Don’t settle for less when you deserve more

I like to bring small groups together from similar skill sets and meet in an informal sales training roundtable. It is for a shorter period of time and it dives into one specific skill.   Recently, I met with a few reps for the sole purpose on focusing on net new business.  I asked each of them to bring one target account they wanted to penetrate this quarter. Before talking about skills, I wanted to examine their choices and what accounts they wanted to target.

This was a great exercise because it taught me so much about each individual, what they strive for, how they prepare, what they believe they deserve and how many of them settle for less. Here’s what they brought to the table and why:

 1. One rep brought a very large high profile strategic account which was entrenched with the competition for some time. She wanted to get more visibility within the company and knew that going after such a high profile account would score her more points.

2. One rep brought a prospect he worked on for months but just lost the opportunity a few weeks ago. He believed this prospect owed him something since he had invested so much time on this account.

3. One rep brought a webinar lead who signed up but never attended. He figured they had expressed some initial interest and this was a warm lead.

4. One rep wanted to go after their installed base and up-sell them into a new solution. They were a good solid customer and the chances of getting more business was high.  

5. One rep wanted to chase a prospect who had a good relationship with this rep but had put off buying for many months. This rep believed he was getting much closer and predicted the deal to close in the coming quarter.

It’s so interesting what we reach for when we prospect. The time of the month plays into this =  If it’s the beginning of the month, we may go after something more strategic or at the end of the month or quarter, we become more desparate and look for low-hanging fruit to just bring something in.

In general, I find that salespeople deserve more and tend to settle for less. Here are some ways I believe they settle:

1. They are very quick to offer discounts without investing time in selling the value.

2. They become impatient and settle for a smaller sale versus a bigger sale.

3. They invest too much time talking with the wrong people or the No-Po’s.

4. They have unrealistic and unatainable goals and sabotage themselves into being disappointed.

5. They settle because they are tired, lazy, desparate, panicked, insecure, apathetic.