5 hard truths about working in SALES.

Reminders... and Opportunity!

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On to this week's blast topic!

5 hard truths about working in SALES.  

Before we jump into the 5 hard truths, here's another hard truth about AGING.

I live in Minnesota and have since 1991. I'm originally from Wisconsin, but Shhh, don't let everyone know that, they'll assume I'm a Green Bay Packers fan (SKOL Vikings).

Some winters are worse than others in terms of cold or snow. This winter? After our most recent snowfall, we are now in the Top 10 snowiest in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) of all time! We've accumulated over 70"+ of snow, and are on pace to have the snowiest winter since 2010-2011 (when we had over 80"+). I know, nothing to really brag about. 

Suffice it to say, along with the snow comes its nasty friend, ice. It's the silent assassin.

I got home from work back in mid-December (the day after my birthday, actually) and slipped on some ice as I was walking to get the mail from the mailbox. I said to myself, "falling on ice is what old people do!" Ope! Happy Belated Birthday, old man. 

I had a very, very small fracture in my elbow yet couldn't fully use my right (dominant) arm for close to 4-5 weeks. And now that I'm soundly into my 40's (I turned 43 this year) ... there's a harsh truth about how quickly one heals from injuries as you get older! 

Happy to say I'm doing well, but I can still tell I injured my elbow ... three months later.

Do you follow Twitter? If not, I'll post my "Sales Tweets of The Week" below, for more thought-provoking ideas, trends, or stories. Click through each to engage! 

Navigating through each is a daily occurrence.

Whether you saw my above tweet from last week or not, there's a lesson to understand; Working in SALES is not always for the faint of heart. It's not all puppies and candy. Here are my 5 hard truths about working in SALES.

Many managers are lousy.

There is an old stigma in the sales world ... if you're a great salesperson, you must also be a great sales manager.

FALSE.

The worst manager I worked for was back in '16-'17. The company I worked for was in the middle of a huge, billion-dollar merger, so many of the middle and top management leaders sunsetted and/or weren't retained.

This manager came from a different industry, which is fine, but lacked the true people (and communication) skills to assimilate team building at the speed required for both short and long-term success.

I was at the top of my game in '15-'16 within this company. I had multiple good to great selling years. This manager even told me, "I'm so happy that I have such a top performer on my team as you." But that's where the puppies and candy ended.

This manager pitted me against other internal stakeholders. This manager would put you on a pedestal one day, and rip you down, publically, on others. 

And at the end of it all, she threatened me, and my job, because she felt I wasn't having as successful a year as I should have been. Remember the part about coming from a different industry? This manager didn't understand the true nature of selling and buying cycles (in this industry) and simply pushed for results. This manager didn't care about you, your family, or the horse you rode on in.

When I decided to resign and head to my next opportunity, I gave a professionally worded two-week notice. Not once during the next two weeks did this manager acknowledge my notice. No "received" email. No "thanks" reply. No mention of it on any of the multiple calls over the following two weeks. Nothing.

I knew I made the right decision.

And whatever happened to this manager you ask? Well, after another 11-12 months, she too left the organization because, shocker, she was underperforming and knew her upcoming fate. 

Sales and Marketing can sometimes go hand in hand. Here's a great newsletter partner that provides simple-to-understand and actionable messages on all things marketing. 

You will lose ... a lot of deals.

In sales, the best reps will lose well over 50% of the deals that they're working on.

That's a lot.

We've talked a lot about pipeline ratios and closing percentages so far in Sales Homie. What the best reps understand is that losing is OK! Here's why:

• Because you're statistically not going to close every deal, losing one gets you that much closer to your next WIN. There is a reason why you didn't win the previous deal, and that's OK. Learn from it, and move on.

• Did you know that many sales reps make wonderful incomes? Many well over $100,000/annually. And many more well over six-figures. The best reps focus on their metrics and ratios and understand that losing is simply part of the math equation.

• Long-term, a lost client a lot of times is one that doesn't align with your values, or the same philosophies you or your organization carries. Why fight a customer for their revenue when you can align with customers that value your partnership and services?!

Commissions will peak/valley.

This one is pretty cut and dry. 

All types of SALES roles pay commissions differently. Some pay off of units sold. Some pay off of revenue sold. Some pay off of the margin that the sold revenue produces.

And with the variable types of payouts, comes variable times of receiving those commissions. Not to mention as we detailed above, you're not going to win every deal you propose. That in itself will create peaks and valleys.

The single biggest challenge for any sales rep is to have selling consistency. How can you put yourself in a position to sell (and earn commissions) consistently?

• Have a pipeline that exceeds your annual goals. Normally, 3-5X is a solid benchmark.

• Work off weekly metrics: number of calls, number of new prospect meetings, etc.

• Use the resources around you to support your goals (and ultimately sell more consistently).

Prospects won't return your call.

When is the last time you woke up in the morning and thought, "gosh, I hope a salesperson contacts me today." Probably never.

You have to be cognizant of this same emotional reaction when you're the sales rep.

• Book a meeting off of a mutual interest of a prospect, not on the premise of buying whatever it is you're selling.

• There are a TON of ways to communicate with people nowadays. LinkedIn, email, Twitter, Facebook... pick your poison. Be creative in how, and where, you do customer outreach.

• It might be an elementary take, however, being sure you understand your customer's buying cycles is also an important element to why they do/don't communicate back with your prospecting efforts.

No one wants what you're selling.

This is an extension of the last bullet point from above.

If you don't understand the buying cycles and tendencies of the industry AND of the prospect that you're trying to communicate with, you're going to feel like 'no one wants what you're selling.'

Another hard truth to this idea stems from HOW you sell.

• Do you sell with a consultative mindset? Do you focus on educating your prospects? If not, you're going to feel like you're trying to force a square peg into a round hole. Focus on teaching about your sales process, your product, service, or industry. You'll earn trust quicker and be the first call from that prospect when they're ready to buy.

• Are you respective of your prospects time? Are you bombarding them constant messages and outreach? No one ever wants to work with a pushy and aggressive sales rep.

• Do you open up with your prospects? Do you show them your true self? More and more of the business world respects when peers, vendors, leaders and stakeholders can act more as people as less as a corporate robot. Share your story, text a picture with you and your kids, be genuine.

How you sell sometimes goes a lot further than what you're selling, in terms of success.

The moral of the story? A SALES profession is not for the weak-hearted. You will lose more than you win. But when you can focus on zooming out and looking at success per quarter, or better yet, per year, you'll ultimately see a gradual rise in income, knowledge, and other successes.

The best sales reps want to lose so they can get closer to their next win. Having a crumby manager is an inherent way to force themselves out of a comfort zone and into their next growth phase. And when you understand that all prospects aren't awaiting your outreach, you'll challenge yourself to sell the right way, with education, and with emotional intelligence. All because you understand the 5 hard truths about working in SALES.

Sales Tweets of The Week!

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