Oh, and then we left them at home on an island with a swamped sales manager drowning in Slacks and emails and without the ability to listen to peers to learn how to do their jobs.
Buy reputable training content (check out The Sales Bar)
Train your managers (they’re the key to motivating reps)
Sellers are struggling. Our close rates are going down, our engagement rates are going down, and satisfaction rates are going down, this isn’t a coincidence. We quit training them and put them on an island with busy managers (who can also use some skills).
Do your future self a favor, and get back on track with enabling people to succeed. They need that investment so they can get these wins, be successful in sales faster, hit quota sooner, and stay longer.
Not sure what you should budget for sales training? Email me at LB@factor8.com and I’ll share some stats in the industry that will help you hit goal and be best-in-class.
Are you looking for sales training?
Contact us today to request information on our customizable virtual sales training programs available for reps (and managers).
Last week, I soapboxed about how videos aren’t training sellers anything (read that post here).
So today, I’ll share a learning strategy that ACTUALLY works if you really want to use a new skill (or want your team to try it)…
“Associative Learning” – wait! Don’t go to sleep!
This theory is why everyone says, “Oh, you’re like Sandler” to me about my training company.
It’s also the reason your college lectures were SO BORING:
Adults learn by relating new knowledge to older knowledge and to experiences.
That’s it. The whole magic.
We’ve got to talk about it. We’ve got to know where to “file it” in our brains.
Early call rapport-building is like when you met your freshman roommate
Late call bridging to the next call is when you asked her out again before the first date was over
Getting a decision-maker on the phone is like getting to first base 😉
Your amazing new software with zero competitors – “OH, so it’s like Ambition had a baby with Gong.” Don’t be offended, at least they’ll remember what you do.
Here’s why it works (for my fellow training nerds):
The “Associative Learning Rule” is the theory behind the phrase “Synapses that fire together, wire together.” It explains that brain cells grow stronger by sending off impulses at the same time, therefore, connecting them and overall growing stronger. When connections grow stronger, learning has taken place.
It’s why your video-based “learning library” is a waste of money. I get it, they’re easy, cheap, repeatable, and scalable – but nearly worthless when it comes to helping your team retain knowledge – let alone use it on the job to pick up the phone and sell something.
Big takeaways:
Don’t think that telling or showing a video will result in behavior change
Create opportunities for your team to talk about what they’re learning and tell their stories
Use your LinkedIn Learning budget to hire a trainer or a training company that can interact, workshop, and actually help sellers apply new skills on the job
(Now, if only I knew a great sales training company… Seriously, if you’re looking for sales training techniques that actually work, contact us here.)
Want to learn more sales training techniques?
Contact us today to request information on our customizable virtual sales training programs available for reps (and managers).
In the past five years, the acronyms BDR and SDR have jumped to the forefront of selling – particularly digital or virtual selling in the SaaS space. Feeling lost already? Don’t sweat it, this article will break it all down, and help you fully understand the difference between Business Development Reps (BDRs), Sales Development Reps (SDRs), Account Executives (AE), Customer Experiences & Success (CXS), Account Managers (AMs), and Inside Sales Reps (ISRs).
We’ll also cover the basic responsibilities of each role (to help you decide if it’s right for you or for your organization). Finally, we’ll differentiate some key skills for each so you can identify what training your existing or new teams may need.
Keep reading to learn the difference between BDR vs AE and the other different sales roles.
The BDR and SDR roles are the tip of the sales spear or the top of the sales funnel. Their job is to get deals in the pipeline by hunting and/or qualifying leads. From there, the lead is deemed an opportunity and worked by an AE, ISR, Field Rep, AM, or another silly acronym. 🙂
Unsure what the difference is between a BDR and SDR? The key responsibilities for these roles are decided by each company. Few have both roles, and if they don’t, the terms are used interchangeably meaning the exact same role has a different name at different companies. I’ve seen the same function named “Biz Dev”, “Lead Gen”, “Appointment Setting”, “Lead Qualification”, “Junior Rep”, or even “Data Cleansing” (although that’s usually ever so slightly more administrative).
Larger sales organizations may have multiple “sales development functions” and use both acronyms. One could mean qualifying inbound leads and the other outbound leads. One may hand off to an account executive in the inside/digital organization and the other could be working with the field sales team. In summary, it’s never a dumb question to ask someone to clarify the job duties of their BDR/SDR sellers. Some smart questions to ask:
Do they work with inbound leads, warm outbound leads, or cold outbound leads?
Who do they hand off to?
How are leads dispersed?
What constitutes a qualified lead?
What’s the primary goal (e.g. is it data cleanliness, sales qualification, or appointment setting?)
How does this goal adjust based on the market, pipeline, and results?
How is the role compensated?
What is an Account Executive?
