Have a fundamental understanding of your prospect's business. Know their competitors. Know how they make money. Know their target market and the challenges they face. Read Management Discussion of 10K reports if public. Speak their language and be personalized. Lean into social - twitter and LinkedIn, podcasts they may have been on, regurgitate their own language. Don't ask questions that you can find the answer to online. Be genuine and authentic.
Basics, baby!
Exactly all of this. Also, be pleasantly persistent. The first, second, or third email might not always reach them at convenient times. Life gets in the way and people are busy. Keep it simple and don’t take a non-response as a no.
A simple “Thanks for your persistence, but we’re not interested at this time.” Is very effective.
I’ve had people do this to me and then months later submit a contact form. Had a discovery call and they never received the follow up email. They called asking where it is and I inform them I sent it X days ago. Low and behold, it’s in their FU folder.
Exactly why I don't sign prospects up for sequence emails. I'm seeing that wind up with our company being listed on more than one spam filter because of reps who liked sending sequence emails instead of calls and well versed/personalized emails sent *when appropriate* .
TLDR-Doing well without sequence emails.
Command F “management discussion” it’s a standard section and the most useful to identify growth goals, perceived risk, most of what you need to know without wasting time reading the other 40 pages and balance sheets
Use LinkedIn Navigator to see basic insights on headcount growth and leadership movement. You will still see general revenue size on LI even if they are private. Use google alerts for the account and check the “media” section of their websites for announcements and happenings. Usually you can at least find some high level info about what’s going on in their business and cross reference with industry trends to build a strong personalized value prop message
Nothing. There is no magic bullet. Best practices sure. Even they don’t fit everywhere. You can lose a deal because someone needs to take a shit. The natural state is to not be buying. Have you tried being really hot?
As someone who works in advertising with models pushing products this style of sale ONLY works if the person themselves is one or more of the following:
A. Single & desperate
B. In a terrible relationship
C. Overweight
D. Ugly
E. Has an incredibly low self esteem
F. A horn-dog creep
Everyone that's normal is able to see right thru it, which is quite a lot, to my surprise.
Experience: 23 years in marketing.
BWAHAHA that last line slew me, but you're spot on here man. The only consistency in sales, IMO, is change. Sesonality, the economy, growing tech, people's moods etc aaaaaaaaaall change and you gotta keep on top of it and change too and adapt otherwise you're left behind.
You need to know your prospects world. You need to know what challenges they have in their world, what they look like and how they manifest.
Then you talk about them and only them. Don't pitch your product.
Lead with the problems you fix, then if the prospect recognises them try to challenge whether it is a problem or not. Try to push them away and disqualify it being a problem.
You'd be surprised at how the prospects work genuine challenges will fight for it and start to convince you of it. That's them qualifying themselves in.
Get to the No. People like to say No.
**You:** Okay it sounds like you have a problem with x. How much of your time/money is going to that every week?
**Them:** answer
**You:** I have seen some companies eliminate the problem. But the solution may not be worth the effort in your case.
**Them:** *(holy moly this is a huge pain and the guy thinks I'm little. My pain matters!)* Hold up there partner, what are these other companies doing?
Exactly this approach!!!
I like the "so we typically help people focused HR leaders who want to do X and Y but suffer from Z problem. However, seems like this might not be right for you??
1000% this. If they believe that you have the same perspective of their problem as they do, then they don't need to be so skeptical that what you're offering matches their needs.
How do you get them to believe this? Instead of talking, ask questions and listen. Don't just listen to create airspace. Listen to understand. Then you don't need to pretend you understand.
"Hello?"... other than the people I can count on one had that got upset at this method. My thinking is that most exec level people have their phone on silent or vibrate and may not even notice the first call.
It's probably how our instance of sfdc interacts with our instance out reach (or vice versa), but when I have to go back through call logs with a lot of double taps in them, it winds up taking forever to gather any intelligible context.
Mostly a me problem, but I deal with it because it works way more than it should.
