The Salesman.com Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFNyQUXDlL4&feature=youtu.be Tom Hopkins is a sales training legend. Since 1976, Tom Hopkins International has been dedicated to providing the finest sales training strategies and techniques to individuals and companies alike. On this episode of The Salesman Podcast Tom shares 4 ways you can deal with a potential customer saying “no” to your sales pitch. Resources: TomHopkins.com Book: When Buyers Say No: Essential Strategies for Keeping a Sale Moving Forward

The everyday sales pitch is boring. Running through features, hitting on target metrics, going through product slide after product slide after produ… Truth be told, the everyday sales pitch sucks. And your buyers think so too. But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can deliver a powerful, effective message while driving engagement, stirring emotions, and generating real buying intent. And it’s all thanks to storytelling in business. In this guide, I’ll show you how to incorporate compelling stories during your sales pitch using a simple five-point framework. I’ll also cover why business storytelling drives serious selling success, pro tips for how to tell a good story, and three goals every sales story should have. Now, let’s dive into this potent sales technique Why Storytelling in Business Just Plain Works If there’s one thing that unites all humans, it’s that no one likes change. It can be scary. And adapting to it takes work. So, why should you go through the necessary changes to bring storytelling into your processes? As it turns out, there are four reasons in particular why a business story just plain works. A) Engaging on a Fundamental Level First and foremost, a compelling story is engaging. And not just “meh” engaging. But engaging on a fundamental, biological level. See, we’ve been hard-wired for thousands, even tens of thousands of years to pass on important information via storytelling. In fact, some of the earliest evidence of stories come from cave drawings in France that go back as far as 30,000 years. Studies have shown that how character-driven a story is can predict how much people are willing to donate to charitable causes. A message wrapped in a well-constructed story is more likely to be understood (and even recalled weeks later). And even our conception of ourselves, our own identity, is built on a storytelling foundation. Humans are storytellers and story-listeners. And when you incorporate that nature into your selling process, you’re tapping into that biological underpinning. B) Taps Into Emotions Logic is an important aspect of any sale. If you can’t make the numbers, the buyer isn’t going to bother giving you a try. Hey, it’s just business. But sales is about emotion too. Sometimes it’s even more important than logic. Emotion is the driving factor behind decision-making. It’s the excitement, the trust, the gravitational pull that causes buyers to say, “Yes! I want this.” And logic, while important, is more about justifying that purchase decision. When you’re telling your great story to prospects, you’re helping them feel the same ups and downs as your “characters” or past buyers. And as a result, you’re priming their emotions to make a purchase decision. “Fundamentally, we make decisions emotionally, and if all we're doing is spouting features and benefits, we're really engaging the logical part of the brain. The logical part of the brain does not make decisions. But analyses and captures information to weigh pros and cons, but decisions are made emotionally. And what stories do is they tap into the emotional center of the listener, and that's where the decisions are made.” – Interview with Adrian Davis, President & CEO of Whetstone Inc. C) Lets the Buyer Feel Like the Hero In the same vein as the last point, when your buyer feels the emotions of your narrative’s hero, they start feeling like the hero themselves. And that is key to driving real action. Unfortunately, a lot of sales reps don’t get this point until far later in their careers. They try to make themselves look like the hero—the rep who knows it all, who has all the expert knowledge, and who has helped countless others. But the truth is, the buyer does not care about you. On a human-to-human level, of course they do. But when they’re faced with serious change (switching vendors, putting their reputation on the line, etc.), they need to feel the jubilation that comes from being the reason for a massive business success. And it’s up to you to help them feel that way. “I think most of us want to come in as salespeople, and I sell all the time, so I'm no different, and we want to be the hero. Well, I’ve got bad news, we're not the hero, we need to make our customer the hero.” – Interview with Ken Rutsky, Consultant, Speaker, Mentor, & Author D) A Subtle Way to Boast Success Last but not least, a story is a way to hint (just hint) at your own success. Without straying too far from the real hero of the story—the buyer—telling a story about a past client lets you say, “Hey, I’ve helped plenty of people like you. See?” As we all know, social proof is the undisputed king of tools for building trust. But if you bombard prospects with testimonials and case studies right off the bat, they’re only going to head for the hills. They’re just not at that stage of the buyer’s journey yet. But when you tell a story that really connects with your prospects, you’re helping them understand the problem, explore the solution, and see that you are ultimately the gatekeeper to their success. This lets the prospect know that you have a deep understanding of your target audience. That you've seen relatable experiences and you answer their questions in an authentic way. Pretty cool, right? The Sales Rep’s Storytelling Framework Now that you understand why storytelling in business-to-business sales is so important, it’s time to dive into the how. Lets get into some storytelling skills for the business world. Now, there are plenty of different ways to approach great storytelling. But what I’ve found works the best is following a simple five-step process I like to call The Sales Rep’s Storytelling Framework. It looks a little something like this: Illustrate the Current Reality Dive Into the Unresolved Pain Encountering the Success Blockers Illuminate the Future Reality Build the Reality Bridge 1. Illustrate the Current Reality The very first step to telling an effective sales story is to start with a previous customer you helped overcome a problem—a problem that’s strikingly similar to what your current prospect is going through. Maybe it’s that their business’ growth has stalled in recent months. Or their team isn’t working nearly as efficiently as they should. Or it could be that they’ve hit a success roadblock that they just can’t seem to overcome. Whatever the problem is, it should be a problem that resonates with your prospect. And it should be a problem that they themselves are encountering in their current reality. Some points to drive home here are that: The current reality, well… it sucks. And frankly, it might always suck. Unless something’s done about the situation of course. It might not be the hero’s fault. Things change in business. And most things are out of people’s control. They’re a victim of circumstance. This stage is laying the groundwork for the amazing solution to come later. So the bleaker you make this part of the story, the better. How to Tell a Good Story Pro Tip: Do your research. The more intimately familiar you are with your prospect (problem they’re facing, pain points, goals, etc.), the more this introduction to the story is going to resonate with your prospect. And consequently, the more effective the story will be.  “If you want to close deals, if you want to win business, make it about them. It's not about you. It doesn't matter how great your product is. What is it going to do for them? Do your research on them, give them as many good examples of how it's helped similar people, but make it 100% about them.” – Interview with Daniel Disney, Author, Speaker, & Founder/Owner of The Daily Sales 2. Dig Into the Unresolved Pain Once you’ve introduced the hero and the broad strokes of the problem, it’s time to really drive the pain home. In copywriting terms, this is what’s known as “agitating” the pain. And it’s an essential step to get your prospect to really connect with the story on an emotional level. Your goal here is to make your prospect really feel what the hero is going through. And you do that by adding more detail, fleshing out the thoughts and emotions of the hero, and upping the tension. Some questions you may want to cover are: What are the consequences of this pain? – Think along the lines of missed revenue goals, delayed product launch, costly inefficiencies, etc. Who do they look stupid in front of because of the pain or problem? – Their boss? Their colleagues? Their family members and friends? Who is judging them? – Saying they could do the job better? Thinking the hero should never have had the position in the first place? What is on the line? – A raise or bonus? A job? An entire department? How to Tell a Good Story Pro Tip: Come at the problem from all the angles here. Money is a motivating factor, sure. But it’s not the only thing people consider when making a choice. Don’t be afraid to dive into the social consequences too.  “The number one fear that will stop most people from doing most things isn't failure, it's embarrassment.” – Interview with Michael Reddington, Certified Forensic Interviewer & President of InQuasive, Inc 3. Encountering the Success Blockers At this stage of the story, the unrelenting pain points should force the hero into action. But before they settle on a solution (your solution), they encounter two roadblocks to success: The Status Quo They’re Lost Blocker #1: The Status Quo As we all know, the status quo is the existing state of affairs—it’s where we’re at now. It’s where everything stays the same and nothing changes, for the worse or the better. And as a sales rep, you should know that the status quo is generally the enemy. It’s what keeps buyers from finding new (and more effective) solutions to their problems. And it’s what needs to be dealt with before they adopt your solution. In our story, the status quo is built including four elements: Selection Overwhelm – Selection overwhelm is when a buyer knows that they have a problem, but they don’t take action because they see so many potential solutions in the marketplace. This is where product differentiation comes in, a topic I’ve talked about plenty before. And at this stage in the story, it’s a great spot to reiterate just what makes your solution so superior to the competition. Confirmation Bias – Confirmation bias is one of the tougher aspects of the status quo to overcome. Essentially, this bias is our mind’s tendency to stick by our previous decision and defend it wholeheartedly. The reason we have this bias is because it protects our self-image. If we admit that the previous solution we chose isn’t up to snuff, it’s a blow to our ego. And rather than finding a new, better solution, we stand by our old one. It’s your job to prove that this is a mistake. Blowback Risk – The blowback risk is the very real risk that your potential buyer will look stupid if your proposed solution does not work out. Your reputation and brand in your industry will make a massive dent in this fear when you demonstrate your expertise and develop a network of satisfied customers. Initial Cost of Change – Finally, the initial cost of change is that first chunk of energy that the buyer needs to spend to start using your solution. Fighting for the budget, implementing your product, and any other number of time-consuming tasks may all need to be taken care of before the buyer starts seeing benefits. The easier you can make it for the buyer, then, the more likely they’ll be to sign on. “Buyers are looking to make a choice or an improvement in their environment. And a ‘do nothing deal’ happens when they decide to stick with their status quo.” – Interview with Tom Pisello, Chief Evangelist for Sales Enablement at Mediafly Blocker #2: They’re Lost That status quo is without a doubt the biggest barrier to buying. And when you deal with it effectively (or rather show how you dealt with it with past customers), there’s only one blocker left: the buyer is lost. They don’t have all the answers. At least not yet, anyway. And in the complicated world of B2B buying, knowing which solution is right for their problem (and how to implement it effectively) is confusing. That’s why they’re looking for help. They’re looking for a guide, a mentor of sorts, that can simplify the process for them and tell them exactly what they need to know to make the right decision. Sound familiar? Yep, that’s you! But don’t jump into the story just yet. Instead, we’re first going to move on to the next step to really build the excitement. 4. Illuminate the Future Reality Now that we’ve explained the current reality for the hero, dug deep into their pain points, and effectively described their success blockers, it’s time to paint a picture of their reality after implementing the solution. The goal of this step is to generate enthusiasm in the buyer and to put them in the shoes of the hero. How did the hero’s life improve after adopting the solution? Were they able to achieve or even outperform their professional goals? Did their stress levels drop? Did the higher-ups recognize all the hard work the hero went through to achieve these results? Now’s the time to show just what’s possible when your buyer breaks through their wall of status quo and finds the right guide to get them the results they’re after. How to Tell a Good Story Pro Tip: Get visceral with the future. Details are key here to driving real connection here. The more detailed and relevant you can make this for the buyer, the better they’ll be able to imagine themselves in the shoes of the hero. And that’s exactly what we’re after here.  “The average human being struggles to envision the future. They can see the present, they can see the past, but they really struggle to see the future. And what a before and after picture allows someone to do is think of the present photo, and that after photo as the future. That's why I think that salespeople have an opportunity, and I would dare say maybe even a responsibility, to preview the future for their customers that their customers aren't going to be able to envision on their own.” – Interview with Joey Coleman, Author, Speaker, & Chief Experience Composer at Design Symphony 5. Build the Reality Bridge Finally, it’s time to tie everything together. It’s time to explain that you are the guide/mentor that took the hero from their current reality to their better future reality. It was you that let them bridge the gap across their success blockers. It was you that helped them see why your product stood out from the competition. Why adopting a new solution is a good investment. Why they don’t have to be concerned about blowback. And why implementing your solution doesn’t have to be stressful and time-consuming. It was you that helped them achieve those jaw-dropping performance results, reduce their stress, and show the C-suite why the buyer is the best person for the job. And yes, of course, you can do the same thing for the prospect too. You can make them the hero in their own story. All they have to do is say, “yes.” If you’ve done everything right up until this point, you’ll now be talking to an engaged, excited, and ready-to-start prospect who’s just dying to work with you. And it’s all because you told an excellent story. “How you know that you actually won the prospect over is when they lean forward and say, “Can you tell me more about how you worked with Fred? What exactly did you guys do?” – Interview with Adrian Davis, President & CEO of Whetstone Inc. How to Tell a Good Story: 3 Goals Now that you understand how to tell a good story during your sales pitch, let’s go over three guiding principles you should never forget. These are the ultimate goals you should be shooting for with your storytelling. When you hit the three goals below, you’re using storytelling in business to its maximum effect. Goal #1: Connect to the Buyer Above all else is connection. You want the buyer to feel like they are the heroes of the story. They are the ones that can achieve all the success you touched on. And in order to do that, you need to drive buy-in. So, how do you get your prospect into the shoes of the hero? First is research. Match your story to the real problems, pain points, and other details to those of the prospect. Second, try dropping in key phrases that “transport” the prospect into the story. Phrases like: “Does this sound familiar?” “How would you have solved this?” “Could you see yourself there too?” Beyond just putting the buyer into the role of the hero, they also keep your audience engaged and part of the story. Goal #2: Requalify the Prospect Your story is also a great way to actually requalify the prospect to see if they’re a good fit for your solution. Ask the buyer outright, “do you have these issues?” or “how would you have solved this?” If their response is no, that’s fine. Just pivot to a different story and test that. But if you aren’t making any headway and continue to get negative responses, it’s a good sign that this lead isn’t right for your business. And from there, you can take the appropriate actions to refer the lead to someone else. Goal #3: Close, Close, Close Finally, the goal of the story is to (duh) close, close, close! If the buyer has been nodding their head throughout the story, you know it’s time to pounce. After you share that you’re the mentor that they’re looking for to achieve similar outcomes, ask, “Would it make sense for me to help you navigate this too?” Making this ask is a powerful way to close the emotional side of the sale right then and there. “If you can understand what your customer’s “good” looks like in six months time, guess what, you're selling to his perception or her perception of value. And that's what a customer buys. Customers don't buy technology, they buy outcomes, I believe.” – Interview with Julian Reading, Sales Enablement Expert Wrapping Up Storytelling in business is a powerful tool for any sales rep looking to boost their selling effectiveness. That’s because it’s fundamentally human, taps into a prospect’s emotions, lets them feel like the hero, and subtly sells your success. But to get the most benefits possible, you need to know how to tell a story. And with The Sales Rep’s Storytelling Framework, effective storytelling in sales is easy. Just: Illustrate the Current Reality Dive Into the Unresolved Pain Encountering the Success Blockers Illuminate the Future Reality Build the Reality Bridge With this framework, you can add some life to your sales pitch. No more driving buyers to sleep by endlessly slogging through features and metrics. Instead, prospects will be more engaged, more receptive to your solution, and (of course) more likely to buy from you. So, who’s ready to tell a story?

