The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

It’s been quite a year of change for many salespeople and managers. What at first seemed like a temporary situation has slowly evolved into the potential for a new reality — working from home.

There are many benefits to working from home, such as no commute, which leads to greater productivity, better work/life blend, and looking professional from the waist up... just to name a few! Gartner's recent study shows that 74% of companies plan to shift some of their employees to working from home permanently.

In the past, many deals were built from the foundation of in-person relationships. The pandemic has shifted the sales cycle, and many salespeople have been forced to adjust. Mastering the art of both in-person selling and virtual selling is now a skill seller's must obtain.

As a sales leader, it’s important to ensure your sales team shifts their mindset and has the tools needed to perform at their best no matter what the situation holds.

We’ve all heard, “you’ll never get a second chance to make a great first impression.” This applies to so many facets of life, and when it comes to sales, that first 7-10 seconds can make or break you.

Our brains make a thousand computations during the first seven seconds we see someone. That means within seven seconds, the person across from you is assessing whether you’re likable, trustworthy, and competent.

Is the impression you create a blend of your personality, body language, and communication skills? If not, it should be!

Remote selling, virtual selling, more communication via emails, and phone calls — it’s all the new normal. And these new normal tactics require a significant shift in skills to create a more engaging buyer experience.

Conducting business over Zoom is tricky. Rather than shaking hands and reading body language, salespeople must learn how to limit distractions, make virtual sales demos more like traditional presentations, and learn to communicate as effectively online as they do when they’re physically with prospects and clients.

Being a sales professional in 2020 is very different than it was just last year. Buyers, who used to prefer meeting face-to-face prior to making a purchasing decision, have changed too.

Salespeople fill a fundamental role in society, so why do they get a bad rep? In a HubSpot’s Research study, Buyers Speak Out: How Sales Needs to Evolve, respondents were asked to submit the word they most associated with salespeople.

The number one response was “pushy."

Persistence is part of being a salesperson, but there’s a difference between consistently adding value with each check-in and rambling on about the benefits of what you’re selling. It’s decades and decades of the “pushy” kind of sales tactic that has made the average salesperson somewhat unpopular. We’re here to help change that, with an updated look at the customer-focused sales process.

There’s no longer a debate on whether social media is an effective way to remain relevant in today’s busy and modern online world. Social media has come a long way since the mid-2000s, where users simply used it to share photographs and “check-in.”  

Today, smart sellers incorporate social media into their sales strategy as an additional way to connect with prospects. This allows you to:

• Build rapport
• Pinpoint specific prospects
• Establish yourself as a thought leader

Through likes, comments, shares, and posts, you provide your insights to both prospects and current customers and allow for more engagement. Social media is a valuable tool for driving sales, but first, you must identify the most-used platforms for your ideal customer.

As sales professionals, one of the biggest challenges we face is trying to connect with a new prospect. With so many different touchpoints, it’s easy for a prospect to avoid or ignore your voicemails, emails, texts, or LinkedIn request.

If you want your message to stand out, it’s critical that you have a solid valid business reason (VBR) that establishes you as trusted and valued. However, it’s equally important to ensure you have a strong email subject line. You can have the best valid business reason on the planet, but if the email is never opened by the intended recipient, what good is it?

Studies show that reaching out to leads within an hour of them contacting you makes you seven times likelier to have meaningful conversations, and up to 50% of sales go to the vendor who responded first. There’s also a tenfold decrease in your odds of making contact with a lead if you wait more than five minutes to reach out after they submit a web form.

Whether it’s from clients, management, or themselves, salespeople are under a lot of pressure to perform faster when it comes to their sales process. We live and work in a fast-paced, “want it now” culture that can feel overwhelming at times. Sometimes there’s only one solution to closing more deals, and that’s to SLOW DOWN!

Great salespeople always want to improve. Show them that you are more than someone that manages and holds them accountable. Be a coach by helping them develop their skills on sales calls so that they can continually strive to do better and be even more successful.

Schedule in-field meetings that are focused on how you can help your salesperson perform better on face-to-face calls. 

There is a sales organization I work with that has a consistent track record of finding highly talented candidates to join their sales team. Time and time again, they hire and develop top talent and in turn, quickly see results from these sellers.

Early on in my sales career, there was a prospect that I was determined to close. Everyone on my sales team had tried to gain access to this decision maker, and some had gotten as far a conversation, but it never evolved from there. When my manager suggested I try to approach this target prospect, I eagerly accepted the challenge. In my head, I confidently thought, “I can make this happen.” Ha!

I spent months calling, dropping by, leaving voicemails, and sending emails. I never managed to get through to anyone, but I remained persistent and didn’t give up until one day I was told not so politely to go away.

Often during my career, I have reflected on that cringe-worthy experience. I had been persistent (outright annoying), and at the time, I had truly thought that persistence alone should get me in the door. As I began to develop and grow as a salesperson, I began to see the power of not just being persistent, but being persistent with a purpose. I learned the importance of earning trust and offering value to the prospect. Unfortunately, I had to experience some tough lessons before I got to this point.