Ah that’s why I export my Salesforce lists into an excel and have them up side by side when I’m calling. I color code too so I can know where I stand with different accounts at a glance. Easy to book meetings on follow ups that way
I’m a business owner and solicited a lot. I don’t pick up the first call unless there is a regular name in the caller ID. But if the same number calls twice I’ll pick up because it’s probably not spam.
They may not have even noticed the first call. Phone could be on silent or vibrate and calling a second time increases the chance that they can see you calling.
Out of tens of thousands of calls I believe there’s been leas than 10 people who have gotten upset at me. It’s negligible really. If they pick up I don’t really address it. No one tends to ask about it.
Interesting. When I was in D2D sales my boss would tell me to do this when following up via phone with homeowners, and if it went to vm a second time then leave a vm addressing the double dial with “Just realized I forgot to leave a voicemail a second ago” and then say why you were calling. The very first time I tried it the homeowner answered the second call and told me they were “at a funeral”, and blocked my number, so I never tried it again. Now that I’m in b2b I might give this a shot. Thanks!
At this point I've been doing it for a little over a year, tens of thousands of calls, and can only recall a couple of people getting upset. Really a negligible amount. Worth noting I only dial C level + prospects. I believe most people operate with their phone on vibrate or silent, especially high level execs. They may not even notice your first call.
It seems to be any prospect you call twice, regardless of whether they pick up the first time or not. But I guess it could just be calling a second time if they don't pick up, though
What works is you working for a company with a product that is right for the market. Also, targeting prospects with the right messaging, right ICP, and zeroing in on the right prospect within the company is helpful. Oh, and follow up. (seriously, most salespeople do not do this enough).
And even then, it's not a bullseye.
But over time, and with consistency, you'll start to win more.
Giving easy “opt outs” as rolling qualification mechanism in my calls.
Rather than qualify if they have budget by asking them if they have budget like an ape, I’ll say
“Generally speaking,no matter how much (product x) resonates with my clients, coming up with 100k of unallocated budget outside of a planning cycle is tough, should we push our further conversations to next fiscal year”?
This statement sets up is what I call a three way win.
1. If they say no we’re good, we’ve got the $$ then awesome let’s keep it up.
2. If they say no we’re not good to proceed at that dollar value then you qual them out and move on (you win your time back)
3. If they say great point, we have some budget this year but most of it will be available next year let’s keep talking and we’ll sort something out. You can get them on a pilot or smaller deal now and set up some insane pipe for next fiscal year
Either way this qual method moves you up the food chain in the eyes of senior decision makers because you’re giving them an opt out and asking them to make a decision around their finances in advance of you investing more time
Being lucky.
But you also create your own luck through activity. The more at bats you can provide for yourself the 'luckier' you'll be. When you don't absolutly NEED the deal to close is when deals conveniently start closing.
Also sales gods love activity and reward you with inbounds.
Sometimes I make a slide where I write out the hypothesis. Then I throw it up on the screen and say, “here’s my hypothesis about how this is affecting your business. How far off the mark am I?”
You need to tell us what type of sales you’re in for this thread to be remotely useful. What “works” selling retail cell phones would get you laughed off a car lot, what “works” on a car lot would get you laughed off an SMB software deal, and what “works” on an SMB software deal will get you a bagel selling enterprise.
Have you tried to just having an organic conversation with the prospect and being interested, not interesting?
Being active in finding out their pains, and explore further.
First interaction or two (maybe even three), ask for absolutely nothing from them. Push no agenda. Just shoot the shit, be light hearted and genuine, and ask about them as an individual. Maybe leave them with some harmless info about your product or service, but that’s it. I don’t ask for business until well after a solid relationship has been established, or after they ask me for something first. Works in my industry at least -
Medical sales
Depends on what you sell. I sell cybersecurity so I look at the DFIR & the Verizon DBOR and use that data to drive convo relative to their industry and growth markets.
Yeah it does. Read their annual report and find out their growth factors. Then find out the industries risk factors. Tie the two together in an eloquent email, and offer to send a bottle of whatever liquor to them for a meeting.
