My philosophy is that you can get more from people if they feel connected to what they are doing and the people they are doing it with.
I believe that even though most people don’t call themselves sales people, we are all in fact sales people. We sell everything from vegetables to our kids to advice to our friends. We recommend the things we like and we persuade people to see things as we do.
I understand that people often have a negative feeling toward selling, that as soon as they realize what they are expected to do is sell, they are fraught with a whole bunch of mixed emotions.
I know this because I felt the same way. From the first time I was asked to do product cross-selling at a credit union I worked for to when I took a position as an Account Manager for a large software company and my job was to sell. Suddenly I had to think about what I was going to say, how I should say it. I had to deal with rejection. Without realizing it, I often assumed no one would want to buy what I was selling so I rushed through a ‘pitch’ and waited for the no so I could move on.
In those early days I was given some coaching on sales – things like:
Sell the value
Feature benefit Call high
Don’t confuse sell with install
Just get it done (love that one)
I remember seeing an executive eye roll at a meeting when I was asked if a deal was sole sourced and I had no idea what that meant.
Selling to me, before I actually was employed as a sales person was quite a natural thing. I, on the most part was likeable, I’ve always had a lot of friends, people often ask for my opinion or advice and more often than not take it. When I took the Account Management position that was offered to me I didn’t think I’d end up feeling so confused.
There were PowerPoint presentations with a bunch of bullets I had to talk about; features and benefits I had to discuss. There was so much JARGON; corporate speak. I felt like everyone was talking in a language I didn’t understand. It was petrifying – literally. I felt judged every time I had to present in front of an executive. I got to the point where I was afraid to open my mouth because it seemed like I was always saying the wrong thing. I was so confused over what to say and not to say that I actually screwed up more often than not.
I remember my sales manager telling me my presentation skills were terrible and I asked for some constructive critisim – like what exactly was I doing that was so terrible and he said ‘everything’. I don’t think I ever felt so alone and unsure, yet there was this little voice in my head that kept saying “don’t give up, don’t give in you can do this”.
Lucky for me I got a new manager who didn’t see me the way my previous one had. He saw in me what I knew was there and let me be me. He let me manage my clients in a way that worked for me. If I didn’t want to use a PowerPoint he didn’t care. He thought my somewhat silly personality was engaging not unpolished. He believed I was smart and capable and guess what? As it turns out I sort of was.
The following year I met and exceeded all of my targets for both client satisfaction and sales and made Chairman’s Council and enjoyed a wonderful few days at the Ritz in Grand Cayman .
For familial reasons I eventually went to work for a smaller software company. Though I had some good success bringing in new clients for them and upselling their existing clients, after one year I resigned. One of the reasons I resigned was no matter how hard I tried somehow somewhere I didn’t connect.
This gave me an idea.
That’s when I started examining my career. I saw when I was successful and when I wasn’t. I recognized how many times I took a position and felt disconnected and a bit confused and how many times I took a position and felt connected and not confused.
When I resigned, I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to find a way to help people connect to what they do; help companies get their people connected- engaged. I started consulting independently to free up my time for research. I also spent a significant amount of time researching the millennium generation because their work ethic seemed to be in question. I spent some time working on a book and after a while I realized I needed to get back engaged with people and work through my ideas with real people and real companies.
I started my career answering phones and doing secretarial work. Six years later I was approving loans. Two years later I was doing software quality assurance testing and engineering. Two years after that I was doing senior customer technical support. Two years after that I was a business analyst and implementation consultant writing client requirement and specification documents. Two years after that I took a position as an Account Manager and have been working with clients and selling ever since.
I have a passion for problem solving and process management. I love finding the best and fastest way to get things done. I love to question process or demand it if I don’t see it.
The way I see it is companies can achieve great success if their people are connected. If they understand the company they work for and the people that represent it. If they understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. If they understand the products and services they sell – not just the features and benefits on the marketing material.
So what do I do? First I get people connected. Open honest conversations about what they do and about their clients or customers. I ask the questions they are afraid to ask, and encourage the Managers to answer them. I believe people connect when they understand.
Now everyone is feeling understood and inspired, the next step is to get organized. NOW we can talk about process – sales process, business process because we all understand what we are doing and why we are doing it so we can find the best way to get it done. I help people discover scalable processes and work with them to roll them out.
My sales process involves talking about the products and services a company provides. What has worked, what hasn’t worked. What kind of people they sell to. We talk about the best ways to reach people. We work out ways to handle cold calling and create connections rather than pitches. At Inspire Sales the process is the way we organize and follow up. The rest is about doing what’s best for the people – both customers and staff.
The result – sales you and your people will be proud of.
Inspire Sales works with companies and their people to help everyone sell naturally with a process that makes sense for them.
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