What's the next step? Sales and Selling |
- What's the next step?
- Boiled down are all of our value props the same?
- Got a trial day cold calling for software demo's tomorrow. What are your top tips to impress my potential new boss?
- Is there a group specifically for enterprise B2B sales ie account executives?
- Took a job as an outside sale rep for a mattress company - I am failing miserably.
- Structuring Your Call Cadence
- Questions on Forward Contracts in Medical Supplies
- "Sensei.com"
- Doing a trial shift as lead generator for life insurance on Wednesday. Anybody have any idea what to expect?
- Anyone in security sales? I'm at a crossroads
- What day of the week do you all like to have your sales meetings?
- Adding video to my sales repertoire
- If you could go back in time, which industry would you START your sales Career?
- Cold calling help
- Anyone else’s sales suffering?
- B2B Appointment Setting with Random Prospects and 0 Training
- B2B Appointment Setting with no training and random prospects.
- RN to Medical Sales
- How are you adjusting your sales strategies, tactics, and/or methodologies now that we are facing the immediate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic?
- Mildly Infuriating
- Is it worth the jump to real estate?
- Where to go from car sales? Do I need a college degree to pursue other sales roles?
- To all...What’s your most successful opening question when prospecting?
| Posted: 06 Jul 2020 08:44 AM PDT I've been in sales (B2B SaaS) for ~5 years now. I sorta just fell into it. It's been good to me, both lifestyle wise and monetarily, but it hasn't exactly been what I would call "fulfilling". I'm moving cities and I'm presented with a great opportunity to plan out the next step in my career. The only problem is I can't seem to come up with a direction or strategy. Anyone have ideas on general paths people tend to follow out of sales into more business leadership and/or analytical roles? MBA is a long-standing consideration for me, but I'm not sure if that is the smartest move yet given that I don't know where exactly I'm trying to go. All I've been able to boil it down to is I love (and am pretty good at) creative problem solving. Insanely vague, I know, which is why I'm here looking for some direction. Ultimately I think I'd love to be involved with trying to build a company (preferably my own), so I'm thinking a startup would be the way to go. Should I try and get in using my sales background and grow organically with the company into more core business roles? If so, what should I look at to identify a good situation/promising startup? [link] [comments]  |
| Boiled down are all of our value props the same? Posted: 06 Jul 2020 11:01 AM PDT I've been at 3 companies so far in my sales career and I've noticed every org has the same value prop (what's in it for you) when boiled down. Of course different words are used but essentially they're all getting at the same thing. Save time, save money, mitigate risk. Is this because this is a universal need? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2020 08:13 AM PDT It'll be my first day cold calling, however I have experience b2b selling software solutions on a face to face basis. Any help would be appreciated, I want that sweet uncapped commission! [link] [comments]  |
| Is there a group specifically for enterprise B2B sales ie account executives? Posted: 06 Jul 2020 11:28 AM PDT It's taking me too long to dig through all the noise in this Channel to find dat good good. I'm being a brat but I'm sick of reading about how to get a meeting, how to get into sales, or B2C content from mattress or roofing sales people. I tried to search for an enterprise sales channel but didn't see anything. Is there one out there or should we start one? Not trying to be exclusive people not In it can join to learn but trying to boil down the content for more relevance. [link] [comments]  |
| Took a job as an outside sale rep for a mattress company - I am failing miserably. Posted: 06 Jul 2020 09:15 AM PDT No one wants to buy beds right now. Hotels, VRBOs, rentals, retirement homes, fundraisers for schools, etc, no one is buying beds. Most of these accounts tell me they want beds, but simply can't afford them. No one even wants new sheets or pillows. I'm honestly not sure where to even go next to try and find a sale, but I want to educate and learn. I took this job because it was the only job of over 40 I applied for that accepted me. I don't want to fail, but I've never had sales experience before. The owner basically told me "good luck" and had zero leads. This position is new for his business and a hail marry to try and bring in new cash flow. Are there any books, podcasts, etc, that maybe focus on furniture/mattress outside sales? Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Jul 2020 04:54 PM PDT Once you get a prospect on the phone it's important to know what to say. But let's back up a step - how do we actually connect with a prospect in the first place? One critical component of actually connecting with the people you want to talk to is your calling cadence. If you make your dials arbitrarily, you're going about things the wrong way. If you want to succeed then you need to have every single dial you're going to make planned in advance. And I don't mean picking out your dials in the morning before you start calling. You need to have a repeatable process for identifying which prospects need to be called each day. It's pretty simple to figure out your cadence. Putting it simply, your cadence is the method by which you move through dials in a strategic way to maximize the number of connections you're getting. More connections will lead to more conversations with qualified prospects. And more qualified conversations will lead to more opportunities and revenue. Determining the Optimal CadenceIf you've been making dials and running a sales process for some time then you should already have the main numbers that you need to determine an optimal cadence. These are: Connect Rate: Which % of dials results in connecting with a living, breathing prospect. Close Rate: Which % of connections results in the prospect taking the next step in your sales process? (i.e. a demo or follow-up call) Close Quota: What number of successful phone closes (i.e. demos or follow-up calls) do you need to deliver? Average Time to Connect: How many dials before the average prospect picks up the phone? Once you've got that information, you'll be able to figure out the number of dials that need to be made on a daily basis as follows. Your Average Time to Connect tells you where you;ll see diminishing returns on dials. In most cases, the connect rate drops off significantly after 3-5 dials. So you might have a 10% Connect Rate the first 3 times you dial a prospect, a 5% Connect Rate for dials #4 and #5 and then 1% for each dial after that. If that's the case, you can make the case that it's smarter to spend your time sourcing new prospects once you've made 5 dials rather than continuing to pound the phones. Once you know the upper limit of dials each prospect should receive, you can plan out your cadence. Dialing FrequencyLet's assume we found that 5 dials is the optimal number for each prospect, based on our historic Average Time to Connect. We know that each prospect will receive 5 dials, and so the next thing we need to determine is the Dialing Frequency. The best way to identify your organization's optimal Dialing Frequency is by A/B testing different approaches. You can have your reps spend one month dialing every other day and then the next month dialing once a week. Experiment with different approaches until you find out what works best for your organization. Dials Per DayIf you've been following along, you'll now have an idea of:
Let's assume that for your organization, it's:
Assuming you only make dials from Monday - Friday, we're able to see that in 10 business days you'll run out of dials to make unless you have a fresh stream of prospects to take their place. Next let's figure out how many prospects you need in each batch to hit your goals. We'll start with how many opportunities we want to generate on a monthly basis. That can be calculated by: Connect Rate \ Close Rate* By multiplying these, we can see which % of dials will result in an opportunity. Example: 10% Connect Rate * 50% Close Rate = 5% of dials result in an opportunity. Since we also know how many opportunities we need to generate, we can divide that number by this percentage to see how many dials need to be made in a period to be successful. Let's say you need to deliver 10 demos per month. We just divide this quota of opportunities by the percentage of the time a dial results in an opportunity. That leaves us with our number of target dials: 10 / 5% = 200 dials per month. So that gives us a target for overall dials that need to be made in a given period. To figure out our cadence, we just need to do a little optimization. Remember how we figured out that our prospects will drop off in Connect Rate after 5 dials and that the optimal frequency to make dials is every other day? We need to account for that information in our cadence. We know that each prospect should only get 5 dials, so we can just divide our target dials by 5 to figure out how many prospects we need to contact. 200 dials/ 5 dials per prospect = 40 prospects That leaves us with the following cadence: We will dial 40 prospects every other day for 10 business days. This will result in 200 dials, which will lead to a connection 10% of the time. Our reps will convert 50% of these connections into qualified opportunities. tl;dr - how you structure your dials is just as important as what you say when you get someone on the phone. [link] [comments]  |
