What do Patches O’Houlihan and Bear Bryant have to do with sales strategy?
According to Ryan Krouskup, the answer is: a lot. As VP of the strategic services sales team at customer engagement software provider Khoros, Krouskup and his teammates continuously search for innovative ways to refine their sales strategy, which sometimes involves taking inspiration from fictional movie characters and storied football coaches.
Being a member of Krouskup’s team requires creativity, trying new things, crafting processes and staying consistent. That’s because strategic sales is different from traditional sales in the sense that it focuses more on selling strategies and programs that help customers get the most out of a product, offering assistance with things they may not have the skills, time or desire to do internally.
While some other sales teams are defined mostly by competition, Krouskup said his balances a focus on self-improvement and camaraderie, with the latter holding the most weight.
“The desire to be at the top of the performance chart each quarter as an individual is innate on any sales team,” Krouskup said. “Yet the true strength of our team is reflected in the environment we’ve created.”
Whether they’re discussing challenges during a weekly meeting or sharing new strategies, Khoros’ strategic services sales team is always looking for new ways to innovate. And as the team continues to scale, they’re looking for fresh talent to drive future transformation.
Built In Austin caught up with Krouskup to learn about his growing team’s goals, the challenges they’ve overcome and how they foster motivation.
What does a typical day look like for your sales team?
A typical day on my team involves a mix of collaboration with sales executives who focus on prospective and existing software relationships, communicating with customers about the value of our strategy team, and working closely with senior members of the strategy team. While all three of these things require collaboration, each one elicits distinct skills and keeps us on our toes.
One situation in particular highlights the diversity of the projects we pitch and the excitement and uniqueness of our day-to-day work. Several years ago, our team won a large strategy deal with a major U.S. retail brand. We competed against seven other firms in a traditional agency “bake off,” in which the last team standing was awarded a seven-figure contract and exciting strategy work. My sales team, strategy leads and a mix of other cross-functional teams banded together to craft an approach. After two detailed written responses, three in-person presentations focused on specific customer-designed need scenarios, and countless deal structure and price conversations, we were awarded the business opportunity.
STAYING CONNECTED
What are some of the team’s current objectives?
The primary goals for our team are to generate sales bookings for our strategic services team and work with customers who have not engaged with strategic services before.
The first goal is pretty standard. If you are in a sales role, odds are your primary metric is a bookings dollar target. My team is no different.
The desire to work with a larger number of our software customers is a testament to the brawn of our strategy team. Customers who work with strategic services are far less likely to look for other software partners, increasing the value and strength of our relationships.
How does your team create a space for collaboration and encouragement?
We encourage deal collaboration by sharing stories and challenges in weekly meetings. We constantly look for ways to share effective tactics and strategies that are working and ensure we create open spaces to talk about difficult issues.
If you could describe the sales team culture in one word, what would you choose, and why?
Collaborative. With a platform consisting of more than five focus areas and a strategy team with as many or more practice areas, it is impossible to go at it alone.
One of our top sellers likens the process of constructing a strong deal team to “building a dodgeball team.” The work isn’t always easy, but it’s never boring.
A LOVE FOR LEARNING
Tell me about a time when your team overcame a challenge. What did that say about their perseverance?
My team’s response to the pandemic was incredible. Besides our seller who lives in London, my entire team is based at our corporate headquarters in Austin. In a matter of days, our close-knit team went from working together in the office every day and traveling to living on Zoom calls. We kept in close contact with each other, stayed front of mind with our customers in new ways and exceeded our 2020 booking targets by 15 percent.
I can’t really put a finger on why we were so successful in such tough conditions, but I do know our trust in each other and our steadfast belief in the value of our strategic services team helped make our success possible.
If you really get to know the people you work with, you’ll be surrounded by others who are ready and willing to roll up their sleeves and do impactful work. ”
How do you inspire your colleagues to stay eager and motivated?
Sales leaders need to be authentic. I have a playful personality, and I bring this same attitude to my work and management style when I can.
I’ve been at Khoros for nearly seven years, and I’ve worked with many of my closest colleagues for more than five years. They know I am very serious and focused on high-level performance, both as an individual and as a senior leader. Yet they also know I might give a random high five in a meeting, chase an employee down the hall to say hello or hold court in a common area on a topic with zero relevance to work. If you really get to know the people you work with, you’ll be surrounded by others who are ready and willing to roll up their sleeves and do impactful work.
