I was complaining to my sales advisor last week.
And he sent me some wise words in the world of sales:
“That’s the joy of sales. You’ll get more rejection before 10 am than most people do their entire life”
It’s also why, according to him, it’s usually the sales people get paid the biggest bucks in most companies.
And I can see why.
It’s not because sales is the hardest thing to do in the world. I wouldn’t say it’s super easy, but it’s not rocket science.
What is hard, is getting after it every day – day in and day out – knowing that your day is going to be filled with “no’s”, no-shows, slow responses, hang ups, and more.
And that’s just in the first few hours of the day…
These last few weeks have really given me an appreciation for full-time sales folks, because it’s an absolute grind. Especially at earlier stage companies where you have no brand reputation, loyalty, large list of logos or testimonials, etc.
And especially for those building the top of the funnel – the people cold calling, emailing, scheduling meetings, etc. Maybe there are die-hard, born-to-sell salespeople, but I don’t think I’m one of them.
But hey, when you’re trying to get your company off the ground, it’s what it takes. And it means I’ll be that much better at hiring salespeople when it’s time for us to scale.
It also makes sales that much sweeter – when you do get a client to convert, it’s like heaven on earth. So here’s to all the folks out there grinding away at sales, or heck, anything else for that matter!
I feel your pain…
The other interesting part about doing a lot of sales is how it can fluctuate.
And in any given week, if a whole bunch of your cold outbound converts and you’re able to line up a bunch of demos/sales calls, you can end up with hectic days of 10+ calls in a single day.
Certainly makes for a long one.
The problem is that with so many calls packed into one day, they can start to blur together and you forget who you talked to about what. Which isn’t ideal if you want to keep good records and remember the next steps needed for each call.
Because of this, I’ve found 2 good systems to put in place to handle it.
First, always buffer your calls – aka give a few minutes in between each.
So if your calls typically take 30-40 minutes, try to space them so there’s at least a 5-10 minute gap. This allows you to take notes, send a follow up email with next steps, go to the bathroom, and prepare for the next call.
Second, have a good CRM or tool that makes note-taking and reminders easy.
We use Hubspot because the CRM is decent and they have a free tier, but there are a million sales CRMs out there. Heck, if it’s a small operation, you could even use a google sheet, but that isn’t all that powerful.
If you’re doing a lot of selling, have multiple teams members and want to integrate things like reminders, etc., then it’s definitely worth trying out a proper CRM. After all, time is money…
With the right buffer, you should have enough time to – at the very least – take some notes on how the call went and things you need to do next, follow ups, etc. so you don’t forget before you’re rushed into the next call.
At the end of the day, you’ll be happy you did.
Any other good sales tips, systems or tools you recommend? Always open to suggestions.
Have a great day, make sure to catch my business updates and stories right in your inbox here, and keep grinding.
