"It's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll."

Nothing worth achieving comes without hard work, and a career in sales is no different from AC/DC's 1975 classic about a band paying their dues in order to make it to the big time. It's not a 9-5 job. You don't get paid for your time, you get paid for your results, and a lot of times, that means working more hours. It's easy to imagine that the best-performing salespeople just outwork their peers.

I'm here to tell you that's not true. In a lot of cases, they actually work less.

It’s officially September, which means it’s unofficially the end of one of the strangest business summer seasons I can remember. While it certainly feels like a recession in many ways, several economic markers would allow one to disagree. 

For all of the sentiment out there about companies being a lot more tight-fisted with their cash (I see a lot of it), most of the companies I’ve spoken with have been doing quite well.

“Jeff, I love how passionate you are about this!”

It took far more restraint than I’m comfortable admitting not to punch that product manager in the neck.

My annual summer golf trip is this weekend. Right now, I’m in paradise, getting ready to tee off for the weekend's final round. As I’ve been thinking of the message I want to deliver today, I’m returning to a story from this trip in 2010.

Who doesn’t love a good inbound lead? They’re a sign that you’re doing something right. Your SEO is on point, there’s some thought leadership that sent people your way, or someone specifically passed you a referral. Hey, maybe it’s pure dumb luck! One way or another, people are coming to you. 

You’re in sales. You’re proud to represent the company you work for and the solution you sell. That’s a great place to start. 

The problem is that many sellers are so proud of what they sell, it’s all they talk about. They run around from prospect to prospect offering their solution and hoping that they called on someone with the right problem. 

This is totally backward. 

Earlier this week, I was advising a colleague to take a direct approach to his LinkedIn connections- a tactic I’m starting to use myself.

“When they accept your request, send a message back or even a video message that says, ‘I connected with you because I help companies like yours with these types of issues. I'm a good follow on this platform, I provide a lot of value for free, and I’m happy to connect in real-time to discuss your specific situation if you ever feel like that would be helpful.’”

“Wow, that seems really direct, and a bit salesy,” he said.

This is where the conversation got interesting. I said, “Compared to what?”

Sellers aren’t spending enough time doing good discovery work to make those prospecting efforts really pay off.

It’s still important to take content (blog posts, videos, how-to guides, etc.) to our customers rather than just putting it somewhere we hope they’ll find it.

Nothing will change substantially in your world just because you hang a new set of papers on your wall.

There's a really good chance that your skill set is not the thing that is getting in the way of your growth. It's also highly possible that it's not your mindset either.

People are resistant to change. Sometimes for no reason at all, and sometimes when it would even be in their best interest.

A lot of sellers are concerned right now. Because of the pandemic, they can't sell the way they used to. Something definitely has to change, but those changes were going to need to be made regardless of the pandemic.

It's easy to get caught up in what you feel you should be doing and all of the ego that gets tied up in that, but sometimes the thing that actually needs to be done is right in front of you. Are you paying attention?

There are two necessary conditions for getting your prospecting messages returned- be someone worth talking to and have something worth talking about. When you're prospecting, do you meet those requirements?

How to have meaningful, empathetic, and effective conversations with prospects and customers right now.

I have reviewed a few email scripts from clients recently, and a common theme is making itself readily apparent. You're trying to do too much.

I believe that the way you act during times like these is remembered and rewarded (or not) when things get better. Your prospects and customers are paying attention right now.

Am I telling you to get off social media? Of course not. I am, however, challenging you to question the frequency and the time you spend on those sites. Is it really as important as your calendar and your usage stats are suggesting it is? Probably not, which is the first sign that there might be an issue…

I see something happening all too often with my clients. Your intentions are good, but it drives me nuts, and you need to stop it.