Times have changed for B2B salespeople. Not too long ago, buyers used to do light research on a solution before reaching out to a sales rep for more detailed information. These interactions helped educate buyers about the product. But they also gave salespeople all the power when it came to controlling the buyer's journey. These days, however, the buyer's journey is in the hands of the buyer. Pricing, product features, case studies—these sales assets (and many more) are typically all available online. And buyers now move through 70% of the buyer's journey on their own, not at the urging of a sales rep. So, how do you navigate this new B2B selling landscape? And how do you determine what your own buyer's journey is for your ideal customers? That's exactly what this guide examines. Inside, we'll be defining the buyer's journey, explaining how it's changed over the years (and what that means for you), and detailing what you need to consider when redefining your buyer's journey. What Is the Buyer's Journey? As a quick refresher, let's outline exactly what a buyer journey is. Also known as a customer journey or purchase cycle, a buyer's journey is essentially how your buyers go from being unaware of their problem to deciding to purchase your solution. As you know, buyers don't wake up one day and make purchase decisions on a whim (especially true in the B2B world). Instead, buyers need to first recognize they have a problem, learn more about it, and research the best solutions before deciding on a solution. The length of a buyer's journey tends to depend on the level of risk involved. For pricier solutions, the buyer's journey is longer. Buyers need to do more research to justify their purchase. And they'll need more convincing to jump onboard. For less expensive solutions, the opposite is true. With less at stake, buyers feel more comfortable making quick decisions. As a buyer progresses through different stages of the customer journey, they'll have different concerns that need addressing before moving to the next stage. And it's your job as a successful sales rep to meet those needs every step of the way. For example if your buyer is already at the consideration stage because they've consumed someone elses inbound marketing efforts then their buying process is nearly complete and it's going to be difficult to win business from them. Alternatively, if you're prospecting a slightly different buyer persona and they're still in the research and decision process then you've still got a chance to solve a pain point or two and influence their purchase process. Breaking Down the Buyer's Journey Stages So, what are the buyer's journey stages? First, let's take a closer look. No Awareness – This stage is when the buyer doesn't even know they have a problem. That can mean they're entirely unaware of it in the first place, or (more likely) they don't understand that a current inefficiency can actually be fixed. Awareness stage – This is when the buyer acknowledges the problem exists and seeks out more information about it. A buyer in this stage will respond to content types that examine their problem and shed light on why this problem exists in the first place. Exploring Solutions – Now that your buyer fully understands the problem they're dealing with, they're going to start researching solutions. What types of solutions are out there on the market? And which type will fix their problem? Comparing Vendors – This is when buyers get into the nitty-gritty. After determining the solution type, it's time to drill down into how the vendors stack up against one another. Which has the most valuable features? How do they compare on price? And what services will align best with their business? Purchase Decision – The final stage of the B2B buyer's journey is making a purchase decision. This stage is when buyers have settled on a solution but still need a bit of a push over the edge. They need reinforcement that they're doing the right thing. And they need reassurance that this solution is right for them. Then Vs. Now – What's Changed in the B2B Buyer's Journey? While the stages of the B2B buyer's journey haven't changed, the sales rep's role in that journey certainly has. And that's all thanks to an increasingly digitalized sales cycle. According to HubSpot, a whopping 77% of purchasers won't talk to a salesperson until they've done their own research. And that was in 2015. These days, the numbers are even higher. Decision-makers are relying on their research to learn more about their problems and possible solutions than ever before.  They're leaning into marketing automation and search engine results pages to educate them rather than calls with sales reps. As a result, sales reps like you need to understand the difference between the old buyer journey and the new buyer journey and then tailor your sales process accordingly. The Old Buyer Journey In the old days, the sales rep would shoulder most of the burden to ushering potential buyers through the active research process and customer journey. As you can see from the traditional buyer's journey above, educational materials would only play a role in informing buyers about the problem and touching on the solutions. But after that, sales reps would hop in to: Build rapport Outline potential solutions Differentiate their product from competitors Close the sale From the third stage on, buyers would get most of their information and educational materials from the reps, not from their own research. This, of course, put a lot of control in the hands of the reps and this is why a hard sales pitch became common place. Reps could assess where the buyers were in their journey and feed them materials that they needed to move on to the next phase. These materials might include: Articles How-To Guides Relevant content White Papers Product Spec Sheets Case Studies Demo Videos Product Comparison Guides Free Samples The New Buyer Journey Where the traditional buyer's journey allowed for maximum control, the modern buyer's journey is much more hands-off for sales reps like you. Rather than coming to you for educational materials, buyers now expect to access much of that information independently. And that's even more true today in a post-COVID era. A 2020 McKinsey study, for example, found that 70-80% of B2B decision-makers prefer remote human interactions or digital self-service models vs. “traditional” in-person models. Just 20% of buyers said they hope to return to in-person sales. And that's even in industries where field sales have dominated, like pharmaceuticals and medical products. Buyers now expect to access the content they need to move through the first four stages of a customer journey by themselves. They want to learn about their problems, possible solutions, and various vendors on their own first. Then and only then are they willing to get on the phone with a salesperson. You'll also notice the modern buyer's journey is longer than the traditional journey. Whereas educating buyers and closing a complex sale could happen in the span of just a few days before, most buyers are now taking longer to get to that “yes” decision. What This Shift Means for You So, what does all this mean for you as a B2B salesperson? Well, there are a few key takeaways here. A) Prepare for a Longer Sales Cycle Turning a prospect into a confirmed buyer takes longer than ever. Demand Gen Report found about 58% of buyers report their decision-making process is becoming longer year over year. Part of that is due to more readily available competition. With so many products ripe for the picking in the digital world, B2B buyers have many options to choose from. Of course, some of those options won't be right for the job. But even still, simply weeding through all the not-right products out there takes time. On top of that, B2B deals are becoming increasingly complex. On average, it takes input from 6 to 10 decision-makers to settle on a solution, according to Gartner. That means there are bound to be more emails, product demos, sales calls, and nurturing cycles than most B2B salespeople were used to even a decade ago. Here's how you can adapt to a longer sales cycle: Avoid pushy sales tactics and adopt an educational attitude. Develop a solid sales cadence to keep prospects engaged over time. Work on building out educational and valuable content for every stage of the buyer journey. Keep detailed accounts of what content your buyers have engaged with so you understand when to step in. Focus on customer lifetime value where possible with your buyer personas. It's far easier to close one target audience more than once than it is to close fresh prospects over and over. B) Focus on Strategic Content In the world of B2B sales, the salesperson with the best content is king. These days, buyers are interacting with content more than ever before. And they're doing it on their own too. Research from FocusVision found that B2B buyers now consume at least 13 pieces of content before making a buying decision. That's why it's so important for you as a sales rep to make the shift to creating valuable, customer-focused content for every stage of the buyer's cycle. On the one hand, it reinforces you as a thought leader. Selling expert Victor Antonio said the same thing when Salesman.org interviewed him: “The majority of executives don't want to talk to a salesperson, they simply don't. They want to do the whole customer journey by themselves. And then, when I'm ready, I'll reach out to you. Well, how do I reach out? Well, this is the guy that's got content, he seems to know what he's talking about. I'm going to go call Will, see what's happening over there.” Great content, then, builds trust. And it funnels more buyers into your pipeline. Beyond that, great content also caters to your buyers' desire to move through the cycle at their own pace. You're meeting them where they want to be rather than forcing them into a journey they don't want to participate in. And that is how you appeal to buyers today. C) Adopt an “Education First, Salesmanship Second” Mindset The modern B2B buyer's journey is no longer linear. Instead, decision-makers will flow from Awareness to Exploring Solutions to Comparing Vendors and back to Awareness again, all in a single cycle. What's more, they may dip their toes in each stage at the same time. Rather than a straightforward path, then, Gartner suggests a B2B buyer journey may look closer to this: Throughout such a complicated journey, individual salesmanship is likely to be lost in the shuffle of information. What takes its place in importance is your ability to provide educational materials every step of the way. And the more focused you are on delivering value rather than simply talking your way into a sale, the better your numbers will be. D) Equip Yourself With Alignment Tools You've already seen how the modern buyer's cycle is heavily dependent on delivering quality, educational content. In the old world, you would know exactly what content your buyer is consuming because, well, you showed it to them in the first place. But with so much research and engagement happening before you even speak to a lead, you need to know exactly what your buyers have interacted with beforehand. That's where your CRM tool comes in. With the right CRM (customer relationship management) tool, you'll have a complete record of which content leads have already consumed and where they may be at on the buyer's journey. Mapping Your Buyer's Journey The purpose of changing up your buyer's journey is to create a sales cycle that more buyers respond to positively. And for most B2B businesses, that means shifting away from a product-focused approach and towards a buyer-focused model. Jeff Koser of Zebrafi put it best in a recent interview with Salesman.org: “[Buyers] don't care about your product, they care about themselves. And they have to. It's their job. That's why there's such a fundamental difference between the buying journey that a prospect wants to go down versus a sales cycle that most salespeople try to conduct. And by shifting to pain, business issues, and value, you're actually making more of the shift to the buyer's journey that they want to participate in.” To figure out how your own customers are moving through the buyer's journey, you need to take into account the following factors: Which step you're meeting them at Where they've been What pain points they're experiencing What their next step will be How you get them to that next step 1) Which Step Do You Meet Them?  Where are you currently reaching out to buyers? Again, if it's in the earlier stages, you should consider shifting that to later in the sales cycle. Generally speaking, you will likely want to steer clear of direct interactions until late in the Comparing Vendors Stage/Purchase Stage. True, there was a time when you could swoop in during the solution exploration stage. But today, ushering buyers through this part of the customer journey is better left to educational content. It is worth noting, of course, that every industry is going to be different. And your unique buyers may respond better to earlier outreach. But the key here is to test alternative contact points and measure the varying effectiveness. Don't rely on old models to tell you when you should push for a call and when you should step back and let the buyer take the lead. 2) Where Have They Been?  You'll also need to consider the context for how they're moving through your buyer's journey. Which stages have they been through already? Have they shown strong engagement with materials from those previous stages? A robust CRM will be helpful here as it'll let you see what content from which stages buyers have consumed so far. 3) What Pain Are They In?  Next up is determining the pain points buyers are likely experiencing. In general, there will be specific pain points associated with particular stages in the buyer's journey. To give you an idea of where to start, buyers may experience the following pain points in these stages: No Awareness I know my business can be run more efficiently, but I don't know-how. Can we generate more revenue? Is it possible to attract more qualified talent? Awareness There is a gap in our processes that I need to understand better. We are missing out on earning potential; let's figure out why. There is a problem in our business, we need to give it a name and define it. Exploring Solutions We don't know which solution types will solve our problem. We don't know which solution types apply to our business model. We don't know which solution types are available in our industry. Comparing Vendors Which product offers the features we need to make this a successful solution? Which product offers additional features that increase their business value? Purchase Decision I'm concerned this isn't the right decision and needs reinforcement. 4) What Is Their Next Step?  Next, you'll need to define where you want the buyer to go next. This can be as simple as naming the next stage of the buyer's journey. For instance, if you determine the optimal place to interact with buyers is in the Comparing Vendors Stage, the next step would be ushering them into the Purchase Decision Stage. 5) How Do You Get Them To The Next Stage? For most stages of the buyer's journey, the answer here will be valuable content. Content should be the backbone of your buyer journey. And content (not pushy salesmanship) should be the driving force of what moves a buyer from one stage to the next. But what content type works best for each stage? Below are just a few examples of the best content types for each stage of the buyer's journey. No Awareness & Awareness Stages: Blog posts Social media posts Educational webinars Checklists Exploring Solutions Stage: How-to video Whitepapers Ebooks and in-depth guides Comparing Vendors Stage: Product comparison guide Product spec guides Case studies Reviews and testimonials Purchase Stage: Sales calls Consultation offer Discounts Live demo Free trial Creating Your Journey Statement A journey statement is essentially the combination of all the information you learned when defining your buyer's journey. It should help you define: When you're meeting buyers What stages of the buyer journey they've been through What pains they're currently experiencing What are their next steps How you help move them to that next step It should look something like this: I help (buyers at the optimal engagement stage), who have (which stages they've been through), solve (main pain points at that stage) and move towards (next stage) by (how you move them).  Example: I help buyers at the Purchase Decision stage, who have made their way up through the Comparing Vendors stage, justify their decision to buy our product and move towards a purchase by showing them what it's like to work with us using live demos and more. Your journey statement (when well-defined) will help you better understand your role as a sales rep and let you engage buyers at the optimal point in the buyer's journey. Wrapping Up The buyer's journey isn't the same as it used to be. Buyers have more control over their progression. B2B salespeople need a more sophisticated content strategy. And a more modern cycle requires reps to shift from a product-focused approach to one focusing on providing value instead. And while acclimating to this new B2B sales landscape may take some adjustment, you can do so successfully if you put in the work and focus on customer success more than anything. As Wistia VP of Sales and Customer Success, Peter von Burchard, put it in our interview: “Customer success is really understanding the journey that the customer is on, and the problem that you're solving as a solution and finding a way to align yourself as a company with getting those customers to achieve that end. And I think it's really about aligning the business and the solution with the goals of the customer and helping execute on that.”

