Starting a sales consulting business Sales and Selling |
- Starting a sales consulting business
- Outreach.io users, what you recommend this platform?
- I don’t feel like I can be a “leader” or manager. Anyone felt the same way and actually became a successful leader/manager? It’s the “next step” but idk if it’s for me.
- What are you using for your personal tech stack?
- We saw the value we just don’t have the budget
- Any Commercial Truck Sales People On Here?
- Any of you ever had a quarter or stretch where everything went wrong in your territory and you had a bad performance because of it?
- How are sales advisors and call centre work still a thing?
- I'm losing my mind over a CRM system
- Need Help with Next Career Shift!
- I'm starting to feel like I'm being taken advantage of by my employer due to past inexperience. Now that I'm learning more, I feel that I deserve better compensation. Am I wrong?
- Next-Gen Sales intelligence tools for Cyber Security?
- Best way to ask a customer if he’s is interested in your product?
- Need Advice on which market to move too (SAAS)
- Rule of Engagement for SaaS Startup
- People using Challenger, what is the most powerful tension causing question you use to cause your clients to think deep.
- Help - full cycle role at a big, lesser known tech company or SDR/BDR at salesforce?
- how much AE experience is enough to get hired as an AE by another company?
- I'm way behind this week. Wish me luck!
- learning about doing contracts with big businesses?
- Company decreased pre-agreed upon variable component mid year
- How can we be more productive?
- Looking for leaving advice
- Do you hate to lose or love to win?
- Anxiety and sales
| Starting a sales consulting business Posted: 29 Jan 2020 05:03 AM PST Any one have experience in starting a sales consulting business ? Meaning that they hire you to transform their sales pitch , model , efficiency method over like 2-3 months etc. I'm looking to offer these services to companies with a good / great product but lackluster sales process [link] [comments]  |
| Outreach.io users, what you recommend this platform? Posted: 29 Jan 2020 05:42 AM PST Apologies if this has been asked already! I am seeing a lot of sponsored posts from outreach.io and their platform looks like it could be super useful. They don't offer a free trial and keep their pricing off the website, so I thought I'd reach out here and ask if anyone has experience using the platform. Has this resulted in positive ROI for you? What is the best feature? What feature is it missing? Would you recommend it? Cheers all, JH [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Jan 2020 08:48 AM PST I'm an introverted and relatively quiet person. I feel uncomfortable when attention is on me. My thoughts, plans, approaches, and actions have a lot of internal thought and planning behind them that I can't always articulate effectively (in speech), although I can write long ass plans about them, way too long. Most of the time I just wing it and go with me gut feeling, which works out the majority of the time. But writing my gut feeling and instinct into a "best practice" to share with everyone just doesn't work that way. You either get it or you don't. Ultimately I'm an individualist, I prefer doing my own thing, making my own decisions, adjusting my plan on the fly, accounting for new variables, and accepting any successes or failures. I don't like explaining myself or having to explain my decisions, actions, or changes. A lot of it is just instinct and a gut feeling. I've played team sports my entire life and enjoyed it a lot, often in leadership positions. I enjoy teams, I like working together, but I like being totally in charge and not beholden to the whims of higher ups (in the corporate chain). But sports are much more structured and success speaks for itself, a win is undeniable, a score is undeniable, a homer run is undeniable. A touchdown is a touchdown, and a 21 point win is a 21 point win. In sports if I see something going wrong and I can hold the ball and make the play myself. I'm not against teamwork or leadership, so I don't want to give that impression. I'm a pretty well like person in my office. I'm smart, make great numbers, everyone likes me, I have good ideas, and management pushes me to apply for sales manager roles and move up. But I just don't feel like I would fit in with the extroverted, go getter, company obsessed, energetic managers that seem to get promoted. I don't "love the company," I do my work and get the fuck out as quickly as possible to go live my life. I cannot sacrifice for a corporation that will drop me the moment I'm no longer profitable. I'm an entrepreneurial person, I've ran my own businesses successful (but they where either one man operations or very small). I don't see myself as an "employee," I just don't have that mindset. I feel like a fish out of water. I'm here to make money and nothing else. I'm not good at bootlicking, the thought of it repulses me, and it seems that