Good morning to everyone except the restaurants that charge for bread ☠️

"#1 Newsletter of the Year" 🏆️ -Andy’s Wife

😱 ANDY REACTS

Easter Bunnies or Leaking Whistleblowers? The Great Classified Document Hunt That Has the Government Scrambling!

Ladies and gentlemen, have you heard about the latest drama that unfolded over the Easter weekend? No, I'm not talking about the annual hunt for chocolate eggs, though that's always an adventure. This year, US defense officials and the DOJ went on their very own Easter egg hunt - a "classified documents" edition!

You see, there was this massive leak of top-secret documents on social media. Talk about a plot twist! The government was probably expecting to spend the weekend searching for hidden treats, but instead, they were hunting for the ultimate Easter spoiler - their own secrets!

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm in sales and marketing, and let me tell you, it doesn't take a marketing guru to know that's not the kind of exposure you want. I mean, we all have our dirty little secrets, right? Like that time I accidentally replied-all to an email where I may have been complaining about the coffee in the break room. But this, this was next level!

I can just imagine the situation at the Pentagon. There's General Smith, sitting down with his family for Easter dinner, when suddenly he gets a text message: "Sir, our top-secret files are trending on Twitter!" Talk about a conversation killer!

And don't get me started on the DOJ. They must have been frantically assembling their team of investigators, sifting through the leaked documents, trying to put the pieces together like some high-stakes jigsaw puzzle. I mean, if they're anything like me trying to piece together last year's sales figures, they probably needed a few extra hands on deck.

Now, we all know social media can be a double-edged sword. It's great for sharing cat videos and keeping in touch with old friends, but it's also become the world's largest game of "telephone," where secrets spread faster than Aunt Sally's gossip at the family reunion.

But I have to hand it to them - I bet the government's marketing department was working overtime to spin this one. Can you imagine the brainstorming session? "Okay, team, how do we make top-secret documents being leaked sound like a GOOD thing?"

In the end, it just goes to show, whether you're in sales and marketing or the world of classified information, it's always important to stay on your toes. Because, like Easter eggs, you never know when or where your secrets might pop up!

☠️ ANDY’S DEADLY DOODLES

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💀 Issue #100-and-something 💀

AEs should NOT be prospecting more right now. It's dangerous.

by Mark Kosoglow

AEs should NOT be prospecting more right now. It's dangerous.

That solution worked in the economic environment of 2 years ago.

Don't believe me. Look at the evidence.

📉 Law of diminishing returns is kicking in sooner →

Nearly every company I talk to is suffering from poor top-of-funnel marketing performance and decreased SDR output.

The kinds of investments made in top of funnel 2 years ago do not have the same levels of return today, in terms of qualified pipeline dollars.

Yet, many so-called LinkedIn pundits are telling AEs to invest more time on top of funnel activity. 🤦🏻‍♂️

*I'm not saying AEs shouldn't prospect. They should. What I am saying is to force someone spend more time on an activity suffering from the law of diminishing return is poor, generic, unimaginative advice that reeks of lazy, misguided, head-in-the-sand, top-down sales leadership.

🔍 Budgets are tighter and scrutiny is higher →

I'm hearing about more CFO involvement, larger decision making committees, less money, more requirements, more hoops to jump through, increased deal cycles...

All of that equates to sellers needing to spend more time and effort to win deals.

The ol' "A 🐤 in the 🫴🏻 is worth 🐤🐤 in the 🌳" saying is the epitome of why taking your eyes off the deals you have in your pipeline to try create more deals (when it's harder than ever) is a risky endeavor.

⚖️ Time is a limited resource →

Here's what this is all coming down to.

If you only have so much time, you have to decide where to spend it.

Most people think of a revenue results formula like this:

PIpeline * Win Rate = Revenue

(The pipeline you create multiplied by win rate equals dollars.)

But, that formula implies there's no time constraint and reps can spend unlimited amounts of time creating and closing deals. That's a false implication.

Here's a better theoretical formula (though not very mathematical):

Pipeline^t1 * Win Rate^(t-t1) = Revenue

(The pipeline you create by spending time prospecting multiplied by the win rate you can achieve by spending your remaining time on closing deals equates to revenue.)

This is a more informed way of looking at AE revenue creation bc it respects the constraint of time.

It dictates:

1️⃣ You can increase revenue by spending more time to create more deals and closing them at least at the same rate you did with less deals.

2️⃣ You can increase revenue by closing the same deals at a higher rate than you did when you had more of them.

My advice?

Continue prospecting at your normal levels but find a way to do it in less time.

Spend more time on becoming a better seller and winning more revenue with less deals.

The true sales professionals actually garner better results in hard economic times, not because they have more pipeline, but because their selling, solutioning, and value creation stands apart from "order taker" reps who can be good, but only during good times.

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That’s a wrap for today amigos. Eat your tacos and see you tomorrow! If you want more, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@andymewborn) or LinkedIn.

What did you think of today’s edition? (anonymous)

• 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ So f**cking fuego

• 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Meh, keep digging

• 🌶️ Snoozefest

A RECENT REVIEW