Should you tell your manager they're about to get fired?

Published: Wed, 11/06/24

Updated: Wed, 11/06/24

November 6, 2024

TOGETHER WITH

Welcome back to The Quota. Since there’s absolutely nothing going on in the news today, NOTHING AT ALL, we’ll gladly accept your undivided attention for the next ten or twenty minutes. In this week’s issue, we’ll take a look at power words, and how they can help you drive the narrative. We’ll also share a Sales Fail about a presentation gone off the rails, and give some advice to a rep caught between a rock and a hard place. Enjoy!

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

7-word subject lines had the highest open rate at around 46.2%.

Source: Regie.ai

SALES ROUNDUP

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

An 89-year old car salesman is finally retiring, more than 55 years and 15,000 cars later. Charlie Stone, 89, has been selling cars since 1969 — a second career, believe it or not, after years at a supermarket. Since then, the folks at Lawrence Chevrolet — where he has worked for the past decade — estimates he has sold more than 15,000 cars. You can read more about Charlie here.
A Lamborghini salesman who got into a heated argument with his boss and asked him ‘Do you want to fight me?’ has won his unfair dismissal case. Gregory Dunning was left feeling ‘belittled’ and ‘threatened’ by Stuart Lee who told him to ‘grow some f****** balls’ and split his commission with a junior rep, an employment court heard. Mr. Dunning refused, which prompted the angry boss to ‘berate’ him as he tried to walk past him. That’s when things really went off the rails. You can read more about it here.

FEATURE

Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash

“Power words”— language that actually helps you close deals

The language you use during sales conversations (and throughout life really) can change the way you're perceived. While of course the product or service you’re selling matters, how you present it through carefully chosen words can significantly impact your success rate. “Power words” are words that trigger a strong emotional response and can help you subtly persuade prospects. Here's a guide on which power words to use (and when to use them) during sales meetings:

Building Personal Connection

The most successful sales conversations start by establishing a genuine connection. Using your prospect's name strategically throughout the conversation creates an immediate bond. Our brains are naturally wired to respond to our own names, making this simple technique surprisingly useful. But beware of overdoing it — if it feels like you're forcing it by starting every sentence with their name, then it won’t feel natural and they’ll most likely catch on that you might be trying to manipulate them.

Instead of talking too much about yourself, your company, and your product by using words like “we” or “I,” try to incorporate "you" and "your" frequently to keep the conversation focused on the prospect's needs. This subtle shift makes discussions more engaging and shows you're truly focused on them, not yourself and your end goals.

Creating Vision and Value

The word "imagine" is particularly powerful when helping prospects envision future success. When you say "Imagine reducing your team's workload by 50%," you're not just stating a benefit — you're helping them visualize a better future.

Value-focused words like "advantage" and "benefit" help frame your solution in terms of concrete gains. The key is backing these words with specific, relevant examples. For instance, instead of saying "This offers great value," try: "This gives you the advantage of reaching 40% more customers with the same effort."

Building Trust and Credibility

Trust-building words can significantly impact how prospects perceive your offering. "Proven" and "guaranteed" are powerful when used authentically and backed by real evidence. Rather than making empty claims, pair these words with specific success stories or data points.

The phrase "I understand" demonstrates empathy and shows you're truly listening. However, even more powerful is admitting when you don't know something. "Let me find out" is much better for building trust than pretending to know everything.

Creating Positive Momentum

Positive power words drive conversations forward. "Results" and "success" help prospects think about positive outcomes rather than getting lost thinking about all the moving parts that need to come together to reach their goals.

The word "because" is particularly effective when explaining benefits. People are more likely to accept proposals when given a reason, even if it's obvious. For example: "This solution is ideal for you because it directly addresses your team's productivity challenges."

Handling Objections Elegantly

When addressing concerns, replace "but" with "and" to maintain positive momentum. Instead of "This costs more but offers better quality," try "This costs more and delivers better long-term value."

When the prospect (undoubtedly) has a price objection, try using the word "investment" rather than "cost" or "price" to shift the conversation from expense to value. Similarly, "opportunity" can replace "problem" when discussing challenges to keep the dialogue positive.

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The key to using power words effectively is authenticity. Every word should be backed by genuine value and real capability. When combined with active listening and a true understanding of your prospect's needs, power words can help you establish authority, build rapport, and push your prospect closer to signing on the dotted line.

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MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

What did the 3 letters in ACT, the world's first CRM, originally stand for?

A. Activity Control Technology
B. Automated Contact Tracking
C. Another Crummy Tool
D. Automated Customer Tracking

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).

This isn't necessarily a sales fail pre se, but it's one of the funniest things I’ve seen in my professional career. It's been a pretty tense year at our company, and the CEO has been hounding sales leadership to grow revenue and they've been pushing the reps extra hard. One day, we were going over opportunities during our standing sales pipeline review meeting over Zoom. One of the reps had his turn to go over his opportunities, but he said that he actually had a presentation put together for the meeting.

He started sharing his screen and the first slide of the presentation was titled: "Reasons why I'm quitting today." Everyone was quiet, thinking that it was some kind of a joke. But the guy just got started in a calm tone, "I'm quitting today and just wanted to give a breakdown of the reasons why." He went to the next slide and the first bullet point was "the management team are incompetent *ssholes." Before he could keep going, our sales manager abruptly ended the meeting. The guy dropped the presentation in the Slack general channel right after the meeting and 30 minutes later, he was removed from Slack. We all read the presentation, and it was pretty hilarious. I DM'd him on LinkedIn to tell him that he's an absolute legend for quitting like that. I still work here, but I'm looking for other jobs.

Anonymous Location withheld

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- October 2024

WORTH A PEEK

How many reps on your team are hitting quota? A recent Reddit post asked users this question, with managers and reps across industries pulling back the curtain to show… well… it’s actually pretty bleak. Check out the conversation 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've been selling for my company for 4 years now. It's a great job with flexible working hours as long as I hit my number. Last week, the VP of sales sent me a message and asked me to meet him in the CEO's office. When I got there, the VP and CEO started asking me questions about my sales manager. Did I like working for him? Did I think he was a good leader? Did I think the sales team respected him, etc.? It seemed like they were looking for a reason to let him go. I talked to two other reps I'm close with and they both said they had similar conversations. I really like my sales manager. He's been great, so I'm not sure why he might be on the chopping block. I feel like I should give him a heads up about what's going on, but I don't want it to backfire on me. What should I do?

Loyal in New York

Dear Loyal,

It makes sense that if you like and respect your manager, you want to give him a heads up so he can prepare himself. But if you let him know, it could come back to you and your job could also be at risk. You might want to weigh how much loyalty you feel toward your manager as opposed to your company. Who knows, they might be asking these questions because they’re considering him for a promotion. You never know, so you're probably better off keeping your mouth shut. Good luck!

Quiz Answer: A. The 3 letters in ACT, the first CRM, originally stood for Activity Control Technology (you can read the source article here)

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

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