The rise of the BDR (mind if I just type one of these from here on out?) came with two big recent trends: SaaS sales and role specialization. In the old days, sales meant you hunted it, killed it, ate it, and farmed it. The problem was when reps got a few big accounts that they could eat off of for a while, the hunting stopped. With the rise of the demo, companies shifted their focus. As the tech stack became a thing, we realized we needed sellers to be great at the demo (companies are still working on it) or the product showcase. Software organizations led the way in splitting sellers into three functions: Sales Development (BDR/SDR) called the leads and set appointments, Account Executives (reps who do the demo and close the deal), and Customer Success (CXS) who renew and upsell/cross-sell. Hunters, Closers, and Farmers. Sure it’s a mixed metaphor, but what AE wants to be called a Killer AE, am I right?!
About the same time as the rise of software came the rise of the millennial workforce. Different from their Gen X bosses, millennials want faster career mobility and more development. Hence the birth of the “micro promotion” and level in the BDR/SDR role with a clear path to AE. New sellers simply survive the pure hunting role for about 18 months and they’ll receive a few small promotions and the cushy AE role where minions pass them leads all day long.
What is an Inside Sales Rep?
So what about the rest of the alphabet soup? Let’s get into the more traditional sales roles, or these days simply non-software/high-tech: the ISR (Inside Sales Representative). We may also call them Acquisition Reps, Full-Cycle Sellers, Account Executives (yup, same name), or any other fancy title that sounds less like a seller but means, “I own the deal from cradle to grave.” My teams in the early 2000s were all ISRs. Hunt, Kill, Farm.
ISRs may be teamed with field sellers. These “outside reps” typically meet face-to-face with clients and therefore work the more complex and longer sales cycle deals. Organizations may use them in the “NFL cities” where it is geographically beneficial to add staff and use them inside for the rest, or they may split by deal size/complexity (anything under $100K is handled inside). Finally, you may split your sales teams by product type. Product X may be 10 years old, toward the top of the product lifecycle curve, and need a low-cost fast-response sales engine. These are goods that consumers feel comfortable ordering over the phone or online. The same company may have new products sold to different customer sets who will require more hand-holding, consensus building, and education – the field teams get these.
What is an Account Manager?
Alternatively, we have the Account Manager. These folks work large books of customers with diverse product sets. Their goal is to farm new business, penetrate the account further, and find opportunities to cross and upsell. Think of them as the Customer Success Reps of the non-software world. Their customers don’t require a renewal contract, but they do require some service and value-add to keep buying from you.
Can traditional sales engines also specialize? You bet. I’ve seen hunters/farmers in this world quite often. Then you might have an ISR/AE or “Sales Executive” upfront and an Account Manager or AM owning the account after the first sale or first period.
How to Build a Winning Sales Team
What a mouthful, right? So how do we know what’s right for you and your organization?
I say start with your sales goals, go-to-market strategy, and product complexity. Then compare all your decisions past your buyers’ preferences and build your strawman.
A few general rules before you decide which sales roles to hire for your sales team…
If you’re in a race for market share or have aggressive growth goals, keep your sales force inside and hire heavily. Then go invest heavily in marketing for brand recognition and lead generation. Split the organization so you have teams with a sole focus on hunting new opportunities and quickly converting those brought in by marketing.
Key sales skills here are the ability to quickly qualify new business, uncover the intent and value of the sale, and close for commitments on every call to speed the sales cycle. You’ll probably also want some virtual selling skills, objection handling, listening skills, and product demo or proposal training. These are often lacking in these quick-growth organizations, and your job is to find the gold, mine it, and bank it before your competition knows you’ve set up a general store.
Looking at a job in this arena means (psst, leaders, check your hiring profiles for) the ability to multitask, impatience for results, quick to connect with others, competitive, OK taking rejection, and a lover of high activity. Your super go-getters will be making high dials, winning fast, and losing fast. You’ll hear no more than yes, but if the right culture is built, the yes will be intoxicating.
Sellers who don’t love the thrill of the hunt or are nervous about rejection avoid the top-of-funnel sales roles. That means you need to stay out of high-tech and software and target a more traditional industry like manufacturing, distribution, medical, and services that have more full-cycle sales roles that require only a bit of hunting to be successful. These “closers” or AE, Sales Executive, or ISR type roles (using these interchangeably as full-cycle sellers) need great organizational skills, some cold calling as well as some great service skills, amazing online meeting and demo skills, and an ability to find and present unique value to each customer. Like full-time Account Managers with books of business or territories of hundreds of accounts, teach them business acumen, how to have the wallet share conversation, and how to ask for referrals. This prevents our farmers from simply depositing their harvest or inbound orders from their top 20 accounts.
