Lily Youn Jaroszewski, Head of Growth at Gradient Works, joined us as our first guest for the episode “What Sales Metrics do you care about most?” The two explored topics such as email reply rates, a/b testing outbound email efforts, the pivotal role pipeline progression plays, and much, much more.
Watch the full 25-minute episode by clicking the image below. Or, read on for key takeaways from Graham’s and Lily’s informative, fun, and engaging conversation beneath the video.
About our guest: Lily got her start in sales as a sales development rep. In her first official sales role, it was during this time that she learned how sales metrics and data can impact overall outcomes and inform day-to-day decisions. Today, as Head of Growth, she focuses on new business and oversees the SDR and account executive teams.
5 key takeaways from Ep. 1 of Sales Nerds Live!
Lily’s favorite metrics:
What she focuses on most right now involves TOFU (top of the funnel) activities, such as net new opportunities, accounts worked, daily emails, opportunity or pipeline creation, and outbound/inbound activities.
When it comes to her top metric that leads up to opportunities created, she digs into the email reply rates.
“This is an interesting one to track over time,” Lily said. “Because it’s not only about messaging, this metric can also inform the timing of when you send emails to increase open rates.”
“Any response is better than no response.”
Graham asked Lily if she looks into the intent of reply rates. While they review responses and want positive replies, Lily said she’ll happily accept any response at all.
“I’ll take the negative response because that means messaging isn’t resonating,” said Lily. “We can change it, and we can reply to gather more information. The goal is to get a better understanding of the prospect’s account.”
Timing of emails
Larger open rates may depend on when your team sends the emails out, Graham and Lily said.
“We’ve definitely seen better response rates in the morning,” said Lily. “But a lot of this depends on your personas you’re reaching out to.”
Determining open rates tied to send schedules can help inform future campaign releases.
Pipeline progression
When it comes to sales metrics around closed/wons, Lily pays close attention to pipeline progression.
“I look at conversion rates between each sales stage, and when I notice they change or lower, I go through a process and layer of steps to look into the dip.”
From there, she’ll review calls with the team to identify patterns and address the change.
Ask “what will prevent the deal from moving forward” vs. “what are the next steps?”
Even our Resident Sales Nerd learned a new technique in our first episode.
“During our weekly pipe review meetings, we ask, ‘What is the reason this won’t move to the next stage?’” Lily said.
“That’s an interesting approach,” Graham said. “Usually you see leaders asking ‘What are the next steps?’ I love the ‘Why won’t this close’ conversation because it helps your team get two steps ahead.”
Parting advice
We’ll ask each of our guests what advice they would offer their younger selves on the first day of their first sales gig.
Lily’s answer entailed seeking out the support of senior reps.
“If I were able to go back, I’d reach out to my senior peers and start to learn from them,” Lily said. “It’ll help your convos as a first-time sales rep. I was a go-by-the-book person, so if you gave me the manual, I would do it to a tee. Sales is more fluid than that. Aspects and opinions from your sales team are helpful.”
Special thanks to our guest, our host, and to our viewers for tuning in!
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