Close Call: Real-world sales strategies for startups and SMBs

CLOSE.IO WOMEN IN SALES INTERVIEW SERIES http://blog.close.io/topic/women-in-sales

Host: Rebecca Luo, account executive at Close.io @rebeccatluo

Lauren LaForge is a professional sales trainer and business coach at Southwestern Consulting ([email protected]).

As a college student, Lauren sold books and software door-to-door for Southwestern Advantage, finishing top 5 out of 3,000 sales people for all 4 summers. She also started and sold two businesses before the age of 30.

Lauren gives us advice on what she calls the “intentional roller coaster” in sales, scheduling, and remote life. When it comes to consistency in sales, Lauren advises her clients to focus on what they can control in terms of three categories: hours, attitude, and meetings.

CLOSE.IO WOMEN IN SALES INTERVIEW SERIES http://blog.close.io/topic/women-in-sales

Host: Rebecca Luo, account executive at Close.io @rebeccatluo

Sarah Haselkorn is the Head of Sales Operations at Makespace and co-founder at Unfettered Socks (https://www.instagram.com/sarahstartups/). She’s a triathlete, an investor, and an advisor, with a university degree in systems engineering.

Selling software solutions to small- and medium-sized businesses? Understand who your stakeholders are. We learned this the hard way—and almost did some serious damage to our startup because we weren't differentiating enough among the stakeholders we're serving.

Related blog post: http://blog.close.io/smb-saas-sales

Imagine there's a way to close a lot more deals, without really having to change anything you do. You wouldn't have to work more or harder. All you have to do is contact the prospect at the right time. Here's how.

Related blog post + video: http://blog.close.io/sales-call-timing

Channel sales partners can be a great way to accelerate your sales growth. Getting the right resellers to sell your product for you can be a real game changer for your business. But if you do it wrong, or at the wrong time, it can totally derail the trajectory of your business.

You’ve got a new product you’re ready to start selling. And by some miracle, there’s already a major client ready to pull the trigger. There’s only one problem: You don’t know 100% if you can deliver for them.

A lot of people will advise you to fake it 'till you make it. Wrong.

Others will suggest you "just give it away for free". Worse.

Instead, you want to a) close the deal from a position of strength,

b) charge a lot of money,

c) but completely remove the risk for them.

Here's how ANYONE can build relationships with influential people and grow a high-value network. (While keeping it real, without fluff and BS "networking tactics".)

Too many startup pitches follow a flawed formula. They start with a grand vision rather than simple explanation. Learn how to make your pitches more effective. Learn more at http://blog.close.io/killer-startup-pitch

I’m not gonna lie: I’m a great salesperson. Humbleness aside, I've pretty much always been. But as long as we’re being honest, I’ve got a confession, too: I was a terrible sales manager.

Seriously, I almost ran my first sales team into the ground. And I probably would have, too, if not for a single, defining moment: The moment I met the sales genius who gave average, underwhelming, and all-around unimpressive sales pitches.

If you’re a sales manager or leader of any kind, this is for you: The story of the most valuable sales leadership lesson I ever learned. Hopefully, you won’t need it as badly as I did.

Can't wait to get the tools you need to scale a sales team? Get them right now!

(Not so) humble beginnings

As I said above, I’ve always been a pretty gifted salesperson. I had my faults and made mistakes, but I usually closed more deals than I lost, and it didn’t take long for my creative pitches and aggressive negotiation tactics to catch the attention of my superiors. Soon, I was promoted from salesperson to sales manager.

And just like that, I was in charge of an entire sales team: A team I had to teach to replicate my results and scale my successes. No big deal, right? Wrong. As it turns out, that’s where my natural gifts ended.

I thought being a good sales leader meant demonstrating my abilities through impressive presentations, so I spent every day wowing my team and winning customers with new and creative pitches.

On one hand, this was great: My presentations really motivated and inspired the team. On the other hand, my salespeople were failing; all of them, every single month. I was failing as a manager.

I knew this was my fault, but I couldn’t figure out why. After all, I spent every day “training” my team, teaching them everything I knew, and demonstrating what I wanted from them. It worked for me, so why wasn’t it working for them?

Meet the sales genius who changed my life

Fast-forward a couple of months and things weren’t any better. But then, mere weeks from a mental breakdown, I got lucky: I was invited to an exclusive sales leadership workshop and that’s where I met the sales manager who would save my career.