| Questions on Forward Contracts in Medical Supplies Posted: 06 Jul 2020 12:21 PM PDT Hello, I was recently asked to run sales for a new manufacturer of N-95 masks, and I am looking for help on structuring contracts. My new employers are building a new factory in the US to help meet the ongoing PPE demand caused by Covid-19, and create a secure, domestic source of melt blown polypropylene and N-95 masks for the future. Manufacturing will not begin for a few months, so in the meantime we are looking to pre-sell our masks using forward contracts. Although we are well capitalized by both VC and high net worth individuals, signed contracts for future delivery will give us further financial leverage in the form of collateral for bank loans, etc. I know this type of deal is rare in medical sales, particularly in disposables as generally inventory is just-in-time. However, we are in an unprecedented era of demand, and our conversations with buying groups (we are selling other PPE for which we have actual goods at the moment) have indicated to us that they are willing to break with their normal buying routine to secure future supply. So, my questions are:
Happy to clarify what I can in the comments; thanks in advance for the help! TL;DR: Trying to figure out how to structure/sell forward contracts to medical buying groups for N-95 masks. Most important thing for me is figuring out contract terms. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2020 12:18 PM PDT This company is interviewing for "Director of International Business Development" in SF. The interviewer was the douchiest phone screener ever. The job was classified on the Linkedin posting as an internship for some reason, so I wanted to clarify the position immediately. Instead of saying that must've been a mistake, etc., the guy asked, "Why, are you an intern?" Bizarre confrontation! Then he ended up hanging up on me for no reason. I suspect the job is a scam. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2020 12:16 PM PDT So I've just been invited for a trial at a property company who have began selling life insurance and I've not really that much experience in regards to a role like that. I've been cold calling for about 5 years now and have consistently hit bonus but that's only been in the likes of the mobile phone, accessory and electronic goods market. Anyone have any idea what a role like the one I will be beginning may be like or have any tips or tricks to help me along my way? Many thanks guys. [link] [comments]  |
| Anyone in security sales? I'm at a crossroads Posted: 06 Jul 2020 12:11 PM PDT I'll put a TL;DR at the bottom, because this is a little longer than I meant it to be! I'm expecting an offer today for a B2B territory manager role for a company that provides security products (CCTV, alarms, keycard systems etc.). It's a large and established corporation. I was headhunted for this by a recruiting agency. Are any of you in roles like this? Can you speak to the industry in general at this time? I was fairly skeptical at first because this is a new position in the territory (going from 2 to 3 reps) which is sometimes sketchy, but I always entertain the headhunters so I went through the interview process. Both of the current reps have long tenures of 25 and 30 years and the idea behind this addition is to bring in some "fresh blood" and spend the next couple years hunting for net new small-mid business. One of the current reps is set to retire in 2-3 years, at which point his accounts will become mine (and his book has much larger accounts). So, my skepticism was relieved because this sounds like a sensible succession planning hire. Right now I'm an outside sales rep for a manufacturing agency (5 years in). There would be a big learning curve in going to the new industry, not to mention a big learning curve in how business is conducted between the different industries. Right now I sell through distribution channels, which means that most projects I'm working on are endlessly complicated and political. Winning is a lot more about good "coordination" and less about good "closing". I would really need to brush up on my actual selling skills that may have atrophied a little bit in the last few years. Compensation-wise, the new role is *allegedly* above my current job. Right now I make a salary + semi-annual bonus + vehicle benefits. The new role has no bonuses (commission instead), the base is slightly better but the vehicle benefits are worse.. so on paper without factoring commissions it's a just a little less than I make now. Commissions are uncapped and paid monthly. Once I'm established after a few years, OTE is expected to be double (or more) what I make now. Even in year 1 OTE should be a better than I'm currently earning. Another HUGE factor is that this job comes with health benefits (which I don't have now) and an RRSP-matching program (similar to a 401K for my American readers). Myself and my son are currently using my wife's health benefits plan, and it's only fairly recent that she's had one that would extend to family. I spent years not going to a dentist simply because I couldn't afford it and my employer didn't offer benefits. BUT on the flip side, I'm banking on what they're telling me being true about A) OTE being attainable and B) inheriting the retiring reps accounts in 2-3 years. If neither of those turn out to be true, aside from benefits and RRSP I'm taking a pay cut (not factoring commission). I've worked from a home office for 5 years and not much