How do you identify a timeline on when to bring in internal stakeholders like customer success, IT, legal, sales engineering, c-suite?

There should be a well-defined process on when to involve internal resources. But of course sales is a dynamic process and you should allow alternations.

Depending on the sales stage and maturity of the opportunity you should be able to qualify more precisely. If you lack information create events that answer questions and involve internal experts that can help you and your prospect answering the questions in a way that helps you to progess the opportunity.

When it comes to determining the timeline for involving internal stakeholders in an opportunity with a customer, several key considerations come into play. Firstly, we need to ascertain if the customer has a genuine business problem that needs solving, if there's a dedicated champion within their organization, and if they have the budget allocated for the solution. Our internal resources are valuable but limited, so it's crucial that we allocate them judiciously.

My AEs are tasked with the responsibility of validating that the organization they're working with not only has the capacity but also the capability to execute before we bring in additional resources. During our forecast discussions, I encourage my team to break down the steps they'll need to take to progress an opportunity, including the internal resources required for success, and ensure that the customer is aligned with this approach.

While C-suite engagement isn't typically necessary for the opportunities my team handles, we consistently collaborate with customer success, IT, product, legal, and sales engineering teams. Salesforce has a unique structure where some individuals on each selling team focus on a single product. This means that AEs often serve as the initial point of contact, investing time in understanding and qualifying the customer's business problems before involving additional resources. This approach ensures that our efforts are targeted and efficient, maximizing the impact we can make for our customers.