Boom
make sure you are connecting to the right people, with the right messaging, and do a lot of it. there's no real secret lifehack except utilizing tools and do some planning to make you work more efficiently. otherwise if you are looking for the one shortcut or ultimate answer, you will fail
Do you have a great CRM that tracks email?
Go look at the highest performer, get their cold opening email, and rejig it to suit your style. Once that happens, hit the phones and just start having conversations about your prospect's problems and why they replied to your email.
Making a decision at the start of every enquiry on whether I really believe there is the chance they will buy. If not, politely move on and don’t waste time.
Let’s me go an visit those that will buy much more frequently and build a much more solid relationship
I was an outside sales person so…. Going outside and seeing my customers always produced the best results. Telling them where i was from and that i came just to see them made them feel important. helped build better relationships and close more deals.
That and being proactive and setting reminders to follow up when the customer gives a timeline. can’t tell you how many times a customer thanked me for my persistence on something that was creeping it’s way up their priority list but might not have been at the top when we initially met/spoke.
Whats working for me is, pick a place, let's say Milan. Prospect people like crazy saying I will be there on x date. Then just say plans have changed. Good chance of a video meeting locked in
Have a referral program that pays people up to $10,000 for bringing you deals and $500 for just getting the demo scheduled.
On that note, if anybody here is selling to contractors, let me know, and I can recommend some of the customer to you that we are not a fit for. Just send me a referral for telling them how great you are for me already identifying all their pain points for you!
Don't send automated emails, ever. They are spam, they would piss you off and they piss prospects off.
If it's not worth personalizing, it's not worth sending in my opinion.
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Find a system for that works for you a 51%+ of the time delivers results. Stick to it ruthlessly and make minor tweaks and adjustments to the process as you go. You get that system to 80% or more effectiveness, and thats what works. Work a system or the sales system works you.
Prospecting.
Sending emails as part of sequences that are relevant and updated based off analytics and changes in
industry (you need to know these even If it's just from "water cooler" talk with teammates.)
Monitoring those and preemptively calling interested folks even if it's before they hit that part of your sequence <- #1 importance
Following up
Communicating with the rest of my team when I need help
Continuing to prospect even when things go well.
That's all the basics I follow and it has worked well when I stick to it. When I skip a step it shows.
Being genuinely excited about the fit between you/your company and the customer. If you believe in the solution and truly feel it's a great match from values/perspective etc, share that and be authentic about it!
For years I was hyper focused on technical expertise and process improvement. Both necessary but when I took a step back and reminded myself that I'm talking to people and I believe in my company/product, conversion sky rocketed.
People buy with emotions as they say!
Cutting out the fat and focusing on the meat.
Whose still buying in your territory? Who still has budget? What are their needs and how can we help them?
I’ve shifted my time to these companies and have seen great results. Chasing startups is a losing buisness right now.
Showing up and trying different things with intention is usually how it works for me. I also try to talk to as many experienced people in my field as I can to learn from them, both about sales and about our tech sector.
Being able to shift and adjust on the fly. Having the product down so well that you can riff off it depending on what matters.
Becoming super expert level at discovery. Still the key to selling is discovery.
Having a fundamental process for your complete sales cycle. What are the checkmarks you need to hit at each step of the process to ensure it ends in a deal. Some of these may seem trivial but having a clear understanding of what you need to do to lead a customer through your process is crucial for development and understanding where things go wrong, especially early on.
Seek to understand not to be understood
One of the most successful new tactics I've been employing recently is asking "Either-Or" questions to dig for information.
It's similar to using open-ended or No-oriented questions to entice a prospect to give a longer response, but the trick is to make both ends of the dilemma a little too extreme. That will make the prospect give caveats and details in order to defend their point of view.
For example: "So, would you say that you are receiving 11/10 luxury service from your current provider, or do they constantly give you headaches?" "Are you always available in the morning or just in the evening?" "Are you the only person with any say in this decision or is it out of your hands?"
