Sales in the Subscription Economy #9
New can't-miss podcast episode, coaching millennial salespeople, why reps need to use more video, & effective battlecard creation & adoption. Read issue #9 now!
What an unbelievable difficult week this has been. I can’t come up with the words to describe my sadness and devastation over the death and damage this pandemic continues to cause. I sincerely hope that everyone this reaches is healthy. Please take care of yourself, those you love, your team, and don’t neglect your mental health. This will end. Hang in there! And please, in all sincerity, reach out if I can help you in any way.
Let’s dive in to a little bit of work:
New Sales in the Subscription Economy podcast episode today with special guest, Mike Brouwer, Chief Customer Officer at Maxwell. With the full force of his 20+ years of sales experience behind him, Mike helps us get back to the basics, do incredible discovery, and master cross-departmental communication & incentive alignment in our recurring revenue organizations!
Listen to episodes 1-4 of Sales in the Subscription Economy at subscriptioncoach.com/podcast or subscribe on Spotify or your favorite podcast app.
The new podcast is a conversation with Sales VPs for Sales VPs competing in the subscription economy who are trying not to just survive this crisis, but emerge from it even better. Subscribe now and be one of those leaders!
Here's what you need to know this week:
24 Ways to Effectively Coach Millennial Salespeople by Beth Sunshine at The Center for Sales Strategy
Key Takeaways:
Schedule one-on-one time with them, ask how they want to be managed, position yourself as a partner in their success, get their input on rewards that motivate them.
Paint a picture of their career path at your company to help with retention.
Allow/encourage them to work in groups when possible – create a highly collaborative environment; offer cross-training opportunities so they can learn the entire business, and know that your best teaching moments will happen when you work alongside them.
Invest in training on business etiquette and soft skills.
Challenge them while managing their expectations and offering flexibility, while also making sure you provide a framework & necessary instruction for what needs to be done.
Have the “try versus results” conversation. You know they are the trophy generation, raised to believe that all you have to do is “try.” But now, at work, it’s about the results. This is a hard transition—help them make it.
Provide ample feedback, praise, recognition, and check in with them often.
*Amanda’s note: full disclosure here folks, I’m technically an “elder” millennial and some of this resonates with me, but not all of it. The bottom line: while the gif above is pretty funny, take the time to get to know your salespeople and manage accordingly. Don’t ever paint with a broad brush.
4 ways to close more deals with video calls by Steli Efti, CEO of Close.com
Key Takeaways:
Using videos in your sales communications helps to start discussions, increase your response rates, and builds trust faster. Video allows the salesperson to convey information quickly, that would have taken a lengthy to explain.
A video is an excellent tool for building trust with prospects and customers. It can feel more authentic to viewers than written content or a phone call. It allows others to put their eyes on the salespeople and choose whether or not to trust them.
Instead of using templated, written responses to common questions or objections, record videos with answers to those FAQs & objections. It's fine to reuse those videos with multiple prospects when appropriate.
For less common questions & objections, create personalized videos with relevant industry information for each prospect. Personalizing a video can help you connect on a higher level than a text based message, especially one that is tailored to that specific prospect.
Using video can allow somebody to see your body language and expressions, which makes it harder to ignore the message behind the sales outreach.
Don’t overly script your videos. Viewers can tell if you’re looking at a script, which ruins the human aspect. Write down a few points, practice a few times and then go for it!
How to boost battle card adoption so sales wins more deals by Lauren Kersanske of Crayon on Sales Hacker
Key Takeaways:
Build your battlecard WITH your reps: collaboration increases adoption. Get their feedback through direct interviews with reps and listen in on some of their high-stakes calls to get battlecard content & ideas.
Once a first draft of the card is complete, train a cohort of your sales team on how to use the card and run a pilot with that group. It's imperative to run a test and assess results before rolling the new battlecard out to the team.
Here’s a quick rundown of what you should include in your battlecard: competitive overview, competitor strengths & weaknesses, key differentiators, landmines, warning signs, pricing & package details, feature comparisons, recent announcements.
Integrate the battlecard into your reps' workflow. It should live where your sales people live for easy access during calls: you're CRM!
You must keep your battlecards up to date. It's time consuming, no one wants to do it, but your reps spewing inaccurate or outdated data to a prospect will tank their credibility and the sale!
Measure & iterate on battlecard results. Involve reps in that process and create space for candid feedback on card adoption, relevance, and usefulness in actual selling conversations.
We all have a laundry list of back-burner, pesky business "problems I'll tackle someday...".
The day to tackle those problems, improve your selling infrastructure, and refine your processes is today!
But I hear you: that's going to suck, and you'd rather be coaching your team & selling, and you're on a tight budget. Here's a value-laden, customized-for-you offering that comes in on budget and will fix underlying, inherent problems in your subscription sales process. It's designed to make you a more efficient, effective, and value-forward sales organization.
Get serious about becoming the best and see how Sales Solutions Sessions + Roadmap can help you emerge from this crisis at the top of your team's sales game.
Book that 30 minute exploratory call with me right now – let's get your sales machine operating at full strength. And no kidding, even if you can't afford it, book a call with me and let's see if I can help. We all need to bring our skills to the table to help others in need. For those of you who can pay, I'll be grateful. This is a scary time, financially among other things, for my family, too.
Take care of yourself, your loved ones, and your teams, and let’s get to work!
For more insights throughout the week, follow me on Twitter @NorthcuttAmanda