Now, the field seller. This role typically earns more and is held by the more tenured seller. We’re looking for professionalism, maturity, business acumen, excellent rapport, and presentation skills. They go and close the million-dollar deals, wine and dine the big clients, and represent companies as the literal face of the business. Key skills for these folks are typically about doing better discovery and value building (so we don’t sell on price), but in the days of the pandemic looked a lot like the BDR and AE skills gaps of calling people, keeping them on the phone, and doing online demos.
A final word. The gate to most of the cushy AE, AM, and field jobs are the high-pressure hunting jobs. Don’t back away from sales just because of this! Most companies have made this nearly fool-proof by adding lead lists, helpful software tools, script starters, and training. If you’re smart, a great listener, care about the customer, and can show up on time for a consecutive 30 days, you will likely be promoted in your first year. Hang in and fall in love with sales. It’s worth it!
Hiring a team of sales reps?
Watch our session on “How To Build Your Training & Development Plan” to learn everything you need to know about incorporating training into your onboarding and employee development plan.
There’s something wild happening in the sales training industry right under our noses, and it’s severely impacting the skill level of your front-line sellers. Truth: Sometimes I’m part of the problem.
Why do we expect sales reps to try a new skill after watching one video?
Video learning is as passive as it gets (not that anyone ever checked email while playing a training video) and yet we’re “training” sellers with this single touch (not even eight touches like SFDC says we need. Video alone should take hundreds, right?)
Getting a seller to try a new skill = getting a buyer to make a purchase.
And a 30-minute training video = a single commercial.
In other words, sales training videos alone don’t work – they’re not effective in teaching skills. In fact, I’m going to climb up a little higher on my soapbox and say…
Video-based sales training is NOT ACTUALLY TRAINING.
It’s entertainment. “Edu-tainment” at best. In our marketing vs. sales analogy, training videos would be the equivalent of content marketing. Its purpose is to brand, to “passive touch”, and to warm a prospect.
Unfortunately, not a lot of leads convert from content alone. Especially from a single blog or ad. This is where marketers share the stat that it takes eight “meaningful interactions” before someone will take action. And sales leaders get that “meaningful interactions” are best driven by the sales team – things like asking the right questions, qualifying, customizing the pitch, applying the solution to their world, showing value, etc.
Training works the same way. What we’re selling is a behavior change – the breaking of one habit and the installation of another. Let’s say the goal is to stop sellers from prematurely pitching as an example. We want to replace the habit with a new one like asking prospects 5 questions before delivering a custom pitch.
A great webinar or video on the subject will at best introduce this concept or maybe passively gain some attention or buy-in to the idea. Great first step!
But as leaders, it is irresponsible of us to leave it there. We left off the entire rest of the learning cycle! If your training is only (or primarily) video-based, then your learners are missing:
If and how the idea applies to them
When in the sales cycle it’s happening
Which behaviors they do today that they need to stop
How to write better questions
When to ask new questions
What to do when they get the answer
How to ask the questions confidently
How to bring up the pitch
When to bring up the pitch
Practice and support doing this over and over until it’s a habit
The most important parts of training to gain behavior change are missing. Don’t even get me started on maintaining that behavior (heard of the forgetting curve?)
Here’s the hard truth: If your training does not include an opportunity to try the skill, customize the application of the skill, share examples of the skill being done in different situations, practice using the skill, or feedback on the execution of the practice, then I’m sorry to tell you that you’re not training. You’re entertaining.
It’s gotten harder to influence buyers to take action with all the “noise” out there, right? Your sales teams are right in the middle of all that noise, and the younger generation is accepting video training as complete. It’s up to us to do it better. It will be a competitive differentiator for those who do.
Please do yourself, your managers, and your salesforce the favor of checking. Here are some questions to ask your training/new hire/enablement team:
What percent of our new hire (or ongoing/career path) training lessons are video-based?
What do we do after the video?
When do they customize and practice the skill?
Who gives feedback on the execution of the skill?
What actions are being done to keep it alive?
Sales enablement leaders and trainers, I know you feel me. You’ve been preaching this for years, and you could chart out where video lands on Bloom’s taxonomy and how much real estate is between a video and the confident application of the skill. Need some buy-in? Send this blog, and then go ask your sales leaders these five questions:
What are you doing to teach new hires basic selling skills?
How much of their training is video or webinar/zoom-based (aka a “talking head”?)
What percent of their time in training is spent listening to live calls or practicing the skill?
What tools do the managers use to reinforce the training?
Have you taught managers how to coach and reinforce the skills?
Let’s all do this better. There are too many young salespeople failing out of sales. Very few get to sit next to a rockstar to soak in how it’s done. It’s up to the sales and enablement leaders to demand better skills training! I’d LOVE to share how we built 10-15 interactive touches into our training at Factor 8. If you have teams of front-line digital sellers or managers, please let us show you our methodology and our results.
Want more information on why sales training videos don’t work?
