Salespeople get lonely too

Published: Wed, 05/18/22

May 18, 2022

TOGETHER WITH

Good news. Between 2019 and 2020, the rate of fatal workplace injuries for sales occupations decreased by approximately 19 percent, so at least we’ve got that going for us. In this week’s edition of The Quota, we’ll look at how lonely salespeople are costing their companies money, share the story of a pricing negotiation gone wrong, and give some advice to a manager whose sales team won’t pick up the pace. Oh, and in case you didn’t know, we offer rewards for every subscriber you send our way – check out the referral section at the bottom of this newsletter. Let’s get into it.

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

Over 50 percent of sales reps say that when they find a method that works for them, they do not change.

Source: HubSpot

SALES ROUNDUP

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

Giant software squid Salesforce is spreading its tentacles once again, acquiring Troops, a company that makes a Slackbot for sales teams. The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but the acquisition is set to close in the second quarter of Salesforce’s fiscal year, which ends in July 31, 2022. You can read the announcement from Troops here.
After a decade of slow sales growth, the electric vehicle might finally be taking off. According to a recent article from Car and Driver, electrical vehicle registrations in the U.S. have shot up a whopping 60 percent in the first quarter of 2022. And while they still only make up 4.6 of the total market, EVs appear poised for rapid growth. You can read the article here.

FEATURE

How Lonely Salespeople are Costing Their Companies Money

From the start of the pandemic, we knew that we'd experience loneliness, and that those feelings would eventually take their toll on our mental health. But it appears to be costing industries as well – the sales industry in particular. With more sellers working from home, isolated from colleagues and lacking in-person interactions, revenues and margins are decreasing.

Dr. David Good of Harvard Business School recently conducted research on this very subject, gathering data from two studies that surveyed more than 250 B2B and B2C salespeople from across industries. The studies utilized qualitative interviews, observations of teams, and performance statistics. The study found three main culprits that were causing decreases in revenue:

Social Awkwardness

Lack of social interaction causes people to lose their socializing skills. This might make for some funny, memorable conversations when meeting back up with people after two years, but for salespeople, the ability to read social cues can make or break a sale. Building a connection with a buyer is extremely important, and anything that makes that more difficult will undoubtedly hamper or even kill a sale.

In addition, salespeople are going into calls one after the other, possibly with no time in between. With no one around to boost their confidence or put things in perspective after a rough call, this can easily affect performance.

Not Prioritizing Customers’ Needs

Perhaps you’ve found yourself gushing to your barista about your brother’s surgery because you haven’t talked to anyone in SO LONG. This happens on sales calls as well. Salespeople, in their (now extra awkward) attempts to make connections with customers, may overstep the mark and become too casual with a prospect as they compensate for social interaction that’s missing in their daily lives. “I’m on with 20 customers a day, and every call feels the same,” one study participant told HBS. When all of the calls bleed together, it’s easy to forget key information about certain prospects and to treat them as just another box on your Zoom screen. This “impaired memory” prevents salespeople from tailoring their pitches to each customer and reduces the effectiveness of those pitches.

Spending More on Customers

Also known as “sweethearting,” this means salespeople are spending more on gifts and meals for customers, or even lowering prices in order to get a positive reaction. Dr. Good found that this increased spending produced no return on investment, as buyers did not in fact spend more money on the salespeople’s products in return.

So What’s the Solution?

There are concrete steps that both sales managers and employees can take to counteract how these effects play out. Here are some of the strategies the study suggests:

For Managers

Foster connections between workers that are unrelated to work. When salespeople are given the opportunity to connect with their colleagues about fun stuff at the beginning of the week or day, they scratch that social connection itch and are less likely to seek that connection from their prospects.
Ensure that everyone understands both how your products help people and what your value proposition is. This gives sellers a sense of purpose higher than themselves and reminds them that the work they do helps people. Similarly, when sellers are clear on the value of the product they're selling, they're less likely to cave and reduce prices.

For Sellers

Take breaks. We’ve all done the three (or four or five) back-to-back Zoom call marathons – the ones that melt our brains. Take breaks and reset between calls, even if for just five minutes, and the difference will be noticeable.
Make friends outside of work. There’s no substitute for good ol’-fashioned friendship. We’ve felt the weight of the pandemic on our shoulders for too long, and at times, it might feel like you are your job, but that’s not true, and life outside of work can remind us of that. Go make a new friend, or dust off an old one. You won’t regret it.

