#081: Stop Obsessing Over Efficiency

Read time: 4 minutes

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Over the last decade there has been a massive increase in sales tech that promises huge efficiency gains that will make reps drive more revenue. (tools like Salesloft, Outreach, Gong, AI-powered note-takers, CRM integrations like Scratchpad, and even now with AI). Companies spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on these tools, hoping to claw back precious hours so reps can spend that extra time on revenue-generating activities.

But there's a problem:

Quota attainment has been consistently flat, hovering around the same 40% mark for years. If efficiency tools are genuinely saving time, why isn't revenue increasing proportionally?

You could argue that quota attainment is the wrong metric because some quotas are unattainable. But your quota is how your company measures your success, so there's no point in fighting it.

Efficiency Is Not Your Problem

I used to be firmly in the "efficiency first" camp. Give reps tools to minimize admin tasks, and they'll use that extra time to sell more. But recently I've come to grips with the reality that the reclaimed time rarely translates into additional revenue. It doesn't get replaced with revenue-generating activities. Instead, reps often spend this extra time on other non-revenue generating tasks. Like internal meetings, admin updates, and dealing with support issues.

You make yourself "busy" but not productive. I

f you're putting in a ton of activity but still struggling to hit your numbers, the answer isn't to do more of the same. It's to learn how to do these things better.

This is the core argument between efficiency and effectiveness.

What Should You Actually Be Focused On?

Sales success comes down to being effective at key moments:

• Prospecting effectively (not efficiently) to secure more high-quality meetings.

• Conducting deeper, insightful discovery to truly understand customer needs.

• Providing expert technical advice that builds trust.

• Crafting compelling business cases.

• Negotiating confidently and guiding deals strategically to close.

If you're not great in these moments, no efficiency tool can save you.

Effectiveness Means Doing Things That Don't Scale

Consider the classic example of prospecting:

Efficiency-minded reps might load a templated email into their sequencing tool, send thousands of emails, and pray for replies. Sure, that's efficient, but replies are rare, and meetings even rarer.

On the other hand, effective reps do deep research on prospects to generate personalized, insightful messaging. They write fewer emails, but those emails get dramatically higher reply rates. They also use creative ways to get in front of clients. The things that don’t scale (in person, custom videos, direct mail, referrals, etc…)

The fact that these approaches don’t scale is precisely why they work.

How to Prioritize Effectiveness

Improving effectiveness is not easy. It's much easier to buy some software that will increase your output and save you time. You feel like you've done something to make an impact.

Improving the effectiveness of your team is much harder, requires a lot more work, and you need to take a structured approach. It's not a one-and-done activity.

Here's a way you can start to think about implementing ways to improve your team's effectiveness.

1. Identify the Moments That Matter:
What are the most important parts of your sales cycle where skill determines success? Typically it's:

• Account prioritization

• Prospecting

• Initial discovery

• Technical qualification

• Multi-threading

• Building business cases

• Driving deals to close

2. Cut Non-Revenue Generating Activities

Look at where you spend your time. If it's not creating new opps or driving existing opps to close, then you're focused on the wrong activities.

Take full control over your calendar and delegate or delete everything that isn't revenue-generating.

This shouldn't come across as a hot take, but I'm sure it will. Hopefully, you'll take this as a wake up call instead.

If you claim you "don't have time to prospect", then you are 100% spending time on the wrong activities. Prospecting is arguably THE most important part of sales. So if it's the activity you push out or don't prioritize, you are actively choosing to be less effective in your job.

More on that here: https://blog.succession.bio/p/the-2-most-important-sales-activities 

3. Diagnose Your Team’s Skills Gaps:
Evaluate how your team performs in each of these moments. Are they confidently answering complex scientific questions? Can they connect strategic priorities to the customer’s pain points? Are they multi-threading? Are they creating business cases? How well do they handle objections? How do they talk about differentiation? How do they handle the pressure of competitive deals? \

This list could go on and on.

4. Training and Skill Development:
Pick ONE core area to focus on and make that your priority for the month/quarter.

Break your plan into 2 distinct parts. Training and coaching.

Training

• Get everyone up to a baseline skill level for a particular skill

• This is typically done in a group setting either virtually or in-person

Coaching

• Ongoing development where there is a feedback loop between manager and rep

• Peer-to-peer guidance and sharing of wins and losses

5. Measure Conversion Rates, Not Just Activity:
Shift metrics away from pure activity (emails sent, calls made) toward meaningful conversions (reply rates, discovery-to-proposal rates, proposal-to-close rates).

Your Next Step: Effectiveness Over Efficiency

If you're ready to shift focus from efficiency to effectiveness, try this immediately:

• List out the moments that matter

• Cut non-revenue generating activities

• Identify skill gaps

• Implement a training AND coaching plan

• Measure real impact (conversion rates vs volume)

If you focus the next 6-12 months on improving the effectiveness of your skills and truly owning your calendar, I guarantee you will see a massive impact on your quota attainment.

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Episode 53: Sales efficiency is a useless priority

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