R-002-002 Quality objectives_2024_004
Objective details
Objective number
4
Description
Multiply turnover by 2.4
Establishment date
During the annual management review conducted on February 13, 2024, we decided to establish a sales objective related to turnover. Similar objective was established last year (see R-002-002_2023_004
), what is changing is the increase rate.
Planning
Responsible
JD-001
Departments involved
As it is a huge objective, all the departments are involved, but the main team working on this objective is the Business development team.
Planned actions for 2024 period
- Get financing to support growth efforts.
- Build a business development team that has the knowledge, training, and experience required for the company's needs
- Enhance the skills of the workforce to align with the goal and strategies.
Results for Q1 and action plan for upcoming Q2
Reevaluation of Objectives and Expectations
- Our objectives remain unchanged, successfully working towards securing the necessary funding for team growth to achieve these goals. Additionally, we are actively recruiting new personnel. The challenge lies in finding individuals with sector experience and the requisite skills for the roles they need to perform.
Team Strengthening
At the beginning of the year, we hired two people for business development roles—one as a Sales Manager and the other to support this position. Although initially planning for one hire, we opted for two due to the high turnover in this department. This strategy was to mitigate the risk of being understaffed should the new recruit not match the profile needed. By the end of the first quarter, we had to let go of the Business Development hire, as they did not meet our requirements. The Sales Manager, who possesses extensive knowledge, expertise, and seniority in the sector, remains with us.
During the second quarter, we hired a marketing and communication manager, a project manager and a sales development representative.
- Intensive Recruitment: we are actively recruiting for various business development roles to support the entire sales process. Previously, one person, the deal owner, would handle a deal from start to finish. Given the workload and the difficulty in finding such multidisciplinary profiles, the company has started to segment the phases, assigning roles such as communication and sales support (for content creation and lead generation campaigns), sales development representatives (focused on acquiring and qualifying new leads), business developers (to close commercial agreements), customer success (to ensure proper onboarding and follow-up post-deal), and a project manager with technical product knowledge to assist business developers in meetings to address technical implementation questions.
- Training and Development: we are adopting a new approach to onboard commercial profiles, providing more support and training to accelerate the learning process.
Results for Q2 and action plan for upcoming Q3
Q2 results are promising, with a significant number of customers onboarded during this period. The current necessity focuses on having a sufficiently skilled team to progress with these potential clients.
Constant Monitoring and Adjustments
Management conducts monthly reviews of the objectives to adapt actions in case of deviations. The goal is to promptly identify and address any issues that may prevent achieving the objectives and to find the necessary resources.
Resources Needed
- Increase not only the team size but also the team's knowledge and clarity on the objectives each member needs to achieve.
Results for Q3 and action plan for upcoming Q4
We have successfully closed an investment round to expand our sales team, which is the key area where we need to strengthen to accelerate growth. Recruitment is already underway. While we are generating revenue, our growth is not aligning with our targets. This is primarily due to our limited sales capacity, which restricts our ability to engage with more clients and scale as quickly as we would like.
Results for Q4
This quarter, we have accelerated recruitment efforts. While the team is still in the onboarding process, we have successfully filled all open positions. However, our revenue results did not meet expectations. A significant portion of our efforts this quarter were focused on recruiting and training. Additionally, many of the deals we had in progress have been delayed, as companies tend to move more slowly during this period, pushing several agreements into 2025.
To close the quarter—and the year—our JD-002 informed us of her departure. As a result, the company will begin the new year focused on filling this key vacancy. On a positive note, she has left behind a highly motivated team and several advanced deals. Thanks to her efforts and the funding we have secured, we are well-positioned to focus on driving revenue growth in 2025.
Monitoring and follow up
Period | % Annual goal achieved by quarter | % Progress towards annual turnover goal | Follow up | Short-term actions |
---|---|---|---|---|
Q1 2024 | 14.47% | 14.47% | The company is growing in terms of closing deals; Q1 has yielded good results. However, we are still far from our goal and lack enough personnel to accelerate progress. | The company continues to focus on expanding and training the business developmet team. |
Q2 2024 | 12.16% | 26.63% | The company kept invoicing from current customers and onboarded significant new customers in the quarter. Team shortage is still a blocker to accelerate progress. | The company aims to expand the business development team while pushing existing and new opportunities ahead. |
Q3 2024 | 11.88% | 38.51% | Company invoiced a couple of new deals this quarter besides the recurring ones. The long sales cycles and the continuing team shortage (that starts to be solved) keep being the major blockers in achieving the annual revenue goal. | The company is training new additions to the business development team and has kept one extra position opened. |
Q4 2024 | 8.69% | 47.20% | The company has kept generating new opportunities and moving conversations forward but the biggest contracts closing dates were moved forward to 2025. The team is fully onboarded by the end of the year and working full speed in all sales phases. | The team was trained to work more autonomously and to develop new skills to master sales for public hospitals and clinical trials of pharmaceuticals. New JD-021 trained to focus in generating revenue from renewals, upsell and cross-sell opportunities. |
Signature meaning
The signatures for the approval process of this document can be found in the verified commits at the repository for the QMS. As a reference, the team members who are expected to participate in this document and their roles in the approval process, as defined in Annex I Responsibility Matrix
of the GP-001
, are:
- Author: JD-004
- Reviewer: JD-001
- Approver: JD-001