Creating the future of startup sales
This blog is part of a continuing program on selling, especially cold calling. Recently I was working with an owner, on how to expand his small business. He asked me to avoid cold calling to drive meetings and sales. He preferred email, snail mail, and business connections that he had.
As companies, from very small to large hire traditional hunters, it’s imperative they give the Sales Rep the correct rifle (my choice is a Remington 798 .30/06) with a great scope, targeted game, and the patience to stalk their prey.
Today, practically every small, mid to large Enterprise vendor requires that they hire hunters for their sales teams. They often refer to them as “elephant hunters” as they are given large Enterprises as their accounts or named accounts
Who taught you to earn American money? Who taught you sell? Who taught you to use cold calling to support these activities? In my case I learned the hard way. I began with what I mentioned in earlier blogs, doing door to door selling where there was no school for selling.
First, stop being a salesperson! That person has no place in the meeting. The executive has granted you a meeting because they believe you will bring some insight or guidance on how they can do a better job in dealing with their top issues or initiatives. Plain and simple! You have to be a consultative resource.
So far, we have laid out as a framework to figure out what would be of interest in this model. Our target executive works within this model but we are not sure yet. They could be senior executive with a pharmaceutical firm at in the Midwest, at $500M. They could be senior executive at Johnson & Johnson
Whether you believe you need to access and engage with Decision Makers or not, having a comprehensive Reference story is critical for all phases of your selling journey. The makeup of a solid Customer “story” Reference is designed to help you take pieces of it for cold calling,
“Thetraditionalself-focusedselling approachisnolongereffective becausetoday’snewbuyers are unwillingtofollow you.Theydon’t want to be‘sold’. Theywantto makeeducatedbuyingdecisions.To make a sale,you must jointhemon a buying path.”
Never check in! That is for hotels and not for an experienced Sale rep communication with a Decision Makers; regardless of the industry to size of firm. This is ineffective and actually rude because you are trying to waste the executive’s time.
This is an important one. Somewhere towards the end of your email, simply state “we have witnessed or seen similar results at these account or clients” or “our customers have seen similar results?
