"We don't give our AEs outbound activity requirements. We don't want to micromanage them."

"We don't give our AEs outbound activity requirements. We don't want to micromanage them."

Sales leaders, the pendulum has swung way too far in the opposite direction.

AE Self-Sourcing doesn't have to live in these two extremes:

⛔️ Too much micromanagement: Every AE is required to hit a daily activity target, regardless of how well they're performing
⛔️ Too lackadaisical: No activity requirements, and ZERO accountability from sales managers

Both are bad, okay?

The sweet spot is somewhere right in the middle:

→ Every AE has tailored outbound activity requirements based on their own conversions
→ Managers hold AEs accountable to those targets
→ Pipegen gets just as much attention as pipeline/deal reviews in 1on1s

Here's how I recommend rolling this out:

✅ Have a "why" convo with every AE

Every manager has a 1on1 with each of their AEs. Dig into the big picture.

How much money do they want to make? What kind of lifestyle do they want?

Do they want to put their kids in private school? Buy their dream home? Retire in their 40s or 50s?

Make it real. Find their "why." And reverse engineer starting with how much money they want to make.

✅ Empower the AE to dial in their sales math

Use this formula to determine the exact level of activity needed for you to hit target:

→ Commissions earned goal / commission rate = Revenue needed to close
→ Revenue target / avg. deal size = # of deals to close
→ x % of pipeline you need to self-source = # of self-sourced deals to close
→ / win rate on qualified opportunities = # qualified opps needed
→ / conversion rate of 1st meetings to opps = # 1st meetings needed
→ x # outbound activities to create a meeting = # total outbound activities needed

For example:

→ $100k commissions / 10% commission rate = $1M target
→ $1M target / $50k avg. deal size = 20 deals to close
→ x 30% of pipeline you need to self-source = 6 self-sourced deals to close
→ / 30% win rate on qualified opportunities = 20 qualified opps needed
→ / 30% conversion rate of 1st meetings to opps = 67 1st meetings needed
→ x 80 outbound activities to create a meeting = 5,360 total outbound activities needed
→ = 446 outbound activities / month (111 / week)

Now every AE has the exact number of outbound activities to create the meetings they need every week to hit target.

This creates meaning and “why” behind the outbound grind.

✅ Don’t have great historical data to work with? Start with these benchmarks:

Aim to self-source 30% or more of your pipeline
Use a 30% win rate on qualified opps
Use a 30% opportunity creation rate on 1st meetings
Use between 100-200 outbound activities to create a meeting

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Don't mistake accountability for micromanagement.

Empower AEs to come up with their own outbound activity requirement. What they're motivated to hold themselves accountable to.