10 Tips For A Rookie Salesperson

Every salesperson begins his or her career as a wide-eyed, rookie with daydreams of closing the biggest deal of the firm’s history, shaking hands with the eternally grateful client as his CEO pats him on the back.  Open expense accounts, membership to the local, prestigious country club and a corner office round out the often-dreamed fantasy.  Before you start buying your next suits at Brooks Brothers, however, make a note that there is a loooong way to go before you ever get to the best parking spot in the front.

Here are 10 tips to help you on your way.

1.  Pay attention.  I can’t stress this enough.  Pay attention to everything around you.  Who do your fellow salespeople turn to when there are issues to resolve?  Who is the leader on the floor?  What are the issues people are having?

2.  Watch your schedule.  You should always be the first one in and the last one to leave.  I don’t understand how this is one of the easiest rules to overlook but it is.  When you are new, there is always something to do…trust me.  Review some of the crm features you’re having trouble with.  Set up your calls for the next day.  Finish documenting your clients interactions.

3.  Get to know your clients.  If you are not in the same area and work primarily over the phone, then read their local newspapers online.  Find out what the weather there is like.  How have their teams done this year?  I used to call on south Texas.  I made sure to know what the local football scene was like…when hurricane season would hit the Gulf…what the local schools were receiving grants.  If you are local to your clients, go to chamber meetings and other networking events.  Even better; form a networking group.

4.  Create a schedule for tasks you need to complete every day.  Starting a new career is overwhelming and sometimes things you truly need to concentrate will be overlooked.  Stick to your schedule.  You’re in sales now so prospecting should be at the top of your list.  Do it every day.

5.  Here’s something that has worked well for everyone I know who has tried it.  Ask to speak with your boss every few weeks to ensure you are on the right path.  You don’t want to go too long in the wrong direction and it also lets your supervisor know you are taking your job seriously.

6.  Dress well.  Don’t over dress, but make sure you are respectable.  If the better dressed people on the floor are in shirts and khakis then you do the same.  Make sure your clothes are tucked in, clean, pressed and for pete’s sake…no white socks.

7.  Don’t be afraid to tell a client you don’t know the answer to a question.  Simply say you will find out the answer as soon as possible.  People will respect you for that.  No one likes a fake know-it-all.

8.  Don’t have more than two drinks at any company function.  As good as a salesperson may be, I have seen too many careers cut short because of a loose tongue or because they just looked sloppy and unprofessional in a social setting.  You will never be allowed to represent the company outside the office.

9.  Learn everything about the product you are selling.  You don’t have selling skills yet and you don’t have a client list so product knowledge is your only ace.  As you grow into your new role you won’t seem so one-dimensional but for now, learn it inside and out.

10. Finally, find a mentor.  Ask one of the veterans if it would be okay if you ask questions when you have them.  Most will be okay with it and it is also a good way for you to learn how sales techniques differ from person to person.  All successful salespeople differ from the others and you need to develop your own style.

If you have any other “Must Do” items for a new salesperson, feel free to leave a comment.  I would love to read them.

Entrepreneurship is Like Groundhog Day

When I first went on my own and opened my own consulting practice, there was a perceived glamour of working for myself.  Sure, I knew it was going to be hard work but I also thought of the freedom, the accountability and the level of satisfaction I knew wasn’t available working in a corporate office.  Every day was going to be an adventure as a small business owner.  Every day I was going to feel good about being an entrepreneur.

Nope.

A messy desk is more common to entrepreneurs than not.

The truth didn’t just sneak up on me; it slapped me across the face with a ream of paperwork and receipts.  I quickly discovered I lacked the level of organization required to run a business.  It was a difficult task to learn and I am still very far from mastering it…if ever.  Even the smallest item on my To-Do list took much longer to complete than anticipated and I was quickly running out of time every day.  Soon after having learned a new definition for Organization I quickly learned a new meaning for the word Priority.  I came to term with the simple realization I wasn’t going to be able to finish everything on my own.  The illusion of kicking back with my hands behind my head on my feet on the desk at the end of the day by 4:30 now felt like a dream someone else had told me about in passing.

Slowly, rising out of the depths of the murkiness of sleep deprivation and Panera coffee, I began to notice a pattern.  Items I had crossed off the To-Do list the day before were mysteriously reappearing the following day.  It seemed no matter how hard I tried, I was constantly dogged by the same list of items day after day.  I accepted the fact I would never be rid of these tasks as I had accepted regularly filling up the car or ironing my shirts; I didn’t look forward to it but I knew it had to get done.

However, a few months later, these reoccurring activities seemed to take less time to finish.  What used to take me most of the day I was now able to finish by lunch time.  I was no longer obsessing over the completion of these tasks…it just happened.  I found myself finally addressing the items I thought I was never going to get to and, for the first time, began to cross THEM off the To-Do list.  I began to breathe a little easier.

Running a business is like Groundhog Day.

It dawned on me it was just like Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day.  He experienced the same series of events day after day but was finally able to anticipate them as the movie progressed.  As a result, he dealt with them better and they affected him less and less.  That’s exactly what I was going through with my business.  I was repeating the same tasks every day but I was getting better at them.  As I improved so did my other aspects of my business.  As I improved other aspects of my business, my business improved as a whole.

Running a small business is an ever-evolving process.  What may have seemed daunting at first will become a regular part of your schedule later.  As your efficiency grows you will be able to take a step back and truly see the personality your venture has grown.  I’ve got some advice for you, though.  Remember the dream about setting your own schedule, kicking back and enjoying a daily dose of affirmation?  Put it at the bottom of your To-Do list.

Don’t Take Rejection Personally But Don’t Stop Feeling It, Either.

It has often been said in order for a salesperson to be successful he or she must develop a thick skin.  Rejection is a daily occurrence in sales and it can’t be taken personally.  It is very easy to be bogged down by the sense of rejection and fall into a funk and despair that you will ever break free from it.  Even your best customers will occasionally turn to another vendor from time to time and you have to let it go.  You need to know why it happened, of course, but you need to let it go.  There is, however, an even more damaging and dangerous development…growing immune to the rejection.

I have seen salespeople become so good at brushing off the rejection and disappointment that they no longer feel it…unfortunately, they also stop learning at that very moment.

It is crucial to always understand why the deal was lost.  It is the only way to prevent it from happening again.  At the very least, examining how a different vendor was chosen will help you set a plan to minimize the possibility repeating your mistakes.

When a sales rep takes a lost deal too personally and doesn’t learn to how handle the emotion, it is up to the manager to help the rep develop a new approach.  There is still a sense of accountability and responsibility that can be tapped into to work on the issue.  Together, it will either be rectified or the sales numbers will diminish enough that the rep will either be fired or quit.

When a rep no longer feels the loss of a deal it creates a dangerous environment in the workplace.  A laissez a faire attitude is soon to develop and that will permeate throughout the sales team.  Others will feel it and in short order some may adopt the same approach.  Waiting for the sales numbers to drop enough to justify letting the employee go may take months and that is much too long to let a potential issue fester in the workplace.

Does it seem extreme?  I wish it were but I have seen it multiple times working for multiple companies.  A healthy sales environment has to be carefully nurtured and monitored but it is easily set back by just one bad rep…or the lack of management to deal with a potentially bad rep.  The message being sent is “if the bosses don’t care why should we?”.

When you see an employee becoming desensitized, address it immediately.  Usually, it is a rep that cared too much and hasn’t been taught how to balance the emotional aspect of sales.  With proper management, both the emotionally-heavy and the numb employee types can be avoided.