Why You Should Ditch the Traditional Sales Model with Sam Jacobs, Pavilion

Forget what you’ve learned about sales; the traditional outbound approach is no longer working.

As a result, only 28 percent of today’s reps are hitting their sales quotas.

It’s time for sales teams to rethink the way they do business.

Sam Jacobs, Founder and CEO of Pavilion, chats with our CEO & Co-Founder, Ted Blosser, on the LEARN podcast, exploring the challenges sales teams face, why the current sales approach isn’t working, and an unconventional path to personal and professional success. 

Shifting from the traditional sales model

In the traditional sales model, marketing creates demand; then the org hires SDRs to generate opportunities and AEs to turn those opportunities into revenue. But if only 28 percent of reps are hitting quota, something is wrong with this model. 

“Buyers themselves are becoming tired of this model of being passed along the supply chain of the sales team in a way that works for the selling company but doesn’t work for the buying company,” Sam says. “And the proof is in the unit economics. The proof is that they’re not generating results that warrant the investment. And so how do you think about more efficient investments, more effective investments so that you can generate better returns? That’s the conversation. It’s not that there’s a silver bullet or that anybody has a perfect answer, but that’s the conversation that’s happening.”

Read more: 5 Strategies for Maximizing Sales Team Performance with Chris Orlob, Pclub.io

Focusing on efficiency over growth

To shift from the traditional sales model and move to a more effective strategy, businesses must focus more on efficiency. 

Sam shares Pavilion’s strategy, advocating for a slightly lower growth rate in exchange for a more efficient, profitable business. This involves having a smaller, highly incentivized sales team and exploring partnerships to reach customers with a higher close rate.

“The general lean is to accept a slightly lower growth rate for a more efficient, profitable business,” he says. “And yes, fewer reps, with the reps that you do have being highly incentivized and feeling like they have a good job and you’re sending all of your best leads to a smaller group of people, you have high confidence will close them.”

Read more: Selling Smarter, Not Harder: 6 Ways to Improve Sales Efficiency

Helping others before asking for help 

Sam wrote a book based on his professional experiences and personal and professional philosophies. In his book Kind Folks Finish First: The Considerate Path to Success in Business and Life, Sam shares that being cunning and ruthless isn’t always the best way to succeed.

“We’ve been taught, I think sometimes in the world, that the only people that succeed are cunning and are ruthless and are only out for themselves,” Sam says. “There’s an opportunity to succeed professionally by helping other people. And that’s what I try to do. Again, those are the ideas that form the underpinning of Pavilion. 

“The point of the book is that these are strategies that you can employ to be professionally successful and to achieve your professional goals. And that’s what the book’s about. That’s, again, what we’re trying to teach people within Pavilion, go forth and help other people and offer assistance. And yes, it makes you feel better and is a better way to live, but it can also be a formula for professional success.”

Read more: 9 Must-Have Books for Professional Growth

As the sales landscape undergoes transformative changes, Sam encourages teams to reevaluate traditional outbound sales models, build a supportive community, and provide value for others before asking for help.

Listen to the full episode for more insights from Sa, and subscribe to the LEARN podcast on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube for more advice from top leaders in tech.