 |
1. Pick the right company and industry
Not everyone can sell anything to anybody. Find your sweet spot and sell products and solutions you know actually work and you’re comfortable talking about. This is the pathway to a sustainable sales career with opportunity for growth. Yes, you can learn new lines of products and solutions and be successful but wouldn’t it be special if you sold something you believed in?
2. Learn your solutions/ products
Know the ins and outs of what you’re selling and study the competition. Create a Unique Sales Proposition that differentiates you from those competitors since many folks sell similar products. Why would a prospect choose yours over others’?
3. Understand the value-proposition
How can you make your customers lives easier or better? What current and future problems are you solving for them – especially when they don’t even know they have one?
4. Hone your communication skills
High-ticket clients educate themselves when evaluating who to buy from. Make your verbal and written communication succinct, professional and on the same level of the party on the other end. Recognize the way you interact with an Executive Assistant differs from how you interact with Directors, C-Level’s and VP’s.
5. Sell the benefits
How and why will your customers’ jobs, revenue/ savings, functionality and operations improve once they’ve implemented your services? Don’t lead with chest-thumping bullet points. Instead, show the direct and indirect results of their future state once they’ve adopted your solution. Paint the picture of what a practical application of your product looks like.
6. Prospect like a Mofo
Keep your pipeline active by always looking out for new business. Always pick up the phone and reach out to as many people as you can even when you have multiple deals you think will close. Invariably, some will fall out – you want to be able to replace them without trippin’ if they back out. Stay active on multiple channels, originate constantly and consistently.
7. Know your ideal buyer
Who is your perfect client and why? Have a list of qualifiers before contacting prospects so when they pick up, accept a meeting or reply to email, there’s no doubt in your mind they’re qualified because you’ve done the research. Knowing who’s qualified up front will save you hours and garner respect from prospects; they’ll recognize you’re not just sucking their time with Hail Mary’s.
8. Learn your targets’ org charts and how to identify decision makers and stakeholders
It’s true that multi-million/ billion dollar organizations often have a lot of executives within each department that could be decision makers. Your mission is to use public resources, decision trees/ org charts, internal contacts and champions to identify who in those groups makes buying decisions and who supports them in that process. As you get further into the sale, capture all names Bcc’d in emails and review their internal communication within the email thread. Anyone included is important to the sale before and/ or after they sign.
9. Block Time
Set specific time blocks to focus on each aspect of the sales cycle otherwise, you lose focus trying to do too much at once.
10. Cold Call Like a Mofo
There is no substitute for cold calling – still. It’s the most direct way to gain access to your buyer. You should be picking up the phone at least 4 days a week for 6 hours while utilizing other platforms for marketing, research and outreach. If you’re just starting out, there’s no excuse for not dialing like hell since you don’t have enough business to be bogged down with admin. Use the fifth day to listen in and shadow your peers.
11. Cold email
Use cold calling and cold emailing interchangeably. Send researched and targeted emails to your high-level prospects before and after a cold-call and use email campaign marketing tools for low-level opportunities where you can also track opens and clicks for future cold-calls. There’s a lot of noise in B2B about which should come first. I use both methods but would urge you to cold call more than email as newbie. Salespeople will often hide behind email out of fear of telephonic rejection.
12. Learn how to price your services/ products
Don’t sell on price but value. Don’t shortchange yourself or devalue your solution by giving it away out of desperation. If you’ve chosen the right company and product, this won’t be an issue. Know your competition’s price points for similar services.
13. Be aggressive
Get after it hard and be aggressive in your sales efforts but not aggressive towards your prospects. The pushy sales approach won’t work on enterprise-level prospects responsible for millions or billions of dollars and tens of thousands of employees across multiple continents. They see right through shysters.
14. Be willing to learn and adapt
You’ll never know it all in sales. Keep feeding your brain by studying successful salespeople in and outside of your industry. Sales is a continuing education where you can always level up your knowledge base no matter how good you think you are.
15. Be confident (if you don’t have it, you can build it)
Confidence comes through repetition and winning. In order to win, you’ll have to repeat the same processes until they’re second nature. Build confidence by educating yourself in the field, shadowing your peers and having a coach/ mentor. As long as you’re following the playbook, you’ll improve.
16. Always be prepared (cold calls and meetings)
Further your confidence by being overly prepared. Make sure you’ve done a 360 degree review of your prospects before meetings. It will always be obvious to the buyer whether you’ve done your homework or not. You can’t charm your way out of being ill-prepared.
17. The gold is in the follow up/ persistence pays
Some large B2B accounts can take months or years to penetrate and just as long to close. Learn that the enterprise-level cadence is a long game and make the mental adjustments to accept it. Remain vigilant in your outreach even after months have gone by. Prospects appreciate persistence as long as it’s professional and in some cases, it’s the reason you get the deal where your competition gave up.
18. Set goals
You may have weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly goals set forth by your superiors. Create parallel goals for yourself to stay accountable.
19. Know your metrics/ the number of calls it takes to get an appointment and average time of a complete sales cycle
After 90 days in a new role, you’ll be able to quantify the level of activity, number of calls and meetings necessary to close a deal. Keep these numbers close and adjust your daily goals to stay the course.
