ASSIGNMENT

Name: Bramhaiah Reddy

Problem Statement
The sales pipeline conversion percentage at TechnoServe (a tech SaaS startup) has dropped
from 35% at the end of last fiscal (FY 2017-18) to 25% at present.

Assignment Objective
Understand the problem, come up with a hypothesis for low conversions faced by
TechnoServe, and analyse the dataset provided to arrive at possible solutions to increase it.
 PART I : 1. Understanding the Problem
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup

Who? What? When? Where? How?

TechnoServe, pune Pipeline conversion has Occurring since last 3 Among prospective 1)Marketing related
based IT Solutions been decreased from quarters clients from pune and Issues
Provider 35 % to 25 % resulting other cities 2)Sales Related Issues
in decrease in sales
 PART I : 2. Understanding the Problem
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup

Situation Problem Implication Need-Payoff

How are you generating the How long is sales conversion What is the revenue impact Would you meet your targets
Leads declining with declining sales if the conversion rate moves
conversion back to 35%
What are the target Do you have enough skilled
Demographics for Lead sales team to handle the Leads What is impact on market Would the Sales team achieve
generation generated share and projected revenues more if the current conversion
Issue resolved
What Marketing tools are you Do you have a shorter sales What is impact on sales
using to get the leads cycle to convert the leads budget Will the company expand and
grow if the sales conversion is
What is the current Sales Do you have marketing and improved
cycle and duration sales team working closer What is impact on other units
like Engineering, marketing Will the company increase the
Who are the members of the Do you have sales strategy for and Finance market share and beat the
sales team each group of leads competition

Do you have a pre-sales team Is the Sales declining across all

regions and products
What is the marketing budget
ratio
 PART II : Formulating Hypotheses
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup

Framework Used
To generate the Hypothesis , I have selected below Three Frameworks :
1)BANT Framework
2)Market Segmentation – STP Model

Reason for using the selected framework

The problem is about sales conversion and hence it requires deep analysis on the Sales procedure and Marketing strategy of the company
since the company is not able to convert Leads to potential sales .

How you have used the framework here

I have divided the problem into Marketing and Sales through this framework and Identified the possible Gaps under each segment to identify
of the company is able to generate enough leads and /or company is only not able to convert the leads . Since this framework talks about the
best measures to address these Issues I have tried to list them and built a hypothesis as which of this step or stage could have been failed .
 PART II : Formulating Hypotheses
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup
 PART II : Formulating Hypotheses
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup

Branch 1

Lead Qualification : Identifying the Right Leads through Lead Qualification ,using BANT Framework. Here Objective is to Identify from the
given data set whether customers have the required Budget to buy the Offering. Although other Variables in the BANT could not be validated
with the given data .
Hypothesis to Validate : Do Customers have required budget for our offering

Branch 2

Sales Team : Identify whether Sales team is qualified enough to handle the Leads across the Technology
Offerings of the company
 PART II : Formulating Hypotheses
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup

Branch 3

Sales Velocity – Check if the Sales team is spending more time in lead conversion compared to similar Leads in different location for the
same Offering

Hypothesis to Validate : Is sales time has more Sales Velocity in particular region or Technology

Branch 4

Sales Target : Does Sales Team has enough Targets to achieve so that they do not loose the more revenue Leads.
 PART II : Formulating Hypotheses
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup

Branch 5

Conversion Strategy : Does Sales Team has strategy or performance ratio so that the team can be rated and validated if which team is
performing well.

