When I closed $1.1m in my first 6 months at Tropic, guess what I didn’t do… Aggressively DQ opps after call 1. I’ve seen a lot of advice recently about not pushing for a second call if the buyer doesn’t show real interest. 🤔 I think this is “dangerous” advice. There are so many reasons why someone might not be super excited after only 1 call: - Having a bad day - They weren’t paying attention to everything you said - The dots haven’t connected yet between their problem and your solution (read: you didn’t do a great job) But that also doesn’t necessarily mean you should casually abandon the opp. Especially if you believe your product can help them. A hard fact of sales: people buy from people they like. And a lot of us are working over Zoom. It takes TIME for a lot of buyers to build enough trust to really evaluate you. If you’re early in your career OR you aren’t DROWNING in meetings, you should mostly always try to get a second call. Crack that sale open a little further. You'll win more deals. When I was an AE, I pushed for a second call on nearly every opp. Worked for me. 🤷♂️ And of course, if they’re truly a bad fit, get out of there. But you can always DQ later. Worst case, free live practice. Best case, deal. And if you want to get better at earning more second calls, here’s an easy reframe: be willing to throw out the script, the list of questions, and the rules about what to do or not do on any given call. Instead simply try to... 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹. I explain this in more detail in the vid. It’s simple, and more importantly, underrated. Are you team “Aggressive DQ” or “Team crack the sale open a little more first”??
If you're only talking to people with a defined budget for your specific solution, the sales person has little influence over the final outcome. Buyers complete 70% of their decision process before ever engaging with sales. The first vendors buyers contact win the business 86% of the time. If you're being contacted by someone with a defined budget for a specific solution, odds are you're column fodder.
I’ve met exactly 1 person this year that was actively looking for skills training for their team when we connected. The other few dozen logos we’ve closed since January had no “intent” whatsoever when we first spoke. Build authentic relationships. If it makes sense, it’ll make sense.
Love this perspective Isaiah! I had an agency recruiting role where our sales leader & founder consistently talked about "peeling back the layers" in the client relationship & each individual search we did for them. The idea was simple, every time you speak, have a reason & add value. Part of our organization's value was the level of care a smaller team brought to the table, we consistently focused on showing up in a meaningful way & over time this approach really does shine!
I love this strategy! Focusing on relationship building vs high pressure is my preference! Sometimes a slightly longer stretch, but often yields much better results!
Isaiah Crossman My goal is always to establish and develop relationships. Working to DQ your pipeline is a loosing mindset... Working to 'understand' your contacts and leverage networking is winning. You don't know if they have contacts that could use your services or a network you might benefit from in some other way. If all you're doing is trying to disqualify people you're missing out on the essence of sales.
I’m #TeamCrack LOL .. couldn’t help myself. The optimist in me comes toe to toe with the realist in these situations, but I still push for the next meeting whenever possible.
Team one more call, always. Your personal brand and reputation as a seller outlive the quarter you are in. Folks will come back to work with people who are helpful and willing to engage.
I agree, lots of prospects have thanked me several times for my consistency
great video
Translating Ops + Processes into Sales Productivity | Sales Enablement
5moQualification is rarely completed on the first call, unless it's an inbound, and even then... Instead of qualification for pipe building sake, it should be about qualification for forecast (Q1-Q4). Sales people hear a "no" and almost never go back in 3/6/9 months to see if there's a change, they just move on. I'm not saying to unnecessarily inflate your pipe unrealistically but there's a middle ground - qualification is inherently multidimensional.