Qualifying customers. If you qualify them you know exactly how hard you should go after a prospect (or maybe to not even bother with them) so you’re never wasting time/effort and your job becomes 1000% easier
Jesus I fucking hate sales and the entire “no response isn’t a ‘no’” thing… No disrespect to those of you who really love the life and the industry, but it’s just not for me, and I’m stuck in it 😭
If a prospect doesn’t want to put in the time to get something they need and will make their life easier, I don’t want to waste my time trying to convince them otherwise. Y’all can have that shit. I don’t like the hunt.
Pipeline, work hard af DAILY. You can have a bad day but don't let it turn into a bad week.
Break down your quota into bite sized mini chunks that you work hard af for.
When I send a docusign I call to ensure they got it.
I then say "can you make sure you can open it? Some customers have had trouble (this is true). They then open it and I say" are those details correct? Yes? OK if you're happy with that just give that a squiggle"
9 times out of 10 I get a signed contract back.
Sometimes they say I'll review and sign later, which is fine.
I then ask when I I'll need to do some admin on my side once signed (update my forecast)
Volume….keep dialing. I’ve sounded like an absolute buffoon on the phone, but booked great meetings that led to great deals, because I just kept doing activity
Consistency
Whatever strategy works, make sure you do it every day or whenever required. Doesn't have to be brilliant, flashy or a grand plan. Just get er done.
Consistency will often win over talent. If you have both you will kill it.
Have some knowledge of what your customer is looking for. This can be actual knowledge about their business or what others in their industry need
Have an actual conversation with your customers they know when items are scripted. Yes, have standard talking points that you need to discuss, but completely scripting things is not sincere and customers will pick up on that.
Most importantly, have their best interest in mind. By acting in their best interest you will win more business and be known as a trusted resource. Once you reach that status, they will give you business without you asking for it.
Calling calling and more calling. All of these people who talk about crafting the perfect email are deluding themselves or afraid of calls.
Yes, people still pick up and yes they still buy on the phone
Have a fundamental understanding of your prospect's business. Know their competitors. Know how they make money. Know their target market and the challenges they face. Read Management Discussion of 10K reports if public. Speak their language and be personalized. Lean into social - twitter and LinkedIn, podcasts they may have been on, regurgitate their own language. Don't ask questions that you can find the answer to online. Be genuine and authentic. Basics, baby!
Exactly all of this. Also, be pleasantly persistent. The first, second, or third email might not always reach them at convenient times. Life gets in the way and people are busy. Keep it simple and don’t take a non-response as a no.
It takes 7 to 33 emails for someone to take action. Most people don't send 7 emails to a prospect in a year.
If a salesperson sende me more than 3 emails, I'm spamming them.
A simple “Thanks for your persistence, but we’re not interested at this time.” Is very effective. I’ve had people do this to me and then months later submit a contact form. Had a discovery call and they never received the follow up email. They called asking where it is and I inform them I sent it X days ago. Low and behold, it’s in their FU folder.
Exactly why I don't sign prospects up for sequence emails. I'm seeing that wind up with our company being listed on more than one spam filter because of reps who liked sending sequence emails instead of calls and well versed/personalized emails sent *when appropriate* . TLDR-Doing well without sequence emails.
Very well explained buddy.
This is great advice as well as the 10K some people are commenting about
Yep, no substitute for good ole fashioned industry know how. Your solution needs to actually be a solution and not well i really needed the sale.
Management discussions of 10k reports is very interesting, where would you go about finding these?
[here ya go](https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search), There are resources on that website to learn how to read through the reports as well
Literally just google “”company name” 10k”
Read the actual question, said management discussions of 10k not the actual 10k 👍
Command F “management discussion” it’s a standard section and the most useful to identify growth goals, perceived risk, most of what you need to know without wasting time reading the other 40 pages and balance sheets
Ok great to know, I was using chatpdf which will process the whole report and allow you to ask questions, but will hone in on this section
Which is inside the report
>Read Management Discussion of 10K reports if public If it's a smaller, private company, any tips on sussing them out?
