Once you’ve built your grader, the name of the game is continuous improvement. The following ideas are the best of the best ways to improve, pulled from hundreds of in-depth conversations with high-performers using PipeAI to win more better deals faster.
The overarching theme of optimizing your grader and your performance is this: keep repeating the cycle of refining, testing, and learning what works and what doesn’t. The more records (e.g., leads and opportunities) you grade, the better you get.
Grader Optimization Tips
→ Grade Result vs. Gut-Feel Misalignment
If the overall grade for some records seems off—either too low or too high:
- Review Questions: Ensure you're capturing all relevant information.
- Adjust Responses: Make sure each response impacts the overall grade appropriately.
→ Incorrect Action
If you disagree with the recommended next best action:
- Review Action Details: Check if you need to update the minimum grade or adjust your Action Rules.
- Fine-Tune: Add, remove, or change Actions to align Action recommendations with your expectations and requirements.
→ Team Discussions
Regular Discussions: Schedule meetings to discuss grading criteria, share results, and gather input.
- Compare Results: Identify top performers and underperformers to develop improvement strategies.
- Check-Ins with Other Teams: Engage with marketing, customer success, and leadership to find grader improvement opportunities.
→ Positive Surprises
Stay open to unexpected insights from you and your teammates’ selling efforts:
- New Questions: Identify what information should be captured by adding new grader questions to see if they provide meaningful quality signals.
- Update Responses: Adjust responses to better assess quality for future grader runs.
→ Balancing Your Grade Distribution
Grade Analysis: If the average grade across all grader runs seems to be too low or too high:
- Adjust Response Grades: Consider adjusting response grades to bring overall grade averages closer to a balanced “C” range.
- Reevaluate Impact Multipliers: If using Impact Multipliers, double-check all of them to ensure you’re not over- or under-weighting any responses.
→ AI Suggestions
Leverage AI insights:
- Pattern Matching: Ask PipeAI’s AI which questions and responses lead to wins, losses, or stalled deals.
- Implement AI Suggestions: Implement updates suggested by PipeAI’s AI when they align with your observations and instincts.
