When your boss refuses to help your career

Published: Wed, 09/14/22

September 14, 2022

TOGETHER WITH

Summer is almost over, which means prospects can’t use “vacation” as an excuse not to get back to you anymore. But don’t worry, they’ll use different, more elaborate excuses, so you’ll have to come up with even more clever ways to break through – it’s a vicious circle. In this week's edition of The Quota, we interview prolific sales author Jeb Blount, offer some free books from the nice folks at Postal, and give some advice to an SDR who wants to move up. Let’s do this.

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

Top sellers spend an average of 6 hours every week researching their prospects.

Source: Crunchbase

SALES ROUNDUP

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

Some sales reps have hobbies outside of work, but one salesman from Fort Myers is a bonafide rockstar… sort of. He has the hair, the outfit, and the skills, the only thing he’s missing is the guitar. But that hasn’t stopped John Healy from becoming one of the top air guitarists in the world. You can watch him shred here.
According to a recent survey, the role of B2B sales reps has become harder since the pandemic. Approximately 48% of respondents said that selling has become harder since early 2020, and 39% said that staying motivated was their top challenge. You can read about their other findings here.

FEATURE

An interview with Jeb Blount, best-selling sales author and world-famous sales trainer

For this week’s interview, we reached out to Jeb Blount, prolific sales author and one of the best-known sales trainers in the world. We’ve known Jeb for a while, and he was kind enough to take the time to answer our questions. If you’d like to check out his newest book, Selling in a Crisis, you can find it here.

Q. First things first. Tell us about your new book!

My brand new book is called Selling in a Crisis, following on the heels of Selling The Price Increase. Selling The Price Increase is about selling in volatile times, and selling at different levels of pain. It’s about going through the most difficult thing you can do as a business (increasing price) without losing customers.

Selling In a Crisis is about selling through noise, when times are volatile, and not losing customers along the way. Selling in a Crisis, written over the summer, is much different from past books I’ve written because it's shorter and sweeter. There are 55 easy-to-consume chapters. They’re quick and hard-hitting. It’s perfect for daily inspiration as you're out there grinding and looking for new business.

Q. You’re one of the best-known sales trainers in the world. How did you get here?

Well, it’s taken a long time. I started 15 years ago. Back then, I created Sales Gravy and wrote my first book. A lot of it was through brute force; lots of grinding and making mistakes to hone the craft and get better. A lot of it was hiring the right people. I work with a lot of great people who make it possible for me to do what I do and to write books – bringing on new clients and hiring new trainers to grow and execute the business. I put my entire philosophy in my books which allows people to understand exactly what they are going to get. Most companies aren't like us; they hide their tactics and philosophy. We put the entire thing in our books so people know exactly what they’re going to get.

Q. Before you became a trainer, what did you sell?

I’ve sold a lot of stuff. Dead animal funeral services when I was 13. I sold yearbook ads in high school. Newspapers subscriptions and distribution. Nutrisystem and weight-loss products. I sold 3D printing projects, industrial uniforms at Aramark. On-site child care services – corporate level childcare and education to big companies, which was the most rewarding thing I ever sold. Insurance, radio ads, job board ads, and now I sell sales training.

Q. If there was one thing you could change about the way sales teams operate today, what would it be?

This is a strong opinion. Sales teams have gotten a bit too passive. When I was coming up, it was a survival of the fittest business. You either survived or drowned. Sales teams have allowed mediocrity – leaders don’t have the ability to hold people accountable. The biggest mistake reps are making is that they’re just doing email outreach – spamming people. No one wants to hold salespeople accountable for knocking on a door or picking up the phone. There should be less kumbaya and more survival of the fittest. Sales teams should focus on hiring and retaining the best people and rewarding them. Focus on your job: sales/producing. It’s like pro sports. If you’re not winning, you get kicked off the team.

Q. One thing that many sales reps struggle with is staying motivated and consistent. Do you have any advice that can help sales reps with these things?

When it comes to motivation, the number one thing is knowing what you want. The easiest way to stay motivated is to tap into desire. If you think about what you do in selling, it's not natural. It's not natural to go out and seek rejection. Prospecting, micro commits, closing deals – all require facing rejections. It's not easy, but if you know what you want to accomplish, it's easier to get over the hump. Let’s say you want to remodel your condo. How much money do you need? If you know how much money you need, it can motivate you to make calls, and make sacrifices to get what you want.

Being consistent is about discipline, about having a daily battle rhythm. You need to make a decision to be consistent. Being consistent can be boring. Lots of salespeople like the chaos, but being consistent and deciding to have a routine and doing the same thing every day is how you win. If you look at the top 3 salespeople at any company in the world, everyone has a daily routine that they stick to, sometimes even drinking out of the same coffee cup. No one can make decisions for you, and there’s no “easy” button. Only you can decide to be consistent.

Q. The growth of LinkedIn has ushered in hundreds (thousands?) of new sales influencers. Do you think this is a good thing, or does it muddy the waters?

I always think it's a good thing when there is information people can have for free. It's a good thing people are interested in sales now. My life has been dedicated to advancing sales as a profession. As a discipline, there isn’t only one way to do things, it’s not black and white. I'm a student of probability. With every given customer at any given point, there's a move that will give you a higher probability than another.