bootlicking and brown nosing is required to work your way up in sales. The amount of corporate politics and sucking up I see managers and prospective managers do just isn't my type of thing. I don't give a fuck if the CEO tells a stupid joke, I'm not laughing. I don't care if a VP is in the office, I'm not sucking his dick. I look around and see my coworkers "ooh" and "ahh"-ing when the big wigs come into the office and share their extremely basic thoughts and plans. Everyone around me acts like they're listening to a noble prize speech and I just sit there thinking "what the fuck." Don't get me wrong, I can give a fake smile, but it's a "this is obviously a fake courtesy smile" type thing. I'm more of an individual. I like being fully in control and fully responsible for my decisions. I can't handle the heat of being wrong because I simply do not give a fuck about criticism or "accountability" speeches when being reprimanded. I just don't really care that much, it's just work, just a sale, and just business. I've never been a workaholic and I cannot be passionate about a company that I don't care about( which is any company except the ones I own myself). I can't fake enthusiasm. I can't be a "cheerleader" and get hyped up on the pointless corporate games, competitions, and awards. I just don't care about that shit. I'm here to make money and only to make money. The office games and competitions that are supposed to create a sense of competition and fun mean nothing to me. I am a very competitive person, but it has to be something I care about, something I take personally. Playing these little office games that try to get competition going just doesn't do it for me, only real competition works. Like destroying an asshole who I'm competing against, beating expectations, proving someone wrong, etc. The fake competition games don't bother me, in ok with them, it's better than nothing, but Incannot hey hyped about them and become a cheerleader and show visibility excitement and enthusiasm. It's all fake. And that seems to be a BIG factor in choosing the next manager. My sales strategy is more so instinct than anything. I empathize with the customer, think about the situation and all it's variables, and wing it. If I'm wrong then I'm wrong and I adjust on the fly using one of my million contingency plans in my head. When in a leadership position my team comes first and I will defend them to the death. I take any and all of the blame and shield my subordinates and teammates from any criticism. I'll take full accountability and rationalize who any and every mistake of theirs is actually my fault no matter how absurd it may sound. I hate this "accountability" corporate buzzword bullshit that is popular nowadays because it seems to be only used as a way of shifting blame downwords and covering your ass with an empty "but I'm the leader so it's actually my fault" and then waiting for the subordinate to say "oh no its not you it's my fault" and then the cycle repeats itself until it's at the bottom of the structure where the lowest paid employees with the least amount of power an autonomy reside. Fuck that empty "accountability" bullshut. Im very empathetic, so when my teammates/subordinates have problems or issues I really understand them and get where they're coming from. I put myself in their shoes and see things from their perspective. Usually I can help them through them but a lot of times it's out of our hands, it's all on the higher ups and their budgets, time expectations, tools available, etc. If my teammate/subordinate has a problem and I don't agree with the higher management's policy I cannot give them a cookie cutter textbook bullshit answer like so many bootlicking managers do. I would be ashamed with myself and would be a failure as a leader. I just can't regurgitate the company talking points. No plan is perfect, no policy is perfect, no product is perfect, no quota or metrics are perfect and I can't just sit there with a straight face and act like it's all a divine infallible mandate from god. I understand that practical business reasons for "walking the company line" and attempting to keep faith in what management says and what the plan is, trust me I get it, but I just don't feel authentic when telling subordinates the textbook answer I'm and it's bullshit reasoning. So. Has anyone gotten past the way of thinking that I currently have? Do you feel like you've become a good manager? Is your job harder because you have a similar mindset? Any tips? Ps: reading through this may make me appear like a cynical and bitter person, but that's not the case. I'm usually in a pretty good mood and everyone likes me, but I just do my job and that's it. I don't get involved and hyped and all into the weird company shit. I just do my work and leave as soon as I can to go home and live my life. Managers are pushing me and pressuring me into going into management but I'm just not sure if it's for me, and I can't exactly tell them everything that I just wrote because it can easily be taken the wrong way. [link] [comments]  |
