Is cold-calling always preferable? Sales and Selling |
- Is cold-calling always preferable?
- First day as an AM! (SaaS)
- Tire kickers who don’t know they’re tire kickers
- Tips for staying organized and focus working from home?
- Need help with meeting title
- How to turn down second & third interviews?
- Looking for Sales/demo tracking software for Independent rep group
- What's the best way to handle a "I'm busy" objection on the phone?
- Title and Role Change
- Sharp Looking Storyboarding Software for Proposal
- Can a past client be a prospect?
- Lead Generation for a Brand & Design Agency?
- Lied about hitting quota during interview - how bad?
- Take offer for Stryker associate sales rep (patient handling) or stick with pharma sales (vaccines) ?
- Help! Our lists are terrible.
- Would sales be a good long term career?
- Quick prospecting tip for the new year
- Got our sales goals today — unattainable
- 2 Job offers... AE vs Overlay - completely Torn & want advice
| Is cold-calling always preferable? Posted: 06 Jan 2021 03:16 AM PST I do a lot of prospecting and cold outreach. Actually, it's the only thing I do. I'll be honest, I hate cold calling. I despise it. I'd rather knock on 100 doors than cold call 5 people. I'm not shy or afraid of rejection, I just feel blind. On an in-person visit, I can survey the environment and make snap decisions on how best to approach. On cold calls I just feel like I'm missing 80% of the info I need to feel confident. But with Covid, door knocking isn't super feasible right now. I call on small businesses primarily. I find cold calling really ineffective for me because A) business owner is seldom there, and B) when I do manage to get them on the phone the convo usually goes like this: lots of background noise, clearly a busy business Owner (noticeably tense): "H'lo??" Me (immediately more nervous, it's showtime): "Hi! I'm X calling from Y about Z". O (more tense): "Sorry you're who calling from where?" M: Repeats O: "Nah man we're all set for that" click. Repeat each time. I'm trying not to give myself excuses to not cold call, because I'm definitely not skilled in it and could use improvement. I find CC with people sitting in offices goes a little better, presumably because they're a little less hectic than a store or restaurant owner. But I find I get much better traction with prospects when I do customized video outreach. I can reach them directly, capture their attention and convey the message I want without interruption. I still don't get a lot of positive response, but that's the game I suppose. I've made efforts in all prospecting types (Cold-Calling, Door Knocking, Cold Emailing, Videos). Most of the opportunities I've logged in my pipeline are the result of video (#1) and door knocking (#2). I haven't had a single cold call translate into opportunity. So what does Reddit think? Is it that sometimes, based on your market, what you're selling and who you're selling to CC sometimes ISN'T best? Or am I making excuses for myself because I don't like it lol. A third option is if course, making CC would be great if I didn't suck at it. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jan 2021 09:49 AM PST Wanted to give a big thanks to r/sales. What a community. I've learned so much from reading posts here and messaging other redditors. I was able to land an AM role for a SaaS company that was #1 on my list. I interviewed for this role externally after being an SDR for 9 months in a completely different vertical. I encourage any SDRs or anyone who is looking to get into a closing role in this space to do your research and to not doubt yourself. I read a lot on here about how it was almost impossible to make this kind of move. However, this is sales, and I was able to sell myself after hours of studying and self educating. I showed them WHY they should hire me. And they did. I couldn't be happier. Wishing everyone a belated Happy New Year! Hope this year brings you all a lot of success (AND Money!!!) [link] [comments]  |
| Tire kickers who don’t know they’re tire kickers Posted: 06 Jan 2021 10:39 AM PST I guess I'm just venting here but since Covid hit I have had a barrage of people who call in who are in no way qualified to purchase a machine and yet they have no idea what they're looking for for how to go about it. They are looking for me to give them an education and some have even asked me to help them develop a business plan. This type of thing has always been constant in my business but lately I feel like I'm dealing with two or three a day and it just feels like such a beat down. I'm in equipment sales. It's big industrial equipment, nearly everything we sell is well into the six figures and seven figures. Of course these people calling a south have no idea. Often times I will try to give them a range