Contact us today to request information on our customizable virtual sales training programs available for reps (and managers).
By now you’ve heard that the sales rep onboarding experience is a major factor in how they ramp to quota and ultimately affects how they feel about your company.
There are about 3 million moving parts in an onboarding program since it happens across so many departments, mostly outside of sales. Because of this, it’s easy to lose our way during onboarding. One of the most important hindrances is the lack of investment — both in effort and money — in onboarding.
Insidesales.com did a study that found organizations spend an average of 3x more on rep tools than on rep development, with the average rep having between 5-10 tools. Similarly, Training Magazine found that organizations spend on average 25x more on recruiting than development.
Moreover, Training Magazine tells us that a good onboarding program can cut ramp time and attrition by 50%. If we focus more time on crafting an onboarding program that will help retain the reps we recruit, we save time, money, and energy down the line.
So let’s do this! Here are 8 best practices you can dive into fixing right now.
Integrate These 8 Best Practices Into Your Sales Rep Onboarding
“Just-in-time” training
Leverage sales (not HR) professionals
Balance software and traditional training methods
Continue onboarding long after the rep is “ready”
Adopt the six critical components of a training program
Use ample multimedia resources
Create a formal, but flexible, rep training program
Set realistic, data-based expectations
Let’s dive a little deeper into why and how to integrate these tips into your onboarding.
1. “Just-in-time” Training
When building an onboarding program, it’s tempting to start by listing all the things “Johnny” may ever need to know and start from the top. Instead, try slicing off only what Johnny needs to know in month one.
It can be tempting to dive deep into company waters with things like histories, organizational charts, and other detailed and specific areas. It’s more effective to shift this information to the backburner for the time being and focus only on what the new rep needs in the first month to be successful. After all, how often does a customer quiz your rep on key events in the company’s founding?
Onboarding training should mirror what a rep’s day-to-day activities will look like once training is finishedduring the first month on the job (and only that first month). This ensures reps don’t feel like a fish out of water when the time comes to execute the tactics taught in training.
Why stop at month one? Because we want our reps to come out of onboarding feeling confident! We want them ready to pound the phones and execute what they learned! If we start introducing them to all the sales process complexities, advanced products, and deep conversations, then we run the risk of scaring or overwhelming them.
This is a time when “you don’t know what you don’t know” is a good thing. If your reps will likely spend that first month talking to existing happy customers or cold calling and leaving a lot of voicemails, stop training there. Bring them back later for the rest.
2. Leverage Sales (Not HR) Professionals
Aberdeen reported that 85% of the sales teams considered “best-in-class” use professional sales trainers or curriculum. But the majority of us outsource our onboarding to HR.
This absolutely does not mean that your sales managers should be the trainers. It means that as a sales leader, you have sales managers and a sales training manager reporting to you (or at least attending your meetings). It could also mean that you have a sales manager who acts as a liaison to training.
But what it definitely means is that you and your sales team all know what is being taught, agree with the how, and are thrilled with what reps can do when they graduate from the onboarding training.
Some companies shy away from investing in an expert for new hires due to the high turnover rate. But, by investing in good sales training and following best practices, companies can reduce new hire turnover rate and save money in the long run.
3. Balance Online and Classroom Training
What we use to teach reps is another balancing act between digital learning and resources and traditional training methods.
Best practice? Use technology for about 30% of your overall curriculum. Much more and we’re missing the opportunity to engage new reps and ensure their first month is lonely and, let’s face it: boring.
Online learning is easiest to leverage for one of the following areas:
Rote knowledge that isn’t likely to change. This includes policies, laws, company history, and unchanging products.
Already-created, third-party curriculum. Commonly this is from technology vendors like Salesforce or basic Microsoft how-to assets
Trusted adviser curriculum. If you’re working with social, sales, or marketing experts already and have adopted their methodologies, ask about online resources to onboard new reps.
Leverage your training department’s learning management system with whatever you’re doing. You’ll want to track what reps have and haven’t done and add a layer of accountability with reporting and testing.
4. Don’t Let It End! Continue Training Even After Onboarding
Rep development should be ongoing. Don’t ever fall into the trap of “They’re trained! My job here is done.” That’s akin to the NFL putting players in preseason camp and then stopping practice when the regular season begins.
Development is an ongoing sport.
At Factor 8, we’re huge champions of sending new reps to the phones early and often. But that is with the assumption that they’ll come back to the classroom to address the gaps they find while out on the harsh streets of your sales floor. It’s also assuming that managers are closely keeping track of rep progress and development needs.
How do you facilitate this?
Try to organize the curriculum into three levels:
Level 1 maps to onboarding – the foundational/month 1 skills.
Level 2 is “just in time” after reps master level 1 and get 6-12 months under their belt. They’re ramped to quota, and it’s time for ongoing development to keep growing and do the whole job well.
