A Metaphor

This picture always makes me smile, no matter how many times I look at it. The metaphor one could draw could basically apply across any aspect of your life, business, or profession.

Even better, the different types of metaphors one could explore are many when it comes to this image, that truly is worth a thousand words.

Don’t be afraid to be yourself, don’t be intimidated by those around you, act like you already have made it, dress for the job you want, not the one you have; the list could go on and on.

This brief moment in time captures a lot of different meanings, similar to how call intelligence platforms capture a tremendous amount of data and present it all in one clear picture. Reviewing a single dashboard, a single image of a moment in time that has come and gone can reveal a lot of great information.

BE BIGGER, than your competition

Whether your company is pre-revenue, has raised your Series pick your alphabet letter, or has rung the bell on Wall Street you have the same challenges when it comes to selling. The individuals, representing your products on the front line and in the trenches are facing competitive forces that change almost daily. As a sales leader, when was the last time you documented the competitors your team faces every day? Have you logged into your call coaching software recently and noticed how the competitive pressures you faced today, aren’t even the same ones faced a month ago, let alone a year ago? Chances are, you aren’t even acknowledging some of your competition as true competitors.

• Competitors. They have similar features, G2Crowd has organized them in the same category as you.
• Budget. Oftentimes, when a prospect says they don’t have a budget we assume there is no money. WRONG – it could simply mean that those dollars are going to some other vendor whose perceived value is higher than yours.
• Ego. Maybe your prospect thinks they can do their job without you, or they think they can build something better.
• Time. Timing is everything in life, or so the cliche tells us. That being said, maybe think about time from this perspective: The time necessary for your solution to be implemented might have a lower perceived value than another product’s time.
• You. Are you your own worst enemy? Are you spending too much time memorizing cold calling scripts, and not enough time understanding your buyer? Get out of your own way.

The strategies that one needs to implement in order to be bigger than the competition are different for every business, but there are some things that everyone can do. For instance, you can use AI call intelligence platforms to help you understand your customers better.

Enabling Your Team

By leveraging real-time call coaching software, as a sales leader, you begin enabling your team to have the agility and flexibility to adapt to the changing competitive landscape. You may be a sales enablement team of one, but with call coaching software, your team will always know the right way to respond to any competitive pressures – giving them the power to be more confident and act bigger than they actually are.

Confidence is King in Sales

Confidence, swagger, tenacity, certainty, resoluteness… pick your synonym, it doesn’t matter. In sales, having this is a cornerstone of success. Sales enablement leaders take new reps through onboarding, teaching them about the product, the company’s sales methodology, the competitive landscape, and how to use the tools available to them today. Not once are things like handling stress and maintaining confidence discussed. Reps are taught to use cold calling scripts, as opposed to enabling them with real-time call coaching software to augment and address the skill gaps in their bag.

The sales team is usually a critical element of an organization. They are responsible for generating revenue and they usually have a significant impact on the direction of the company. A downturn in sales for products or services can cause devastating consequences to a company. Therefore, it is critical that the sales team has the right information to inform them with confidence about what needs to be done with different clients and prospects.

What are some of the ways that sales reps lose confidence?

• Failure to handle objections. Knowingly signing up for a career where failure is the status quo is tough enough, not remembering the correct way to handle an objection taught to you 2 years ago in onboarding can be a confidence killer.
• Happy Ears. It’s the right title, they have a budget, they want to buy right now. Sounds great, right? What about the 6 other questions you forgot to ask that would have told you they can’t even use your solution due to their systems not playing well with your solution?
• PIP. The dreaded performance improvement plan. Nothing screams “kill my confidence” more than when a rep is put on a PIP. Now, every act is one made in desperation and the basic skills of sales are forgotten every step of the way.

As a sales leader, how do you help your reps avoid having their confidence killed?

It is actually pretty simple, enabling them with the tools that augment their unique skill sets and fill the gaps in their repertoire.

By investing in call intelligence platforms, and not cold calling scripts you are telling your team that you will stand by them, enabling them to park their 1998 Honda Civic next to that Ferrari with the same swagger as the next guy!