of what they are asking for but I think their pride prevents them from admitting that they can't afford it so they keep going with all the questions. Problem is these people have no idea what they need. If I sold caterpillar products, it would be like calling into the caterpillar dealership and asking for a price on an excavator. Me: what model are you looking at? Them: i'm not really sure. What do you recommend? Me: well it depends on what you're doing with it. What would you be using this for? Them: well I really hadn't decided. Can you give me a price on one that does everything? Of course this circular discussion keeps going around and around. I can give them a price on a machine but then they say it's too much. So I'll ask what their budget is. The response is that they really hadn't decided. Then maybe I'll tell them that I have excavators from small to large with capabilities from X to Y and with prices from A to B. Of course the lack of precision is frustrating to them so then they will regroup and ask something like this "if you were going to get another digging business which machine would you purchase to make as much money as possible?" My response is usually something along the lines of how they would be different for everybody out there, they should buy the machine that fits their business the best. Then some will ask for a site visit or for customer references at this point. This is the part I hate because I have to tell them no. Rather, I told him that I'd be happy to meet them at a customers facility after we're a little further along in the buying process. I'm sure we all have things like this to deal with, this is just one that grates on me more and more and more. Can anybody else relate? [link] [comments]  |
| Tips for staying organized and focus working from home? Posted: 06 Jan 2021 08:54 AM PST Hey! About to start a new sales gig and it's a total new field, of course because of covid it's going to be harder for me to learn as it'll be all online and no direct contact with the team. I usually like to pick the senior sales people brains. I will be working from home and I need to be organized so I don't get sidetracked. Tips? Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Jan 2021 11:27 AM PST Hi Everyone, I just finished up my annual performance meeting with my CEO, and I requested 15-30 minutes every quarter to just bounce ideas back-and-forth along with reviewing email and cold calling scripts. He's all for it, and asked me to send him calendar invites spaced out every few months, but I'm struggling to come up with a catchy title besides "Brainstorming sales strategies". Any ideas? Or what do you guys call these types of meetings at your own company. [link] [comments]  |
| How to turn down second & third interviews? Posted: 06 Jan 2021 11:08 AM PST I am a college student who was looking for an SDR position. I applied to tons of places, got interviews with around 10, and I'm on the second and third interviews for 2-3 of them. While I have a couple virtual interviews scheduled, how do I turn down these interviews? What do I say to the recruiter without burning bridges? I've added most of the recruiters/CEOs on LinkedIn. I accepted a position with lower base of $40k, but it's a fully remote startup and is honestly a wonderful opportunity since I'm still in college. [link] [comments]  |
| Looking for Sales/demo tracking software for Independent rep group Posted: 06 Jan 2021 10:09 AM PST I am the office manager for a small group of independent reps. We contract with around 15 different manufacturers that issue demos, all together we have around 600 units in various facilities. Each manufacturer issues a monthly commission statement which I divide and summarize in excel. We are B2B sales and used Salesforce for a while but it was more than we needed. I used Sortly for demos and liked it however it looks like the monthly price increased. Any suggestions on software that does sales and demo tracking? Doesn't have to do both can be individual programs. Appreciate it! [link] [comments]  |
| What's the best way to handle a "I'm busy" objection on the phone? Posted: 06 Jan 2021 09:51 AM PST |
| Posted: 06 Jan 2021 08:46 AM PST In December we were told that our title and some of our key responsibilities will be changed. When I was hired in May, I was hired as a Sales Rep for a brand new territory. The way I was presented the role was that I was responsible for growing the new territory, more specifically, hunt new business, which I did as an SDR and then SE. The new 2021 roll out was introduced and we all got changed to Account Managers and the commission went to a bonus structure (bring in $x of transactional sales = $x bonus and bring in X # of projects = $x bonus). The old structure used to be that you'd got paid of a percentage of the quarterly revenue you brought in, no matter where it came from. Bigger projects = $$$. My biggest mind obstacle currently is getting over the title change and the shift in key responsibilities. I've discussed this with my manager and was told that the tile change doesn't mean anything, I would still be doing what I always have. Am I just not being open minded enough? Also do I have any ground to stand on to ask my title be Account Executive since I will be also hunting for new clients as well as supporting existing? [link] [comments]  |