You’ve got a job interview for your dream sales job. You have the experience and a track record of success. The only thing between you and your offer letter is your (hopefully) future sales manager. Impress them with your exceptional selling skills and expertise, and you’ve got the job. But the question is: how? This Salesman.org sales plan template guide will show you how to put together a winning 30-60-90 day sales plan to impress your sales manager with your sales knowledge and expertise and nab your dream sales position. What Is a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan? A 30-60-90 day sales plan outlines the measurable goals for your first three months on the job. Think of it as your personal value proposition that shows your superiors you’re a self-starter and helps you be laser-focused on achieving results. It expands on what success looks like in the first 30, 60, and 90 days, respectively. The idea here is to lay out your clear-cut plans for measuring a successful transition and keeping everyone focused in the right direction. Why Do You Need a 30, 60, 90 Day Plan? Your dream sales job is also somebody else’s dream job. This means you have to stand out in your interview and make sure the hiring manager can see what a great addition you can be to the organization. The only way to do this effectively is to create a sales plan that shows your vision of the future of the sales territory or customers you’ll be taking over. It should outline your interaction with your sales team, sales strategies, sales cycle, target audience and revenue goals. Each aspect of your 30-60-90 day sales plan should detail a specific focus, your priorities and goals, and a plan for measuring success. Getting this right will help you maximize your progression into a new role by identifying potential partners to sell two and establishing a general framework for success. Here’s are the biggest benefits of developing a 30-60-90 day plan: Creates a clear focus for your first 90 days on the job, boosting your productivity and maximizing results Ensures your goals are set properly in your 30-60-60 day plan, letting you integrate quickly and smoothly into the organization Proves you’re capable of self-management and achieving goals and are an employee worthy of development. If you bring in a well-thought-out plan into a job interview, you’ll have an advantage over other under-prepared candidates, significantly improving your chances of getting hired. Other Scenarios Where Having a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan Makes Sense Putting together a 30-60-90 days sales plan takes time and effort, but the good news is you don’t have to do it often. When you write a sales plan it becomes a sales tool that can be used over and over. Besides the interview process, you can also use your sales plan for the following circumstances: Scenario 1: First Week on the Job You got a brand-new job—or maybe you’ve earned an internal promotion. Regardless of the circumstance, you should create a 30-60-90 days sales plan within the first week on the job. Doing this will demonstrate your commitment to your new role and give you a well-defined plan to ensure you’re off to a good start. Scenario 2: New Territory Management Assignments If your company follows the territory management approach, creating a 30 60 90 day plan for new sales territory is a no-brainer. Your plan should clearly define geographic boundaries for territories you’re responsible for and the metrics you’ll use to evaluate territory performance. It should include any new business goals, changes in the company mission or types of sales that you'll be making. Steps To Create a Winning 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan Template Next, let’s understand how you can draft an effective 30 60 90 day sales strategy plan. Step 1: Know Who You’re Creating the Plan For You should know who you’re making the plan for. This involves thinking from the perspectives of two stakeholders: your team and you. A) Align Your Plan With Your Organization’s Goals Understand your sales team’s priorities and goals and align your sales plan with them. For a job interview, try to connect with a salesperson already working with the company on LinkedIn. Strike a polite conversation and ask them what goals they’re being pushed towards corporately. If you’re new on the job or handling a new territory, speak to your sales manager and ask them about goals that matter most to the organization. Find out current revenue targets, sales and marketing initiatives and any strategies and tactics that are working for the sales team. B) Identify Your Own Priorities What are your current priorities and personal goals?  Do you want to earn more money? Or do you want to focus on building now to set up your territory for even bigger successes? Maybe you want to position yourself as a legendary adviser for all things sales. You must identify your own priorities before you start building your 30 60 90 day plan. This will give you a clearer perspective on how to approach things and set yourself up for success. Do you want to install new sales tools, motivate your team or start pushing a new product or service? Creating your sales plan can reduce the time to implement a more effective sales action plan. Don’t worry; we’ll also share a super-easy template you can follow and ensure better outcomes. Step 2: Figure Out How to Measure Your Success Now that you know your sales goals, your next step is to measure progress against those goals. In the words of Peter Drucker, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” When you know how to measure success, you can improve your plan further by identifying and eliminating weak aspects. Here are a few tips to help you get started on the right track: Gain in-depth knowledge of product features Have the ability to demo the product at a high level Have built key relationships built-in potential growth accounts Developing a more targeted customer profile Become known, liked, and trusted with all current partners Improved sales performance or increased sales activities Have a list of 100 potential partners to prospect over the next 12 months Step 3: Draft Your 30-60-90 Day Plan Breakdown At this point, you’ve already done most of the hard work. You can now focus on documenting the information you currently have to create a more formal 30-60-90 day sales plan that you can then share with your sales manager. For each section of your plan, ask yourself “what does success look like?“. Note: We’ve also added critical questions below to help you create a more impressive sales plan. Stage 1: 30 Days As mentioned, the first step is to ask yourself what success looks like after 30 days are complete. When applying for a job, success in the first 30 days is likely completing your onboarding and training process successfully. In addition, you can also add the following criteria if you want to be more specific: Understanding corporate priorities, new roles and responsibilities Intermediate knowledge of key products and services Knowing the product's position in the market vs. the competition Developing key connections within the organization with customer support, sales leadership, team members etc Going through previous rep's sales CRM data and outlining a few key accounts to target The 30-day section of your sales plan should define your success goals and briefly explain how you plan on achieving them. It should also share how you‘ll know you’ve been successful in meeting these goals.  Let’s explain this using an example. Success goal: Having intermediate knowledge of key products and services offered by the organization. To complete I will: Spend an hour every week with the product specialist for each product and have them quiz me on my knowledge. I will have success if: In the 30-day review meeting with my sales manager, they can quiz me about our product range like a potential partner would and I can answer their questions confidently. This will allow you to show off your self-starting nature and help you understand your responsibilities better. Be sure to schedule a meeting with your sales manager to discuss successes and any issues you had during the 30 days before moving on to the 60-day and 90-day time periods. It’ll make the transition smoother. Stage 2: 60 Days With the first 30 days up, you have to amp up your sales efforts in the second month. You’ll be spending more time in the field or talking to potential partners at this stage. Keeping this in mind, you should understand your marketplace and products at a high level. Regardless of what you’re selling, after 60 days of being immersed in it, you should know everything related to the offering—big or small. Another good tactic is to role play with co-workers and shadow your senior sales professionals to understand their sales processes and approaches. Here are some pointers to include in the 60-day section of your sales plan. Notice how some of them are mandatory, while others are more flexible depending on your role, experience, and onboarding process. Started developing at least five new leads — Mandatory  Have shadowed the top two performing sales reps in the company — Mandatory  High-level understanding of key products — Mandatory  Completed role-playing sessions with other sales professionals in the team Have contributed to a sales meeting by adding value to the conversation Completed all formal sales onboarding or training that needs to be done Of course, these objectives will vary depending on why you’re drafting the 30-60-90 day sales plan. For instance, if you’re an experienced sales professional who has been recently assigned a new sales territory, your success criteria will look something like this: Knowing your target territory — Mandatory  Setting measurable and realistic setting goals — Mandatory Developing a territory management plan — Mandatory Recording daily development in CRM Attending meetings with other sales professionals Information overload, we know. But getting this step right will help you achieve greater success. Plus, once you get the hang of things, everything will become easier.  Stage 3: 90 days This is where you hit the ground running. Your 31-90 day plan sets out what you’re planning on doing for the rest of the time in the specific sales role. Here, you should have an optimized prospecting list and have your foot in the door with at least a couple of potential new key accounts.  Only a few things can go wrong at this point, which might stop your 30-60-90 day sales plan from being fabulous. Don’t worry, though. We’ll cover 30-60-90 day sales plan mistakes later to make sure all your hard work pays off. At this point in your new sales role you should have a lead generation strategy, be on top of all the new sales enablement tools and content, understand your customer pain points and have a few new customers on the go. At the 90-day meeting with your sales manager, discuss any 3-4 points from the following success criteria: Clear and optimized prospecting list in use — Mandatory Daily schedule established for prospecting, following up and staying on top of everything else — Mandatory Become a solid member of the team — Mandatory Had at least one round of feedback on performance from the sales manager Closed at least a couple of deals without too much babysitting from others Foot in the door with a couple of exciting key accounts And that’s it! That’s how you create a solid 30-60-90 day sales plan. Mistakes To Avoid When Creating a 30-60-90 day sales plan The whole point of creating a 30-60-90 day sales plan is to give you a clear direction in your new sales role. But there are a few errors that may make it less effective… Mistake 1: Not Including Success Measurement We get it: you don’t want to make promises you can’t keep. But not including specific ways of measuring your success on your sales business plan is a huge red flag that may cause your sales manager to question your capabilities.  You must be willing to put your money where your mouth is. So make sure you include measurable success criteria for each section of your 30-60-90 day sales plan. Mistake 2: Making an Ambiguous Plan  Planning is about being specific and granular.  If you’re going to be ambiguous, your plan isn’t going to inspire confidence in your new sales leadership role and may fall flat. Sales managers want to see numbers and progress towards a target rather than vague business strategy and generic sales plans. Mistake 3: Lack of Sales Manager Follow-ups Similar to how following up is necessary to win deals, holding meetings with your sales manager is important for improving your 30-60-90 day sales plan and self-improvement. Don’t forget to schedule meetings with your sales manager at the 30, 60, and 90-day points to review your progress and ask for advice on your sales process. 30 60 90 Day Sales Plan Template As promised, right click and save as to download your 30 60 90 day sales plan template. This free template will take you through the process of creating a sales plan.