Level 3 maps to the mastery of the job in years 2 to 3 — more advanced skills to help them be superstars.
Between each level we add exercises, activities, assignments, and refreshers to keep the skills top of mind, show new ways to try certain tactics, and help managers engage reps in 1:1 and team skill development. The Sales Bar helps us make all of this accessible on-demand so teams can learn what they want to when they want to while still keeping track. We also drip new content monthly and use leaderboards to keep things fresh and different so users want to log back in.
Use this as an example of the microlearning and ongoing development young reps crave. Millennials expect a certain percentage of learning to be in the classroom and online, and they expect opportunities to develop themselves long after onboarding.
Offering blended learning, leveled learning, and ongoing learning checks all those boxes.
5. Adopt the 6 Critical Components of a Sales Training Program
If you’re just starting to build your program or you’re going in to assess yours, start by evaluating what’s being trained. It’s easy to go deep into systems and products, but those are just two of the six components of well-rounded onboarding training:
Systems and tools — Your CRM, intranet, engagement tool, dialer, etc.
Product and service — What you’re selling. Tip: Focus on “how to sell it” versus a full rundown of product history, speeds, and feeds. This harkens back to best practice #1 and maintaining training relevancy. If your product people are teaching this, chances are your reps don’t need half of it and are using this time to snooze.
Sales — Even if you hire for experience, reps need to be taught how to sell your services to your customers in your industry over the phone. Haven’t met a new hire yet who doesn’t.
Process — Think of how your leads and orders get processed internally and who a rep goes to for the top customer questions. In other words, how do you get stuff done at your company?
Acumen — Sorry folks, they’re not coming out of school with business acumen and certainly not industry and customer acumen. This is a big gap, and filling it will drastically shorten ramp time.
Manager integration — this is where tip #5 really comes to life, both during and after onboarding. Reps need to see their leaders often, and training needs input and oversight.
6. Utilize Ample Multimedia Resources
No two reps are identical when it comes to learning style. Make sure you’re meeting every new hire where they’re at by using a mix of helpful resources.
Mixing up these methods not only appeals to reps with different learning styles but also helps keep training exciting and fresh. Who wants to sit and listen to someone else make calls all day and slap a “training” label on it?
7. Create a Formal, but Flexible Rep Training Program
If you’re not putting all new hires through the same rep onboarding process, how can you ever tell if what you’re doing is working?
As we said: Different reps have different learning styles, so it is important to remain flexible to an extent. Just make sure you have some core pillars of onboarding training in place so all new hires are experiencing the same process.
This helps you measure KPIs and tweak your processes if weak spots surface.
8. Set Realistic, Data-Based Expectations for Your New Reps
How many times have your managers set sky-high call quotas for new reps? How many times have they failed to reach it? But, most importantly, how many times has this been documented?
The only thing more frustrating (for both rep and manager) than someone consistently underperforming on quotas, is for there to be nothing in place to fix it moving forward.
Make sure when you’re setting expectations and KPIs for new hire reps that they are based on data. Once you have a fleshed-out onboarding process, it will be easier than ever to keep track of this information.
Find a Tool That Works for Your Onboarding Needs
What if we told you there’s a tool that complements in-person sales training, allows managers to monitor new hire learning during onboarding, and offers a wide variety of inside sales resources?
It’s not magic — it’s The Sales Bar. Fill out the form below to learn more.
Want more information on our sales rep onboarding programs?
Contact us today to request information on our customizable virtual sales training programs available for reps (and managers).
In the past decade, inside sales has been out-pacing field sales by a 10-15x ratio. Scalability is a challenge inside sales leaders will continue to face for years to come.
While I normally focus on building your process, today my job is to talk about the people angle. Although, a good half of my people’s suggestions are process suggestions! Allow me to highlight the top 3 common pitfalls we have all faced when trying to scale your inside sales team and a few outside resources that can help.
Pitfall #1: The success of a massive growth number will live or die in a rep’s ramp time.
Ramp time means something different to each company. It could be time to quota, paying for their overhead, or something unique to you. Whatever your ramp goal, you’ll be creating projections to hit a 1.5x, 3x, or even 5x number and you’ll be doing it with a new headcount.
That means your success hinges on the ability of your headcount to:
Be hired on time
Be trained on time
Hit goal on time
Really dig into your new hire training program, and start doing it six months before your first hiring wave. If you haven’t onboarded recently, check out our sales rep onboarding best practices. And if your offices are still remote, brush up on virtually onboarding new sales reps
Pro Tip: Hire a sales-focused training leader NOW. Most new hire training programs need a LOT of work, and the good ones can cut your ramp time by HALF.
Pitfall #2: We don’t change our hiring process.
