considering all stakeholders make sure you're tying it's the business initiative that the customer really cares about what else Pim not uh thinking about it in the context
• 06:30 - 07:00 of the full customer life cycle now that's it all right cheers foreign