Chris Smith is a sales and marketing expert, USA Today bestselling author and co-founder of Curaytor. On this episode of the Salesman Podcast Chris shares how software and what tools modern, internet based B2B sales professionals really need to close business in their marketplaces. Resources: Curaytor.com Book: Chris on Linkedin @Chris_Smth Book: The Conversion Code: Capture Internet Leads, Create Quality Appointments, Close More Sales

Most people think the best sales reps are selfish, that they only think about closing a deal from THEIR side, not the buyer’s. They’re focused on the sales funnel, not the buying process. But it turns out the most successful reps put 90% of their energy into understanding WHY buyers make a purchase. They focus on what’s known as the buyer’s journey. Because doing so makes nurturing a deal and closing 10X easier. And guess what, you can do the same too. What Is the Buyer’s Journey? Basically, the buyer’s journey is how your buyers go from being unaware of their problem to deciding to purchase your solution. Most sales professionals break the journey down into five stages: 1. No Awareness No Awareness where the buyer doesn’t even understand they have a problem. 2. Awareness Awareness where they’ve acknowledged the problem exists and are seeking more information about it. 3. Exploring Solutions Exploring Solutions where the buyer is trying to find the right product to solve their problem. 4. Comparing Vendors Comparing Vendors where they are weighing the pros and cons of different solutions. 5. Purchase Decision And Purchase Decision where, you guessed it… they decide to purchase a particular solution. Now, as they move through these five stages, they’ll interact with touch points that push them forward to the next stage. Touch points could be content like articles, case studies, and testimonials, but they’ll also be initial conversations with sales reps, demos, and sales calls. How Has the Buyer’s Journey Changed? How the buyer’s journey has changed recently. Here’s what the old buyer’s journey looked like: About 40% of the journey was covered by content the buyer would consume on their own. After that, sales would get involved and help guide the buyer through the remaining 60%. But these days, the buyer’s journey looks more like this: Nowadays sales reps are typically only involved in the final 20% of the journey—a huge change from the model of the past. This model has only gotten even more hands-off since the rise of COVID. In fact, a study from McKinsey found that 70-80% of B2B decisionmakers now prefer remote or digital self-service models vs. traditional models. This shift spells out three distinct changes for sales professionals like you: 1. The Sales Cycle Is Longer Than Ever The sales cycle is longer than ever, which means more in-depth sales cadences and customer lifetime value are incredibly important. 2. Content Needs to Be More Strategic Two, content needs to be more strategic. B2B buyers now consume at least 13 pieces of content before making a buying decision. As a result, your content needs to be specifically tailored for the buyer’s journey stage they’re currently in (more on that in just a bit). 3. “Education First, Salesmanship Second” And finally, you need to adopt an “education first, salesmanship second” mindset to be successful in this new world of sales. Longer relationships, a complicated journey, and fewer sales rep touch points mean buyers will focus more on the value you provide, not the charm you exude. Mapping Your Buyer’s Journey Now, the question is how can you change up your buyer’s journey to create a sales cycle tailored to this new reality? This is where the Buyer’s Journey Framework from the Selling Made Simple Academy comes in. The first step is to understand how your own customers are actually moving through the buyer’s journey. And that takes plotting out five factors. 1. Which Step Do You Meet Them? Which step do you meet them? If it’s earlier in the cycle, you may want to consider shifting your personal touch points to later in the journey. Rather than having a sales conversation with prospects in the No Awareness stage, better to leave things to a well-crafted piece of educational content. Now it’s worth mentioning that every industry will be different. So don’t be afraid to experiment with different methods in yours. But the key is to not rely on old models where you may close a deal during your first conversation. Instead, know when to step back and let the buyer take the lead. 2. Where Have They Been? Factor number two is knowing where the prospect has been. Which stages have they been through already? What kind of content are they consuming on a regular basis? Where are you seeing the most engagement? A robust CRM is golden here so be sure to equip yourself with tools like HubSpot as soon as possible. 3. What Pain Are They In? Next up, what pain are they in? There are usually specific pain points for each stage of the buyer’s journey. Knowing which pain points match up with which is essential for delivering the right messaging. Here are some examples of possible pain points for each stage. No Awareness I know my business can be run more efficiently, but I don’t know how. Awareness There is a gap in our processes that I need to understand better. Exploring Solutions We don’t know which solution types will solve our problem. Comparing Vendors Which product offers the features we need to make this a successful solution? Purchase Decision I’m concerned this isn’t the right decision and needs reinforcement. 4. What Is Their Next Step? The fourth factor you need to consider is what is the buyer’s next step? In the best-case scenario, the next step is going to be the next step in the buyer’s journey, like moving from No Awareness to Awareness. With that next step in mind, you can then move on to… 5. How Do You Get Them to the Next Stage? How do you get buyers to the next stage? For most stages, it’s going to be valuable content that does the trick. Use the individual pain points you picked out when deciding what pain the prospect was in during step number three. From there, generate educational content that addresses those pain points. Now in general you’ll want to keep content for earlier stages more simple. Blogs, social media posts, that kind of thing. And for later stages you can get more in the weeds with product spec guides, whitepapers, and case studies. What’s important here is that you’re meeting prospects where they are and ushering them to the next stage. Skip the salesmanship. And focus on education instead. Summary Not taking the buyer-focused approach isn’t just wrong in principle (after all, your job is to be a problem solver, not a shyster). But it also makes qualifying, nurturing, and closing prospects 10X easier.

Let’s face it—most cold emails suck. Cheesy openers, misleading subject lines, body copy that drawls on and on. It’s no wonder why the response rate for them is often less than 2%. But the most frustrating thing about it is cold emails don’t HAVE to suck! Because there’s a simple, 4-step structure you can follow to make any email stand out in any industry for any customer… Today we’re hitting on a subject that should be near and dear to any sales professional, cold email. We’ll be covering one of my favorite Selling Made Simple Academy processes, The Strategic Cold Email Framework. It’s made up of just 4 short steps: Get Attention Demonstrate the Need Earn Their Trust Call to Action Now, I love this framework because it’s just so versatile. You can apply it to any industry, from textiles and candy bars to professional services, luxury goods, and enterprise-level software. And like I said, it comes directly from the Selling Made Simple Academy. We won’t be able to cover it as in-depth here, of course. But it’ll be a great overview so you can at least get some actionable strategies you can start using today. And at the end, we’ll put it all together and share a template you can start using today. 1) Get Attention In the increasingly busy and crowded world of email, if you can’t stand out from the rest right off the bat, your cold email is going straight to the trash. Buyers won’t even bother opening them. So, which subject lines get opened rather than sent to junk? A. Direct Subject Lines Direct subject lines like “The world’s fastest CRM tool – 20% off today” B. News Subject Lines News subject lines like “Law [X] has moved on. Has your insurance followed?” C. How-to Subject Lines How-to subject lines like “How to reduce your advertising spend in 14 days” D. Question Subject Lines And question subject lines like “Is [X] costing you more to operate than it should?” 2) Demonstrate the Need Once you’ve got their attention, it’s time to demonstrate the need. What can you offer? And why should they devote their time to listening to you? One of the best ways to do this is by using the reality gap method. This method involves three steps. A. Current Reality Outline their current reality, typically by highlighting a problem they’re dealing with today. Next… B. Desired Future Reality Show their desired future reality once that problem is solved. And last… C. Reality Bridge Build the reality bridge by providing the steps they need to take to get them from where they are now to where they could be—i.e., use the solution YOU are offering. Here’s what that might look like in practice:   Hi [NAME],  I recently worked with [NAME], he is in the [INDUSTRY] like you.  Traditional salespeople had failed [NAME]. Here is his story – [LINK TO INSIGHT POST] He went from zero motivation, to proactively racing to get to his desk each morning to prospect.  All by implementing proven frameworks to relieve the pressure of choice from his job. Does it make sense to jump on a quick call to see if you can use these frameworks too?  Cheers, Will   3) Earn Their Trust Earning the buyer’s trust. Social proof is the name of the game here. What kinds of success stories have you had with past clients? What amazing ROI did you achieve that lines up with what you can offer this prospect? Try to include social proof directly in the body copy. For instance, when building out a reality gap, use quantitative results from people in similar companies, preferably ones the prospect will recognize. But if you really want to see your open and clickthrough rates explode, use a referral. A referral is without a doubt the most effective piece of social proof in your arsenal. So if you have a colleague in common, be sure to leverage their name right in the subject line. Another trick you can use is to include links to testimonials in your email signature. It’s an easy way to point prospects to even more social proof without seeming overtly spammy. 4) Call to Action And the final step of the Strategic Cold Email Framework is the call to action. At the end of the email, just ask this: “Does it make sense to jump on a quick call to… [achieve a result]?” Simple. Don’t mix up your messaging by having multiple CTAs. Don’t overcomplicate things with a lot of fluff. Just ask the question. Bam. Pulling It All Together Now, what does this look like when we put it all together? Well here’s the cold email template I mentioned earlier that has all four elements in one winning email.   Subject: Referral from [NAME] at [COMPANY]: Should we connect? Message: Hi [NAME], I was chatting with [NAME] last week, and he said [INDUSTRY] is tough at the moment.  I told him that we help [INDUSTRY] salespeople close more sales in just 28 days, guaranteed! He was a little shocked…  That is a bold statement, right?  Well, we have helped [RELEVANT COMPANY] increase their sales by X% in the past few months. [NAME] their sales manager is dancing on tables right now.  Does it make sense to jump on a quick call to see if we can increase your sales too?  Thanks, Will    See how we’re leveraging social proof right in the subject line and first sentence? Then we’re moving on to demonstrating the need and giving proof. And finally we’re wrapping up with a clear, straight-to-the-point CTA. This is the exact template I use with my cold outreach. And if you use it for yours, I guarantee you’re going to see some pretty spectacular results. And the coolest thing is that is isn’t just the Salesman.org team using this cold email framework, there are literally thousands of ofther sales professionals using it too. Here you can see the Selling Made Simple Academy community and there are thousands of examples of people sharing their emails, getting feedback and getting success from them too. If you’d like to find and close more deals in the next 30 days or your money back, click the link below to book a call with one of our team and we’ll see if you’re a good fit for our program.

