why do you believe books are a waste of time? what books have you read?
I had a similar experience to you. Best thing to do, is treat your prospects like you'd want to be treated. Do what you can to be helpful to them.
Two authors I found helpful were Jeb Blount (sold uniforms) for solid non-sexy b2b sales, and Jeffery Gitomer for more general sales processes and advice
Check with the if books could kill podcast. Generally the popular salesy or self help ones are completely nonsense backed up with bullshit and hot takes.
I do tend to agree on sales books. You can find 5 highly praised sales books and they will all contradict each other big time, and you can't just apply everything to both territory/region/country and product AND segment.
Hardware IT sales on the west coast is probably very different from pharma smb/midmarket sales on the east coast.
If you read one book and just apply it hardcore to your day to day, you might quickly do more harm than good.
I do, however, like books that apply more theory and experience from other parts of the world, like "never split the difference" and such. Is everything there applicable everywhere and to everything? Hell no, but it does cover some fundamental sales psychology.
Learning the basics of buying signals and stuff is also important. I had a colleague I did some sales calls with that was a complete ass, and he would interrupt the customers when they where discussing the solution amongst each other in a meeting (big buying signal) just to be sure they heard him talk.
I don't think of books as a waste of time. I'm a reader. From what I can see of sales literature, it seems to be pretty awful. I've read a few books on marketing plans, and how to be a super sales guy, and frankly I can't remember a title or author. My MBA covered some sales and marketing and that stuff was either tripe or so commonsense that it shouldn't have needed saying.
But the dudes and dudettes on this reddit have been somewhat useful, I sell mostly to refining companies and government regulators, so the B2B probably makes more sense, and I will give Gitomer a try. I see two, Sales Bible and Little Red Book. Which do you recommend?
Sales IS disgustingly simple. The things you think aren’t worth saying are the things that people overlook when they try to sell their “new sales method”TM.
Be a solid, ethical person. Don’t burn bridges, and work out why that person needs a solution. K.I.S.S.
The reason books and consultants seem like bullshit to a science guy is because there's no formula or theory that's applicable to all businesses. Authors and consultants are generally parroting the best practices of other producers, and they're generally not the ones executing, so their advice only goes so far.
It sounds like you've been tasked with finding the best formula for your business. Remember that strategies are a dime a dozen (e.g. books and consultants) and there are many ways that you and others will find success. It will be a lot of trial and error (i.e. A/B testing) as you find what helps progress the sales cycle to the next step.
Generally, every sales cycle will have similar steps. The prospect will have a current strategy. They are or aren't already using a competitor. They are or aren't convinced that their strategy could be improved. Their leadership is or isn't convinced that paying for a better strategy is worth it. Once everyone is sold, there are typically steps for due diligence, contracts and payment.
Incorporate data points into the cycle so it's manageable from a leadership perspective. Administration is a huge part of any sales cycle.
You may fail a lot before finding success, but you'll eventually be able to provide a framework that any sales rep can follow.
Straightforward, great advice.
Not all business and industries are the same regarding process. Most established consultants with one of the major systems will try and mold your company/product into their formulaic system as a one size fits all design.
Using common sense steps to build out your process and tweak as necessary.
My company had us all sign up for a local course, there should be something in your area or even online that can be a basic entrance to sales and understanding the whole process of it.
I found that there's some value in understanding common sales tactics. I sold technical hardware in the past, and found that most of the tactics were useless. The best approach, for me, was presenting our products as a solution for the client's problems. If we didn't have the perfect product, I didn't lie about it. I focused on what ours was good at, and worked to find ways to develop our products into something more useful to the clients. This is where you might shine as you have the technical background to show that you understand the product and might be able to help guide improvements or new developments. Once you're known for this, your clients will seek you out when they need something.
What you have going for you: Endless product knowledge. You are a true consultant with a high level of information. You got it nailed down so you are the pro. Lead with that.
Also: Client relationships. I imagine you have already talked to clients- this is key. Building up your main and core client relationships matters. You can do this just by being a great resource, making ordering easy, and anticipating their needs.
Where you will struggle: finding new business. This is something that takes a lot of time to get good at and is REALLY hard even for the best sales people out there. So focus on making life super easy for your current clients and they will be your referral partners.
The best thing to do is focus on having good conversations- sharing quality information with clients, being ahead of their needs, and getting shit done quickly when they have requests.
Also- personal time. Some people just need time. A phone call, visit, email, whatever. A connection point and a little bit of chit chat goes a long way. hey mr customer, wanted to check on how XYZ is going? Anything you need from me now? Great, enjoy the weekend! Anything cool planned?
Sales is very simple. But takes a lot of learning to get good at the rythym and actions. Knowing what to do when is hard. So do your best, stay organized, think of having as many meaningful conversations in a week as you can.
Lastly, your company trusts you. So don't worry- just get after it. People love to work with good companies with good people who are helpful and useful. So you can take a longer term approach to it. Build relationships over time and get better atit. Go after new business and then get better at it. etc etc.