| What are you using for your personal tech stack? Posted: 29 Jan 2020 07:22 AM PST Can we talk about our personal kits? What are you using for tech and what tools or gear do you really enjoy using as a salesperson? I'm talking from travel computing to the best shoes for walking a trade show floor. What apps/saas products are doing the job for you with your personalized and/or automated processes? What bottlenecks are in your life or do you wish you had a better option for? I'm looking for a really great, lightweight email tool for sending templates. I'm looking to rebuild my sales cadence and don't want to use our busted-ass CRM for any of it. Mostly I have been hacking away at Gmail plugins (e.g., gmelius) but I was getting a lot of false positives back on end-user opens. So I'm in desperate need of a good email stack if you got one. Thanks in advance for your help compadres. [link] [comments]  |
| We saw the value we just don’t have the budget Posted: 29 Jan 2020 04:06 AM PST I'm on the renewal side of the house and i get this a lot. We can be very flexible on budgets (payment terms) so I rarely believe this is the real reason for canceling. What's a good response / next step for this objection [link] [comments]  |
| Any Commercial Truck Sales People On Here? Posted: 29 Jan 2020 06:18 AM PST The title says it all. Wondering if anyone else is in commercial truck sales. What are you seeing? How's business? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Jan 2020 03:46 PM PST 1 - Your decision maker who was supposed to move the opportunity forward gets fired. 2 - Prospects you had a great conversation with loved the product but their boss told them that they cannot proceed further. 3 - You got prospects hanging up left and right when you cold called even though the same pitch and messaging used to work like fire in previous quarters and months. 4 - Somehow the prospects you were getting when in initial meetings (not the cold call, the cold call was used to set this meeting) were a lot more rude and bullish, not wanting to answer any question, than you would be used to. Compared to prospects that were fair and at least willing to have a conversation. Anyone ever had a stretch like that? [link] [comments]  |
| How are sales advisors and call centre work still a thing? Posted: 29 Jan 2020 09:17 AM PST I work in a call centre (not sales, but looking to move into the field). I baffles me that this work is still around today, surely a computer could do my job, surely they could do yours too (with the exception of prospecting for the business). I honestly don't know what I'm expecting, I guess I'm just asking because I'm feeling like it's a waste of time for me trying to get a sales job because if I do make it in a year -2 years time, I won't be there long due to technology; and honestly surprised we're all still in work :') Thank you for reading and hope you're day is going great. [link] [comments]  |
| I'm losing my mind over a CRM system Posted: 29 Jan 2020 06:51 AM PST Basically, our company is a B2B company that sells globally. I'm the singular sales manager and it's my job to identify business around the world and get it. The management is asking that we start using a CRM system to consolidate information. I'm losing my mind because every single CRM system is jam-packed with features or "try for 21 days" or whatever. I'm desperately searching for a CRM system that I can input contacts (sort by country if needed) and put in customers through a sales pipeline. I really don't need anything more. I've already looked at and tried Suite CRM, Hubspot, Engage, Intueri, Freshsales, Onebay, Capsule (just to name a few) and not a single one is as simple as I'd like. I need it to be extremely basic and simple because my management is old-school tech, they really wouldn't grasp it AND as I run the sales for the entire company, I absolutely need it to be as simple as possible for time reasons. Does anyone have any suggestions whatsoever? I'm losing my mind signing up for various CRMs only to find out it's way more advanced than I need. Surely there is something extremely basic out there? Please help! [link] [comments]  |
| Need Help with Next Career Shift! Posted: 29 Jan 2020 11:48 AM PST Hi everyone, I'm 27 years old and currently a trauma associate rep for a big box company based in a big city for just over a year. I work with a team/pod and over the past 6 months our company has lost every single major hospital contract in our territory. One Rep left and now there's increased pressure to sell to surgeons who can't use our implants as well as the on-call nature of the business without any commission structure or incentives for associate roles. In addition, hints have been made about reducing our team due to the contracts. Didn't realize this was a possibility for a multi-billion dollar company. Needless to say, I have to look for new opportunities, the problem I'm having is every direction I turn I'm being told I don't have sales experience because I've been an Associate for the last year. They're not completely wrong, however I definitely have sales experience/training from ADP and now medical industry knowledge and excellent work ethic (team will vouch). I guess my questions are, should I continue to look for a role in device sales? Should I look for another Associate role where I can grow? Should I move to an entry level tech sales company and cut my teeth there? very open to any and all feedback, I honestly just need some help from someone without an agenda of their own. TLDR: Trauma device division is taking a shit, not sure where to turn due to only being an ASR, send help, any and all help! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Jan 2020 07:38 AM PST I am a salesman at a family owned RV dealership and have been for the past 3 years. I started with the company in the parts/accessories department where I worked for 2 years prior. I currently make a gross salary of $24k CAD per year, along with a gross commission of 1.25% of the selling price of any RV I sell. After making $3 million in sales for the year my gross commission bumps up to 2%. My total yearly earnings have averaged to $70k CAD/year in my time as a salesman, and this is my first and only job as a salesman. I recently visited the facilities of one of our main brands down in the US and got to meet a lot of other sales people from all over North America. One guy I met from Texas was really interested in how many trailers I sell in a year, what I would call a "good" month, and how my commission is structured. A "good" month for me is about 25 units. A "great" month is 30+. My total "body count" is about 28% of the inventory we bring in each year, and I am one of 5 sales people so I'm certainly pulling my weight. For Texas, a "good" month was selling 5 units and a "great" month was selling 10 (10! It's 40 below where I live right now and I was able to sell that many in January). I was able to find out that his commission was structured around a percentage of the gross profit of each sale, but not what the percentage was or his yearly salary. He did tell me that he makes about $45k USD/year though. That's about $60k CAD Texas was also surprised to learn that I desk my own deals. I handle all negotiations, trades, I sell extended warranty and paint/fabric protection, just about everything except life/disability and financing. I even have a huge impact on the floor plans that we order, and what brands we carry or cut. He couldn't believe that I know the actual true cost of our products, and that I often place stock orders with our manufacturers. So here I am, wondering how the hell I was able to sell way more product in a year and make only $10k more than Texas. I also work 6 day weeks from March to October (missing out on the entire camping season), do not take lunch breaks, and pull 10 hour days to boot from May to September while we run peak season hours. The more people I talk to, the more I'm learning that what I do at my job is way out of the norm. I'm beginning to feel like for the amount of work I do, the amount of responsibility I have, and for how many trailers I sell, maybe I should be making more money. Please tell me I'm crazy. It may sound like I resent my employers, but I actually really enjoy working here. I typically think of myself as a "company man". I don't stir the pot, if I have to do something that sucks I buckle up and do it with a good attitude, I put in a good effort and do more than I'm asked, it's just that up until now I've always felt rewarded for that behavior. Lately though, I feel I'm missing out on my life for this job and the pay hasn't really made up for it. Do you think I'm justified in feeling this way, or am I being ungrateful for what I have? [link] [comments]  |
| Next-Gen Sales intelligence tools for Cyber Security? Posted: 29 Jan 2020 10:57 AM PST I manage the inside sales team for a company that specializes in big data and cybersecurity. Our most promising use case at the moment is centered around securing critical infrastructure. Organizations that find the most value in our solution are The Global 2000, so looking for a tool that has contacts in EMEA and APAC. This leads us to want to speak to individuals who have titles around Infrastructure security/Cybersecurity/Cyber Security/Critical Infrastructure/Active Directory/Identity Access Management. Typically, at the director level or above. My team is responsible for setting up meetings for the outside sales reps to speak with and begin sales cycles. So, it is critical that we have best in bread sales intelligence tools in place so that we can get to the correct people within an org. Our current sales tech stack the following: - Salesforce (CRM) - Salesloft (Email Automation) - LeadIQ (Data Tool) - DiscoverOrg (Data Tool) - LinkedIn Sales Navigator LeadIQ is by far our best bang for our buck, this tool has an awesome plugin for Chrome that pulls the contacts information up next to their name when searching through lists on LinkedIn Sales Navigator. It does the best at being accurate with Manager and Director level individuals in large orgs, who work with Cyber Security. DiscoverOrg is a good tool, but it is super expensive, and its best feature is list building, and at times, phone numbers. Do any of you know of any next-gen sales intelligence tools that would be a great compliment to our current sales tech stack or possibly replace DiscoverOrg? - SalesCyberSecurity [link] [comments]  |
