Most sales problems get diagnosed as people problems. The rep isn't hungry enough, isn't a closer, isn't the right hire. In my experience that diagnosis is usually wrong. Most sales problems are training problems.
I have spent more than six years building and running inside sales teams. The teams I built have driven more than $12 million in annual recurring revenue. The process I teach doesn't change with headcount. It works for a team of three and it works for a full sales floor.
More than 50 reps, built into high producers
I have trained more than 50 reps and built them into high producers. The product didn't change. The market didn't change. The training did. When results move that much and nothing else does, the problem was never the reps.
I sell it before I teach it
Most consultants arrive with a framework and fit your product into it. I work the other way. Before I train anyone, I get on the phone with your buyers and sell your product myself. That's how I find out how it actually sells, instead of how everyone assumes it sells. Then I write the playbook from what worked, build training materials so the process can be taught, and train your reps to run it.
Every good call has four parts
- Intro. Earn the right to ask questions.
- Discovery. Find the real problem in the buyer's own words, including the ones they didn't point at.
- Education. Connect that problem to the cause they can't see, and to what it's costing them.
- Close. One recommendation, not a menu.
The rep is the authority on the call
A good doctor doesn't ask what you'd like prescribed. They examine, diagnose, and recommend one treatment. A rep who leads with options, or asks the buyer what they want to buy, gives away the authority the buyer came for.
Objections are caused early
Objections show up at the close, but most are caused in the first five minutes. When a team tells me their close rate is the problem, I listen to discovery first. It's usually where the call was lost.
Process beats talent
Great reps are rare. A written process that good reps can run consistently is not. It has to be written down, taught, and coached until it holds up on a live call without you in the room.
If you have reps on the phone and results that vary more than they should, schedule a free introduction call.