If you’re an AE, I recommend appointing yourself a small business owner.
Just like most small business owners you probably feel like you have no time. You may also feel unsupported by your company and that you need to do everything yourself.
Just like small business owners there are things you can do to make this situation a lot better. By doing so you will (a) sell more, (b) get a bigger commission check, and (c) be less stressed. Not a bad combo.
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In sales we need to go through the motions.
Our buyers are “frazzled” as Jill Konrath says.
Even if you use social selling techniques that get you a referral or help you connect to a potential buyer using your mutual background, it is still likely to take some follow up before you confirm a meeting time (or virtual meeting time these days).
Research from XANT looked at the optimal “cadence” for prospecting based on the masses of data available to them through companies’ usage of their software. Their study looked at 479,140 outbound cadences from nearly 9,000 companies.
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I consistently see companies unable to get meetings. I consistently see that relationships are the easiest way to get meetings. I consistently see sales people and business owners letting their relationships wither.
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We are starting to reopen but it’s pretty clear things will be different.
Things will be some kind of new but not the same as before. The good news is that some things will be better than before. Sometimes it takes a big kick in the pants to change people and this crisis has certainly been that for many of us.
In the sales domain, this big change has accelerated the trend to digital selling. As sales forces have been sent home and told their clients won’t meet them with them in-person, they have had to use new digital tools just to keep doing their job.
Much of this should have happened in the old world but many people did not change their habits. In the lockdown world those people have no choice but to dive in. Some of those new digital selling habits will stick. Many will be better off because of it.
Here are some areas to consider using digital selling, now and after the crisis is over.
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If you didn’t believe that we humans are connected before COVID-19, you should now.
As you know, the virus has been transmitting itself exponentially through populations around the world. The only thing that has slowed its progress has been implementing some form of social distancing.
Social distancing is all about breaking the social network.
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I have to admit that I’m doing this right now.
I am looking for contact information in some target enterprise accounts. It takes time. If you’re not careful, a lot of time.
And I’ve done this many (many) times in my sales career and used many (many) hours of time on this. And I know many senior sales people that have spent lots of time on this too.
If you’re going to sell an enterprise account, you have to do this contact research, so what’s the discussion? This is just the cost of doing business.
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