Leaving a giant mess for sales to clean up

Published: Wed, 04/24/24

Updated: Sat, 04/27/24

April 24, 2024

TOGETHER WITH

Welcome back. The winner of our Airpods contest is… Tiki M. from Dallas! Congrats! If you didn’t win, you can still get cool prizes just by referring subscribers to this newsletter using the link at the bottom of this email. In this week’s newsletter, we interview a Sales Director, share a Fail about quitting poorly, and give some advice to a rep nervous about upcoming price increases. Bon appétit.

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

61% of executives admit their sales managers aren’t properly trained in pipeline management.

Source: Harvard Business Review

SALES ROUNDUP

Here’s what’s happening in the sales world this week:

Wells Fargo, the bank that would always be in detention if it was a high school student, is in trouble again, accused of sex discrimination by a former saleswoman. The bond saleswoman said the fourth-largest U.S. bank denied pay and promotions available to men and tolerated an "unapologetically sexist" workplace. You can read the full article here.
A Phoenix Fox affiliate recently ran a segment on an Arizona man who escaped the Mexican cartels to emigrate to America and work his way up in the world of sales. The man’s mother was killed by a Mexican cartel in 2013 and at one point, he was picking fruit to make money. Now, he closes deals and is on his way to a successful career. You can read more about him here.

FEATURE

An interview with Taylor Foster, Sales Director at an app development company.

Taylor Foster started his sales career as a retail associate at T-Mobile before landing his first Account Executive role. He is now the Sales Director at app development company Crowdbotics. Some of his more personal achievements from his time in sales: taking a call with Bill Nye the Science Guy and successfully cold-emailing Mark Cuban. He is based in Lexington, Kentucky and travels often.

You started your career as a retail sales associate at T-Mobile. Did you learn anything in retail that has helped you in B2B? Anything you miss (or don’t miss) about working with the public?

Working in retail is like that quote from Forrest Gump — it’s like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get. You deal with people from all walks of life, and it quickly teaches you that the same sales process doesn’t necessarily fit every buyer. Customizing your approach, the way you communicate, and the connection you make is ultimately what leads to wins in any setting. Sales is psychology. You have to start by truly listening (and asking open ended questions to learn more), then start to help the buyer make connections between pain points within their current setup and what it leads to downstream. Only then will you understand how your offering aligns with what your buyer needs to create a win-win.

I actually got my first job as an Account Executive after serving the CEO of a local startup at that T-Mobile store. He gave me his business card as he left the store, and written on the back was an offer to interview at his company. I made the jump, got the job, and have stayed in the B2B world ever since. That said, the principles are the same: making authentic connections, asking and listening, and solving problems where you find a fit (and being honest when there isn’t one).

You sell mobile and web app development services and software. This is a very commoditized industry. What do you do in your sales process to stand out and win customers?

One of the big things we’re doing to stand out with customers is leveraging AI within our product as a tool to help customers. Outside of the tech, we really consult and steer customers toward leaner starting builds — which is contrary to what you usually hear from sales folks. We actually advise you spend less up front, prove out your idea in the market, and get feedback from real users on what comes next. This leads to less waste, and more informed building using the voice of your end consumer. We also give customers 100% code ownership, and build in common tech stacks (full code) to ensure our customers only stay here if they are happy with us, and can leave or transition in-house anytime if it makes more sense for their org.

What does a typical work day look like for you? Walk us through it.

A typical day for me is a mix of structured and fluid as my responsibilities are pretty wide-ranging as a Director of Sales within a fast-growing start-up.

I usually start with focused work in the morning before the rest of my org is online (I’m EST, most are PST). This allows me to bust out work that’s on my to-do list from the previous evening, catch up on email, slack, and other communications, and do a deep dive in the CRM for pipeline cleanliness and closings we anticipate for the day/week.

The middle of my day is typically a mix of customer facing and internal meetings — I still love to meet customers and help the team close business, although now I’m more limited to deals that really interest me or are strategic to the business.

I wrap each day with focused work that sets up my next day. A must-tackle agenda, time blocking on my calendar for anything extra I need to do task wise, etc. before heading out.

If you could do it over again, is there anything you would change about your career path?

Honestly, no. Although there are still many things I want to do and try, I have plenty of life left to live. Being in a completely remote setting for the past 5 years with organizations willing to give me solid work/life balance has allowed me to travel the world while doing what I love. My team and I have even met up internationally for a work week in Colombia, which is pretty unique to remote sales culture.

Also, I’m from Dallas and have always loved and admired Mark Cuban. In my first B2B sales job, I decided to try my hand at cold outbounding a whale. I found his Dallas Mavs email and reached out. I managed to get two replies. At first, I got a pretty swift “No”, but a seed was planted. Fast forward to my current employer, I was able to cold outbound him successfully, landing a meeting with his CTO within an hour of my outreach. After that, how could I ever change career paths?

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out and is considering a career in sales?