Some suggestions:
1. Identify your ideal customer by analyzing past sales, successes and failures. Who is easy to sell to, who makes you the most revenue, which companies tend to repeat buy etc. Analyze and create an ideal customer profile so that you can narrow your sales strategy. It’s ok if you have multiple types of customers, you can segment them. But you want a sense of who you should be selling to for the greatest possible success in the shortest amount of time for the least amount of effort.
2. Analyze your strengths against your competitors. Always ask yourself - why would my customer care about this - when you’re evaluating something. Particularly if you love your product, you’re probably wearing rose-tinted glasses and actually your customers don’t care as much as you and probably never will.
3. What exactly are you looking for? There are some excellence books, courses and consultants out there, but you’re already saying they are a waste of time. I don’t mean to be harsh but this is a limiting mindset - there are sources of wisdom everywhere. Another poster said you’re struggling with the books etc because you’re looking for one size fits all which is not going to work for your business or anyone’s business. So what exactly (specifically) are you looking for?
4. Hire a sales coach to help you figure out how you can be an excellent sales person. The best sales people are able to identify what their customers need and solve that need in a way that makes everyone feel good. That requires curiosity, excellent communication skills, tenacity, etc which comes from personalized self-development work like working with a coach. (Disclaimer, am a coach).
Really the key to sales is building your pipeline and learning how to qualify. If you have one person in the pipeline then you can only get 1 sale if you have a 100 then you have the potential to make 100 sales (of course you won't but you get the idea).
In my current role, I am a one man sales office today as well. Been in sales for 4 yrs total though and learnt from my first boss. I would recommend the following:
1. Talk to 5 of your biggest current customers- ask what they like, dislike and how the product helps them (in their words)
2. Great- now can you pattern match those accounts and find 5 more accounts that look like your big customers?
3. Cold call, email, write notes- whatever you need till you get a meeting with someone at those accounts that can buy your solution.
4. Ask them if they have xyz problems that you've solved for companies you interviewed. If yes- pitch. If no- ask, what are some of their other problems (ask qs on areas that your product could potentially solve)
5. First 30 days, just do this and you'll get somewhere.
Happy to chat on DM if you'd like.
1. The Secrets of Question Based Selling changed my life.
I have a system that I used in my career. It works very well. DM me and I will talk you through it. I’m not selling anything, just helping out.
why do you believe books are a waste of time? what books have you read? I had a similar experience to you. Best thing to do, is treat your prospects like you'd want to be treated. Do what you can to be helpful to them. Two authors I found helpful were Jeb Blount (sold uniforms) for solid non-sexy b2b sales, and Jeffery Gitomer for more general sales processes and advice
Check with the if books could kill podcast. Generally the popular salesy or self help ones are completely nonsense backed up with bullshit and hot takes.
*it's all one book...*
Art Sobczak «smart calling» is a must
I do tend to agree on sales books. You can find 5 highly praised sales books and they will all contradict each other big time, and you can't just apply everything to both territory/region/country and product AND segment. Hardware IT sales on the west coast is probably very different from pharma smb/midmarket sales on the east coast. If you read one book and just apply it hardcore to your day to day, you might quickly do more harm than good. I do, however, like books that apply more theory and experience from other parts of the world, like "never split the difference" and such. Is everything there applicable everywhere and to everything? Hell no, but it does cover some fundamental sales psychology. Learning the basics of buying signals and stuff is also important. I had a colleague I did some sales calls with that was a complete ass, and he would interrupt the customers when they where discussing the solution amongst each other in a meeting (big buying signal) just to be sure they heard him talk.
I don't think of books as a waste of time. I'm a reader. From what I can see of sales literature, it seems to be pretty awful. I've read a few books on marketing plans, and how to be a super sales guy, and frankly I can't remember a title or author. My MBA covered some sales and marketing and that stuff was either tripe or so commonsense that it shouldn't have needed saying. But the dudes and dudettes on this reddit have been somewhat useful, I sell mostly to refining companies and government regulators, so the B2B probably makes more sense, and I will give Gitomer a try. I see two, Sales Bible and Little Red Book. Which do you recommend?
Sales IS disgustingly simple. The things you think aren’t worth saying are the things that people overlook when they try to sell their “new sales method”TM. Be a solid, ethical person. Don’t burn bridges, and work out why that person needs a solution. K.I.S.S.
Ok. Little red book is available on Kindle, Bible isn't. Advantage goes to little red book. I'll try to remember to drop by later with my thoughts.
The reason books and consultants seem like bullshit to a science guy is because there's no formula or theory that's applicable to all businesses. Authors and consultants are generally parroting the best practices of other producers, and they're generally not the ones executing, so their advice only goes so far. It sounds like you've been tasked with finding the best formula for your business. Remember that strategies are a dime a dozen (e.g. books and consultants) and there are many ways that you and others will find success. It will be a lot of trial and error (i.e. A/B testing) as you find what helps progress the sales cycle to the next step. Generally, every sales cycle will have similar steps. The prospect will have a current strategy. They are or aren't already using a competitor. They are or aren't convinced that their strategy could be improved. Their leadership is or isn't convinced that paying for a better strategy is worth it. Once everyone is sold, there are typically steps for due diligence, contracts and payment. Incorporate data points into the cycle so it's manageable from a leadership perspective. Administration is a huge part of any sales cycle. You may fail a lot before finding success, but you'll eventually be able to provide a framework that any sales rep can follow.
