A Sales Guy Consulting Blog

A client sent us this email yesterday. I love getting emails like this. As a sales consulting company it's our job to make impact and influence our clients persepctives.  

"Keenan, thank you again for your time earlier today. It was a great coaching session. You opened my eyes to how my sales techniques that served me so well in the past need to evolve for selling FlixMaster. 

I'll be honest, I was going into the session today wondering, "what the hell am I going to get out of this?" And came out of it thinking, "WOW! That completely blew my mind."

 You've now got me laser-focused on selling the solution, not the product. And while I may have paid that distinction lip-service throughout my sales career, today truly changed my perspective as I could see the difference in what I had been doing versus what needs to be done."

To me the best part of this email is this quote: 

"I'll be honest, I was going into the session today wondering, "what the hell am I going to get out of this?" And came out of it thinking, "WOW! That completely blew my mind."

I experience this type of attitude often. Sales people, for some reason, have tendency to think they know it all. In particular, seasoned sales people who have been successful for years tend to be resistent to new things.  In a space where learning and growth can be the difference between quota attainment and failure, this type of attidue can kill you. 

How open is your sales team to assess their own capabilities. How well do they assess themselves? Are they accurate? 

How open are you? Do you believe you have a handle on it all? As the head of sales how often do you say; "What the hell am I going to get of this?"  

If you're like many sales leaders, unfortunately -- A LOT! 

If you're open to it, you could have your mind blown. 

Seth Godin wrote this piece last month and I thought it was killer: 

"When making a b2b sale, the instinct is always to get into the CEO's office. If you can just get her to hear your pitch, to understand the value, to see why she should buy from or lease from or partner with or even buy you... that's the holy grail.

What do you think happens after that mythical meeting?

She asks her team.

And when the team is in the dark, you've not only blown your best shot, but you never get another chance at it.

The alternative is to start in the middle. It takes longer, it comes with less high-stakes tension and doesn't promise instant relief. But it is better than any alternative.

Starting in the middle doesn't mean you're rushing around trying to close any sale with any bureaucrat stupid enough to take a meeting with you (or that you're stupid enough to go to, thinking that a sale is going to happen.)

No, starting in the middle is more marketing than sales. It's about storytelling and connection and substance. It's about imagery and totems and credentials and the ability to understand and then solve the real problems your prospects and customers have every day. It's this soft tissue that explains why big companies have so many more enterprise sales than you do.

You don't get this reputation as an incidental byproduct of showing up. It is created with intention and it's earned."

 We've all received sales advice that says start at the top. I think that's bad advice.

Early in my career I fell victim to the "starting at the top" advice. I was selling to a billion dollar telecommunications company who had a change in leadership. The new President and COO was a friend of mine. When he was announced, I just about jumped out of my shoes. I instantly started counting the money. The money, I hadn't made yet. 

Bill, the new President and COO was a fairly close friend. He had actually tried hiring me a few years previous, so I had unfettered access to him. After he started, we had a number of meetings and he told me he wanted my company to do a number of things for him. He laid out what he was looking for and then told us to work with his CIO.  

Needless to say the CIO had not been in the loop and did nothing but passively resist every move until everyone finally gave up. 

I was never able to grow the account through my relationship at the top. 

Seth's post and my experience suggest the old addage about getting to the top is a must and the only way to go is a flawed approach. 

But, hey Seth and I are just two people. What do you think? Is starting at the top, the best way to go? Do you start at the top? 

Rejection is part of sales. It's unavoidable. Not everyone is going to buy what you are selling, therefore you will be rejected.  

In spite of this fact, many sales people struggle with rejection, hampering their ability to get deals closed and move with confidence. 

When we are afraid of failure we move tentatively, we are unsure and it shows in how we operate. 

Failure of rejection isn't just a "sales person" problem. Everyone lives with some level of fear or rejection. 

This guy Jia Jiag was rejected by a major VC for investment in his company. He was so dejected he didn't know how to deal with it. After doing the research and learning about how rejection works, he decided to get better at handling rejection. 

For the next 100 days, Jia is creating crazy, unrealistic request designed to have him be rejected. In this one, Jia asks to be a live Abercrombie model. 

Jia's video's are hilarious, entertaining and creative. He's asked to cut the Best Buy line on Thursday night of Black Friday. He's asked a car sales person to teach him to sell and he's asked an employee at Krispy Kreme to make a donut Olympic rings. 

Check out Jia's videos. They just might make it easier for you to accept rejection and that would make you a better sales person.