The 5 Types of Sellers

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The drought is finally over!!!!

It’s been about 3 months since I closed anything significant and I was starting to get pretty nervous.

I’ve been in sales for over 28 years and I don’t think I’ve ever gone 3 months straight without closing something. 

But then, all of a sudden, it’s like the dam broke and 3 contracts came in and more are showing significant interest. 

I hope this is an indicator for the rest of us so let’s make it happen!

SALES FROM THE STREETS: When it rains it pours

TACTICAL TIPS: Getting out of a negative tailspin 

SALES RESOURCES: A great way to say thank you   

SALES FROM THE STREETS 

When it rains it pours   

Sales is all about momentum - positive and negative.

That momentum is like a freight train too.  It takes a long time to get going and a long time to slow down. 

My first CFO at my first start-up (self-funded IT services firm) used to come to me and ask me to “stop selling” because we didn’t have enough engineering capacity to service all the clients.

I tried to explain to him the train analogy and that even if I were to “stop selling” we would still get new clients coming in based on all the effort I had put in previously. 

Once we were good with capacity he would then tell me to start selling again and get upset if engineers were sitting on the bench without enough business to keep them busy.  

Again, Sales isn’t like a light switch, you can’t just turn it on again. 

To get it back moving again takes a lot of work.

In the book Challenger Sale, they outline 5 different types of sellers: Challenger; Lone Wolf; Relationship Builder; Reactive Problem Solver; and Hard Worker. 

They say the “Challenger” is going to be the most successful type of Sales rep in the future.

As much as I appreciate being a Challenger, you can “challenge” customers all you want right now but in this economic environment, you could do more harm than good with that approach.

I’ve realized that my main type is the Hard Worker.  

Sometimes you just need brute fucking force to make shit happen and I believe this is one of those times. 

People say you need to work smart, not hard.  I call bullshit on that.  You have to work smart AND hard if you really want to be successful. 

Nothing beats activity and persistence.  

I don’t know a single successful person who hasn’t worked their ass off for what they have. 

I feel the momentum shifting in the market right now and the opportunities are there for the people willing to put in the work to get them.

Now let’s get out there and be relentless!  

(p.s. - Boiler Room is a great movie but a terrible sales movie.  It’s everything that’s wrong about selling but this speech by Ben Affleck is priceless)

TACTICAL TIPS  

Getting out of a negative tailspin

As I was saying, Sales is a lot about momentum.

When things are going well, they seem to keep going well.  You close a deal, a client who went dark on you gets back to you, prospects pick up the phone when you call, you hit every green light on your way to work and so on. 

But when things are going bad, they seem to keep getting worse. You lose a deal, get ghosted by multiple people, no one picks up during a call blitz, you hit every red light on your way home and so on. 

If you’re in a negative tailspin, like so many are right now, you need to change the momentum and get it moving in the right direction again.  

The way to do this is to focus on the little wins. When I say “little wins” I mean anything that you can find that is positive. 

A while back, I was catching up with a friend who was in a negative tailspin for what seemed like forever.  Everything in her life was negative from her perspective.  The world seemed to be against her and she was buying into it.  

I gave her a notebook and asked her to do me a favor and write down any little positive thing that happened to her throughout the day.  If she went through a green light, write it down.  If someone opened the door for her, write it down.  If she got a text from a friend she hadn’t heard from in a while, write it down.

She looked at me like I was crazy and asked why?  I didn’t tell her why I wanted her to do this, I just asked that she do me this favor and then I wanted to meet back up with her at the end of the day.

When we met back up at the end of the day and she walked back into the coffee shop she was beaming.

She couldn't wait to tell me what a great day she had and how it was one of the best days she’s had in forever.  

Her notebook was filled with notes of positive things that happened to her throughout the day.  

I asked if she thought that today was different from any other day and she said “of course it was!  It was way better!”

I then shared with her why I asked her to write down all the positive things that happened to her throughout the day. 

It was because she had gotten used to looking for the negative.

All I did was shift her focus to start looking for the positive and guess what? She started to see it.  

Sometimes we just need a little shift in focus or as Tony Robbins would say “change your state.” 

If you're in a negative tailspin right now, start focusing and celebrating the small wins. Set realistic goals each day and build on them. Here’s a simple example:

• Today - can I make 50 dials?

• Tomorrow - can I make 50 dials and get through 5 gatekeepers to talk to 5 of my target personas?

• The next day - can I make 50 dials, get through 5 gatekeepers and get 1 meeting scheduled?

If you start setting daily goals and celebrating the small wins you will start to build momentum back in the positive direction. 

Keep fighting! 

SALES RESOURCES  

A great way to say thank you

As part of me trying to get my own sales momentum back, I reached out to a lot of my partners and colleagues to get their perspective on what was going on and see if they knew anyone who might need my training. 

When you build your network with a “givers gain” mentality (thanks BNI for instilling that into me when I was just getting started) it usually comes back around when you need it to.

I spent a huge portion of my career building relationships and doing whatever I could to help other partners and colleagues without the expectation of anything in return. 

When I've hit tough times I’ve always been able to lean on that network to lift me back up again. 

That was a big part of what got my momentum moving back in the positive direction this week.  

More than a few partners went out of their way to make referrals for me to other people they knew who might need my services.

I know they didn’t do this with the expectation of any type of referral fee or thank-you gift but I always like to make sure I recognize and thank people for helping me when I need it.  

Since I don’t always know what these people like (booze, swag, etc) I found a way to say thank you that appeals to everyone - experiences. 

Virgin Experience Gifts is a site I came across a while back that allows you to give people a gift card they can exchange for different experiences they can choose from. 

Everyone I give this to absolutely LOVES it.

The reason I put this in as a resource this week is to follow up on last week’s newsletter topic of thoughtful personalization. 

You can use this for prospects, clients, team members, and so much more. 

Experiences matter way more than things and they will remember you for that experience way longer.

Enjoy! 

ADDITIONAL WAYS YOU CAN LEVEL UP YOUR SALES GAME 

• The JB Sales Membership is where you’ll get access to my live training, workshops, AMAs and OnDemand catalog so you can level up your sales skills every day!  3000+ Sales pros have already joined. Are you next?

• The industry-leading Make it Happen Monday Podcast where you’ll get insights and inspiration from some of the most interesting and influential people in the world of Sales and business. (this is where you’ll hear the Guy Kawasaki episode on May XYZ)

• The JB Sales YouTube channel with practical tips that you can apply immediately to drive results along with interviews and content that is guaranteed to get you to think differently.