There's some people that have no idea what they're talking about on LinkedIn. They had one successful year and now tell people “this is the only way to do sales.” Smart salespeople take everything in and try it to see what works. It's all about probability. Your job as a sales pro is to use high IQ and intuition – which techniques, tools, processes, and questions will give the highest probability of getting your desired outcome? As a trainer and author, I would never tell someone THIS (one way) is the only way of doing things.

Q. If you could only give one piece of sales advice to every sales rep in the world, what would you say?

Talk with people. The more people you talk with, the more you’ll sell. Stop texting, get off email, pick up the phone, walk in the door, and have a conversation. Email and text isn't bad, it's part of the technique for prospecting/sales. But whether you're prospecting or moving to the next step, have conversations and talk with people. If you're not talking to people, I can hire a robot to talk to people. If you're not talking to people, I don't need you.

Q. What is your favorite sales (or sales adjacent) movie?

That’s a hard question. My favorite sales movie is probably Tommy Boy, and my favorite sales-adjacent movie is Moneyball. Moneyball is a probability movie. What's the probability of getting on base? What’s the probability of getting home? This makes it extremely applicable to sales.

TOGETHER WITH SALES IMPACT ACADEMY

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MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

How tall is the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco?

A. 50 ft
B. 1,290 ft
C. 1,984,002 ft
D. 1,070 ft

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 work for a mortgage company in a big regional call center. One of the things that would happen quite often is that people who were shopping for houses would call us to get pre-qualified, but their realtor would then encourage them to work with somebody else to get their mortgage.

This was annoying, but what made it even worse was that since we were a call center with set hours, people would call us when they needed a pre-qualification letter to submit along with their offer since they knew we would be open and would be able to give it to them even though they had no intention of using us.

Well, one day, this couple I had pre-qualified before called in and said they needed a pre-qual letter asap to submit with their offer. I asked if they were going to definitely use us for financing, since we didn’t want to do work for somebody else, and they said yes, absolutely. Their realtor then got on the phone with me and swore up and down that they would finance through us.

So I sent them the letter and waited. A day went by and I followed up with the buyers. They sent a quick reply saying they were going to get financed through a friend of the realtor. I called the realtor who kept sending me straight to voicemail, but I left a pretty harsh message about how dishonest of a person he was. No one is obligated to work with us, but the lying right to my face was a little too much. In any case, not sure if this is a Sales Fail, but it definitely felt like one to me.”

Anonymous Location withheld

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- September 2022

WORTH A PEEK

The folks at Postal want to help you start your own business book club! They’re offering a free copy of What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith or Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh, two classics for emerging leaders at growing companies and building habits that drive success throughout our careers. Use this link and share it with your team for up to 5 claims per company. 100 copies total to give away before they're gone. And let us know what you think of the experience as you use the Postal platform to grab your book. Postal helps BDRs and Sales Execs get in front of top prospects and drive more pipeline with offline marketing engagement. Send gifts like these and more to close deals faster and build lasting relationships! Available for folks in the US only.

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 joined my first real SaaS tech company and was overjoyed when I started because their offer was so competitive and they paid a great starting bonus. I'm more than half a year in now and clearly communicated in my hiring process that I wanted to move from a Sales Development Rep to an Account Executive position within a year and a half.

Well, now that I'm settled into my position, I decided to start digging last month on how to obtain the promotion and get on the right path. I have friends in the field that are at different companies with specific goals and KPI's required to hit before they can become an AE – very detailed stuff.

However, when I went around asking senior reps, AEs, my manager, and AE managers, I was met with a less-than-satisfactory response. "Work hard and maybe you'll get promoted," or "even if you put in the best work, there’s a slim chance you'll become an AE, that's just how it is here."

What should I do? I want to leave, because I know of other positions from connections who say that with the current numbers I've put up, I would be talking about promotions already. I'm performing in the top 10 out of 110+ other reps. But I'm also sort of in a jam as taking an SDR position was a huge pay cut from car sales and now I have a 5k starting bonus hanging over my head to pay back if I leave before a year. Any advice?

Restless in Utah

Dear Restless,

We asked Ryan Walsh, Founder and CEO of RepVue, the go-to platform for everything related to sales compensation, culture, role, and employment, for his thoughts. Here’s what he said:

“First, it's reasonably unusual that an org with 100+ SDRs doesn't have a clear, well-baked promotion plan/path for SDRs to get to the AE role (particularly a modern sales org). It's really a core component of the sales professional development plan and has been in most orgs for a decade. Frankly, it's dumb for orgs to train up great talent only to have them jump somewhere else for their AE role.

Second, it's super important that you have this direct conversation with your direct manager as well as that person's manager (via a skip meeting if your team has those, where you meet with your manager's manager). Just be clear in what your objectives are and the fact that you'd love to be on that AE path at your company. This is not threatening, but most managers will understand that if you don't get that AE role there, then you'll likely be looking around after a year.

Third, don't fret and assume you are being treated fairly and as a top 10% performer are earning decent money. Understand that after putting in your 1 year (to retain your bonus), you'll simply be a highly coveted employee for a bunch of tech orgs looking to grow their teams. Once you get to month 10, if the current org is still opaque regarding your prospects, you should start having conversations with the recruiters who will likely be hitting your DMs.

Think of the car sales transition as short term pain long term gain! Good luck!”

Quiz Answer: D

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