Successful Selling 101: Planning, Execution & Ethics (Ft. Landon Hobbs)

Down the Rabbit Hole

Successful Selling 101: Planning, Execution, & Ethics Ft. Landon Hobbs A discussion around the idiocracy that the sales industry has devolved into. WTF happened? How the hell did we end up here? The lack of relationship-building, the increase in high-volume outreach (a.k.a. "spamming"), and the blatant disregard for the buyer's journey have destroyed the integrity of the salesperson.

"99% of the messaging out there is awful, so you HAVE to do your research ahead of time to stand out. If you're not willing to do that, you're going to have a real hard time (prospecting)." —Landon Hobbs

Key Takeaways:

1. Research who you reach out to BEFORE meeting them. They'll know if you didn't. When you're selling to leadership, THEY WILL KNOW if you haven't researched them and their business. When you don't, it's literally insulting to the person who's taking the time they don't have and giving it to you. Your chance at a sale goes right down the proverbial toilet.
2. Prospecting is like a game of chess. Different people with different job functions of different hierarchies exist within a business. Intelligently decide who is best to reach out to and build relationships with. This is only possible if you DO the research. Make the wrong move or get too narrow/wide—you will fail.
3. Don't pitch unless you are directly asked to do so. Pitching is dead. No one wants to be pitched. Pitching is a bunch of scripted words sprayed in the prospect's face about why they should buy the thing you're selling without consent. Think about it... Who in the f*ck wants that? Ever?—Unless they specifically ask for it?
4. Don't force an agenda on someone. Your job is to guide them on the BUYER'S journey. No one wants to sit through a bulleted list of subjects they may or may not (and probably don't) want to talk about or sit through. Ask the buyer what they want to talk about and what problem THEY are trying to solve. Not the problem you know you solve. They may not even see it the way you or your organization does.

About Landon

Landon Hobbs, Account Executive at Reprise, advocates for all things related to the mental health of salespeople.

He wants to humanize vulnerability and bring back the human element to selling.

Feel free to connect with Landon Hobbs or Rob Turley on LinkedIn or @RobTurley2 on Twitter!

#DTRHpodcast #Sales #SalesEnablement #BusinessDevelopment #RelationshipBuilding #SDR #AE #Ethics #BeHuman #HighVolumeIsDead