| Best way to ask a customer if he’s is interested in your product? Posted: 29 Jan 2020 10:53 AM PST A little background. I work in sales for a company that sells online MBA's and other online masters programs from Spain to the Mexican and Colombian Markets. Our comercial process is based on SNAP selling and we get leads to our pipeline through influencers that promote our products and leave their landing. We then call them, give our pitch and our alignment is based on the fact that we lead them to believe that they are in the process of applying for a scholarship rather than a sales process. In other words, we lead them to believe that they won a scholarship but in reality we give them the price we choose depending on their CV. Long story short. After the first call, the call to action is to invite them to fill out an application. We tell them that if they answer it in the following 2 days they have greater chance of a high percentage of discount (BS). My question is, after a good first call, and the leads seems interested but doesn't fill out the form we are instructed to call them to check up on them. I feel this is a bad move since there is no business driver, it's just a "hey are you interested ?" type call. I would appreciate any advice on how to approach this call in a different manner that actually moves the sales process because I feel this kinda calls just scream "I'm a self-serving salesman please hurry up and decide" Thank you for getting this far. Any advice is appreciated by you experienced sellers. [link] [comments]  |
| Need Advice on which market to move too (SAAS) Posted: 29 Jan 2020 10:43 AM PST I'm about to secure an entry-level BDR position in SAAS. I have the choice of moving to SF, Phoenix, Denver, or NYC. Which city should I choose? I'm leaning Phoenix because of the cost of living. Which would be the best career move? Edit: I would probably make a lot more in SF? [link] [comments]  |
| Rule of Engagement for SaaS Startup Posted: 29 Jan 2020 10:19 AM PST Hi Sales, What are some of the rules of engagement your company has to keep order among the sales reps? I'm at a start up and we're trying to keep things simple yet somewhat comprehensive. Here are a few we have:
Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Jan 2020 10:13 AM PST Looking for some example questions to cause constructive tension with my customers. Things like "What would happen to your business in the next 12 months if you did not make this change?" [link] [comments]  |
| Help - full cycle role at a big, lesser known tech company or SDR/BDR at salesforce? Posted: 29 Jan 2020 06:22 AM PST I need to decide between two offers. For someone who has never worked in sales, what do you think is best? [link] [comments]  |
| how much AE experience is enough to get hired as an AE by another company? Posted: 29 Jan 2020 07:37 AM PST I've been at my current company for about 2.5 years. 1.5 years as an SDR, 1 year as an AE. I'm looking for other jobs but deathly afraid of going back to the SDR life (after having done it for so long and having previous experience selling payroll full cycle) The company I'm at now is a reputable resume builder, and many companies I'd be applying to either use it or have used it. Will this experience I've gained be enough for a SAAS company to hire me? Not looking at companies like salesforce/oracle, more series B series C startups, anywhere from 50-200 employees give or take [link] [comments]  |
| I'm way behind this week. Wish me luck! Posted: 29 Jan 2020 07:21 AM PST I just need some good juju from all you vets and beginners. I'm supposed to set 10 appointments for our sales team a week, but my job description also includes bullshit housekeeping and busy work. This week had me doing too much of the latter to say the least. I got one on Monday, but I had it count for last week to bring my 9 up to 10. So, it's almost halfway through the week, and I'm sitting on a goose egg. I know I can do it, but motivation always helps! Anyone else need an extra push this week? [link] [comments]  |