TOGETHER WITH CALIXA

With inbound product signups as the new norm, it's critical that sales reps spend their time only with the highest intent leads. But how can you stay efficient as lead volume scales?

Product-led sales enables sales teams with upsell triggers to find out who’s ready to buy (or buy more!).

In this blog post (5-min read), you can learn about…

How to efficiently sell to product signups
What is a Product Qualified Lead (PQL)
How PQLs improve your pipeline quality

Accenture found that PQLs convert 5X better than MQLs. Gone are the days of blindly selling. Double-down on the excitement of users who are already using your product.

See product-led sales in action. Sign up for free.

MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

Who wrote the famous play, Death of a Salesman?

A. Tennessee Williams
B. Arthur Miller
C. David Mamet
D. Tony Kushner

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 used to sell tutoring services for a company that focused on high-end clientele – basically, the children of very rich people who wanted to make sure their kids weren’t falling behind their peers. I didn’t have the job for long, less than nine months, since there was literally no career advancement whatsoever. The two owners made a ton of money and paid us just enough not to leave (which obviously didn’t work in my case).

One day, I was talking to a guy who I think worked in finance, and he was interested in signing his son up for our program. Our pricing was flexible on the upside, which meant that we could charge more (assuming we could close the deal) in order to earn a bigger commission. I knew this guy was loaded, so I quoted him a price at the higher end of the scale.

Apparently, though, he really liked to negotiate, so we went back and forth for a while, and he tried to get me to come down on the price. I think it was more of a game for him than anything else, but he was aggressive about it, responding via email with short paragraphs justifying the lower price.

Finally, I told him this was the lowest we could go, and that I really hoped we could earn his business. He responded to send the contract over, and I sent him what I thought was the contract with the correct price. But in my hurry, I’d sent him a contract for another client, who literally bought the same exact package for ten percent less a few weeks earlier. I caught it less than ten minutes later, and resent the right contract and told him to disregard the other email, but he had already opened and viewed the other contract.

He responded to my email and said that he appreciated my time, but that he couldn’t do business with a “dishonest broker.” I cost myself a few thousand bucks by being too hasty. Now I always, always double-check the contract before sending it out!

Anonymous, 27 New York

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram Poll -- May 2022

WORTH A PEEK

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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 run a small sales team for a small-ish web development firm. We provide solutions for medium-sized businesses that want to outsource their dev work. I was a sales rep here for about six years, and did really well before I got promoted to run the team.

The company has a pretty good culture. We’re not in or near a huge city, so a lot of the people in town and employees know each other from outside of work. My point is that I don’t think our company is ever set to become massive or anything, but it’s a good employer for the area.

My only problem is that the sales reps who work for me aren’t hungry, like at all. They’re great guys for the most part, but they have no hustle in them. It’s like they’re operating at a different speed. They’re operating at the same speed as the other departments, when they need to be acting with a sense of urgency.

I’ve seen a ton of reps come and go, and I excelled because I always pushed and tried to avoid falling into the trap of treating it like a 9 to 5. But my reps seem happy to come in and punch a clock. Any advice for how to light a fire under these guys? Or should I just plan on replacing everyone?

Frustrated in North Carolina

Dear Frustrated,

It sounds like you got promoted not only because you got results, but because you operated with a sense of urgency – though the two are undoubtedly intertwined. It sounds like you have a mandate to get your team to operate at a higher level, since they seem to be acting like they work in HR (or marketing).

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to motivating individuals. Every single person is motivated by different things and in different ways. You need to learn more about your reps to find out what makes them tick. And don’t be surprised if what makes at least some of them tick is a laid-back job where they can come in, shoot the shit with their hometown friends, and leave at 4:45 to get dollar wings at the local sports bar (mmmmm… wings).

The point is that you’re going to have to get to know your reps on an individual basis, and tailor your approach accordingly.

There is, however, a second component to this. You need to simultaneously raise the momentum of the entire team, and you’re going to have to do it in as positive a way as possible. It might be tempting to resort to threats or guilt to get people to do what you want, but they’ll just grow resentful, and you’ll turn your workplace culture toxic – never a good idea.

Instead, lead by example. Schedule prospecting sprints where everyone gets together and prospects for new business and cheers each other on. Order coffees for everyone; run contests and offer rewards. Review calls together (annoying but fun). Switch things up. Keep up the momentum. Some will step up and some won’t, but you should give everyone a chance to come along for the ride. And don’t be afraid to get to know everyone a bit better – maybe even over some dollar wings… good luck!

Quiz Answer: B

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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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