Even if you previously onboarded an awesome team that is still with you today, your process likely needs a few tweaks before being pressure-tested during scaling. We usually see breakdowns in two key places:
The pool isn’t as deep any longer. We are in a hiring crisis, folks. Many companies stole great talent when they were new on the scene, but now they’re competing for headcount like everyone else. So even if the number of candidates and job postings are similar, you may find the depth of talent more shallow.
The hiring and onboarding process wasn’t built for volume and is probably too dependent on your managers (but the slew of new hires on the floor will need them more too!) At launch, these managers had all kinds of time to hire. If you triple your model (then double it for the shallow talent pool), think of how many hours per day they will be in interviews. Ouch!
Pro Tip: Pull hiring out of HR and to a recruiter – even if you need to re-appropriate a sales headcount. You need someone doing passive recruiting on the front end, AND who can handle a phone screen for sales. It’s the only way to free up your managers’ time. Make sure you tie the recruiter’s compensation to the RIGHT hires that align with your goals, instead of fighting a recruiting company’s goal of straight-up bodies. I’ve seen way too many new hire classes filled with “live bodies” by recruiters only to have to rehire a replacement class a month later. Sales leaders make no mistake, the need to retrain or rehire is how your hiring goals will be perceived in a culture of scale.
Also, check your hiring process. It should look like your pipeline, with your managers involved only toward the final stages. Oh, and let them hire their own team, OK? (Managers, you can send your cash directly to the Factor 8 HQ for that tip).
Pitfall #3:Develop your managers, NOW.
I’m watching a friend’s floor triple in size right now. They’re super successful and swimming in leads. They need a headcount to maximize the revenue. What they’re missing is strong leadership, definitions of what ‘good’ looks like, and consistency among the management team. And folks, it’s being held together with duct tape and rainbows right now. These managers are SO (say it like a teenage girl) green. Everyone runs different reports, they all manage a different sales process, there are seven disparate call methodologies, no one can forecast because pipelines are atrocious, teams are mixed and matched constantly (because managers are leaving the chaos!) and no two are managed the same. I’d say they’re all marching to a different beat, but no one remembered to hire the drummer.
Pro Tip:Hire a drummer…as long as that drummer is a series of documented processes (management cadence, performance improvement, sales handoffs, sales process to name a few). Then, TEACH your managers how to execute against them. You and I both know these people were reps five minutes ago. They need training. They need help being better leaders (or you’ll quickly wind up back at #1 hiring even more bodies). Reps join companies and quit bosses, right? New managers are going to FLAIL in a rapid-growth environment, and your reps will be confused, frustrated, and complain about a lack of development (which also happens to be the number one reason reps leave).
So, save yourself some time and a headache by updating your training program, and getting the professionals to help you with hiring, and developing those managers! I promise, the work now will be worth it once your sales floor is full (and stays that way!).
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I get it – you don’t want to come off as the “used car” sales rep and hound someone to get your deal finalized. Or maybe you’re just nervous and don’t have the full confidence to take that last step.
Let me help you out here – take a look at the graphic below of the buying funnel. Most prospects are stuck up in the top half – they’re in research mode!
When you lack the confidence to ask for the close, you’re letting them stay in an endless loop of research and evaluation without clear next steps. The reality is you should be offering clear steps on the VERY FIRST CALL to lead them into the evaluation phase.
Think about it like this: when you go to buy coffee in the morning or stop to pick up lunch, do you walk up and order? Or do you wait for someone to ask you what you want? You probably stared at the menu figuring out what to get and then someone asked if they could take your order, right? They prompted you out of your research and evaluation mode into the bottom half of the funnel!
Helping lead them into those next phases is the core of being a sales rep! It’s not pushy, and not doing it shows a lack of confidence. This is where you decide if you are a true salesperson or not.
Remember: Closing. Helps. The Buyer.
You Don’t Know How To Ask
If you’re worried it sounds too good to be true – it’s not! You can literally just ASK them questions to inch closer to the close. Okay, so the reality is that a lot of those go-to closes rely on cheesy or crappy tactics. Here are a couple good questions and statements for closing sales to steal:
Ask a Question:Did we solve the problem? Did we meet your needs? Ready to move onto the next step?
Make an Assumption:We’ll get this nailed down and start next week. When do you want to take delivery? (You’re acting like you’re already involved in the next step!)
Which pitch: Which solution is a better fit right now? Which option is a better match for budget? Do you like option A or option B?
Timeline: You mentioned wanting XYZ in place by next month – working backward we’ll need to ink the contract by next week.
Add-On: If we can get this wrapped up by the end of the month, we can throw in an extra license and a live training.
Don’t make the super embarrassing mistake of lacking customer insight and information by the time you get all the way to closing!
CSO Insights estimates that 26% of deals are actually LOST because sellers weren’t fully aligned to a buyer’s needs before closing. Save yourself the time and hassle by making sure you know these before you get to close:
What is the agreed customer goal or pain?
