Selling Like a Rookie
Doyle Slayton | Nov 15, 2009 | Comments 7
During the next three weeks I’m going to share a three part series with you. We’ll focus on building a championship pipeline! Part 1 of 3 begins with…
- Selling Like a Rookie
- Committing to Your Pipeline
- Chasing Mice, Elephants, and Ghosts
I believe the selling season lasts year round. Thousands of companies need help and will buy your products regardless of the time of year. That said, your industry most likely has an exceptionally busy month or quarter when many new clients buy your services. In effect, you are always working for three time frames… the present month, the quarter, and the “busy season.” It is during these periods when the strength of your pipeline is revealed!
Have you ever been around a superstar who has deals poppin’ one right after the other… POP… pop… POP… Pop… pop! Everybody looks on, in awe, and wonders, “How the in the world does (s)he do it?”
The answer is in the pipeline!
It begins with being a great listener. You have to develop your instinct for understanding when a prospect is willing to buy now… or if they are stalling for legitimate reasons… or if they are really not interested at all. Your follow-up schedule must match the reality of the situation.
I live and die by my CRM. It is unbelievable to me that so many sales people prefer not to use one! I know… I know… “it doesn’t work right,” “it’s too slow,” “I’m selling and don’t have time for admin work,” “I’ll do it later…” I get all that. I live it daily, just like you. BUT, I’m here to tell you that if you don’t commit to your CRM, you’ll be selling like a rookie for your entire career. Rookies are…
Selling to Prove Themselves – Rookies are rookies. They are new and have to prove that they belong. Everyone is watching. Management is praying they made a good hire. Teammates wonder whether there is a new competitor to challenge for top dog.
Selling for an Identity – Rookies often get a few deals early in the process and begin to wonder, “Is this the type of deal that will produce the greatest results?” “Will accounts like this get me to my quota and earn me the income level I need to achieve?”
Selling for Today – Rookies are prospecting, all of the time, until they uncover a new prospect, they are hammering their lead base just to find an appointment. They would love nothing more than to open their database and find a prospect record with notes that say something like, “prospect is interested, frustrated with current provider due to X, Y, and Z issues… too busy closing out quarter end… wants me to call back in 2 weeks to schedule an appointment.”
A veteran superstar has a database filled with leads and notes like these. If you want to stop selling like a rookie, you have to build your pipeline!
Next week I’ll reveal Part 2 of this three part series for building a championship pipeline!
Doyle, Love the topic! I’ve been in sales for 25 years and have been an advocate of CRM systems for all of those years. A company must have a Sales Force Automation or (CRM) Customer Relationship Management strategy & in the 21st century, full stop. August 2009, The Aberdeen Group published The 2009 Sales Automation Report – Best-in-Class Strategies for Increasing Returns on SFA Investments. Of the 212 companies analysed to compile the report 39% did not integrate sales data into a SFA or CRM system – amazing. One of the more important points in the report states that 82% of the Best-In-Class companies indicate that their sales reps spend up to three hours a day inputting date or sales activity into their SFA or CRM. Maintaining the information in the SFA or CRM tool is capturing that information; that turn clients into prospects; that feed the pipeline; and its that depth of pipeline that champion salesman is able to enjoy. Now the type of information to capture may vary from industry to industry but the logic of listening; capturing information and working your client lists and prospect lists will never fail the rookie or the champion.
Doyle,
You are right on all counts. Rookies are in an identity seeking posture given the nature of our industry – financial services. It is product promotion driven. A small proportion of the advisor community operate on a fee for service professional practice platform. CRM is a key tool in measuring longterm client productivity results. It is not used as effectively as it should be because the industry focus is new client acquisition rather than client building and longterm client retention. The compensation system is ‘high’/'low’ i.e. high first year compensation – low renewal compensation. Some companies have moved to a ‘level’ compensation system – most have not. Advisors focus on the compensation structure and act accordingly.
Thanks for your comments. They are accurate and timely.
Dan Zwicker.
What you’re talking about should be re-named to SUPM for “Sizing Up Prospects Management” because sales pros never start CRM until after a sale is made. How can you “manage” a “customer” who’s not yet a customer.
And, no, this distinction is not a semantics issue.
Words are important. Words are what sell.
The management of a customer relationship is a 100% different activity than the sizing up of a prospect and determining if the group or individual is legitimate or not, or if she/he/they is/are serious or just kicking tires.
Interestingly, it’s often the rookie who fails to get this, and ends up trying to build a relationship with every prospect in order to make a sale, which can quickly result in the rookie salesperson becoming a rookie administrator or rookie unemployed.
Good topic. Thanks for the opportunity to comment.
Regards – Hal
ok, so what CRM do you suggest? What are the best FREE CRM tools?
Dear IJay,
There is nothing for free. Except the rain perhaps?
Doyle,
You are right on all counts. Rookies are in an identity seeking posture given the nature of our industry – financial services. It is product promotion driven. A small proportion of the advisor community operate on a fee for service professional practice platform. CRM is a key tool in measuring longterm client productivity results. It is not used as effectively as it should be because the industry focus is new client acquisition rather than client building and longterm client retention. The compensation system is ‘high’/'low’ i.e. high first year compensation – low renewal compensation. Some companies have moved to a ‘level’ compensation system – most have not. Advisors focus on the compensation structure and act accordingly.
Thanks for your comments. They are accurate and timely.
Dan Zwicker.
thanks for making it easy for me to RT about the article!