Many businesses organize their sales teams into territories based on geography, demographics, or other criteria. Your company has also decided to jump on the sales territory management bandwagon to ensure better outcomes. But how can you ensure you continue hitting your monthly sales quota under this new arrangement? Your experience and your prospect's willingness to buy your product affect your success, but one thing is sure you cannot simply… wing your sales territory management. You need a territory management plan—a solid one at that. This Salesman.org guide will lay out the basics of sales territory management and help ensure you direct your time and energy on activities that have the most impact. What Is Territory Management? A sales territory is a customer group or geographic area over which either an individual sales reps or a sales team has responsibility. Each territory is defined based on specific factors, such as its history, geography, or sales potential—sometimes a combination of these factors. The ultimate aim of managing sales territories this way is to maximize sales and profits while efficiently allocating resources. Sales territories have to be balanced. Otherwise, bad things can happen to performance: If your territory is being under-serviced, you and your team can spread too thinly, resulting in inadequate activity levels. As a result, you'll seek out a few leads, identify fewer prospects, and generate lower revenue. If your territory is being over-serviced, you'll have little work and too many team members to service a smaller area. This will increase costs and overall prices, which will ultimately lead to reduced sales. If you want to get the most value from your prospects, you need to get your territory management right. And the best way to get this? Have a solid territory management plan. 5 Easy Steps To Create an Effective Sales Territory Plan Below, we've created a step-by-step rundown to help you create a winning enterprise territory management plan template and set yourself up for sales success. Step 1: Familiarize Yourself With Your Target Territory The first step when managing a sales territory is to analyze your current and potential customers thoroughly. Think about what your customers have in common, including: Their location Their purchasing behavior, i.e, the product or offering they buy from your business The pain points your product or offering solves for them The events that cause them to buy—or not to buy—your product Also, figure out the needs of the market that are not currently being fulfilled. This analysis will tell you how to position your products or services uniquely, giving you an edge over your competition. Step 2: Do a Self-analysis Be aware of your strengths and weaknesses and your capacity to win business from your new prospects. This will help you develop a territory plan that plays to your strengths while improving any weak areas. Besides your capabilities, you should also consider your organization's resources and think of ways to utilize them efficiently on your sales patch. Step 3: Set Measurable Goals Using the information collected from Step 1 and Step 2, develop goals you want to achieve from implementing your territory management. The goals you could measure include: Total income generated per month Number of calls every week Total sales closed every month The ratio of leads to sales closed every month After identifying your territory management goals, it can be valuable to document them to remain top of mind. There are a few ways you can do this: Goal Statement: Your goal statement should address what you plan to achieve and what is at stake in your sales territory. When you put your goals on paper, it becomes concrete. Instead of wondering about objectives, you know what you want to achieve from which activity. Key Milestones and Deadlines: With a roadmap for approaching your prospects, you will close sales and achieve your goals faster. Break down your plan into smaller milestones to make your road to success clear. For instance, if you want to close $100,000 of new business this year, you can track progress by breaking your plan down into smaller milestones, such as $15,000 by Month 2, $32,000 by Month 3, and so on. Measurable Metrics: You'll need clearly defined KPIs to ensure your business goals are met in an efficient mannor. To get started on the right track, consider metrics like total sales created, leads contacted, and leads closed. Choose metrics that give you insight into productivity and can help track your progress against those goals effectively. Your goals must be realistic and simultaneously push you to improve and grow to meet your sales targets. Step 4: Chalk Out Your Territory Action Plan Creating the plan is where all the action begins! Generally, your sales manager will create a map for you to prevent any overlap between different territories and sales reps. Your job is to ensure you visit all opportunities within your region in a timely and effective manner. Think about how often to call each account and whether the calls should be in person or by phone—or the more remote-friendly option: virtually. By planning out the nuances beforehand, you'll minimize time, effort, and money wastage and can direct your focus on converting your clients. Put your call plans on a calendar and stick to it. This will force you to have the discipline needed to become a successful territory manager. Step 5: Effective Record-Keeping As you implement your territory management action plan, you should maintain an accurate and up-to-date record of outcomes in your organization's CRM. This will help you track your plan's effectiveness. Log everything. If your data tracking starts taking too much time then invest in selling software to help. Sales Territory Management Best Practices Besides creating a sales management plan, you'll have to adopt a few best practices and make them a part of your daily routine to have massive sales success. A: Create a Contact Rotation Schedule Regularly check in on prospects to ensure they have all the information resources to move forward in the buying process. But while you do this, don't come off as too salesy and end up overwhelming them. It's why we highly recommend creating a contact rotation schedule. Use it to determine the communication channel that works best for your specific territory and at what point in the sales process. It'll also make it easier to decide when and how often an account needs a phone call, an in-person visit, or a promotional email. B: Don't Forget Your Current Accounts When Finding New Leads Your sales territory management plan should have a dual focus on providing services to high-value accounts and developing relationships with potential new accounts. High-value accounts are those guaranteed to bring in higher volume sales in shorter periods when compared to other accounts. However, while high-value accounts will help you meet your sales quotas, they aren't enough to smash through it. You'll also have to cultivate new accounts to expand the business and ensure professional growth. C: Change With the Seasons Customer requirements change with the seasons. Depending on the product you're selling, your territory's customer base and conditions might vary during the year. To avoid issues, analyze your territory by looking at sales data over time. Find out: What product or service do people buy during different times of the year? When are they buying it? How much do they spend on them? Based on the data, identify whether your business has slow and busy seasons. Then adjust your goals, priority level, and plan of action as needed. D: Align Your Sales Efforts With Other Departments You are not the only one interacting with customers. While other departments may not be talking to your buyers face-to-face, they're still interacting with your accounts. Try to collaborate with other departments—marketing and customer service—and get them involved with your territory. Maintaining consistent interactions will help you learn valuable insights that you can apply when selling. E: Refresh Your Sales Map Territory management is a never-ending cycle where you must continuously evaluate, implement, assess, and improve your action plan. Yes, this regular evaluation and improvement is a lot of work. But it'll help you achieve more tremendous success and close more deals over the longer term. Even after you draft a strong territory management plan, nothing is set in stone. Conditions can change at any time, regardless of your industry, economy, organization. So keep measuring progress and modifying aspects of your plan to stay relevant and get your desired results. Once you get a firm grasp over your territory, accounts, and current and potential customers, you can effectively crack the complicated code of successful treasury management. All the benefits—and bonuses—will soon follow. Empower yourself with territory management knowledge, and manage your accounts—current and potential—the right way.

Deb Calvert is the President of People First Productivity Solutions, offering sales training, coaching, and leadership development programs. Deb also leads the Stop Selling & Start Leading® movement and founded The Sales Experts Channel. In this episode of The Salesman Podcast, Deb explains how we can use selling questions to remain in control of the sales conversation. You'll learn: Sponsored by: Free SalesCode assessment Learn your strengths and weaknesses in an instant. Taken by over 10,000+ of your competitors. Don't get left behind. Take the free assessment Featured on this episode: Host - Will Barron Founder of Salesman.org Guest - Deb Calvert President of People First Productivity Solutions Resources: Deb on LinkedIn PeopleFirstPS.com Book: DISCOVER Questions Get You Connected: for professional sellers Book: Stop Selling and Start Leading: How to Make Extraordinary Sales Happen Book: Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations TheSalesExpertsChannel.com Transcript Will Barron: Coming up on today's episode of the Salesman podcast.   Deb Calvert: Your role as being a leader in any sales conversation. The word origin of lead is guide. So you are the guide. What buyers really want is to be inspired and to be led. If you be as a leader, you become perceived as a leader, and leaders, they operate in the realm of something that's of interest to others.   Will Barron: Hello, Sales Nation. My name is will Barron, and I'm the host of the Salesman podcast. The world's most downloaded B2B sales show. And on today's episode, we have the legend that is Deb Calvert. She is the author of Discover Questions. One of the only sales specific books that I recommend to you guys, Sales Nation, and to anyone else who wants to learn how to sell as well. And we'll get into questions on this episode, how to use questions to stay in control of the sale, no matter what stunts your buyers are trying to pull on you. Everything that we talk about is available in the show note to this episode over at salesman.org. And with that, let's jump right into it.   Who Between the Buyer and the Salesperson Should be in Control of the Sales Conversation? · [01:21]    Will Barron: Conversations is what I want to talk about in this episode. We're going to look at how we can put ourselves, to use your words, in the driving seat of sales conversations moving forward. But let's get right back to basics here for someone who's perhaps relatively new to sales, whose job is it to control and drive a sales conversation forward? Is it the salesperson or is it that we should be listening to the buyer and we should just be sucking up to them and doing whatever they say and letting them be in control of the whole sales process?   “Let's use this metaphor. Imagine being in a car and someone's in the driver's seat and that should be the salesperson, but I think that the buyer should be metaphorically the navigator they should absolutely be involved and you should be very closely listening to them. But before you can even get those roles worked out, you've got to make sure that you're both going to the same place.” – Deb Calvert · [01:40]    Deb Calvert: Well, yes, we should listen to the buyer, but let's use that metaphor. So imagine being in a car and someone's in the driver's seat and that should be the salesperson, but I think that the buyer should be metaphorically the navigator they should absolutely be involved and you should be very closely listening to them. But before you can even get those roles worked out, you've got to make sure that you're both going to the same place. So knowing that destination, you want your buyer to be in the car with you. But here's the thing that I see. And I guess this is really why this conversation is so important. I see a lot of sellers who are thinking that it would be rude or presumptuous to get into the driver's seat, and so instead they end up driving around aimlessly, looking, hoping somebody's going to want to get in the car with them.   Deb Calvert: So that implies first of all, that like it or not, you're in the driver's seat, but are you going to get a buyer in there with you? And the only way you do that in fact is ironically, by making sure it's clear that you're in the buyer's seat to you and to your buyer. You already are there, but making sure that your buyer is going to get into the car with you, that's what this is really all about. And the only way you get them there, just like an Uber driver, is by making sure you're going to that destination where they want to go. And that's how they get in the car with you. Does that make sense? It's very ponderous.   Why Step One in a Sales Conversation Should be Setting a Clear Goal and Guiding the Buyer Towards That Goal · [03:07]    Will Barron: That makes great sense. And Deb, is that step one then of both creating the conversation and the navigation system, is it to suss out going back and forth with the buyer where we are going, is that step one of stating that we're in control and then progressing it towards potentially a close?   “Your role is being a leader in any sales conversation. The word origin of lead is guide. So you are the guide in that conversation with your buyer, and that is driving. You're taking somebody someplace, just like a guide would.” – Deb Calvert · [03:40]    Deb Calvert: I believe it is. And even before that, it's step one of working out in your own mind, your role. Your role as driver. Your role, we'll even position this a little differently. I think people might like this better. Your role as being a leader in any sales conversation. The word origin of lead is guide. So you are the guide in that conversation with your buyer, and that is driving. You're taking somebody someplace, just like a guide would.   Deb Reveals Why Most Salespeople Shy Away from Leading the Sales Conversation · [04:01]    Will Barron: I want to get into questions and how we can navigate this moving forward, but why do perhaps some of the audience and perhaps myself as a younger sales rep, and you can give us your thoughts on this as well, Deb. Why do we sometimes shy away from this leadership role? Is it that we just don't want the responsibility of it? Why isn't it that we're doing this by default?   Deb Calvert: Well, let me separate it from age, because I see a lot of older salespeople who do this too. It's that a seller isn't understanding the buyer and what they really want from a seller. So this is based on research. There are two bodies of research. So it's not just the recent research that went into Stop Selling and Start Leading. But it's the bigger body been going on now for almost 25 years, that'll age me, with discover questions.   “The job of a leader is to take followers to a place the followers want to be. That's what guides do too. So if you think about being in the jungle and chopping down the vines that are in the jungle. As a guide, you're taking somebody somewhere, and you're making it easy for them to get there. But nobody is going to go through that jungle with you if it's not a place they want to be. And frankly, they don't need you, unless it's a place that is a little hard to get to, and they see that you, uniquely, you have some expertise that could get them there.” – Deb Calvert · [05:15]    Deb Calvert: And what buyers really want is to be inspired and to be led. So let me see if I can't use a couple of other visuals here. The job of a leader is to take followers to a place the followers want to be. That's what guides do too. So if you think about being in the jungle and chopping down the vines that are in the jungle. As a guide, you're taking somebody somewhere, and you're making it easy for them to get there. But nobody is going to go through that jungle with you if it's not a place they want to be. And frankly, they don't need you, unless it's a place that is a little hard to get to, and they see that you, uniquely, you have some expertise that could get them there. Well, this is all about positioning that, whether you're using questions, whether you're using inspirational language, but it's all about leadership either way.   