20. Learn your industry’s most common objections and how to rebuke them
What are the objections you hear the most? If you’re on a team, create a shared folder where everyone adds their most commonly heard objections and come up with rebuttals which will eventually roll off your tongue. If you’re solo, you can do this easily by tracking your objections as you hear them and adding them onto your screen as digital Post It Notes.
21. Adopt a customer-centric mindset
Just because you’ve closed the deal, it doesn’t mean that your responsibilities or oversight are over. Even if you’re passing the client off to Customer Success/ Services, monitor all events and communication from that account. Update the client as necessary which reassures them you’re not just a set it and forget it/ hit it and quit it Covidiot.
22. You’ll hear NO everyday
This is the toughest part of the job and the reason most people end up giving up on sales as a profession. We all hear no more than we hear yes. The key is to not internalize the turn-downs and to keep moving forward. Bad days, quarters or even years happen to salespeople – how you deal with disappointment dictates your life in Sales. And when “No” becomes overwhelming, use the widely-available resources around you to improve the parts of your game that need help.
23. Learn to take no for an answer
Sometimes, despite your best efforts, the deal just won’t close. Bow out gracefully and don’t insult the prospect for not doing business with you. Leave on a good note and ask if they’ll be ready to discuss your services again next quarter or next year. Then, actually follow up.
24. Don’t mistake silence for No
Just because prospects haven’t returned your inquiries doesn’t mean they won’t do business with you. Be persistent but not annoying. Keep researching news about the company and its executives, find noteworthy events that could be instrumental in getting them to engage or reply. Step off the gas periodically and then come back to it revitalized.
25. Deliver on your promises/ it’s your word
If you say to the prospect or client, you’re going to do something – do it.
26. Don’t over-promise
Sometimes as salespeople, we want the deal so bad, we may promise things to the prospect that our client service or back office team can’t deliver. This always ends up badly because now you’ve not only pissed off a new client but you’ve compromised your relationship with your team. Consequently, your team may not be as responsive to your future needs if they think they can’t trust you. Conversely, when they issue directives that you need to convey to prospects/ clients – they too need to be able to back those up. Good communication equals more business for everyone.
27. Listen more and talk less
The more listening you do, the better off you’ll be. Naturally, when introducing a product for the very first time, you’ll be doing the presenting. While presenting, keep the prospect engaged by asking prepared questions directly linked to the talking points in your presentation. Make sure you’ve also got questions for the end of the presentation. Make them conversational and don’t fire them off like it’s an interrogation. As a golden rule, let them do the talking as much as possible.
28. Ask the right questions
Formulate your questions by first understanding the prospect and their role. Manager of Info Systems, IT Directors and CIO have different responsibilities just like a AP Managers, Controllers, VP’s of Accounting and CFO’s are dissimilar. Each position deals with separate issues within the business unit. Know these distinctions so you don’t end up asking the right questions to the wrong executive.
29. Research like a Mofo
There’s so much info on the net even if you’re calling into private companies. Familiarize yourself with the buyer/ company and take notes for the call/ presentation. Don’t try and wing it/ you may only get one chance. And while prepping, Google their latest news. One recent event could change the entire scope of your pitch. For instance, not knowing the company you’re speaking to has just been acquired and there’s new management in place would be considered – a bonehead move.
30. Keep a positive outlook/ attitude is everything
The first 90 days of a new sales gig, especially if you’re new to the game, can be stressful. Part of choosing the right company is making sure they’ll train you properly while investing in your future. Some days will be difficult but keep your wits and have outlets that you can rely on for brain breaks and escape.
31. Be Patient with yourself
Expect to make mistakes and don’t give up when you do. Stay vigilant, learn to forgive yourself when you fall and live to fight another day.
32. Stay humble
Don’t get cocky after a monster sale or quarter. Flaunting your wins in others’ faces is a surefire way to alienate them. Remember, you might need them to have your back if your good fortune runs out.
33. Don’t blow commission checks on hooch, powders, pills, sex workers or designer skinny jeans
This one is especially important for salespeople who only get paid quarterly or are selling 100% commission.
34. Help others
Once situated, help the newbie that’s as anxious as you were when you started. Not only will you be doing them a favor but assisting them will help you become more empathetic and a better salesperson.
35. Use productivity hacks
Use sales enablement and tech to your advantage but don’t get so mired in your stack that you forget to produce. Phone, email, a CRM, motivation and an internet connection are all you really need to succeed in B2B Sales. Everything else is window dressing.
36. Have fun
B2B Sales is unlike any other occupation.
“It’s your ATTITUDE, not your APTITUDE, that determines your ALTITUDE” – Zig Ziglar
Depending on your goals, B2B sales can be a career or a stepping stone. Either way, the valuable skills you’ll get from Sales will carry over into future employment opportunities, new business ventures and entrepreneurship.
__________
Here are few folks that started out in Sales:
- Gary Vaynerchuk – Media mogul
- John Paul DeJoria – CoFounded Paul Mitchell Systems (hair care)
- Ellen DeGeneres – TV personality
- Warren Buffet – In the top 5 of the richest people in the world
- Anne Mulcahy – From sales rep to CEO of XEROX
- Robert Herjavec – Investor and Shark
- Mary Kay Ash – Cosmetics pioneer who made multi-level marketing mainstream
- Larry Ellison – Co-Founded Oracle
- Nick Woodman – GoPro founder
- Sara Blakely – Founder of Spanx (shapewear)
“NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL SOMEONE SELLS SOMETHING” – HENRY FORD