The product you sell, and brand you represent, are truly the most important things you can control as a sales person. The best sales jobs will be places where the product actually adds value and solves the customer’s problems. The worst will be the ones where you are constantly having to find a new spin to sell your product. Be a part of a brand and solution that is known and trusted, or help build a brand that can become that beacon of trust. Sales is of course about relationship building, but you’ll find it’s hard to maintain and grow any relationship without a great product and experience backing you up. Furthermore, be a person of integrity. If you say something, stand behind it and fight for what’s right, all the time, no matter what. You shouldn’t have to compromise and you should find an employer that can align with you on integrity.

Beyond that, sales can be a grind. Be ready to work hard, and persevere even when faced with long odds or tough prospects. Luck doesn’t make itself, neither does money :)

What is your favorite sales movie?

Tommy Boy. RIP Chris Farley, gone way too soon.

THE MOST IMPORTANT SALES REPORT OF 2024

Reps and sales leaders who care about their career all have one thing in common: they stay up-to-date on the latest industry trends.

What’s working? What’s not? What do the actual numbers show?

HubSpot, a leader in sales software, just released their long-awaited Sales Trends Report.

It includes data on all the high-level trends impacting both B2B and B2C sales, including:

How the sales rep role has changed
What do buyers want in 2024
The effective ways sales teams are using AI
How to adapt to tighter customer budgets
Updates sales performance benchmarks

and more!

It’s filled with easy-to-digest sales statistics and tips for how to make the most of the data. If you like our Number of the Week section, then this report is for you!

Understand your profession and give yourself a (data-driven) competitive edge. Grab the report for free here.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

What is the median base salary for an Enterprise Account Executive?

A. $130,000
B. $110,000
C. $12,000
D. $120,000

SALES FAILS

Each week, we bring you the most cringe-worthy sales moments from across the web. To submit your sales fail story for consideration, click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

I remember working with a guy at a software company a few years ago. We’re a big company and in some ways, it was easy to get lost in the shuffle. He was a decent sales rep but he was one of those guys who always thought he was too good to work in sales, so I got the impression that he was either full of it or wouldn’t be somebody that stayed around for long.

Lo and behold, he announced that he was leaving to go to a competitor of ours. It wasn’t surprising at all and I don’t think management really cared all that much. He did offer to stay for his two weeks but as was customary at the time, his accounts were going to be handed off to other reps and they wouldn’t let him communicate with the customers unless it was to do the hand off.

Well, I was one of the people who took over the majority of his accounts. And my life basically became a living hell for the next two months. This guy had known he was leaving for a long time, and he must’ve been interviewing for the previous six months or something, because he had made all of these absolutely insane promises to his prospects, had them send in all sorts of stuff we didn’t need, and didn’t ask for the things we did. He was essentially pretending to work while searching for another job.

As you can imagine, we ended up losing a lot of the deals. We did manage to keep a few but it was honestly one of the most unpleasant experiences I’ve ever had to deal with in my sales career. I basically had to call people and tell them the projects they had been counting on were either impossible or were going to cost three or four times what they were promised. My managers were so pissed they actually considered suing the employee. But eventually, we all just moved on.

Anonymous Location withheld

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- April 2024

WORTH A PEEK

Is there such a thing as a low stress sales job? If so, which industry has the lowest amount of stress? This was the topic of conversation in a recent reddit thread. It’s an interesting discussion. Check it out here.

ASK THE QUOTA

Want to submit a question and be featured in our advice column? Click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

Dear Quota Team

I'm an AE at a mid-sized software company that just got acquired by a private equity firm. Thankfully, there weren't any layoffs in the sales department. However, our new management has decided that we need to raise prices across the board. This is not just for new customers, but for all accounts when they come up for renewal. Our company is a market leader, but there are definitely competitors that have similar solutions to ours and have already been trying to compete with us on price.

One of my biggest accounts is coming up for renewal next quarter. I'm very nervous to have the conversation with them. I've never had to do something like this and I'm worried I might screw it up and lose the account. What can I do to increase my chances of success?

Worried in New York

Dear Worried,

Telling your customers they'll need to pay more for something they’re already getting is never easy. But if your product is truly providing value and is a "need-to-have" rather than a "nice-to-have," you should be able to renew most of these contracts with the right approach.

First, you need to communicate the price increase and the reasoning behind it ASAP. Some companies just send generic email blasts to customers, but the best approach is being personal. You should call your customer directly and let them know you'll be increasing prices so that they have enough time to prepare internally.

You'll also need to justify the price increase. You can bring up reasoning like higher operational costs, but the customer doesn't really care about you, they just want to know what they'll be getting in return for paying more. Often, the best way to do this is to take a value-based approach to show how you’re justifying the price increase. For example, you can explain that you're developing new features that will help them get even more value from the product.

Be prepared for pushback. Let your customer know that you're there to answer any questions, and don't be afraid to bring in execs from your side into the conversation. This can go a long way to showing the client that you truly value their business. Of course, you should also be willing to work with them and don't be afraid to compromise if it means you’ll get to keep them as a client. It won’t be easy, but knowing how to have this conversation is a great skill to have. Good luck!

Quiz Answer: A. The median base salary for an Enterprise Account Executive is $130,000 — (you can read the source article here)

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How did you like today's story?

Today's email was written by Ken Kupchik, Erica Furgiuele, Steve Rado, and Emily Hill.

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