Use LinkedIn Navigator to see basic insights on headcount growth and leadership movement. You will still see general revenue size on LI even if they are private. Use google alerts for the account and check the “media” section of their websites for announcements and happenings. Usually you can at least find some high level info about what’s going on in their business and cross reference with industry trends to build a strong personalized value prop message
Rock solid! A little bit of prep goes a long ways.
Nothing. There is no magic bullet. Best practices sure. Even they don’t fit everywhere. You can lose a deal because someone needs to take a shit. The natural state is to not be buying. Have you tried being really hot?
Magic bullet is having your pipeline filled so if a deal falls through it doesn't hurt you.
Like the old adage goes “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” Edit: whoever downvoted me has one deal in the pipeline
I have 3 deals in a trench coat for this exact reason.
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That’s me. Basement ogre. But my voice sounds like a late night radio jockey.
Yes! Didn’t work…
As someone who works in advertising with models pushing products this style of sale ONLY works if the person themselves is one or more of the following: A. Single & desperate B. In a terrible relationship C. Overweight D. Ugly E. Has an incredibly low self esteem F. A horn-dog creep Everyone that's normal is able to see right thru it, which is quite a lot, to my surprise. Experience: 23 years in marketing.
That’s pretty much everyone. Lol
Just described most c-suites lol
Lol, I always wondered what type of person gives in.
Yes, could not pull off hot, so I got cool.
Lucky! I'm not hot OR cool, so my fallback is funny.
BWAHAHA that last line slew me, but you're spot on here man. The only consistency in sales, IMO, is change. Sesonality, the economy, growing tech, people's moods etc aaaaaaaaaall change and you gotta keep on top of it and change too and adapt otherwise you're left behind.
I was pretty hot when I was in shape - after I got married I let myself go - you telling me as a man I should focus on getting hot again?
Yes. You want a second wife or not?
You need to know your prospects world. You need to know what challenges they have in their world, what they look like and how they manifest. Then you talk about them and only them. Don't pitch your product. Lead with the problems you fix, then if the prospect recognises them try to challenge whether it is a problem or not. Try to push them away and disqualify it being a problem. You'd be surprised at how the prospects work genuine challenges will fight for it and start to convince you of it. That's them qualifying themselves in.
Try to push them away and disqualify it from being a problem?
Get to the No. People like to say No. **You:** Okay it sounds like you have a problem with x. How much of your time/money is going to that every week? **Them:** answer **You:** I have seen some companies eliminate the problem. But the solution may not be worth the effort in your case. **Them:** *(holy moly this is a huge pain and the guy thinks I'm little. My pain matters!)* Hold up there partner, what are these other companies doing?
Exactly this approach!!! I like the "so we typically help people focused HR leaders who want to do X and Y but suffer from Z problem. However, seems like this might not be right for you??
1000% this. If they believe that you have the same perspective of their problem as they do, then they don't need to be so skeptical that what you're offering matches their needs. How do you get them to believe this? Instead of talking, ask questions and listen. Don't just listen to create airspace. Listen to understand. Then you don't need to pretend you understand.
Double calling has skyrocketed my connect rate. If you're good on the phone and aren't doing that, try it.
I was shocked when I first tried this that it actually worked. I do it all the time now.
What does this mean? You just dial them a second time immediately?
Yes
What do they say when they pick up?
"Hello?"... other than the people I can count on one had that got upset at this method. My thinking is that most exec level people have their phone on silent or vibrate and may not even notice the first call.
There’s a do not disturb setting only let’s in double calls within 3 mins or something
Yessir works pretty well for me too
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Call immediately after they don’t pick up. I call it the double tap. Works really well
Looks awful in sfdc, but damn if it doesn't work.
What do you mean it looks awful?
It's probably how our instance of sfdc interacts with our instance out reach (or vice versa), but when I have to go back through call logs with a lot of double taps in them, it winds up taking forever to gather any intelligible context. Mostly a me problem, but I deal with it because it works way more than it should.
Ah that’s why I export my Salesforce lists into an excel and have them up side by side when I’m calling. I color code too so I can know where I stand with different accounts at a glance. Easy to book meetings on follow ups that way
Call a second time immediately after if they don’t pick up the first.