Deb Calvert: And so step one is yes, knowing where your buyer wants to go. But even before that, having the mindset that you are a leader who is committed, interested, able to take them there.   How to Squash Buyer Assumptions About Salespeople and Present Yourself as a Thought Leader · [06:27]    Will Barron: It makes all sense, right? I think everyone's nodding their head in agreement with this. And for us to give buyers the ideal buying outcomes, we've sold the same product hundreds of thousands of times. They've probably not bought this product as many times as we've sold it. We've got insights. We've got resources in our own organisation. We can help these people, Deb. But just to play devil's advocate slightly here from the perspective of the buyer. I think most buyers, until they've dealt with you perhaps a couple of times, and perhaps we can talk about how we can set ourselves up to be known and perceived as leaders. Most buyers, when a salesperson reaches out to them, think, “[inaudible 00:06:37], another pesky salesperson trying to grab my money and take something and take up a load of my time.” So how do we set up the conversation so that we come across as a leader? So then I'm assuming that once we're perceived as a leader, all this gets easier as we go throughout the sales process.   “The fastest, quickest way to get away from that being perceived as a pushy salesperson who just wants to reach into my pocket, is that you've asked me a question, or you've somehow demonstrated that you care about me and you're interested in where I want to go and what's important to me.” – Deb Calvert · [07:21]    Deb Calvert: It does. If you behave as a leader, you become perceived as leader. And leaders, they operate in the realm of something that's of interest to others. See, it's not true that leaders live in ivory towers or that leaders are lonely at the top. That's not true. Real leaders, the ones who inspire us that we choose to follow, they have an interest in us. So the fastest, quickest way to get away from that being perceived as a pushy salesperson who just wants to reach into my pocket, is that you've asked me a question, or you've somehow demonstrated that you care about me and you're interested in where I want to go and what's important to me.   Deb Calvert: I say questions because that is frankly the fastest, easiest, clearest way to demonstrate that. Otherwise, you're in the assuming place and that's always dangerous. But a question, some great questions. And this is going to depend on the industry you work on a little bit. It's going to depend on your personality a little bit. It's going to depend on your buyer and what you know about them. But by and large, it's a question that sounds like, “What is it that you hope to accomplish?” Not what do you want to do with my product? That's too early. But bigger. What do you want? What do you hope to accomplish? What are your goals? What are the things that you value right now that are urgent and important to you?   Deb Calvert: And when we start there, it does change the conversation, it does engage the buyer, and it does differentiate you from just that person who's waiting with baited breath to pounce on some opening that is all about you and serving your own interest.   Will Barron: So two things I think you really subtly hear, Deb, and you might not have even realised it, because you're so ingrained in all of this. One, and I've never heard it put like this before. You said you want to be a leader that people choose to follow, as opposed to, we've probably all had that sales manager that's cracking the whip and constantly got us nervous about hitting target and trying to bully us into doing more work. We want to be a leader that inspires. You've used that word a few times. So I think that's important here just to frame up what a leader is and what we are aspiring to be, as salespeople, in front of our audience of buyers.   Will Barron: And the other thing, and I want to just get clarification from you here. When we ask a question like, “What is your goals?” Are we keeping it an open-ended question like that? Or are we asking a more close ended question of, “What are your goals with your marketing this year with this range of products that I also happen to sell?”   The Differences Between a Leader and a Manager in Sales · [09:41]   Deb Calvert: Yeah, those are two very important questions. I'm going to start with the first one, because people often misunderstand this very important thing. Managing and leading are not the same. There are lots of managers who have authority. You to do what they say if you want to keep your job. That's not leadership. Ideally a manager and a leader are the same person, but it doesn't always work that way. Leadership happens at every level and in every kind of a relationship. And leadership is, as I said, it's to guide, whereas manage the word origin there means to handle. I've got to get today's work done today. So that puts leaders more often in the longer term and managers in the shorter term. And I don't mean this to sound disparaging to managers, both leaders and managers are important, but if you don't have a title of manager and you're working with, for example, a buyer where you have no authority, you can still lead. So yeah, really, really good clarification there.   Comparing the Effectiveness of Open-ended Versus Closed Questions in Sales Conversations · [10:43]   Deb Calvert: The other question is a good one. A broader versus a more narrow question. And I do strongly recommend, as counterintuitive as it may sound, because it will feel like it's going to take longer, but I strongly recommend, you start with that broader approach. What are your goals for the year, period? What are your goals for your legacy? What are your goals for your team? These are all bigger questions. They have nothing at all to do with your product. They have nothing at all to do with marketing or positioning or branding. Later, right? Later that question will be fine. But we had started talking about how do you open up the conversation and reposition yourself so that people will willingly choose to follow you. Will stick around with you and take the call with you.   “Let's say you're a media rep. If you ask, “What are your goals for your marketing?” If you're selling some sort of technology, “What are your goals for your user experience? What are your goals for your tech support?” If you ask it in a very narrow way, it becomes too quickly about you and about what you sell. But when you ask it in the broader way, you immediately tap into whatever truly matters to that individual. And then you're talking their language and you're showing them that you care about what matters to them.” – Deb Calvert · [11:40]    Deb Calvert: And let me go ahead and explain and why. When we ask very narrow questions, let's say you're a media rep. If you ask, “What are your goals for your marketing?” If you're selling some sort of technology, “What are your goals for your user experience? What are your goals for your tech support?” If you ask it in a very narrow way, it becomes too quickly about you and about what you sell. But when you ask it in the broader way, you immediately tap into whatever truly matters to that individual. And then you're talking their language and you're showing them that you care about what matters to them. And you're much more likely to be in that space of tapping into what they truly value. That's where you motivate them and inspire them and get their attention and cause them to think about why they ought to spend more time with you.   How to Leverage Open-ended Questions to Spark Buyer Curiosity and Drive Sales Conversations · [12:36]    Will Barron: I feel like if someone asked me a more open-ended question, especially the top of a conversation, I'm more likely to go, “Oh,” and take a step back and actually think about the answer as opposed to, “I'm not interested in that,” which is obviously the response that a lot of sales people will get as soon as they do manage to jump on the phone or so on, because the buyer probably feels like they're being sold out, influenced. And I feel like, yeah, as you were saying that, Deb, I feel like I'd be going, “Oh, maybe I need to think about my goals and write this stuff down. And hopefully this person can give me some insights.” That's the change in dynamic that I would feel in that conversation.   Deb Calvert: It is. And I always appreciate how practical you make the conversations. But I'm going to go a little impractical here for just a moment because I think it's so important for the mindset piece of this. And I'm going to look away from you because I have a quote that I cut out of a newspaper something like 30 years ago. And I have my file organiser. I had taped it on there, and so I can keep that file organised there for this quote, but I want to make sure I quote it very, very quickly. I mean, very correctly. And the quote is from a guy named Daniel H Burnham. It says, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work.”   Deb Calvert: Okay. So what does this have to do with what we're talking about? Well, it is the same thing. It's this bigger everything. Bigger plans, bigger ideas, bigger hopes and dreams. That's where people get inspired. We talk about the little stuff. Let me illustrate it this way. Dr. Martin Luther king Jr., he said, “I have a dream.” And his whole speech, what people remember is the dream. He didn't say, “I have a list of measurable objectives.” And it would not have had the same magic if he had said it that way.   Deb Calvert: It's okay to indulge in that, especially early on. That's what captivates people and gets their interest. That's where you are going to be able to drive a conversation, a relationship, a sale, is if you first get people on board with you. Get them in the car with you and then invite them to navigate, but stay in the driver's seat.   How to Nudge a Sales Conversation Forward · [14:55]    Will Barron: So what do we do then, Deb, next? Hopefully the buyer now has, they've come out with some spiel and they've poured their heart out to us, and we've got a gist, an idea now of both the business objectives and perhaps some of their own personal objectives as well. And how they align and intermingle. How do we, considering the conversation here is about being in control of the conversation. How do we then nudge the conversation forward rather than just doing essentially psychoanalyst on this individual and charging them some kind of psychiatry fee after the fact?   Deb Calvert: I'm going to give you and your listeners the very best example that they can relate to. And then I'll break it down a little bit. You do this really well. Anybody who listens to your podcast, without perhaps knowing it, already has the answer to that question you just asked. This is how you do it. You pay attention to what Will's as the driver of the conversations with the guests he brings onto his podcast.   Will Barron: Let me just say this, Deb, and to interject here. I have no idea what you're going to say. So whatever I'm doing, I'm doing it by accident and inadvertently.   “This is what smart sellers do. They learn, they adapt and they follow some of their better instincts. They also are humble enough to do those adjustments along the way.” – Deb Calvert · [16:25]    Deb Calvert: Well, you're paying attention to your sum of your good instincts, and you've probably learned along the way. I bet if you went back and listened to some of your early podcasts, you might even be horrified. I know I was when I listened to some of the first podcasts or sales calls that I had a chance to play back. But this is what smart sellers do. They learn, they adapt and they follow some of their better instincts. They also are humble enough to do those adjustments along the way.   “First of all, they (good salespeople) don't plan ahead for every single question that they're going to ask. If you script your questions, you might as well not have your buyer in the passenger seat, navigating at all.” – Deb Calvert · [16:55]    Deb Calvert: So what a good salesperson or a good podcaster or a good friend who converses with you, what we do in conversations that takes us step by step to a place where we're leading in a place where we're using questions effectively. They do a couple things. First of all, they don't plan ahead for every single question that they're going to ask. If you script your questions, you might as well not have your buyer in the passenger seat, navigating at all. In fact, that's exactly how they'll feel. They'll feel completely marginalised and they'll feel like it's very robotic and generic. And it's very disinteresting to them.   Deb Calvert: Many podcasters, to keep my comparison going here, many podcasters send a list of questions. In fact, you can tell, send the same questions to everybody who's ever on their podcast. And I guess some guests actually are okay with that, or maybe even like it, because it helps them to feel more prepared. I think after that initial security blanket aspect of it wears off, they also eventually feel, and certainly listeners feel, that it's a little bit boring, and they're not really getting a full amount of information, and it doesn't create opportunities for real, genuine, personalised, relevant, meaningful dialogue.   Deb Calvert: Okay. So first thing is that they don't ask scripted question. Second thing, it's hard, but you listen. You listen to the answer for every question that you asked, and that's a skill and it requires some skill building, but you'll notice as you are listening, to Will, as an example of what I'm describing here. He doesn't ask a question that's unrelated to what I've said. Now, maybe sometimes you have to do that because maybe sometimes guests or buyers get way off course and you've got to rein them in with a question that's different from what they've just said. But more often, your question is a natural one. It drills down around something that they've said it, but builds on what they've just said. For example, your question was, “Okay, that's what we do first. Now tell us, Deb, what do we do next?” It's natural for conversation to flow in that way.   Deb Calvert: And the third thing is that as they're listening, and as they're drilling down, and as they're creating this two-way dialogue that it's a back and a forth, they also do advance the conversation. Will's last question did a good job with that, too. And people are going to start to think we plan this, Will, because [inaudible 00:19:19], but we didn't. But what I mean by advancing the conversation and building on the conversation and directing, driving, steering the conversation without being manipulative or rude in the way that you do it, is that you select out the pieces that are most useful to the goal, the destination that you want to reach. You don't ignore the other important pieces. If I had said something very big, very emotional and took us on a different tangent, you'd have been okay with that. But since our topic is, how do you stay in the driver's seat, and why is that important in a sales conversation, you extracted some of what I had said before and decided to emphasise that as we move forward.   Will Barron: Okay, Deb, tell me this. What is your favourite food?   Deb Calvert: Now there's a tangent, right?   Will Barron: [crosstalk 00:20:15] I was only joking. [crosstalk 00:20:16]   Deb Calvert: Where's he going with that? Even though it's a fun question and I'm laughing as he asks it, I still had that [crosstalk 00:20:22]   Will Barron: Well, it's because you are listening, right? You are actively paying attention. And you're right, I don't send questions across. What I do is typical. We went back on forth. I like to have a headline and a place where we're going to, essentially. And what I try and do in the podcast is, you highlighted it there and this is something I do consciously do, Deb. That is I try and break it down into steps. So at the end of the show, we can wrap it up with, here are the four steps to do X or Y.   Will Barron: Now some podcasts, when you have someone who's just got a really motivational story, sometimes the story's good enough. But I even find when I interview those kind of people, we've had Olympic athletes on the show, I've had astronauts on the show, I've had UFC fighters on the show, I find that just throwing this story back up for the 17 [inaudible 00:21:11] time that week. And so I do try and break things up the best I can with them as well.   