What No One Tells You About Sales
What No One Tells You About Sales
48: The truth.
Hello ladies, gents, cartoon animals and others.
Before we start:
Quick reminder the next article this week will be Part 2 of the “Old Article Update”. Our recommendation is to check out Part 1 and use the free trial opportunity that is available until next month.
Back to the article
If you are an experienced salesperson with a few years under your belt you already know where the article is heading. In case you are not, and you are an individual that is yet to get into sales or is curious about the whole game.
Our suggestion is to stay and read further to get insights into how things are working. The sales game is not black and white as most like to think. The real truth is in the middle. Key should be to position yourself as best as possible.
So what they don’t tell you about sales?
What No One Wants You To Know
1. Logo Matters
Where do we even start with this one? Few will say it doesn’t matter, others will swear by it.
The truth?
Matters a lot more than you think. We have seen many times over the years how a “meh” product can be sold when it’s part of a big company. Let’s make a comparison. If anyone tried to sell the same product but under the “smaller” (not a big player) logo → the truth is it would not sell at all or it would be harder.
When it comes to logo discussion. Another critique you will hear often: “It’s order taking. You will not develop real sales skills.” Fair argument. The whole debate could easily come down to your personal preferences.
Our opinion? You are still building the required skills. Not as much as the sales rep at a smaller company that has to be exceptional at sales to sell the product.
But be sure that while selling under a big logo, you will not have problems sleeping at night.
2. How You Feel Matters
No one believes. But feeling like a champion carries over to the results you will have. Conversations will often feel effortless and everything will be going your way. Exactly what you need to become a good sales rep.
Our biggest improvement in how we “feel” came from:
Strict diet
Exercise 3x week
Loads of walking (buy treadmill its a lifehack)
Correct supplementation
Spending time outdoors (sun)
Not 100% sure what is behind all this since we are not medical experts. But the common logic will tell us it must be connected with the optimal hormonal profile.
Above is rarely discussed. That is unfortunate since it plays a huge role in your performance.
3. Dont Take Things Personally
Not taking things personally doesn't get enough credit. One of the first things one should teach the new guys is to not take things personally. Dealing with the rejection is not the easiest part and will take time to build the character around it.
The best thing you could do if you are starting is to put in your head that each rejection is nothing personal. It’s because the prospect doesn’t need what you are offering/selling at the moment. A number of the new sales reps we have seen get ego involved and crushed in the first 6 months…
Becoming emotionless about the outcome is something most sales reps should strive for.
You are there to push through all the objections, negatives, and declines from your prospects. Exact same reason they are paying you so much. This point is directly connected with point 6.
4. Play By Your Own Rules
Mostly, it will come down to your characteristics. But what you will quickly realize is that the best guys often don’t play by the rules. A huge eye-opener was when we first saw the sales rep apply for the demo of one of our competitors. Which was also at the top when it comes to the leaders in the industry.
You might be thinking “No reason to play dirty”.
At the same time, he managed to get insights into how their reps are positioning the offer. Extra points for how they are doing the demo part. Rarely the product will be completely the same. But the main goal and wanted results will be - exact reason why they are your competitors.
Don't be scared to jump on calls with competitors while posing as a prospect.
You will realize that the provided information is at least 70% transferable to your current offer. Making it the perfect way to get insights into the market. Better said how others are running things.
5. You Need Safety Net
The big mistake that happens when you start running numbers and hitting quota. Raising your lifestyle up. It’s fine until you don’t get yourself into debt because you bought a new German car and a fancy Swiss watch.
What most will not tell you is that sales individuals often get lost in the numbers.
The logic behind this is often driven by the thought “I have hit my quota, I deserve it”. Similar to what you will see in another high-stress career such as Investment Banking.
At this point in our lives. We are sure there must be a correlation between having a stressful career and having an “I deserved it mentality”. Don't become the boring person who puts 80% to the side. But at the same time, you have to have the required safety net.
You never know when things could go south.
We know quite a few individuals who overnight got put on PIP. Having at least 6 months of living costs saved on the side will help you sleep tighter and better. Think for a moment about spending 10k per month on the car, apartment, or whatever you are into. While only having 30k on the side.
How do you think you will manage to maintain that lifestyle?
Yes, that debt will push your skills into another gear since you will be “obliged” to work harder. Debatable if it’s worth playing that game.
6. Stress Tolerance
We religiously mention the importance of knowing your limits and positioning yourself as best as possible when dealing with stress.
How you feel plays a huge role in stress tolerance (read above). Still, you can’t completely compensate if you are simply not built for it.
There are careers you can’t operate in if your stress tolerance is not on point.
The first signs should start showing up in the first 6 months of your new career or position. Better said when things start to heat up and your higher-ups start expecting something from you. What could happen is you quickly realize how you react to stress.
At first, it may seem like a huge problem. But in reality quite the opposite. You will have more time to find a career where you will be positioned better.
It’s going to cut the time you need to realize you are not going to make it.
Worth to mention
Uncomfortable is another name for the sales. If you are getting under stress while being in an uncomfortable position. That is a certain kind of red flag you should pay attention to.
7. Timing
Unfortunately, most will not talk about the importance of timing. The concept behind timing is quite simple when we talk about sales. If the company is not in the market for your solution/offer there won’t be any transaction going on.
Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand it.
Bringing us to the next point. One that the successful reps do follow up frequently with those that have passed on the offer earlier. Prospects should be followed up again in 3 to 6 months. Same results as the first time? Repeat in a few months. Over time you will realize you are picking up easy points.
Sometimes it was not the right timing for your prospect.
8. Doing The Opposite
Not always the most obvious when it comes to sales and human nature. Often the best move you could make is the opposite of what the majority preaches.
The easiest example most people know about is disqualifying.
You will hear others preach about being a good salesman who should try to sell to every prospect. Terrible advice. Quite often you would get bigger benefits from tactical disqualifying.
Nothing worse than a prospect wasting your time because they will not be moving forward → while you are still pitching them.
The second great example is learning to shut up.
It’s a tool more than anything else. Sales guru preaching you have to keep bombarding your prospects which is not true at all. When you learn to shut up and become comfortable with silence.
You are leaving out space for your prospect to invest. Not in the conversation itself. Providing you with insights into what is currently going on with prospect business. Inputs you get from prospects are the reason you will manage to sell the product.
Over time you will learn to separate typical sales advice and nonconventional advice.
More examples of doing the opposite:
Learning to qualify
Putting huge importance on prospecting
Practicing your delivery and tonality
Removing low-value words from your vocabulary
Conclusion
Keep in mind majority was written for those who will be dealing with sales in a more complex environment such as B2B tech sales for example. The principles themselves should apply to the other sales “paths” as well.
Since the skills themselves are transferable.
We mentioned multiple times sales is a great path - especially when we are talking about the enterprise aspect. But the information you will find is straight-up trash. Our first point “Logo Matters” is already hard to find on the web. Maybe in certain circles if you find yourself in the right spot.
As always, take what you like and discard the rest.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Trying to find email addresses for your cold outreach? Findymail - affiliate
Trying to break into Tech Sales? Break Into SaaS - affiliate