| learning about doing contracts with big businesses? Posted: 29 Jan 2020 06:42 AM PST I'd like to create a business where I manufacture my own products in country, design and manufacture(or import) for clients,import raw materials and blank finished goods. The manufacturing I have a grasp on. The contracts and shipping not so much. Another idea I have is of a language school, and brokering contracts to travel agencies, and travel trips. And a similar scheme with hobby crafts training that are 'big ticket' $2k to 4k a week of training, or 20k for 2 month that I have people try to close these deals. I'd like to learn the basics before I dip my toe in. are contracts done with lawyers on retainer, do these deals require a lot of back and forth for weeks, can people not pay somehow, what regulations do you always need to check. And overall what does this process look like from start to finish, and who are the hires, and the lawyers/support hires? Sorry for all the questions, I have not much of an idea where to start. [link] [comments]  |
| Company decreased pre-agreed upon variable component mid year Posted: 29 Jan 2020 05:57 AM PST I work in SaaS and have been in my role just under a year. When I started, I signed an offer letter that, among other things, outlined my base pay and variable component. The two together make up my OTE . 3 months into my employment, the company decreased my total quota number (this change applied to a number of colleagues and was not some kind of result of my performance or anything). I just assumed my variable number would stay the same each quarter (just effectively be a higher commission rate). Instead, they decreased the variable piece along with my quota. So, even though I achieved 100% of my quota each quarter, I was paid less than the amount outlined in the offer letter. The offer letter was signed by Myself and our VP of sales. I am going to bring it up with him but wanted to get some thoughts here first. Thanks! Edit: location - Colorado [link] [comments]  |
| How can we be more productive? Posted: 29 Jan 2020 05:50 AM PST Hi Everyone. I have been in sales for 5 years now and I'm always looking for new ways to be more productive. One thing that I do that helps me alot is staying organized but I'm curious though, what productivity problems do you run into and how do you overcome them? I feel like it is easy to become distracted by so many things throughout your day. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Jan 2020 05:46 AM PST I've known for a while sales is not for me. Especially in the company I'm in currently. Before NYE I accepted a role as an assistant solution consultant. An avenue I feel is more suited to my aspirations. They are surprisingly offering more money than my base despite me having no experience other than a willingness to learn, and are 5 minutes from home, rather than an hour commute. Ad I've not earnt any commission in the last few months, the salary increase and travel savings was a no brainer. So I accepted. I'm genuinely excited about it. In order to hopefully earn a bit of cheddar, tho, i asked the new company if we could defer the start date to a month after FY end so i could close some final bits, leave on good terms, etc. They were accommodating. However, looking into my contract that was probably pointless as I cant earn commission during a notice period. Which is a bummer because I've just had a blinder of a month and could earn £6k, but to be honest not unexpected or world ending. In my head I'd written it off, and with the increase in income I could make that up in 6 months. So that leaves me with how best to leave? I've read the sub and other responses to this question. They're all great ideas. And I'm left with the following possibilities without any idea which would be best: (Before I list them, working til end of febs pay and just leaving on the spot doesnt sit well with me. Whilst i may get the money, i dont want to burn the bridge and it just seems too dickish to me.) Should i: A) just hand in my notice today and see what happens and hope for the pay out which probably wont come. B) I have regular coaching sessions with my manager, should I be up front with him about this maybe not being right for me and hope he insists I leave. Effectively engineering them in a position to offer me some kind of payment in lieu of notice? I've a pretty open dialogue with my boss and he has hinted at whether this role is right for me. And hes aware of my anxiety and depression struggles. I genuinely think he cares. What are your thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
| Do you hate to lose or love to win? Posted: 28 Jan 2020 05:43 PM PST I was asked this question in an interview, and now I'm curious as to what you guys would say and why. I said I love to win, btw! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Jan 2020 01:00 AM PST Hey everyone, I'm looking for some advice. I'm getting ready to start a business which will require me to sell services. I have previously worked in sales (and loved it, really fit me well) but prospecting on my own terms scares the shit out of me! I had really obvious signs of anxiety with my last prospect. I'm wondering if anyone else struggles with this? I want confidence, not shaky, sweaty hands and hives 😂 Is there anything you say or do that helps relieve anxiety when trying to close a sale? [link] [comments]  |
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