| Sharp Looking Storyboarding Software for Proposal Posted: 06 Jan 2021 07:58 AM PST Hi I am looking to create a really nice proposal doing something I've never done before. I want to show the end user experience of our software using story boards. Has anyone done this and what software do they recommend? Thanks in advance. [link] [comments]  |
| Can a past client be a prospect? Posted: 06 Jan 2021 02:39 AM PST Hi everyone, English isn't my native language so I have a bit of a dilemma regarding sales vocabulary. From what I've gathered prospects are the leads who in some way expressed interest in a product. So I was wondering if old clients, we no longer do business with can be classified as prospects? What I mean by that is an old client just looked as a client or does it turn into a prospect for every new sales possibility. Hopefully this is allowed and thanks in advance. [link] [comments]  |
| Lead Generation for a Brand & Design Agency? Posted: 06 Jan 2021 06:03 AM PST I want to grow my service-based business. I run a brand and design agency. We've been successful since launching early last year. Clients love our work. However, Upwork has been our only source of leads (which are always warm). We submit proposals to open jobs actively looking for brand development. We then invite prospects who are interested in working with us to a discovery call. Having 100% of our leads coming from 1 place is a terrible idea. I want to diversify and grow the business. Maybe PPC, cold email outreach and content marketing? I'm interested in direct response marketing and getting leads quickly. Essentially, we want more people to contact us with their branding projects and invite them onto a discovery call. Would love to hear from anyone who has done lead generation for similar service-based businesses like ours. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Lied about hitting quota during interview - how bad? Posted: 05 Jan 2021 05:21 PM PST I'm trying to leave a job I've had since the pandemic started. My performance is terrible. One of the worst on a well established team. Their performance is not great, but not as absolutely abysmal as mine. I did not book my first meeting till August. I've been ok since but not hit quota except for one month of last four. I got openly asked during an interview this morning about whether I hit quota - I tripped and lied saying I hit 3/4 months. How can I fix this? Or how can I hid it? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Jan 2021 10:19 PM PST Any advice with experience or opinions much appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Jan 2021 01:24 PM PST I am currently working for an outsourced SDR company. Things started off ok but it has become clear the higher ups don't know how to source a good list. 50% of our lists are wrong target or bad data. Can anyone give me an idea on how to source a quality list of sales contacts? Any help is sincerely appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Would sales be a good long term career? Posted: 06 Jan 2021 12:38 AM PST Curious to hear those who have stuck to sales, or those who have transitioned to a more stable career. Curious to know how it would affect your work life balance, family life, etc. since its definitely a grind. [link] [comments]  |
| Quick prospecting tip for the new year Posted: 05 Jan 2021 05:11 PM PST January is a popular time for people to start new jobs. Now is a great time to reach out to past customers who have moved companies. Go into sales navigator and then click 'advanced search' for contacts. Type in as many current customers as you can in the companies section and then set the filter to 'past'. Then fill in the rest of your ICP's information. You now have a list of people who are already familiar with your brand and will (hopefully) be receptive to your outreach. Happy hunting! [link] [comments]  |