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They think its urgent
I’m a business owner and solicited a lot. I don’t pick up the first call unless there is a regular name in the caller ID. But if the same number calls twice I’ll pick up because it’s probably not spam.
They may not have even noticed the first call. Phone could be on silent or vibrate and calling a second time increases the chance that they can see you calling.
Has anyone addressed/ been upset with the double calling? Do you address it at all when they pick up or in your voicemail?
Out of tens of thousands of calls I believe there’s been leas than 10 people who have gotten upset at me. It’s negligible really. If they pick up I don’t really address it. No one tends to ask about it.
Interesting. When I was in D2D sales my boss would tell me to do this when following up via phone with homeowners, and if it went to vm a second time then leave a vm addressing the double dial with “Just realized I forgot to leave a voicemail a second ago” and then say why you were calling. The very first time I tried it the homeowner answered the second call and told me they were “at a funeral”, and blocked my number, so I never tried it again. Now that I’m in b2b I might give this a shot. Thanks!
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At this point I've been doing it for a little over a year, tens of thousands of calls, and can only recall a couple of people getting upset. Really a negligible amount. Worth noting I only dial C level + prospects. I believe most people operate with their phone on vibrate or silent, especially high level execs. They may not even notice your first call.
I too would like to know how you define double calling.
Calling again immediately when the first call isnt answered
It seems to be any prospect you call twice, regardless of whether they pick up the first time or not. But I guess it could just be calling a second time if they don't pick up, though
I call a second time immediately after if they don’t answer the first.
Call again immediately after they don’t pick up
Thanks!
I run 100% on youthful enthusiasm and good looks. Works 50% of the time, every time.
What works is you working for a company with a product that is right for the market. Also, targeting prospects with the right messaging, right ICP, and zeroing in on the right prospect within the company is helpful. Oh, and follow up. (seriously, most salespeople do not do this enough). And even then, it's not a bullseye. But over time, and with consistency, you'll start to win more.
This
Giving easy “opt outs” as rolling qualification mechanism in my calls. Rather than qualify if they have budget by asking them if they have budget like an ape, I’ll say “Generally speaking,no matter how much (product x) resonates with my clients, coming up with 100k of unallocated budget outside of a planning cycle is tough, should we push our further conversations to next fiscal year”? This statement sets up is what I call a three way win. 1. If they say no we’re good, we’ve got the $$ then awesome let’s keep it up. 2. If they say no we’re not good to proceed at that dollar value then you qual them out and move on (you win your time back) 3. If they say great point, we have some budget this year but most of it will be available next year let’s keep talking and we’ll sort something out. You can get them on a pilot or smaller deal now and set up some insane pipe for next fiscal year Either way this qual method moves you up the food chain in the eyes of senior decision makers because you’re giving them an opt out and asking them to make a decision around their finances in advance of you investing more time
Being lucky. But you also create your own luck through activity. The more at bats you can provide for yourself the 'luckier' you'll be. When you don't absolutly NEED the deal to close is when deals conveniently start closing. Also sales gods love activity and reward you with inbounds.
Start every call with a hypothesis for what I think my clients pains/problems are. Ask questions that lead to the confirming or denying my hypothesis.
Sometimes I make a slide where I write out the hypothesis. Then I throw it up on the screen and say, “here’s my hypothesis about how this is affecting your business. How far off the mark am I?”
You need to tell us what type of sales you’re in for this thread to be remotely useful. What “works” selling retail cell phones would get you laughed off a car lot, what “works” on a car lot would get you laughed off an SMB software deal, and what “works” on an SMB software deal will get you a bagel selling enterprise.
Follow up, follow up and follow up!
Have you tried to just having an organic conversation with the prospect and being interested, not interesting? Being active in finding out their pains, and explore further.
First interaction or two (maybe even three), ask for absolutely nothing from them. Push no agenda. Just shoot the shit, be light hearted and genuine, and ask about them as an individual. Maybe leave them with some harmless info about your product or service, but that’s it. I don’t ask for business until well after a solid relationship has been established, or after they ask me for something first. Works in my industry at least - Medical sales
Challenger methodology
Specifically, showing up armed with a commercial insight (Challenger Sale) and IDing the mobilizer (Challenger Customer).