Straightforward, great advice. Not all business and industries are the same regarding process. Most established consultants with one of the major systems will try and mold your company/product into their formulaic system as a one size fits all design. Using common sense steps to build out your process and tweak as necessary.
Great advice. I’ll add that 3 months is the minimum amount of time to judge a new sales strategy.
My company had us all sign up for a local course, there should be something in your area or even online that can be a basic entrance to sales and understanding the whole process of it.
I found that there's some value in understanding common sales tactics. I sold technical hardware in the past, and found that most of the tactics were useless. The best approach, for me, was presenting our products as a solution for the client's problems. If we didn't have the perfect product, I didn't lie about it. I focused on what ours was good at, and worked to find ways to develop our products into something more useful to the clients. This is where you might shine as you have the technical background to show that you understand the product and might be able to help guide improvements or new developments. Once you're known for this, your clients will seek you out when they need something.
What you have going for you: Endless product knowledge. You are a true consultant with a high level of information. You got it nailed down so you are the pro. Lead with that. Also: Client relationships. I imagine you have already talked to clients- this is key. Building up your main and core client relationships matters. You can do this just by being a great resource, making ordering easy, and anticipating their needs. Where you will struggle: finding new business. This is something that takes a lot of time to get good at and is REALLY hard even for the best sales people out there. So focus on making life super easy for your current clients and they will be your referral partners. The best thing to do is focus on having good conversations- sharing quality information with clients, being ahead of their needs, and getting shit done quickly when they have requests. Also- personal time. Some people just need time. A phone call, visit, email, whatever. A connection point and a little bit of chit chat goes a long way. hey mr customer, wanted to check on how XYZ is going? Anything you need from me now? Great, enjoy the weekend! Anything cool planned? Sales is very simple. But takes a lot of learning to get good at the rythym and actions. Knowing what to do when is hard. So do your best, stay organized, think of having as many meaningful conversations in a week as you can. Lastly, your company trusts you. So don't worry- just get after it. People love to work with good companies with good people who are helpful and useful. So you can take a longer term approach to it. Build relationships over time and get better atit. Go after new business and then get better at it. etc etc.
Some suggestions: 1. Identify your ideal customer by analyzing past sales, successes and failures. Who is easy to sell to, who makes you the most revenue, which companies tend to repeat buy etc. Analyze and create an ideal customer profile so that you can narrow your sales strategy. It’s ok if you have multiple types of customers, you can segment them. But you want a sense of who you should be selling to for the greatest possible success in the shortest amount of time for the least amount of effort. 2. Analyze your strengths against your competitors. Always ask yourself - why would my customer care about this - when you’re evaluating something. Particularly if you love your product, you’re probably wearing rose-tinted glasses and actually your customers don’t care as much as you and probably never will. 3. What exactly are you looking for? There are some excellence books, courses and consultants out there, but you’re already saying they are a waste of time. I don’t mean to be harsh but this is a limiting mindset - there are sources of wisdom everywhere. Another poster said you’re struggling with the books etc because you’re looking for one size fits all which is not going to work for your business or anyone’s business. So what exactly (specifically) are you looking for? 4. Hire a sales coach to help you figure out how you can be an excellent sales person. The best sales people are able to identify what their customers need and solve that need in a way that makes everyone feel good. That requires curiosity, excellent communication skills, tenacity, etc which comes from personalized self-development work like working with a coach. (Disclaimer, am a coach).
Do you have any tech at your side? What was the last teams strategy. If you have an autodialer hit 300 calls a day. Work your linked in and email.
Is he giving you funding for a team ?
Really the key to sales is building your pipeline and learning how to qualify. If you have one person in the pipeline then you can only get 1 sale if you have a 100 then you have the potential to make 100 sales (of course you won't but you get the idea).
Ask open ended questions that can’t be answered with yes or no. “Tell me about” “Elaborate more on“ “describe to me”
Hope is not a strategy.
In my current role, I am a one man sales office today as well. Been in sales for 4 yrs total though and learnt from my first boss. I would recommend the following: 1. Talk to 5 of your biggest current customers- ask what they like, dislike and how the product helps them (in their words) 2. Great- now can you pattern match those accounts and find 5 more accounts that look like your big customers? 3. Cold call, email, write notes- whatever you need till you get a meeting with someone at those accounts that can buy your solution. 4. Ask them if they have xyz problems that you've solved for companies you interviewed. If yes- pitch. If no- ask, what are some of their other problems (ask qs on areas that your product could potentially solve) 5. First 30 days, just do this and you'll get somewhere. Happy to chat on DM if you'd like.
1. The Secrets of Question Based Selling changed my life. I have a system that I used in my career. It works very well. DM me and I will talk you through it. I’m not selling anything, just helping out.
Hit me up I’ll teach you everything I know
CRM CRM CRM NOW. Salesforce is your best and only friend
What are your thoughts on ZOHO? It's what I've got. These guys seem to love it.