Sales Training Series #2
Sales Training Series #2
5 insights from my recent trainings
Welcome back to another Sales Training series!
These posts are intended to give you insight into what it’s like to train with me while providing actionable insights you can use in your day to day.
Note: I intentionally keep the descriptions of the clients vague for privacy reasons.
Insight #1: People buy from people *like* them
One of my clients has been struggling with cold email and wasn’t seeing much success using my templates.
I reviewed the templates he used and did a Lay of the Land exercise with him to learn more about his buyer and their world.
He sells to compliance (pray for him)
And the templates he used were short, vague, and informal emails.
Anyone who has gone through my course should be able to spot the problem..
His messaging resonated with High D personalities.. but he was selling to High C’s and S’s
To succeed with cold email you need alignment on 3 things:
Your message (what you actually say + the medium you use)
Your buyer
Your offer (product / market fit needs to be strong)
The more in alignment these 3 things are, the more successful your cold email campaigns will be.
In my clients case, #1 and #2 were not in alignment.
And since we can’t change who his buyer is we must change his messaging.
We changed his emails from:
Short
Informal
Vague
Intriguing
To:
Formal
Detailed & Descriptive
Focused on the technical problems we’ve solved for other compliance teams
You need to know who you are selling to on a personal level.. what kind of person are they and what would they respond to?
Go beyond the obvious (job title / functions, etc)
Insight #2: No consequences, No sales
This client sells a specialized service for early stage startups and the buyer they engage with is usually the founder of the company.
My client performs “well”.. I say “well” because while his numbers are on an upward trajectory he still makes a lot of amateur mistakes.
So I challenge him because his current ceiling could very well be his current floor (and he agrees)
Here’s an example of one of those amateur mistakes:
Going into sales mode when the buyer says “I don’t know what I’m doing”
Their conversations typically go like this:
🐲: So why did you reach out to us?
Prospect: Because I need help with xyz.. I have no idea what I’m doing
🤡: That’s okay John.. a lot of people we speak to aren’t familiar with how to do xyz.. *begins explaining the service*
And then the rest of the conversation are softball questions from the seller side and then a 35 minute demo.
They never move the conversation forward in order get to the Human Element of the sale.
So I advised my client to add tough and uncomfortable questions designed to go deeper.
Example
The conversation would then go like this:
🐲: So why did you reach out to us?
Prospect: Because I need help with xyz.. I have no idea what I’m doing
🐲: Makes sense. I’m assuming this is your first time doing xyz?
If yes, proceed to question 2A
If no, proceed to question 2B
2A: Okay. And a bit of a tough question but let’s pretend we’re 3 months into the future. What will need to have happened in order for it to be clear working with us was the right move?
2B: No? What happened last time?
Continuing Question chain 2B:
Prospect: I tried doing it myself with a different project and was unable to [get desired outcome].. I ended up wasting a ton of money and time
🐲: That’s super frustrating.. Unfortunately that’s not an uncommon experience. But surely you must’ve learned from those mistakes.. why not try it again yourself?
Get them to fight for it.
Insight #3: Challenge their ability / willingness to Change
This client sells enterprise software that can replace multiple separate tools commonly used by his buyers. The value is there in terms of consolidating tech stacks and cost savings.
However, every time he engages a new prospect they think his software is just another add-on or an upgraded version of one their current add-ons.
So his challenge was also one of battling perceptions. This is common when selling an innovative / disruptive solution.
My client has a solid technical background so is competent at diagnosing the technical problems with the buyers current environment.
But he wasn’t yet familiar with the ways of the 🐲
So his conversations consisted of lots of technical questions and probing about their current environment.
Nothing wrong with this.. The problem was the order in which he was handling things.
His first priority should have been challenging their ability / willingness to change. He needed to get comfortable asking questions like:
🐲: Have you closed your mind to the possibility that your workflow can be made easier and more efficient?
🐲: When you say “you’re all set” do you mean you’re comfortable using 5 separate tools and that it’s not worth the hassle of changing?
For his Discovery calls I had him using Pre-emptive Strikes as well.
Insight #4: The problem they complain about isn’t the real problem to be solved
People buy emotionally and justify it intellectually.
What compels them to agree to a meeting with a salesperson?
They have a problem they want solved. That “problem” is a symptom causing them Discomfort:
Symptom = missing project deadlines
This is where 99% of salespeople begin selling.
But what is causing them to miss those project deadlines?
It could be a number of different reasons!
So presenting solutions at this point is way too early.
You are skipping the prospects “alternatives analysis” they naturally do before deciding to work with you (or anyone for that matter)
And instead of going through the alternatives with them on the call you let them do it without you after the call.
NGMI.
You need to focus on the root causes that your solution can directly solve while disqualifying the other reasons.
Sales is about getting the buyer to realize they need you or don’t need you through the questions you ask.
Insight #5: Accumulate easy status points
🐲: So where are you based?
Prospect: London how about you?
🤡: Oh I love London! Definitely more fun than being in *redacted*
Prospect: Ha..
Why salespeople so willingly drop their pants is beyond me.
Stop self deprecating and giving them free Status points!
🐲: So where are you based?
Prospect: London how about you?
🐲: I’m in *redacted*.. London is cool but definitely more of a beach guy myself though
If you want to learn more about the strategies outlined in this post and/or want it customized for what you sell, you can:
1. Train with me (send me a DM if interested)
2. Check out my course