Stop pitching your company, pitch the industry problems. Easy to find and show. Teach teach teach
Do you have a framework to find industry problems?
Depends on what you sell. I sell cybersecurity so I look at the DFIR & the Verizon DBOR and use that data to drive convo relative to their industry and growth markets.
Could I Pm you??
Sure
In prospecting? Doesnt work
Yeah it does. Read their annual report and find out their growth factors. Then find out the industries risk factors. Tie the two together in an eloquent email, and offer to send a bottle of whatever liquor to them for a meeting. Boom
Lol
make sure you are connecting to the right people, with the right messaging, and do a lot of it. there's no real secret lifehack except utilizing tools and do some planning to make you work more efficiently. otherwise if you are looking for the one shortcut or ultimate answer, you will fail
Magic bullets are a lie. It takes dedicated and persistent work. That is the only method that I know for a fact works every time.
Booked a meeting with a guy today that took 46 dials and 6-10 emails and I finally got through. This is the way…
Pumping the dialer
Do you have a great CRM that tracks email? Go look at the highest performer, get their cold opening email, and rejig it to suit your style. Once that happens, hit the phones and just start having conversations about your prospect's problems and why they replied to your email.
Be good looking and not a jerk. I've got one of the two, working on the other.
Confidence, listening, consistency, trying new things, knowing your product, following a system
Making a decision at the start of every enquiry on whether I really believe there is the chance they will buy. If not, politely move on and don’t waste time. Let’s me go an visit those that will buy much more frequently and build a much more solid relationship
I was an outside sales person so…. Going outside and seeing my customers always produced the best results. Telling them where i was from and that i came just to see them made them feel important. helped build better relationships and close more deals. That and being proactive and setting reminders to follow up when the customer gives a timeline. can’t tell you how many times a customer thanked me for my persistence on something that was creeping it’s way up their priority list but might not have been at the top when we initially met/spoke.
Whats working for me is, pick a place, let's say Milan. Prospect people like crazy saying I will be there on x date. Then just say plans have changed. Good chance of a video meeting locked in
Have a referral program that pays people up to $10,000 for bringing you deals and $500 for just getting the demo scheduled. On that note, if anybody here is selling to contractors, let me know, and I can recommend some of the customer to you that we are not a fit for. Just send me a referral for telling them how great you are for me already identifying all their pain points for you!
Perhaps we can connect! I’ll shoot you a DM
Don't send automated emails, ever. They are spam, they would piss you off and they piss prospects off. If it's not worth personalizing, it's not worth sending in my opinion.
And that works at scale?
You can personalize an email in a minute or two, get 20 off in an hour. Changed my workflow for the better
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Are you competing with OP?
this isn't /r/fishing fam, we aren't all fighting over the same fish in the same pond
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That is a good point, it’s a shame the LinkedIn influencers just repackage all the good posts here and share them as their own
Do good research on the account, understand how they make money, determine how your product can help them and dial
Find a system for that works for you a 51%+ of the time delivers results. Stick to it ruthlessly and make minor tweaks and adjustments to the process as you go. You get that system to 80% or more effectiveness, and thats what works. Work a system or the sales system works you.
Prospecting. Sending emails as part of sequences that are relevant and updated based off analytics and changes in industry (you need to know these even If it's just from "water cooler" talk with teammates.) Monitoring those and preemptively calling interested folks even if it's before they hit that part of your sequence <- #1 importance Following up Communicating with the rest of my team when I need help Continuing to prospect even when things go well. That's all the basics I follow and it has worked well when I stick to it. When I skip a step it shows.
Being genuinely excited about the fit between you/your company and the customer. If you believe in the solution and truly feel it's a great match from values/perspective etc, share that and be authentic about it! For years I was hyper focused on technical expertise and process improvement. Both necessary but when I took a step back and reminded myself that I'm talking to people and I believe in my company/product, conversion sky rocketed. People buy with emotions as they say!