The Benefits of Separating Sales Conversations into Different Sections · [21:18]    Will Barron: But is that something that we should be thinking about in our sales conversations, that the conversation is in multiple parts and we know that we're making progress, because we can say, well, we've gone from getting the big picture. Now we've narrowed things down to part B, C, D, E, and F is perhaps we ask the question, “Does it make sense to jump on board? Have another call? Bring in your partners?” Should we be thinking of a sales call that we're trying to stay in control of as having separate sections?   Deb Calvert: Absolutely. So we're in the car, we're driving to our destination, you've got to have things along the way that you're checking off. Am I going the right way? Do I have enough gas? Am I able to make it or do I need to stop for the night? So that yeah, sure, sure. What I really like about this question is that it's making me think about what the typical salesperson does that isn't that. And having those criteria or those chapters worked out, I think that's really smart.   Deb Calvert: Too often, sellers make those checkoffs. Is this a qualified buyer? Did I hear a hint of any need? Like have they ever used or even heard about my product? And do they seem to be giving me a little smile or something that's at least a little bit affirming, and then I'm going to be able to dive in. So we're already doing this, but are we doing it in the right way? I love this question. Yeah. Yes. The answer is yes, people should do that.   “I believe that you have to open a relationship before you can ever close a sale.” – Deb Calvert · [23:05]    Deb Calvert: So that's what they shouldn't do. Let's talk about what they should do instead, very much in a better way. So I believe, and you'll find people who have different answers. I believe that you have to open a relationship before you can ever close a sale. So let's call step one, that we've established enough rapport because of my very broad questions and my true interest in you and understanding what you value and where your head's at right now. That's the first thing. And it doesn't have to take a long time. We know from all sorts of research on what causes people to trust each other and whatnot, that that can be built quickly. So you want to be effective and efficient using questions to get there.   Deb Calvert: And then next as I'm narrowing down, I think the next thing is partially qualifying, but it's not qualifying the way BANT or some other training out there would do it. That's further down in the funnel, in my opinion. The next thing though, it's going to feel a little bit like qualifying to you, but you don't want it to feel that way to the buyer, but it is about now shifting the conversation, drilling down in the conversation to help them understand a little bit more about your product without you selling it.   Deb Calvert: I call these in discover, I call these solution and example questions, and it's about, what are your thoughts about, and tell me a little bit about the contrast between where things are now and where you want them to be. It's enriching the story. It's getting them to start selling themselves in a way, but it's giving you tremendous more insight and you'll pick up some things that qualify for you. Which parts of my product service will they want? Which ones don't they want? And their storytelling as you invite some very broad information is going to serve you really, really well. So long as you're listening and can pick up on it.   Will Barron: I like this idea of contrast. Have you read, Nancy, I think it's Nancy Duarte's books on presentations.   Deb Calvert: I have met Nancy. Now, I'm sure I've read her books because usually when I meet people, I like to read their books, but it's not … I think I told you before, I read one or two business books every week. I used to read one a day. So tell me the names, maybe I'll [crosstalk 00:25:15] or a key theme.   Will Barron: I'll link them all in the show notes. I'm getting a lot of value out of them. So I don't typically read traditional sales books. Obviously, we've got yours on the desk here so I love that. But I tend focus on books around sales and I feel like I learn more from them that is then applicable to a sales role, because I think a lot of sales books point out the obvious and try and sell you on some kind of training on the back of it.   Will Barron: But with that said, Nancy's books, a big part of presentation techniques that she teaches is to contrast either this is what it was like and this is what it could be like, and future pacing people, or this is how things have always been done, this is how things could be done and going back and forth. And that's how she reckons that. For example, she uses Martin Luther King's presentation. She breaks it down and it's here now there's the problems, here's the future, here's things in the past, and going back and forth between all these different opportunities to contrast where we are right now, where we could be, if things go right where we could be, if things go wrong.   Will Barron: And I find that's really valuable in my own sales calls and the training that we do as well, Deb. As you use the storytelling, it starts to paint a real picture in the mind of the buyers, rather than saying our product is going to do X, Y, Z. We're starting to paint this story in the buyer's mind using contrast at this point in the conversation of, they think our product could do X, Y, Z, and if they don't do anything, they think that the future is going to turn out this way.   Getting the Buyer to Buy Into Having a Conversation Before Asking Them to Buy · [26:50]    Will Barron: So how can we get the buyer to think about all of this themselves so we're not putting words in their mouth by perhaps asking questions that allow this contrast and, and sharing of future, the different futures? How can we draw that out of the buyer so again, they're painting the picture and we are listening to it, rather than us saying, we can do X and if you don't do it, you're going to get Y?   Deb Calvert: I mean, and that is so smart because then you're getting buy-in before you ever ask for the buy. It's their idea, not yours. And in customer experience research, this is called, they're participating in creating what they want. This is the E question in the acronym discover. I call it an example question because that's what we're after. And its purpose is to give people the same sort of experience that when you go to buy a new car, that experience is that they put you behind the wheel of the car. They're so much in a hurry to get you to take a test drive because they know you're going to smell the new car interior. You're going to feel that lumbar support. You're going to love how the cup holder's positioned. It's going to be so different from what you're driving right now in positive ways.   Will Barron: Deb, I think me and you buy cars differently, if you are really interested in lumbar support and cup holders.   Deb Calvert: That's the purpose of the test drive. And then afterwards, yes, they're going to pop the top and they know you've already done a lot of research about, you want to V8 in this one, you had that power as you accelerated. Yeah. Yeah. But yes, I'm very much about comfort in my recent purchase.   Will Barron: Sorry to interrupt you there.   Deb Calvert: That's great. There's the age difference coming through. I even like car colour, Will. So yes, so you can't do that unless you sell a product where they get a hands on demo. You've got to do it in their mind instead. And a question about contrast will help do that. So you ask a question like, “Tell me the difference between the experience that you've been having with your X, Y, Z, and what you would consider the ideal experience.” You get them to begin imagining that.   Deb Calvert: Or you give them a little bit of a something like, “What would it be like for you if, instead of having to have somebody on your team do transcription, you could have 95% accurate transcription with AI. What would that be like for you?” And then of course the follow up is, how important would that be to you? You want to know and magnify that value. So, whatever it is that you have to offer and that you know is likely going to be important, you're asking them to give that contrast and be able to fully feel and experience it as much as they can.   Will Barron: So at the top of the conversation, Deb, we've built some rapport, we've asked these big open ended questions, the buyer went, “Oh, this is not what I was expecting from this call.” And there's a tonne of value, and perhaps we're helping them refine what their goals are, to a certain extent on the call, then we start to compare and contrast what life would be like hitting those goals and not hitting those goals. And hopefully at some point our product or service is now nearly in the picture, even though we're not perhaps talking about it directly. How do we then stay in control of the conversation?   How Salespeople Can Stay in Control of the Conversation and Prove to the Buyer That Their Product Will Fix Their Pain Points · [30:10]    Will Barron: And perhaps at this point, I don't know how many minutes we are into the conversation at this point, but how do we start to perhaps steer it towards, to gauge a reaction of whether they think that our product is suitable for them from a perspective of ignoring banter. We assume that most of that has been ticked off, because we've done our research before picking up the phone. So we know that they're somewhat qualified. How do we steer them towards now taking that future reality that they want to move towards and having our product as perhaps the bridge to help them get there.   Deb Calvert: Let me pick up two threads and then I'll answer that question. So you listed a lot of benefits that are really important that we're building up here, but you left one out that's especially important. And that is, as they're telling these stories, as they're making these contrast, you're also overcoming any price objection that would've come automatically later on. When they ask about price, it's going to be offset by all this value that's been building up. And it really is true, this actually happens. So you're also supplanting price as the primary consideration in their mind. Okay.   Deb Calvert: And then the second thing you said was who knows how long we are into this conversation by now. So I want to offset that and let people know that this is actually a much more efficient way of selling. It's effective. You're going to get more yeses more often. You're going to have a longer conversation right now, but not hours like you might be imagining that it would be. Purposeful, good, well crafted, good sequence in your questions, makes everything happen faster, ultimately, including the yes, the advancing of this sale to a yes.   Deb Calvert: Okay. So how do you do it? So now we have gotten them to tell us what their goals are. We've gotten them to tell us these contrasts between current state and desired future state. We've gotten some indication of value. What matters most? Why does it matter? How important is it? And now that we're moving down this narrowing, we're at the place now where we're bridging between probably value that's on the table and the decision process. We need to understand it and begin getting them to think about it. so we've asked some questions like what are your thoughts about, and what would that mean to you? And give me the difference between. So value again.   Deb Calvert: So you told me what's most important to you is. What's it going to take internally for you to make that happen? And what will your primary criteria be as that decision's made, for you and for others? And how is my product stacking up here as you evaluate it based on these criteria? And what have we not talked about that would seal the deal and make that happen for you and for others inside the company? Okay. So, now we're in the realm of selling, but still we're getting information and it's the buyer who is navigating as you steer with your questions.   How to Drive a Sales Conversation into a Close · [33:01]   Will Barron: So what's the final step in this process? I feel we've got four steps so far, Deb. Is it always to ask a question like, does it make sense to do X, Y, or Z, and get a definite yes. Or is the opportunity to go back to open-ended questions? What was the end goal with all of this process?   “But at some point, you need to know yes or no. Being caught up in endless continuances and maybes doesn't serve you or them well at all.” – Deb Calvert · [33:45]    Deb Calvert: Yeah. We do want to get to a place where there's a yes or a no. It may be in the same sales call, it may not be. It depends on the complexity of your sale, of course. So, we've been sort of talking about the discovery process at this point. For certain kinds of products, you could bridge that straight into a close. For others, there are going to be more meetings and demos and timeframes that come into play. But at some point, yes, you need to know yes or no. Being caught up in endless continuances and maybes doesn't serve you or them well at all.   Will Barron: So is it fair to say then that we are starting with big, audacious questions and then slowly, perhaps even get more strategic with the questions and they're getting narrow and more closed as we go towards the end of the conversation?   “They're getting more narrow in focus and more about you and the need as it does now fit your product. So the big need is, in my company we have committed to. And my role in that is that I'm responsible for. And that means I'm going to need. And your product does. And now let's make it happen.” – Deb Valvert · [34:10]    Deb Calvert: Yeah, absolutely. They're getting more narrow in focus and more about you and the need as it does now fit your product. So the big need is, in my company we have committed to. And my role in that is that I'm responsible for. And that means I'm going to need. And your product does. And now let's make it happen.   Will Barron: That could be on a poster, Deb. Literally what you just said then should be on a poster as a general framework for people as they're on conversations to prompt them to move down this funnel of questioning.   Deb Calvert: Well, you call it the question sequence funnel and discover questions, but you're right, I need to revise it because that was better than what's in the book.   Will Barron: I would have a poster like that. It'd be something that you could even have it on the desk sitting here. But that would be a cool thing to have, especially if you've got your little office cubicle, especially if you're doing inside sales. Something like that could be a real subtle, useful prompt for people to just subconsciously encourage them to keep moving forward and making progress and staying in control of the sale.   What To Do When You’re trying To Be a True Inspirational Leader But the Prospect is Still Treating You Like a Pesky Salesperson · [35:19]   Will Barron: There's two things I want to quiz you on to wrap up the show, Deb. One is completely off topic so I'll save that for in a second. But what do we do when we are trying to be the true inspirational leader? We're trying to help our buyer navigate us towards a place where everybody wins. We deliver our product, they get an incredible service that far outweighs in the value that they get, that the price that they're paying for it. What do we do when the buy still is retreating, goes like a pesky salesperson, even though we are pretty much doing everything right, what kind of questions can we ask that are perhaps a hard restart that allow us to re-grab hold of any control that we possibly can?   Deb Calvert: I was listening to some chorus recordings for a newer client last week, and I loved this example. So I'll give you a fresh new example. This seller had done a lot of things right. And there were two buyers, this was all in a Zoom meeting and it was the third or fourth meeting. And it was still very much the buyer having all those stereotypes in mind, literally saying things like, “I know that's probably going to work out better for you commission wise, but,” and always assuming the worst kinds of statements that were not deserved by this particular seller.   Deb Calvert: And so finally the salesperson, I mean, I don't think this was made up or acting at all, but the seller eventually just said, “Okay, look, I work really hard at not being like every stereotypical sales person out there, and you're giving me a really hard time. Am I ever going to be able to earn your trust and be viewed differently?” And he just, and he didn't say anything else. He just like froze and looked into the camera at the end of that. And I watched the buyer get really, really uncomfortable. And the other person, the other buyer who hadn't been acting that way was so embarrassed.   Will Barron: [crosstalk 00:37:12] watching, yeah?   