Wolf
What advice would you give yourself if you were to start all over again in sales?
1
Adopt a sales process and become fanatical about it.
When I was young, full of piss and vinegar, I thought I knew better. This got me into trouble in terms of not hitting my metrics - cold calling is dead, no one answers, CRM entry is pointless, yadda yadda. The manager sat me down and said "Listen if nothing else just do this as a CYA measure." Not wanting to get fired I did.
To my surprise, after a few weeks, it started working, a little more time and I realized that in some ways the process gave me more flexibility because I had a clear path of what I wanted, if I was thrown a curve I could adapt adjust and get back on the path.
When I was young, full of piss and vinegar, I thought I knew better. This got me into trouble in terms of not hitting my metrics - cold calling is dead, no one answers, CRM entry is pointless, yadda yadda. The manager sat me down and said "Listen if nothing else just do this as a CYA measure." Not wanting to get fired I did.
To my surprise, after a few weeks, it started working, a little more time and I realized that in some ways the process gave me more flexibility because I had a clear path of what I wanted, if I was thrown a curve I could adapt adjust and get back on the path.
Yeah, it's kinda like thinking in your mid-twenties how much smarter your parents got since you were a teenager, ha! I think that's very wise to try to do it the way your leaders have laid things out first. Master that, then innovate on it if you can, but start with their way first. It's often way less stupid than it initially appears.
This is some solid advice. Getting into that auto-pilot mindset with your process is definitely something I wish I had also focused on.
Be COACHABLE. For the better part of the first half of my career, I wasn't a great employee. I was always the #1 seller in my orgs, but I was petulant and drowning in my own ego. I missed so many opportunities to improve and grow. There is no commission check worth being the guy no one wants to work with.
Thank you for bringing this one up. Coachability is huge.
Everything is about the relationship. Build strong relationships with prospects, become friends with them, network strongly... and start to become "known" in your ICP's world.
Once they see you as "one of them", it's SO much easier to sell to them. I learned this later in my career, made the early part harder.
Once they see you as "one of them", it's SO much easier to sell to them. I learned this later in my career, made the early part harder.
Relationships truly do matter cause people buy from those they like.
Stay humble and keep emotion out of everything.
+1 on staying humble! Can't let your ego get to ya.
Become the central point to your network and don’t think you can do this alone. Balance for deal flow early should be 70% you and 30% network. Become the product/industry expert (of your prospect) with a strategy to execute and then watch it flip to 20% you and 80% network. They won’t buy if you don’t know their world and position responsibilities.
Great point!
Commit to the process and not the outcome.
Like many of us, and as most human beings would naturally, I spent a lot of my early career chasing the close. Wasn’t until maybe a year in that I really began investing in understanding the process first.
Like many of us, and as most human beings would naturally, I spent a lot of my early career chasing the close. Wasn’t until maybe a year in that I really began investing in understanding the process first.
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