When did it click?

Robert Smart
Robert Smart Guest Posts: 10
in Networking & Connection

For me, I'd been in sales for around four years and I was going through a dry patch.

Someone recommended I read a David Sandler book called 'You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bicycle at a Seminar' which read more like a novel than it did a sales manual.

(The Qualified Sales Leader is the same type of book in my opinion.)

I realised that trying to be the cleverest person in the room and being overly enthusiastic about my offering was having a negative effect.

I had spent the past few years doing the show up and throw up routine. That wasn't selling!

The first time I told a prospect that I wouldn't send a proposal until we agreed what it was to include, how it would be used and what the outcomes would be felt like the scene in The Matrix where he dodges the bullets...

Without this book, I'd probably have moved into a different field and looked back bitterly on my stunted career in sales.

Comments

  • Rachel Clapp Miller
    Rachel Clapp Miller Member [Pro], Administrator, Moderator, Super User group (not at launch) Posts: 56

    This is great @Robert Smart - John McMahon's book is just packed with great gems. Glad you found a way to make sales work for you! Happy to have you on the platform.

  • Mateo Tedeschi
    Mateo Tedeschi Member [Pro] Posts: 3

    Great write up @Robert Smart ! I can definitely relate.

    I've spent a lot of time listening to different sales podcasts and reading different sales books (The Qualified Sales Leader being one of the best) and had quite a bit of conflicting information stored in my head.

    After consuming so much information I found myself overthinking my calls and becoming too rigid in following specific structures for my discovery calls, demos, pricing calls etc. While I think it's important to have structure and to follow techniques, the best way to improve is to practice during live calls and prepare for those calls.

    After many calls and about a year in the seat as an Account Executive things started to click for me. I soon found myself becoming more present in my calls, allowing me to enter a flow state without overthinking. This is when sales really became fun for me.

    Having qualification methods like MEDDICC and following general processes has helped me tremendously over the years. After sales clicked, I found myself able to go through these checklists quite subconsciously.

    Keep up the good work - Love the Matrix example!

    Cheers,

    Mateo

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