What is the “why” behind the buy/value to them?
What’s their budget & timeline?
What does their buying process look like?
What is their current state vs. desired state?
Are there other options/competition?
Any personal motivation here?
(Hint, if you need help coming up with a pitch that aligns with their value – check out SWIIFT℠!)
Closing is a muscle just like anything else – if you aren’t exercising it, you’re not going to know what to do with it when the time comes to use it!
You can close every single call you have with something we like to call closing for commitment.
Think about football for a second. You’ve got your first downs to lock it in – and instead of having to go all the way back, you get to start on THAT yard line. Now when you apply to this sales – even if it’s something small you’re getting a customer to make a commitment to you. That means next time you’re starting from THAT point! You’re taking up mindshare with them.
Here’s an example:
You’ll never have to ask yourself if it’s closed because you will know and you will OWN exactly what you need to do.
Can you guess the most critical stage when it comes to closing?
Gong did a study on this, and believe it or not – the qualification stage is MOST important. Close rates decline by 71% when the next steps are not covered on that first call. Plus – deals that closed the fastest spent 1.53 times MORE talking about those next steps compared to other deals.
If you have a well-defined sales process, you’re 33% more likely to close your deals (TAS Group). And if you don’t know how to gauge when that is or how it plays out – do a trial close! Try something different!
Sometimes you have to abandon your sales script, and that’s okay.
The more confident you get with closing, I promise the easier this gets. So don’t be afraid to get out there, practice, and remember that there’s a closing strategy for each and every one of those fears you might have. You got this – now go get those deals!
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How many of you have been on the receiving end of a sales call, bored to tears while the rep on the other end just keeps rattling away? Probably ALL of us.
So what’s the secret to keeping your customers from slowly falling asleep – whether it’s on the phone or a video call?
Here are some quick and easy tips to boost prospect and customer engagement on your next sales call!
The easiest way to tell if you’ve got them engaged is if THEY’RE the ones talking.
One of the best tools you have in your arsenal as a seller is asking the right questions – NOT spewing your value prop and pitch.
Make sure you know the difference between a closed and an open-ended question. A closed question is going to get you nothing but one-word answers. You can start with them, but make sure you have open-ended questions to keep them talking!
“Do you have a current service provider?” (closed) is going to get a yes or no.
“What’s your biggest struggle with your current service provider?” (open) – that’s going to get you a LOT more.
And if you get a good hook in one of their answers, don’t be too quick to just move onto your list with the next one! The more you can make it feel like a conversation and show you’re actively listening, the more engaged and natural the flow is going to be. Show them you care by connecting with them.
Here’s an easy summary:
Closed questions = get them warmed up.
Open questions = get them expanding.
Follow-up questions = take them to the next level of expansion.
Read Body Language
If you’re using video on your sales call (HIGHLY suggest this, folks), then you’ve got to focus on their body language. This one might seem like a no-brainer, but here are a couple things to watch for.
Are they muted? They’re not planning on talking.
Looking off to the side or down? They’re working on emails.
Are they propped up? They’re BORED!
If you see any of the above – stop what you’re doing, end your screen share, and get back to a conversation to re-engage them.
Don’t Be Afraid to Get Silly
I’ve been there, with a video call full of people slouched over who couldn’t give a hoot what I was going on about.
You know what I did?
I turned off the presentation, I started cracking some jokes – a little bit of razzing to the guy who came late, asked someone else a question, pinned something funny on another person – and it WORKED! People sat up, they got off mute – they wanted to participate!
It’s okay to take a step back, and it’s okay to get a little silly to get them engaged again.
Being in sales is the busiest job in the world – hands down.
If you’re a leader, you’ve got a ton on your shoulders between leading your team and establishing a strong company culture. Managers – you’re constantly battling fire drills and balancing your own daily tasks, all while coaching your reps. And reps – say no more! You’re on the phone for hours at a time, making hundreds of calls a week in between various other tasks.
Guess what: YOU own your time. You get to make the choice what to prioritize and how to handle what comes your way. The best thing you can do is PROTECT IT!
Block your calendar, get comfortable saying ‘no’ to things that interrupt your workflow or cut into call time. Set boundaries and stick to them. Guard your time, communicate expectations, and get to work.
The other day I had a rep reach out for a meeting and she wanted to give up her time block to schedule our meeting. You know what I said? NO! BIG MISTAKE! I made sure she honored her calendar and let her fit me in somewhere else.
Remember: there are lots of things in the day as a rep that you just can’t control. You can’t force someone to pick up the phone, you can’t make a lengthy conversation go faster to hop onto your next call, you can’t control if you get a call back.