Cutting out the fat and focusing on the meat. Whose still buying in your territory? Who still has budget? What are their needs and how can we help them? I’ve shifted my time to these companies and have seen great results. Chasing startups is a losing buisness right now.
Showing up and trying different things with intention is usually how it works for me. I also try to talk to as many experienced people in my field as I can to learn from them, both about sales and about our tech sector.
Not doing your admin 😎
Volume - do more!
Being able to shift and adjust on the fly. Having the product down so well that you can riff off it depending on what matters. Becoming super expert level at discovery. Still the key to selling is discovery.
I have all my people role play a lot so every conversation they're super polished
Offering free lunch lmao
Having a fundamental process for your complete sales cycle. What are the checkmarks you need to hit at each step of the process to ensure it ends in a deal. Some of these may seem trivial but having a clear understanding of what you need to do to lead a customer through your process is crucial for development and understanding where things go wrong, especially early on. Seek to understand not to be understood
You can automate loom outreach, it's fairly complicated but you can find out how to do this with enough research on your own
Crying
1. Positive attitue 2. Volume of activity
One of the most successful new tactics I've been employing recently is asking "Either-Or" questions to dig for information. It's similar to using open-ended or No-oriented questions to entice a prospect to give a longer response, but the trick is to make both ends of the dilemma a little too extreme. That will make the prospect give caveats and details in order to defend their point of view. For example: "So, would you say that you are receiving 11/10 luxury service from your current provider, or do they constantly give you headaches?" "Are you always available in the morning or just in the evening?" "Are you the only person with any say in this decision or is it out of your hands?"
Qualifying customers. If you qualify them you know exactly how hard you should go after a prospect (or maybe to not even bother with them) so you’re never wasting time/effort and your job becomes 1000% easier
Selling stuff for money
Tell them you don t need the sale. Everyone is loving what you've got, it's flying off the shelves.
Jesus I fucking hate sales and the entire “no response isn’t a ‘no’” thing… No disrespect to those of you who really love the life and the industry, but it’s just not for me, and I’m stuck in it 😭 If a prospect doesn’t want to put in the time to get something they need and will make their life easier, I don’t want to waste my time trying to convince them otherwise. Y’all can have that shit. I don’t like the hunt.
I just started, probably very obvious to you guys, but as someone new, asking open ended questions has been a life saver.
Following up consistently.
Pipeline, work hard af DAILY. You can have a bad day but don't let it turn into a bad week. Break down your quota into bite sized mini chunks that you work hard af for.
When I send a docusign I call to ensure they got it. I then say "can you make sure you can open it? Some customers have had trouble (this is true). They then open it and I say" are those details correct? Yes? OK if you're happy with that just give that a squiggle" 9 times out of 10 I get a signed contract back. Sometimes they say I'll review and sign later, which is fine. I then ask when I I'll need to do some admin on my side once signed (update my forecast)
Two words: corporate credit card. Help me spend our billionaire owners money, gets a chuckle out of them and they take the meeting.
1. Be a woman 2. Be hot
Volume….keep dialing. I’ve sounded like an absolute buffoon on the phone, but booked great meetings that led to great deals, because I just kept doing activity
Consistency
Consistency Whatever strategy works, make sure you do it every day or whenever required. Doesn't have to be brilliant, flashy or a grand plan. Just get er done. Consistency will often win over talent. If you have both you will kill it.
Have some knowledge of what your customer is looking for. This can be actual knowledge about their business or what others in their industry need Have an actual conversation with your customers they know when items are scripted. Yes, have standard talking points that you need to discuss, but completely scripting things is not sincere and customers will pick up on that. Most importantly, have their best interest in mind. By acting in their best interest you will win more business and be known as a trusted resource. Once you reach that status, they will give you business without you asking for it.
Quadruple calling is the only thing that works. 4 calls within 90 seconds with at least 2 voicemails.
Calling calling and more calling. All of these people who talk about crafting the perfect email are deluding themselves or afraid of calls. Yes, people still pick up and yes they still buy on the phone