would change on this front - I'd be welcome to continue working from my HO, but there's also the office in my city that I'd have a desk at and could work at from time to time if I wanted to (which is a nice option). I'm hesitant to leave because I'm a sentimental guy and I love the company I work for now. It's a very small business (there's only 13 of us in total, including the boss/owner). We have a fantastic culture, a great work-life balance and there's no corporate bullshit to put up with (aside from the stuff from the brands we rep). But, because this is a small business there's really no where to go. We don't make commissions so I find myself taking care of my client's needs but not really grinding for new business. I make enough that between me and my wife we have a good life, but we're still almost paycheque to paycheque. Any thoughts on the security industry? Any red flags popping out for anyone? Thanks! TL;DR: offered new job, security sales. Big learning curve. Opportunity for commissions that I don't currently make, but the salary base isn't anything to write home about and is actually worse than what I currently earn. Also has better health/retirement benefits. Big corporation = more opportunity but also corporate BS that I don't have to deal with at the small business I'm with now. [link] [comments]  |
| What day of the week do you all like to have your sales meetings? Posted: 06 Jul 2020 11:52 AM PDT I have just accepted a role as a sales manager for a new co. And wanted to get opinions on when to have "the big weekly sales meeting" Do you prefer to kick off the week with the meeting or wrap up the week with the meeting? I am leaning towards having the meeting on Friday afternoons, only because "nobody answers their phones on Friday" Just curious what others think? [link] [comments]  |
| Adding video to my sales repertoire Posted: 06 Jul 2020 07:44 AM PDT I am looking into using either drift video or vidyard to send video emails Drift is 120 a year and vidyard is 180 Anyone have thoughts on which one they currently rly use or like better and why ? [link] [comments]  |
| If you could go back in time, which industry would you START your sales Career? Posted: 05 Jul 2020 09:20 PM PDT Im making the move into sales. I want to earn big bucks and not just clock in 9-5. I got one offer selling security products, but they mentioned commission is based off the whole company's earning, not the individual.....which made me a bit skeptical on accepting that position. Which industry would you start your sales career if you could rewind the clock? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2020 10:57 AM PDT Hi, I've worked in IT sales for many years, but always worked for company's that only a few solution/service offerings. I've recently however joined a new company who has a very wide portfolio of solutions and I'm finding it tricky to effectively cold call. If I choose to focus on one solution area then I'm potentially missing other opportunities. If I choose to go broader then the message is somewhat diluted and not specific to a particular pain or challenge. I know I should be asking discovery questions etc to find out the pain points and see if we have a solution that fits. However I need to get to a point on where I've hooked them enough to have earned the time to ask these questions. If it helps, I'm selling cyber security solutions. Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Anyone else’s sales suffering? Posted: 06 Jul 2020 10:35 AM PDT I'm in the southeast US. June's already a tough month in this particular field, but I'm concerned that us being in the beginning stages of a recession, after peak covid at that, that isn't going to pick up like it usually does, I only made one sale last week (quota is 6). I made 2 the week prior, and zero the two weeks before that. My service could be considered a luxury (lawncare, weed control and fertilization) and therefore, the first to go for many. I don't expect to see much improvement until after the election. I may have to look into another field, because my superiors don't seem to want to acknowledge how bad things are getting. [link] [comments]  |
| B2B Appointment Setting with Random Prospects and 0 Training Posted: 06 Jul 2020 10:33 AM PDT I work at that provides investigation and due diligence services. I was hired a year ago to work on the production side of the process. Basically, data entry and background check phone calls. About 6 to 8 months ago I approached the head of business dev and CEO about working in sales instead of going down the analyst path. They both verbally supported this move and the CEO pointed me to the VP of Biz Dev for instruction. Also, he gave me 5 or 6 sentences to use but no other resources to help secure the appointment. I want to move into sales but I don't know what I can do to overcome this hurdle. I just need to set the appointments but don't know what I can do better. TLDR; I need to set appointments with b2b clients with no training and untargeted prospects. [link] [comments]  |
