👔 Sales Is Blue Collar
🗓️ Book the Next Meeting
🏃♂️ Sell Every Day
👔 Sales Is Blue Collar
Nothing can replace the hard work of selling. Sales is a job that requires showing up, doing the work, and being present every single day.
At the start of the year, I implemented a turnaround strategy with a manufacturing sales team. The situation was bad! By mid-January, the team had only booked 10.7% of their quota. Time was running out and the stakes were high.
The tactics were simple:
- Identify all opportunities that could be won in the next four weeks.
- Visit every one of those customers in person.
The sales team rallied to action and in the span of four weeks had conducted more customer visits than they had performed in the prior twelve months.
They didn’t hit quota right away, but it was a remarkable turnaround. They achieved 58% of quota in January, 67% in February, and they hit March’s quota on March 20. I am so proud of the team!
The turnaround strategy didn’t touch pricing, messaging, or value proposition. All that changed was the volume of outbound sales activity. And it worked.
Nothing replaces hard work in sales. Nothing!
🗓️ Book the Next Meeting
Following the pandemic, many salespeople were suffering from “meeting fear.” They were hiding behind their computers with email and Teams meetings, and not visiting their customers.
The lack of customer engagement was hurting sales performance.
To break the Teams malaise, the CEO of a mid-market manufacturer implemented an interesting and effective mandate: Within 24 hours of returning from a customer visit, the sales rep had to book a flight to revisit that customer in the next three months.
The sales team was expected to visit their customers every quarter.
Since the team traveled so much, rebooking or rescheduling flights was easy. The practice was more psychological. It forced the sales team to look down the field and commit to always be visiting.
We’ve modified this tactic for other sales organizations. The premise is simple: Book your next sales meeting right away.
Relationships take time and commitment. Go see your customers more often!
🏃♂️ Sell Every Day
Sales work is a marathon, not a sprint.
Salespeople don’t achieve greatness with a short burst of effort. Rather, it’s a daily process. They repeat a set of basic but critical steps every day to achieve and exceed quota.
What makes great salespeople great is consistency. Anyone can invest a little effort, but very few salespeople have the energy or commitment to sell every day.
As a result, most sales funnels look lumpy. Big quarters are followed by slumps.
Great salespeople, on the other hand, know that the most important time to prospect is when you are busiest. They sell every day.
🤔 Thoughts on Today’s Issue?
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