Branch 6

Sales Channels – Are we using the right channels and do we have best/worst performing channel

Hypothesis to Validate – Which channels are working better and which are not for a given Technology offering group
 PART II : Formulating Hypotheses
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup

Branch 7

Product Offering – Which Technology offerings are working better for the company

Hypothesis to Validate - Are we targeting the correct Technology Offering for a given set of Leads

Branch 8

Customer Segment – Which Customer segment requires more attention based on the opportunity sizing
Hypothesis to Validate – Are we targeting the right Opportunity Segment
 PART II : Formulating Hypotheses
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup

Branch 9

Marketing Channels – Are we looking at the right channels of marketing

Branch 10

Product Value – Do customers value our offerings

 PART III A : Generating Insights
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup
Variable Insights if any Pattern of Insight
1)Technology Primary ERP Implementation and Technical Business Out of 77K Leads in this segment
Solutions are the major Leads there was only 17K conversion

2)B2B Sales Medium Enterprise Sellers and Marketing channel has most Leads and also 55k Leads were lost among these
major loosing channel. two segments

3)Client Revenue Sizing Company has major opportunity in the customers that has less Around 45K Leads were lost in
revenue per quarter which is less than 100k this segment

4)Opportunity Sizing The Highest Opportunity for the company is through Leads that have 3/4th of the Leads are below 50k
potential of 50K revenue Opportunity

5)Business from Client last Most of the Leads are from new customers where there were no 60k Leads are new customers
year’ previous deals closed

6)Sales Velocity Company has lost Sales in all stage of Sales cycle varying from 15 -90 The Leads that have been lost
Days are mostly between 15-75 days
of effort
 PART III A : Generating Insights
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup
Variable under consideration:
Technology Primary

The Highest Loss of Leads is among the

ERP Implementation and Technical Business
Solutions .
This also shows we have highest leads
Generated for this segment which also means
There is a huge opportunity/demand for this
Technology offering.
 PART III A : Generating Insights
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup
Variable under consideration:
B2B Sales Medium

Enterprise Sellers and Marketing channel has most of the

Leads generated which also has most loss and winning
Segments . This tells this channel is right one to tune and get
The leads flowing for future Quarters .
 PART III A : Generating Insights
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup
Variable under consideration:
Client Revenue Sizing

The company has been loosing most of the Leads for the companies
That has lower revenue size per quarter ,which tells us this
Market is huge and needs to be captured .
 PART III A : Generating Insights
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup
Variable under consideration:
Opportunity Sizing

Most of the Loss to company is through leads that

Would generate around 50K of revenue which is
Significant loss and this needs to be fixed .
 PART III A : Generating Insights
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup
Variable under consideration:
Business from Client last year

Company does not major Leads from existing customers which shows
there is no cross selling or upselling happening to existing customers .
Since most of the Leads are new hence sales team is required to
Spend huge time to convert these leads .
 PART III A : Generating Insights
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup
Variable under consideration:
Sales Velocity

The data shows company has lost most of the Leads

With in very short sales cycle and considerably lost
3/4th of Leads between 30-75 days of spending which
Requires better tuning at Lead nurturing to define
Strategy for quick closure or loose.
 PART III A : Generating Insights
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup
Recommendations Corresponding Insights
Out of 77K Leads in this segment there was only 17K conversion
1) Focus more on ERP Implementation and
Technical Business Solutions Offerings

2) Enterprise Sellers and Marketing channel are 55k Leads were lost among these two segments
most loosing Leads hence we need to focus
on other sources of channels

3) Companies with lower Revenue are most Around 45K Leads were lost in this segment
among the lost Leads hence need to
generate more leads in other segments

4) Company Needs to do upselling or cross 60k Leads are new customers

selling for existing customers as there is a
huge lose with new customers which is an
expensive lead generation compared to
current customers.
5) Company Should focus more on higher 3/4th of the Leads are below 50k Opportunity which have been lost
revenue Opportunity Leads
 PART III B : Presenting Findings
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup
RECOMMENDATIONS
Concentrate on ERP Implementation and Technical
Business Segment with Non Traditional Sales
Medium and faster Sales Cycles

Highest Loss in Leads

Highest Loss in from Enterprise Sales
Leads are from ERP and Marketing
and Tech Business

-> Tune the Lead -> Generate leads in

Nurturing in this segment other Sales medium
-> Define the Targets and ->Have Shorter Sales
Focused groups cycles
 PART III B : Presenting Findings
Sales Pipeline Conversion at a SaaS Startup