So You Want to Get Into Sales Huh?
I have been thinking about this for a while now.
You know; When someone that has never been in Sales asks about it and shows some interest in what it is really like to pursuade the VITO (Very Important Top Officer to those uninitiated) to part with their hard earned money (or in many cases their company's or shareholder's money). Sales is not for the faint of heart. You will have pressure and quotas and metrics to over achieve, but the reward is great. Sound glamorous? Read on.....
It is always nice when you have done well in sales. The company executives appreciate it, they see the revenues you bring in. The Engineering Dept likes it as they more than likely built what you are selling and no engineer wants to build something that doesn't sell. The Marketing Dept likes it because now they have conversion from their efforts of "waving the flag" to promote the product. Don't think sales is an easy, 'lounge chair' type activity. It is 'an exciting, edge of your seat hunt', whether or not you are managing existing clients or finding new ones, it is always a new day in sales. Something new will happen daily.
My message to those looking at entering Sales is initially this:
By working hard I mean: Coming in early and leaving late. Eating lunch on the run or at your desk. Making those extra 10 calls per week. Understanding the product and competitors in the space sooner than expected. Ramping faster than expected. Always having the business within your mind's eye. Thinking about it on the weekends and doing research on the industry. Becoming the resource for your team and customers.
If you have the ability to be a lead gen person and have the desire to be in sales, you should set as many appointments as possible for the sales people that you support. This would be a great measure of whether you would be successful in sales. If you can't set an appointment after hours of cold calling, you should question your ability to sell. If you aren't making enough calls to schedule the right number of appointments, you should make more calls; It really is a numbers game and the more you do, the better you will get and the higher your conversion rate will get also. Work harder. The appointment is your sale in Lead Gen. No appointment=No Sale.
The one thing I always ponder is how can I do more in sales than I just did? How can I get better? It is the maximum potential question. What is the potential of the sales person and are they achieving their max potential in relationship to what and how much they have closed to date? Potential that is under-utilized needs to be developed. If you have a lack of follow-through, sales is not for you. If you don't like "figuring out" a company and mapping it by political drivers, business drivers, decision drivers, and competitive drivers, then sales is also not for you.
If you like a good challenge, like to interact with people instead of code, and have a passion for helping to solve business problems, then sales may be the right place for you. Being a little competitive helps too.
Always remember: Nothing happens until something is sold.
Now where is my Bluebird?
Got Sales?
Mike
You know; When someone that has never been in Sales asks about it and shows some interest in what it is really like to pursuade the VITO (Very Important Top Officer to those uninitiated) to part with their hard earned money (or in many cases their company's or shareholder's money). Sales is not for the faint of heart. You will have pressure and quotas and metrics to over achieve, but the reward is great. Sound glamorous? Read on.....
It is always nice when you have done well in sales. The company executives appreciate it, they see the revenues you bring in. The Engineering Dept likes it as they more than likely built what you are selling and no engineer wants to build something that doesn't sell. The Marketing Dept likes it because now they have conversion from their efforts of "waving the flag" to promote the product. Don't think sales is an easy, 'lounge chair' type activity. It is 'an exciting, edge of your seat hunt', whether or not you are managing existing clients or finding new ones, it is always a new day in sales. Something new will happen daily.
My message to those looking at entering Sales is initially this:
- You must be hardworking.
- You must be a good judge of people and their body language or their voice inflections over the phone (for inside sales).
- You must learn how to run your own business while working within the structure of your employer.
- You must be hardworking.
- You must know how, when and why to ask for the business. ie Close the sale.
- You must know how to close fast. Those that close fast make money. Those that don't, don't make money.
- It's all about working smart, understanding what you are selling, understanding who you are selling to, understanding why they would want to listen to you talk about your product or service much less buy it and having the ability to close the sale.
- And you must be hardworking.
By working hard I mean: Coming in early and leaving late. Eating lunch on the run or at your desk. Making those extra 10 calls per week. Understanding the product and competitors in the space sooner than expected. Ramping faster than expected. Always having the business within your mind's eye. Thinking about it on the weekends and doing research on the industry. Becoming the resource for your team and customers.
If you have the ability to be a lead gen person and have the desire to be in sales, you should set as many appointments as possible for the sales people that you support. This would be a great measure of whether you would be successful in sales. If you can't set an appointment after hours of cold calling, you should question your ability to sell. If you aren't making enough calls to schedule the right number of appointments, you should make more calls; It really is a numbers game and the more you do, the better you will get and the higher your conversion rate will get also. Work harder. The appointment is your sale in Lead Gen. No appointment=No Sale.
The one thing I always ponder is how can I do more in sales than I just did? How can I get better? It is the maximum potential question. What is the potential of the sales person and are they achieving their max potential in relationship to what and how much they have closed to date? Potential that is under-utilized needs to be developed. If you have a lack of follow-through, sales is not for you. If you don't like "figuring out" a company and mapping it by political drivers, business drivers, decision drivers, and competitive drivers, then sales is also not for you.
If you like a good challenge, like to interact with people instead of code, and have a passion for helping to solve business problems, then sales may be the right place for you. Being a little competitive helps too.
Always remember: Nothing happens until something is sold.
Now where is my Bluebird?
Got Sales?
Mike
posted by Mike Klein at 11:24 PM
1 comments