| Got our sales goals today — unattainable Posted: 05 Jan 2021 03:20 PM PST I work in construction commodity sales. Our segment of the industry is generally relaxed & not high pressure. Third generation company, I've been there 6 years. Their first sales position was only hired 9 years ago. Most of my work is account management, and successful selling shows itself in my role with strategic pricing approach. There are opportunities to grow certain commodity sales, but these are long term. Today we got our goals, which are assigned by our corporate office. The staff directed to sell are not involved in the goal setting. Our goals are tied directly to our commission structure, which they haven't laid out yet. My goals are just simply unattainable— they are too high for what the market can bare. Not meeting a goal in its entirety (ie, goal is 500 widgets, but I only sold 200) has historically lead to not earning a commission despite the sales since the goal itself was not met. Additionally, a colleague is retiring & his entire account is being inherited by me. They are a large volume account. Our prior commission structure was such that once I inherited the account, I wouldn't stand to make additional compensation through commission. Is this a typical dynamic for sales? It's my first sales job, and a role I've generally enjoyed. As I've settled in, these last few years and really tried to work within the parameter of earning more for the company (which then should have led to me getting an extra chunk) ... I'm just at a loss. [link] [comments]  |
| 2 Job offers... AE vs Overlay - completely Torn & want advice Posted: 05 Jan 2021 01:32 PM PST Hi All, New to this community but could really use some advice as I am torn on two new opportunities I was offered and am running out of time to make a decision. Opportunity 1: AE roleCompany is $110m revenue and one of 2 leaders in the Forrester Wave (equivalent of Gartner MQ) for their space but 1 of 3/4 primary options. The attraction: They are founded out of Europe and is just NOW opening up the west coast territory basically... its extremely rare to get a virgin territory for a company that is a leader and so mature. I'd get ~40 or so untouched enterprise accounts (above $1.5b revenue or 10k employees) in California with opportunity to request any untouched ones on broader west coast territory that I have any connections/history with. The comp package: 300k OTE (150/150) with $37.5k unrecoverable draw first 3 months. The negative: Will need to prospect my butt off and work hard to get region going initially since is virgin. I have 4 kids that are age 5 and under (twins 4 months old, 3 year old and 5 year old). Outside of the top few reps there hasn't been a big middle class of reps hitting quota it seems.... so a little bit of a risk factor there. Opportunity 2: Overlay/SME roleCompany is a $50m security startup and the CRO (chief revenue officer) is a former boss of mine. Pitched me on being the overlay on their new product (started 15 months ago) that did $2.x million in revenue last year and plan calls for it to do ~7 million (300% increase). The attraction: Not having to prospect!! I get to help bring the product to market, refine the ideal customer profile, the cross-sell motion, the prospecting motion, how demo/poc it and basically get brought in as the SME to help close deals associated with this product. Comp package: $280k OTE (140/140) with $15k unrecoverable draw first 3 months The negative: Its a security product that was previously sold and thought of as basically an insurance policy against a specific type of attack. If no major attacks for a while, is it just seen as a nice to have? CEO plan is to work it downstream into DevOps to enable risk mitigation without slowing down innovation (devsecops) but is a bit of a projection and unknown still despite being the right vision. What if there are no major attacks made public for a long time and thus there simply isn't as big a market for this product in 2021 as expected? Net comparison:AE = higher upside (ability to make $400-500k+) but lower floor ($187.5k) and more risk of failing. Overlay = lower upside but safer... ($220k floor but probably $350k ceiling). Should have better work/life balance and less risk of being fired because reps will close SOMETHING, but its not really possible to do like 2x+ my number... as me getting to plan is already almost tripling the revenue from prior year. It's simply not realistic to jump from $2.x million revenue to say $14m (2x my plan) Overlay also gets me on a path to potentially get out of sales and focus more on go to market strategy... something I have been interested in for a long time but I am not sure if it pays very well... and I might be a little naive or too idealistic to think I can somehow parlay this into eventually leading GTM for a new hot startup where I get big equity upside (lots of ifs have to work out). Thoughts??? AE role or overlay role? Anyone here ever been an overlay? Being dependent on other reps could lead to frustration so its kinda apples to oranges ... comparing two AE jobs is much easier. [link] [comments]  |
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