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3 Things Sales Reps Must Use So They Don't Look Like Sales Monkeys With A Loaded Gun

 

In my prior my post, 5 Things Top Sales Reps Do And Why Most Just Shoot Themselves With Complacency Bullets, pinpoints what makes sales reps so successful.

Great salespeople do the same thing every day. They are purpose driven. They focus on the success and happiness of their prospective and current clients. They are able to see the business world through the eyes of the other party. They are naturally curious and love serving their clients.

The silent killer to sales success lies with one word... COMPLACENCY and this is why most sales reps continuously shoot themselves with silver complacency bullets.

What the heck is a sales monkey? Have you ever seen a sales monkey with a loaded gun?

HOW MANY SALES MONKEYS RUN AMUCK INSIDE SALES DEPARTMENTS TO

I take you back to your childhood as I ask you to all sing along with me...

Three little monkeys swinging in the tree
teasing Mr. Alligator can’t catch me….can’t catch me
along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
and snapped that monkey right out of that tree

SUCCESSFUL SALES REPS CATCH PROSPECTS RIGHT FROM THEIR COMPETITORS TREE

They continually prospect keeping their sales funnel full

Top sales reps divide their time between selling, prospecting and taking care of their clients. Top sales reps who crush their quotas are fully dedicated to prospecting and have modernized their prospecting approaches to align with the modern buyer.

It’s hard to sell something if you don’t have a prospect to talk to. The most important part of selling is prospecting – finding new, qualified people to talk to.
Brian Tracy

The primary differentiator of today's successful sales reps is their ability to prospect. Learn more in one of my recent posts... How To Use New School Prospecting Methods To Crush It In Sales In The 21st Century

Career Builder leveraged this rather funny video to help promote the slogan... "Want A New Job?" Follow the sales monkeys and you will be looking for a new job!

TOP SALES REPS AREN'T DISTRACTED BY SALES MONKEYS

3 Things Sales Reps Must Use So They Don't Look Like Sales Monkeys With A Loaded Gun

Top sales reps successfully use these three silver bullets...

Silver Bullet Number 1

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE - Top sales reps appreciate their CRM as this allows their sales data to be stored centrally and delivered to them in an easy-to-follow format allowing them to monitor current client and prospect information. They don't view this as another "sales tool" or just another way for their bosses to police their work.

According to The Tas Group, on the average 2/3 of all sales force (67%) miss their sales quota.

Top sales reps synchronize their daily schedules through their CRM and prioritize tasks to make sure customers are not ignored. This insures their key prospects are contacted on time. This alone helps to boost sales performance. These four areas of a CRM will help sales reps to excel...

  • Better search, filtering and qualifying leads
  • Improve follow up on sales opportunities systematically and on time
  • Help to prioritize and rationalize follow up activities
  • Help to increase target reach rates faster

Silver Bullet Number 2

CONTENT - Sales reps can't go one day without hearing, "You have now entered the world of buyer empowerment." Yes, thanks to Google buyers have the ability to research and make buying decisions independent of communication with sales reps. 

Successful sales reps who recognize this learn how to not only engage the new digital buyer but to align their online and offline resources to the buyer journey.

Successful sales reps realize the one critical part of addressing the new buyer’s journey is not merely creating digital tactics, but focusing on how they engage prospects and even clients once they engage digitally.

SUCCESSFUL SALES REPS CREATE ALIGNMENT WITH THE DIGITAL BUYER BY GOING FISHING

 

"Sales reps must learn how to become digital fishermen and content is the bait on the hook"

My friend Jack Kosakowski says it best, "Content drives value, value drives conversation, revenue is a result of both of these combined once you go offline."  Content includes blogs, social posts, videos, webinars, white papers and more. All the content your company produces to engage customers is marketing collateral which can then be used inside the sales process. Posting content online (LinkedIn as an example); the most important thing to remember is you are opening up a conversation.

Successful sales reps realize they learn something as well with all the content used to go fishing.

THE NEW MODERN SALES EQUATION

Fishing + Content / Learning x Conversations = Closing Opportunities

SirusDecision cite,The number one reason why sales reps were not meeting their numbers was, “Their inability to provide insight into a buyer, adding value and starting relevant conversations.”

Silver Bullet Number 3

CUSTOMERS - Sales reps must leverage their customers and ask for help! Wouldn't you agree a warm lead is better than cold lead? Then, referrals from happy clients are about as warm as it gets, correct? In fact, a Dale Carnegie study found that 91 percent of customers would be willing to give referrals if they were asked. Unfortunately, only 11 percent of sales reps actually do ask.

I find this crazy....

You work so hard to get clients then why on earth would you not ask them to help you?

TOP SALES REPS SET ASIDE THEIR FEAR AND EGO AND ASK FOR HELP

Sales reps continually face rejection. It is the fear of rejection which plays a role in a sales reps reluctance to ask for a referral. Asking a customer for a referral opens up potential negative feedback or "no's," and as a result, sales reps avoid it in order to keep their relationship positive. You work your ass off to help keep your clients happy, therefore; successful sales reps have earned the right and have no problem asking their current clients to help grow their business.

"46% of sales reps feel their sales pipeline is accurate", TAS Group

What sales rep doesn't have a big fat healthy ego? We have been trained to believe we can sell in the face of adversity. This is true as we have to in order to be successful sales reps, as we believe our sales method is the best and we can sell without any help. The notion of sales reps as lone wolf hunters means we are reluctant to ask for a referral as a referral is asking for help which depicts a potential sign of weakness.

"Do you know who works almost exclusively by referrals? High end consultants, surgeons, attorneys, accountants, the wealthy. Do you know who never asks for referrals? The incompetent.” 

Claude WhitacreSales Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide To Finding Highly Likely Prospects You Can Close In One Call

Please don't allow the sales monkeys to run amuck inside your sales department and distract you from achieving the success you deserve.

To borrow a line from Days of Our Lives,

"Like sand through the hourglass, so are the days of our sales lives"

I get where you all are coming from. I have walked a day in a life of your shoes.

Your comments, likes and shares are greatly appreciated.

In 2016, Larry was recognized by ENX Magazine, “The Difference Maker” as someone who is making a difference inside the copier channel. Larry is passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image

You can find more blog posts inside the Social Sales Academy website.

I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my LinkedIn stories. Integrating the use of LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive copier world. With great pride I transform, coach and inspire B2B Office Technology Sales Professionals to grow net new business by helping them tell their story and communicate on LinkedIn. My commitment is to help office technology dealers thrive in a changing marketplace. You can follow me on LinkedInTwitter, as well as at the Social Sales Academy

 

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