The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

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.

We are now a few months into the new year. Often, at the end of the prior year, I spend time talking about the year ahead. I ask the sellers that I coach what they want to accomplish. Where do they want to be at the end of this year? We discuss their professional sales goals, and then we begin to make a plan together to help them achieve those goals.

I encourage them to make sure they understand the importance of high priority prospects or what we call target accounts. Ensuring sales teams understand how to identify, develop, and close (or walk away) is a critical part of sellers achieving their objectives throughout the year.

As sales professionals, we are trained to listen to our prospects’ needs and then create a tailored solution based on the products we have to sell. As managers, we coach our team on this daily, and as salespeople, we continually work to evolve and better this process. We present a solution, and then explain why these products make sense. But in today’s complicated world of marketing, there is a key piece we often forget — consumer behavior. What does your target persona do before making a purchase decision? 

We're partially through the 4th quarter of the year, and as planning is in the works for the following year, it’s a great time to do an account review with your team. After all, their success equals your success, so it’s vital that you help them set a strategy that helps them meet their goals.  

IMAGINE THIS: After countless attempts to connect with a prospect, your persistence has paid off. You did it! You've got the meeting on the calendar, you are feeling great! Now, you have one chance to make a great first impression, and it needs to count. Luckily, you have a few days to prepare so you can ensure the meeting runs smoothly and the prospect views you as a trusted and valued partner.

While it’s important to prepare yourself for the meeting, you also want to prepare the prospect. This is one thing that salespeople often overlook prior to a meeting. Most prospects are going to expect you to come in and tell them why they need to buy your product or service. It’s up to you to go out of your way to be sure they know you are different and you are not going to do that. Don't just prepare yourself... also prepare your prospect.

As a sales coach, I work with many salespeople at all different stages in their career. When we first start working together, we spend time talking about who they are, why they love what they do, and how their current and past experiences bring value to what they do today.    

I remember getting a very excited call from a salesperson that I had worked with. A big prospect in the market had reached out to her. They had searched her company via LinkedIn and discovered many of her sales colleagues. But it was her profile that caught their eye. Why?

Recently, I was preparing for a presentation about the retail industry. An interesting statistic about customer service jumped out at me. According to MediaPost, only 17% of consumers think manufacturers and retailers are extremely good at caring for their customers after a sale. This was a surprising figure to me. It’s tough to earn a repeat customer if you don’t follow through and offer superior customer service. This got me thinking about B2B sales and how the same basic principle applies.

Every now and then it pays to stop and think about the big picture — why we do what we do and the importance of truly learning about our prospect and client’s needs. It’s so easy to talk about what we have to sell and why prospects should want to buy it, but taking the time to learn about the prospect will truly pay off in the end. 

You finally secured that all important meeting with a prospect you’ve been trying to reach for weeks.  Your carefully constructed Valid Business Reason along with persistence paid off and the prospect has agreed to meet with you. You are on an adrenaline high as you think about the possibilities.    Now what?! Give yourself a pat on the back and begin to prepare! Remember, the prospect is taking time out of their busy schedule to meet with you. They chose you over all of the other salespeople beating down their door. Make it count!