Sounds simple, but think about the calls you’re making and what your schedule looks like. Does Client A work night shift? Do they work on the east coast and you’re west? Are they in another country altogether?
Mapping out your day is going to SAVE you time down the line. You’ll want to categorize your to-do list by the following:
Set it and actually DO it. Make that your main mission, your top priority, the thing you sit down to do first and accomplish. Consistency is key here to make sure it actually sticks! Do this every day and it REALLY helps.
Don’t go on autopilot and sit down to check your Slacks, emails, or get into your morning routine. And while you’re at it…
Silence Notifications
Remember what I said about 80% of your day being wasted on non-sales items? That’s probably because your phone is blowing up with a phone call from mom, texts from your college buddy, social media notifications, Slack messages, etc. etc.
Put your phone on silent, turn off notifications, and focus on what’s in front of you. The ONLY thing you should be working off of is your calendar (or task list) – it will dictate who you need to talk to and when.
This is going to help you make sure you’re getting to all those calls in a day without the distractions.
Touch It Once
If you’ve been pushing the same email to the bottom of the pile for the last two weeks, chances are it isn’t that much of a priority. When you’ve got a task at hand – DO something with it. Either respond and finish it so you can put it away, schedule it to a time you can actually take care of it, or delete it if it’s unimportant.
Whatever you do – don’t just leave it and keep pushing it off. You’re wasting time revisiting the same old piece 3x instead of just touching it once.
Don’t overcomplicate it. You’ve got a busy enough day, but by adding in a little bit of effort and strategy, you can take back that 19% and get to what you do best: selling!
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“We are so grateful to Selling Power for recognizing Factor 8 as a Top Sales Training Company,” said Founder and CEO, Lauren Bailey. “My goal over the years has always been to get people to love and STAY in sales, because it’s awesome here. We’re proud to be the only training company on this list that has always focused 100% on teaching virtual and digital sales skills.”
Factor 8’s winning application highlighted the incredible success of its virtual sales training programs and its ability to adapt to its customer’s needs in the constantly evolving corporate landscape. With many years of experience in virtual sales, Factor 8 quickly became a strategic partner to various B2B and B2C companies, helping their sales teams adjust to and excel in virtual and hybrid selling environments.
According to Selling Power publisher and founder Gerhard Gschwandtner, quality sales training is more important than ever. “As the economy continues to slow, accelerating sales becomes increasingly critical to a company’s success. The right sales training delivered at the right time can be the secret ingredient to a company not only surviving in this economy but also thriving.”
All companies on the list submitted a comprehensive application that included a detailed listing of their offerings for both training and retention, innovative solutions, and their company’s unique contributions to the sales training marketplace.
The main criteria used when comparing applicants and selecting the companies to include on this year’s list were:
Depth and breadth of training offered
Innovative offerings (specific training courses, methodology, or delivery methods)
Contributions to the sales training market
Strength of client satisfaction and overall client feedback
To evaluate applicants for the list, the Selling Power team surveyed and considered feedback from nearly 400 clients of the applicants. Here is a brief selection of comments from their clients:
“They are helping us achieve a very high standard through their training sessions. Our implementation has already yielded some big positive outcomes.”
“They are always available to help. They go above and beyond to provide the support and structures we need for our sales process. Their objection handles and reviews are the best I\’ve seen.”
“The level of professionalism, expertise, experience, and deep collaboration to best understand our sales channel challenges was excellent.”
“Super-fast responses to customer requests, delivery time frames, high-quality facilitators, and very good rapport with all the team.”
“The best methodology for accelerating the success of any sales team with minimal overhead and highest ROI.”
“They make every effort to listen and fully understand client needs resulting in training programs that are shaped and focused to meet specific requirements and deliver results. Furthermore, they have the capability to deliver at scale globally in multiple languages.”
Selling Power magazine editors say CROs, sales VPs, and sales enablement leaders can leverage this list to find the right sales training partner to help salespeople succeed during social distancing and remote working.
About Factor 8
Factor 8 is an award-winning sales rep and management training company focused 100% on helping sales teams sell in a virtual world. The want people to love sales – and stay! They are a team of expert sales leaders who quit the daily grind so they could spend their time developing people. Together, they’ve solved the big problem: Sales Reps and Managers are not gaining the skills they need to quickly feel confident and successful long-term. That means they ramp slowly and leave quickly.
About Selling Power
In addition to Selling Power, the leading digital magazine for sales managers and sales VPs since 1981, Personal Selling Power, Inc., produces the Sales Management Digest and Daily Boost of Positivity online newsletters, as well as videos featuring interviews with top executives. Selling Power is a regular media sponsor of the Sales 3.0 Conference, which is attended by a total of more than 4,500 sales leaders each year.
Looking to partner with a top sales training provider?
Contact us today to learn more about our virtual sales training programs
for sales reps and sales managers.