Deb Calvert: Yeah. And it broke things down. And the buyer acknowledged, yeah, I have been kind of hard on you and maybe that's not fair. And would you give me another chance? I'm sorry I was acting that way.” I don't know if it'll work in every situation, but a moment of real, that came from a place of integrity, I think, and a moment of just real … It requires confidence. It requires leadership to do something like that. And it was effective.   Be Assertive, Not Aggressive and Take Control of a Sales Conversation · [37:45]    Will Barron: Is there a level of assertiveness here that … We're doing the job. We're doing the job the best we can. We're being professional. We're trying to help the buyer. It's going to be clear if you're trying to just rip someone off. It's going to be clear through your subconscious, body language, and all that stuff that we can talk about in another episode. We're coming from the place here that hopefully the audience do have integrity what they do. They're listening to a show like this, right, because they want to improve their professional skills. How much of this is being, I guess, how can I put it? How much of it is being just candid and open and honest with the buyer versus being assertive and saying, “Hey, look, you are not being professional here. And I'm trying my best.”   Deb Calvert: I do think that assertiveness is appropriate. Let's make sure everybody understands that assertiveness means equally that my needs are being met and your needs are being met. Different from aggressiveness where I begin to trample on your needs because I'm so forceful with my own. So it requires this balance, which in essence is what we've been talking about all along. I ask questions. I listen. I have an interest before I try to be interesting. There is some give and take here.   Deb Calvert: But too many sellers do the other extreme and they're so deferential. So there's aggressive, there's assertive, and then there's passive and you're not supposed to be passive. That's where you're not in the driver's seat and you're expecting the buyer to do their job and yours too. So assertive is a very good summary of what we've been talking about here.   Will Barron: I'm glad you said that, Deb. And the reason I asked that is we've got thousands and thousands of sales assessments over at salesman.org now of our sales code assessment. And we find that the majority of salespeople are either passive or aggressive on the as assessment, and the accuracy of assessments is a bit wishy washy with very specific terms like this.   Will Barron: But there is clear correlation between the people who drive the most revenue and who hit the most commissions each year being slap bang in the middle of being assertive. So you kind of framed it up the way that we frame it up in our training as well. And it makes total sense, right? Because if you are unable to ask for the business and your needs are getting met and their needs are getting met, nothing's going to happen if you try and bully someone. They're going to have buyer's remorse, even if they do buy, and you're going to have people complaining, customer service are going to get hounded.   Will Barron: And of course, if you're on the far end of all this, and you're just passive and you are in the backseat while someone else is navigating and driving. You've got no control and you've no idea. If you're in the backseat, you're not doing your job right because you're not adding any value to the conversation. You're just there along for the ride.   Deb Calvert: Yeah, it's true. That's not leadership and that's not what buyers want. So I want to underline that everything we're talking about, it's not just about what works in selling, it's about what buyers want from you. So feel emboldened by that.   Actionable Tips For Keeping Multiple Conversation Threads in Your Head and Add Value to a Sales Conversation · [40:50]    Will Barron: I've got one final question, Deb, and this is something that it's totally left field and nothing to do with anything we've talked about so far, but it's a skill that you've done about five times in the interview so far, because I've asked some pretty average questions and you've pulled them back from their brain and given really good answers. But you're very good at holding seemingly multiple threads of a conversation in your head at once and multiple times, you've said, “Well, I'll answer this then I'll answer this.” And by the time you've answered the first part, I forgot the second part that I asked you originally. And you've got all this wrapped up in your brain. And is there any strategies to that? Is there anything you are doing to keep track of all these different threads of conversation? Because I feel that could be really valuable to sales people, especially if you ask a big open ended question and the buyer comes at you with seven different opportunities for you to continue the conversation, keeping track of three or four of them, I find personally, is difficult.   “It is not true that buyers are going to feel like you're not listening to them or that you're not making eye contact with them if you take notes. In fact, buyers like it, they feel important when you take notes.” – Deb Calvert · [41:48]    Deb Calvert: Well, I think note taking helps. So, if the next thing I tell you seems daunting, just know that you can take notes. It is not true that buyers are going to feel like you're not listening to them or that you're not making eye contact with them if you take notes. In fact, buyers like it, they feel important when you take notes. So it's a good thing and it will help you track those different threads that you want to respond to.   Deb Calvert: The second thing is that it's a discipline and it all goes back to what we have talked about. It's about listening. So I'll provide one tip since that's what you're asking for. And I love how you always get things to the practical level. One way that you can listen at this level and retain more information is by dumping the other stuff out of your head. Be confident enough not to be worried that if you don't respond right now, which means you might interrupt, or if you don't respond because it's fresh in your mind and your passion is going to come out if you answer that one thing right now. Those are fallacies.   Deb Calvert: So to dump things out of your mind means that you will not be trying to craft your answer. Have confidence that it's going to come. You made it a little note about it mentally or on paper. The answer's going to come when the time is right. Listen for what else is there.   “Don't listen for what's similar. It will make you rude and it will make you narrowly focused. Listen in every conversation you ever have for what's not familiar, for what's different, for what is coming out a little unlike what you already expected or are used to. That's where the real gold is because that's where you get to learn more and it's where you're going to be dignifying the other person who's speaking.” – Deb Calvert · [43:15]    Deb Calvert: And the other part of that tip is different from what most people do. We mostly listen for and respond to what's similar or what's immediate. That's why we interrupt because we think we have to catch the one thing before another thing gets piled onto it. Not true. Don't listen for what's similar. It will make you rude and it will make you narrowly focused. Listen in every conversation you ever have for what's not familiar, for what's different, for what is coming out a little unlike what you already expected or are used to. That's where the real gold is because that's where you get to learn more and it's where you're going to be dignifying the other person who's speaking.   Will Barron: That makes total sense. I love that, Deb. And just for context, I know the audience will get to see it here. So I start off the show with a few questions, just so I'm on track, and then I will write down BANT. Make it clear, choose to follow, questions, leader, navigate, objections. So objections are something that I wanted to come back to, but we're not going to have time to come back to. So that's how I try and keep track of this.   Will Barron: But I was just amazed the way you were doing a better job of it than me. I don't think you're writing notes there. I think you're just doing it all mentally, and that's a real skill. Clearly you're just crushing it and you're an expert in asking questions and answering them. You're proving that the case study is perfect of yourself, Deb. But I just thought that was interesting for the audience as a little tidbit to add on the end of the show.   Parting Thoughts: Deb’s Books and How to Get in Touch with Her · [44:30]    Will Barron: And with that, Deb, I guess the next step very clearly for the audience is to buy both the books that we've mentioned so far. So tell us more about both of them and where we can find more about you as well.   Deb Calvert: Well, Discover Questions Get You Connected is now seven years old. It continues to show up on lots of lists like HubSpots, they curate ratings from Amazon. And more recently it was on another list of top 10, top 20 most highly sales books of all time for sales people. Things like that. I'm very proud of that book. It's based on research with buyers and observations of calls with sellers in the field or on the phone. So it's sounds very wonky and academic, but hopefully as most of those reviews will tell you, it's also very much about examples and clear ways that you can improve your question asking and rapport building skills.   Deb Calvert: And the other book also based on buyer research is called Stop Selling and Start Leading. It's based on a body of research with B2B buyers. It gave them choices of behaviours that they could have in sellers and ask them if they would like those and if they'd respond by buying. And it turns out that the ones they like are behaviours more often associated with leaders than with sellers, hence the conclusion that you want to be a leader as you're working with buyers.   Will Barron: Perfect. And I want to [inaudible 00:45:49] both available on Amazon. I link to them both in the show note to this episode as well. Deb, just plug your homepage whilst we're at it, and tell us a little bit also about the sales experts channel.   Deb Calvert: Okay. So my company is called People First Productivity Solutions, peoplefirstps.com. Tonnes of stuff there. I like to give stuff away. And the sales experts channel is my pet project, my give back to the sales community, where I invite lots of other sales experts around the world. We've had over 300 writers, authors, bloggers, podcasters researchers, thought leaders come in and contribute inspirational and educational content. We've got 70,000 people over there. So if you're not there, you might find that there's a tonne. The salesexpertschannel.com.   Will Barron: Perfect. Again, I'll link to all this in the show notes over at salesman.org. [inaudible 00:46:38] Deb. And thank you again. I really enjoy, I don't say this to everyone and usually I would say this off air after the show, but I really enjoy chatting with you. There's never a question that I can't ask you. And without Deb, thanks again for the insights and for joining us on the Salesman podcast.   Deb Calvert: Thank you, Will.  

In just seven years, the SaaS industry has grown from $31.5 billion to an astounding $171.9 billion. And by 2024, it’s on track to reach $369.4 billion! For sales reps like you, the writing on the walls is this—no matter what you sell today, you’ll be selling SaaS in your next sales role. And that my friends is a good thing. Today we’re talking about why, and what you can do to take advantage of this massive sales industry shift. Let’s get real here. The job you have right now? You probably won’t have it forever. Businesses go under. Goals and needs change. And salary objectives shift. That’s okay! The average person will change their job five to seven times during their working life. What matters, though, is how prepared you are for that next job. And as a sales professional, it’s incredibly likely that your next position is going to be in an SaaS company. So in order to make that transition as smooth as possible, you owe it to yourself to find out what this industry is all about. And most importantly, what does working in it mean for you? Alrighty, so starting out, let’s hit a basic question… 1. What Is SaaS? Well, SaaS is short for “software as a service.” Basically, it’s a model where businesses license software to customers in exchange for a subscription, be it monthly, yearly, or any other timeframe. These businesses also “deliver” the software in a sense by hosting it over an internet connection. As a result, customers don’t have to install via a CD, have a tech crew come in and set up their system, or engage in any other cumbersome physical onboarding. Connection is on-demand. And with just a few clicks, customers can start using the product for their business. Think of apps like Dropbox, HubSpot, or cloud-based Microsoft Office 365 Okay so the question is… 2. Why Will You Be Selling It Well to put it simply, companies across the world are making the shift to this model because it offers some very real and very lucrative benefits. For instance… A) It Brings In More Revenue It brings in more revenue. And it brings in more consistent revenue. See, an SaaS model is built on recurring subscriptions. If a customer doesn’t cancel their subscription, they’ll be billed again for the next cycle. And that means the default is staying a customer. Compare that to the traditional model. The default after a purchase is nothing. Because it takes work for that customer to buy again. So as long as an SaaS company is keeping its buyers happy, those customers won’t go through the hassle of canceling. And given our tendency toward the path of least resistance, that often means an SaaS company will bring in more money over time compared to traditional models. Plus, that revenue is consistent, making it easier to plan ahead. B) Allows for Automatic Upsells Allows for automatic upsells. SaaS products typically have multiple tiers to choose from. The more you pay, the more functionality and features you gain access to. So as an SaaS customer’s needs grow and expand, they can seamlessly choose to upgrade to a new tier. No searching for a new provider. No going through a whole new lengthy sales cycle. Instead, they can make the switch with just the click of a button. Easy as that. C) Higher Business Valuations Higher business valuations. Now, there are two components to this idea. First, SaaS is expanding. Remember what I said before? About SaaS growing 5X over the last seven years? And nearly 12X from 2015 to 2024? That means the future is SaaS. And businesses are valuated according to that trend. Secondly, and this might be above our heads as just knuckle-dragging salespeople. But we sell what drives a company’s shareholder value. The easier it is for US to sell, the better a company is going to fare. And the more it’s going to be worth. 3.  Why This Shift Is Great Why is this shift great for you as a sales professional? What does all this mean for on-the-ground benefits? Well, first and foremost, there’s… A) Long-Term Residual Commissions Long-term residual commissions. If your mouth isn’t watering already at the thought here, it should be. Many SaaS businesses reward their salespeople with commissions that continue over the course of a customer’s relationship with the product. So if a client stays subscribed for, say, 10 years, you will continually earn a commission for that lifetime. Just imagine, a single sale can lead to a decade of recurring payouts. Sounds like heaven! The only trick here is that the better you sell them on your product, the more likely they’ll be to stick around. So it’s still worth putting in the effort up front and focusing on your skills. B) An Easier Closing Cycle For SaaS products, most customers get the majority of their info from automated funnels. Ebooks, case studies, how-tos, in-depth articles—this is where your clients will dive deep into what your product can do AND what they can do with it. As a result, you don’t have to do as much selling as with traditional models. On top of that, implementation is as easy as a click of a button. And the ability to split costs on a month-by-month basis lowers the biggest barrier to buying—expense. And you know what that means—it’s easier to close! C) Clearer Selling Points SaaS products are, by their very nature, dependent on the internet. And that dependence brings with it a few very clear selling points that you can use to nudge buyers towards that “yes.” For instance, many SaaS products are designed to work in tandem with other solutions. For instance, HubSpot integrates with over a hundred different apps to simplify automating your business, updating your contacts, and much more. That dependence on internet connectivity also allows for regular software updates and hassle-free cancellations. And these, like integrations, make selling your product easier. Giving you more time and the opportunity for more sales success.