| B2B Appointment Setting with no training and random prospects. Posted: 06 Jul 2020 10:18 AM PDT I work at that provides investigation and due diligence services. I was hired a year ago to work on the production side of the process. Basically, data entry and background check phone calls. Also, he gave me 5 or 6 sentences to use but no other resources to help secure the appointment. I want to move into sales but I don't know what I can do to overcome this hurdle. I just need to set the appointments but don't know what I can do better. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2020 10:13 AM PDT Hello! I am a recently graduated nurse working in one of the top hospitals in America. I had aspirations to become a CRNA, but I've recently had the idea to transition into medical sales. CRNA school is extremely competitive and bears lots of responsibility for the patient. I also feel that as a CRNA, your earning potential becomes capped and as a rep, it is potentially much higher without having direct responsibility for another persons life. I feel that my background working in the medical industry would be helpful. Has anyone had experience akin to mine and could offer any wisdom? Thank you :) [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2020 07:31 AM PDT Earlier working on site the sales strategies, tactics were different and done with ease. With lockdown measures enforcing remote working during the pandemic, the sales profession has no other option but to adjust its highly interactive and in-person selling model. Not only do they need to find a new routine, but get a handle on new technologies for communication and collaboration. The sales team has to reassure the existing customers and focusing more on getting new customers by adapting to a sudden shift in consumer behavior. The sales team has to keenly note all the conversations made with the customers to meet their requirements and increase the conversion rate. Especially it is a tricky situation during a pandemic, as sales teams face unique challenges at each step of the buyer's journey. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2020 03:04 AM PDT RANT I hate post sales service. Like, I get it, we want to be helpful for referrals and building our business, but it just feels like such tar. 17 year vet here. RANT OVER [link] [comments]  |
| Is it worth the jump to real estate? Posted: 05 Jul 2020 10:32 PM PDT Hey guys I'm wondering if it would be a decent decision to work towards becoming a real estate agent. My current job is about 70% hourly and 30% commission, and will bring me in about 40-45k this year (part time). Month to month I generally do quite well within my store usually top 3-4. I don't particularly care for my job but being 20 I make quite a bit more then my peers and work less. I want to make the jump to real estate, but I feel as though my age will handicap me although I'm a fairly agreeable person and sociable. If you guys have any tips or thoughts about my possible jump into real estate I'd greatly appreciate it! [link] [comments]  |
| Where to go from car sales? Do I need a college degree to pursue other sales roles? Posted: 05 Jul 2020 02:47 PM PDT I've been in car sales for a little over a year now. I've learned so much! The original goal was to use car sales as resume experience and to learn and then transition into another sales role. But the paychecks are great.....the hours, not so much. I'm consistently working 60+ hr weeks. Making $8-$10k/month is great, but it's burning me out and bumming me out lately. I just missed 2 family birthdays, my mother and nephew. My girlfriend is begging me to just "take 3 days off" so we can go on a vacation....bit she doesn't understand if I take 3 days off and the rest of the month I'm slow/unlucky I can have a really bad month really quick. Plus I can't even get that time off, my managers would fire me. What other sales roles are even out there? I'm seeing a ton on indeed, Craigslist, and zip recruiter but they're mostly door to door. And all of them have bad reviews too. I'm not too scared of the bad reviews, because I'm sure there's lazy people and people who don't understand commission roles then get pissed off when they're not making $100k+ instantly. Most of these ads for jobs I'm seeing are home improvement sales, freight brokers, etc. Is it even possible to get into a B2B sales role without a 4 year college degree? Most of the jobs I'm looking at "require" a 4 year degree ...and regardless of how my resume is, I'm not even sure if they'll look at it without a degree. Just looking for some career advice, I'm only 23 and I'd trade everything for fewer hours and scheduled time off aka not working 12 hour days 6 days/week even if it only meant $50-$60k/year. [link] [comments]  |
| To all...What’s your most successful opening question when prospecting? Posted: 05 Jul 2020 02:31 PM PDT I'm sure we all have a "golden" question that always seems to flow and get the prospect talking. So come on...Hit this post with your go to question that works for your most of the time [link] [comments]  |
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