The first time we met, I was immediately impressed by his charisma. But what intrigued me most was his reputation: He was supposed to be some sort of sales genius with a massive and highly successful team.

At this point, I was desperate. I had to know this guy’s secret. Thankfully, I’d get my chance: We were both scheduled to deliver practice presentations to the other workshop attendees for feedback.

I was the first to present, so I took the stage and did what I always do: I winged it. With no preparation, I gave a pitch that was customized to the audience, full of funny details pulled from earlier in the event.

And it couldn’t have gone better: I hit all the right notes and had people smiling, laughing, and engaging the whole way through. But as soon as my presentation was over, I was only interested in one thing: Hearing this sales genius deliver his pitch.

Then, finally, he walked on-stage.

The most mediocre sales presentation I’ve ever seen that turned out to be the best sales management lesson I’ve ever received

This so-called sales genius reached into his bag and pulled out an old-school folder full of what looked like laminated PowerPoint slides, then spent his entire presentation going through one slide at a time.

It was … unexpected, to say the least. I don’t know what exactly I was expecting, but it wasn’t that.

Don’t get me wrong: He didn’t give a bad pitch. It had a clear beginning, middle, and end, with a good call-to-action. It was just … boring. Boring, uninspired, and overwhelmingly average. And based on everything I’d heard about the guy, I was more than a little surprised.

So surprised, I may have been a little blunt. When it was time for feedback, I said something like, “Is that really how you give presentations to customers? I’m sure you can do better than that.”

http://blog.close.io/cold-calling-how-to-respond-to-i-dont-have-time

Cold calling: How to respond to "I don't have time"?

by Steli Efti

When Donald Trump says he has “no time” for political correctness, what he really means is that he’s chosen not to make it a priority.

It’s the same way with your customers. Unless you happen to cold call someone whose office has just caught on fire, it’s pretty likely that “I don’t have time” is just a polite way of saying “Go away,” or “What you’re offering is not a priority for me.” After all, if they really didn’t have time, they would have just hung up on you.

And yet, your average salesperson still hears “I don’t have time,” stammers, gets nervous, and hangs up. It’s a difficult objection to deal with—we’re not used to responding proactively to “I don’t have time.” You can’t really argue with it, because who are you to question whether someone really has time?

A great salesperson, however, finesses this objection around into further conversation. A great salesperson hears “I don’t have time” and recognizes that it’s time to drive home the core value proposition that will get that customer to stay on the line.

Think about it this way. If your potential customer was convinced, deep down, that they could make $8 for every $1 they spent with you, would they still tell you they don’t have time? No! They’d rush to keep you on the phone, and spend as much money with you as they possibly could.

"The main thing when you are engaged with a client, dream client, or prospect is to create value during every interaction. The more value you create, the more valuable you are to your client. The greater the perception of value, the greater the likelihood you gain a commitment that moves you forward together."—Anthony Iannarino

Your #1 job when someone tells you they don’t have time is to demonstrate all the value and upside you can bring them, proving that you are worth their time.

You need to work around this objection by showing the value at every turn, whether this objection pops up early in the sales cycle, or later and more insidiously, toward the end of the process.

Early stage objection

No one likes getting cold called, and the “I don’t have time” objection is often a polite way of shooing you away early in a call. But this knee-jerk reaction is your chance as a salesperson to differentiate yourself and your product from the swarm of telemarketers out there selling candy and cable upgrades.

At this stage, you need to acknowledge the value of your customer’s time, and show them why they should give it to you. Emphasize with their position, but make sure you grab their attention and hook them on value.

Sales rep: “Hey, I get that, maybe it’s not worth your time! The last seven people in your field who I talked to said that as well. And they were all wrong. Just give me three minutes to see if you’re right—let’s confirm that talking to me is not a wise investment of your time.”

Be polite, charming, and decisive. Give them compelling proof for why they should stay on the line, and why they’d be missing out if they hung up. Most customers will be willing to give you a few more minutes—which is all you need to start establishing value.

Pitch to priorities

Use this time to show how your product or service can help them meet their goals today. Pitch to their priorities by asking questions.

Ask questions that will help you understand what your customer's needs are, while demonstrating your expertise and authority in the field:

What is your number one priority at this point? Because if you’re like the other customers I talk to in the field, your number one goal for next quarter is ______.

Is this something that matches your priorities or are you thinking something totally different?

If not, what are your top priorities right now