Sell Baby Sell

Everybody loves babies.  In the short two months my wife and I have had with our first child Naida, my perception of raising a baby has been completely turned upside down. What I assumed to be the most enjoyable aspects have been supplanted by a series of human firsts. There was the first burp, the first eye flutter, the first hand hold, the first return smile, the first non-words conversation, and of course the first four hours of consecutive sleep. 

Seeing your human creation grow in mind and body is one of those experiences that can’t be properly explained with words. The totality of what is happening becomes more real everyday as your baby moves from a blank slate to a more and more cognizant being. We’re just starting this journey with our daughter and we’re in no rush to see the results. We plan to take our time and make sure we’re doing everything we can to help our daughter become a healthy and happy human being.    

New sales people are a lot like babies.  No, I’m not talking about the crying and the farting. I’m talking about DEVELOPMENT. Much like a baby is introduced to life, new sales people should be introduced to the profession in a way that helps them become successful.  It’s a process that’s often rushed by ambitious business leaders who are frantically trying to increase revenue. 

Here are four ways that you could be setting your sales babies up for failure:

1: Hit the phones! If you’re putting sales personnel on the phone before they understand what your company does then you literally may be ruining new sales people. The training process to fully absorb a company’s value proposition could be 6 to 12 months and in some cases even longer.

2. Keep contacting them! If you’re mandating an overzealous cadence then you literally may be ruining new sales people. The harsh rejection that comes from over touching a contact can make a sales person feel really crappy about their job.

3. Tell the prospect what they need to hear!  If you’re encouraging dishonesty or half-truths then you literally may be ruining new sales people. Being tasked with lying to prospects on a day-to-day basis doesn’t sit well with most people. Sales methods built on dishonesty will make it nearly impossible to keep quality personnel.

4. You’d better hit your number! If you’re setting unrealistic sales quotas then you literally may be ruining new sales people. Unrealistic goals can cause demotivation and disinterest among the masses.

Matt Wanty is a Sales Communication Consultant and the author of ‘The Lost Art of Cold Calling’, a sales training book written to help today's sales people succeed on cold calls. #sales #salesdevelopment #babies