From my experience, the life of an SDR and an AE is extremely repetitive. Same script, day after day, how do you shake it up and add variety to the weeks and months?
Quad
How do you handle the repetitive nature of sales?
18
Have you tried... changing the script? changing the vertical? Changing the angle? Changing your attitude? There are so many things that you can change to make it different each day.
This. You've got to find ways to change things up. If it's the same thing day after day after day, especially for an AE, then something's wrong.
You've got to iterate
You've got to iterate
Just focus on the money
You "one-track-mind" people...
Solid reminder right here.
Solid reminder right here.
Edit: Damn this turned out longer than I expected... I just spent a few months feeling like OP and this question hits close to home.
You have to both figure out how to add variety, and become comfortable with incremental progress (VS transformational progress).
For example, if you have ever had an exercise program, you have probably experienced something similar. The same workouts, week after week. So you add some variety - Change from squat to leg-press for a few weeks; change from barbell press to a machine or dumbbells.
In an SDR or AE role, there are many variations you can apply. Try a different opener. Try a different time of day to call. Change up your email style. Try contacting people thru different methods, or organizing an event.
Despite the variety available, there are just some things that work better to help you meet your long-term goals. You learn these things by experimenting with variety. At a point, you realize, it's mostly a rinse-and-repeat game - You may be here now.
This is when the next thing to learn is that progress is actually slow the better you get at something. It becomes a game of incremental gains and small refinements. Check out Atomic Habits by Adam Grant - His idea of making a 1% improvement every day is a good framework to view this thru.
Back to a fitness example - When you start out, you're adding weight like crazy. You lift more and more each session. Then you start to plateau. You go in and the weight you just lifted last session feels just as heavy, or heavier. You have hit a plateau. Now it's the small refinements and adjustments that are needed to continue your progression.
Similarly in Sales, you will hit plateaus. And the reality is that there is a lot of repetition. But this is an opportunity to refine the small things, which is how you graduate from being a sales Journeyman to a Master.
Bigger deals, with more strategic risk for you and your employer, require you to not just be good on the big things, but understand and manage all of the small things well. This is where you can shift your mindset when you're feeling stuck in a rut.
Start embracing incremental progress in your skills and incremental progress in your deals. The bigger your customers and deals are, the slower, more complex, and more nuanced they are. The mega-deals always happen slow, over a long period of time; if you want to continue growing your mastery, you have to make peace with this.
You have to both figure out how to add variety, and become comfortable with incremental progress (VS transformational progress).
For example, if you have ever had an exercise program, you have probably experienced something similar. The same workouts, week after week. So you add some variety - Change from squat to leg-press for a few weeks; change from barbell press to a machine or dumbbells.
In an SDR or AE role, there are many variations you can apply. Try a different opener. Try a different time of day to call. Change up your email style. Try contacting people thru different methods, or organizing an event.
Despite the variety available, there are just some things that work better to help you meet your long-term goals. You learn these things by experimenting with variety. At a point, you realize, it's mostly a rinse-and-repeat game - You may be here now.
This is when the next thing to learn is that progress is actually slow the better you get at something. It becomes a game of incremental gains and small refinements. Check out Atomic Habits by Adam Grant - His idea of making a 1% improvement every day is a good framework to view this thru.
Back to a fitness example - When you start out, you're adding weight like crazy. You lift more and more each session. Then you start to plateau. You go in and the weight you just lifted last session feels just as heavy, or heavier. You have hit a plateau. Now it's the small refinements and adjustments that are needed to continue your progression.
Similarly in Sales, you will hit plateaus. And the reality is that there is a lot of repetition. But this is an opportunity to refine the small things, which is how you graduate from being a sales Journeyman to a Master.
Bigger deals, with more strategic risk for you and your employer, require you to not just be good on the big things, but understand and manage all of the small things well. This is where you can shift your mindset when you're feeling stuck in a rut.
Start embracing incremental progress in your skills and incremental progress in your deals. The bigger your customers and deals are, the slower, more complex, and more nuanced they are. The mega-deals always happen slow, over a long period of time; if you want to continue growing your mastery, you have to make peace with this.
Just keep updating and adapting to the news and changes in customer behavior. While things are repetitive, that’s every job, but there are always improvements and alterations that can be made.
You need to iterate and measure those iterations so you can improve. Sounds like your stagnating and getting burnt out
Just when you think every deal is the same, along comes procurement to ensure you get thrown a curve ball at the last moment. That's the thrill we all live for.
If your conversations are repetitive with prospects, switch up the approach. Ask more questions, try to close without using any slides, etc
As an AE I can firmly tell you my job is different every damn day. I ain't ever bored.
What kind of product do you sell?
I sell cloud products & professional services, every single deal is completely different. I'm helping a RetailTech company clean up their APIs while helping a Logistics company build an app to detect damage on vehicles right now, among a million other things.
I sell cloud products & professional services, every single deal is completely different. I'm helping a RetailTech company clean up their APIs while helping a Logistics company build an app to detect damage on vehicles right now, among a million other things.
Change up the script, play call bingo, try calling in an accent, you can have fun with it, but that’s the job, if it’s too mundane get out of sales
Goal is the same - sell and earn but there are so many aspects to it. You have to start breaking things into fragments and try to work on changing that. I am sure you hustle as well like everyone one else here that means there is definitely some opportunity somewhere. Find that out :)
If you’re selling then it shouldn’t be boring or repetitive.
I kind of love the repetitiveness.
I find sales gets better when my discovery is better. When my deals are generic and all the same is when it gets boring.
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