Miss your flight, lose the deal

Published: Wed, 03/06/24

March 6, 2024

TOGETHER WITH

Good morning. Have you ever wondered where prospects go after they ghost you? Is there some spinning portal that swallows them up and sends them to another dimension? Hopefully so (new SaaS business idea?). In this week’s issue, we’ll take a look at sports superagent Scott Boras, share a Sales Fail about a delayed flight, and give some advice to a rep struggling with the inconsistent nature of sales pay. Enjoy.

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

The average sales rep makes 52 calls every day.

Source: The Bridge Group

SALES ROUNDUP

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

Eighteen door-to-door salespeople from Utah sued their employer on the same day. The employer, Grit Marketing, allegedly had a banner year in 2023, earning $95 million and moving into a fancy new building. But the eighteen salespeople say that Grit Marketing has not paid them the commissions it owes, owing them between $10,000 and $250,000 per person. You can read more about the allegations here.
Mark Cuban said his first job as a garbage bag salesman helped make him rich. Cuban recalls asking his dad for a new pair of sneakers during his dad’s poker game. A friend of Cuban’s father at the poker table said Cuban could sell his boxes of garbage bags. If Cuban was able to sell these garbage bags in the neighborhood, he could keep the money and use it to buy new sneakers. This, Cuban says, is how it all started. You can read more about it here.

FEATURE

Image by MissChatter on Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

What Scott Boras, the most powerful sports agent in the world, can teach salespeople

Scott Boras has made an indelible mark on the world of sports management, particularly in the MLB, through his company, the Boras Corporation. Recognized by Forbes as the "Most Powerful Sports Agent in the World," Boras's negotiation tactics and strategic acumen are the stuff of legends. His journey from a dairy farmer's son in Elk Grove, California, to the pinnacle of sports agency offers invaluable lessons for sales professionals across industries.

Boras's early life was characterized by determination and hard work. He made the University of the Pacific baseball team as a walk-on and excelled, demonstrating early on his commitment to exceeding expectations. Despite a promising start, knee injuries cut short his playing career, leading him to pivot towards education, where he earned a Doctor of Pharmacy degree followed by a law degree. This was an early example of Boras’ adaptability and unwillingness to take setbacks sitting down.

The inception of Boras Corporation was a turning point, not just for Boras but for the entire landscape of sports management. Starting with representing Manny Trillo and Bill Caudill, Boras quickly established himself as a formidable force, negotiating record-setting contracts and advocating fiercely for his clients. His approach to representation focused on maximizing player compensation and leveraging every available advantage he could find.

Boras has represented a range of athletes across all 30 teams in Major League Baseball, navigating multiple landmark negotiations. Boras's negotiation strategies are legendary; he is renowned for securing contracts that not only break records (like Alex Rodriguez's $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers) but also set a precedent for future player negotiations, essentially making the market for other athletes. Boras seems to have a keen ability to pinpoint and leverage advantageous positions for his clients, which has led to recommendations such as encouraging draft prospects to stay in school rather than signing professionally, utilizing salary arbitration rights to their fullest, and advising established stars to explore free agency for more lucrative deals rather than accepting early, often lower, contract extensions from their home teams.

While these strategies have occasionally made Boras the villain among fans that prioritize team loyalties, he (pay attention, salespeople) maintains that his primary obligation is to his clients' best interests, even at the expense of public critique. His controversial tactics have, on several occasions, even prompted Major League Baseball to adapt its regulations. Boras's impact on the sport and its contractual landscape is huge, earning him a range of labels from critics and admirers alike, from being seen as a contentious figure to being regarded as an indispensable ally by the players he represents — he’s been called “the most hated man in baseball” and “the man player’s can’t afford to live without.”

Boras's advocacy for players even extends beyond contract negotiations. He’s been a vocal proponent for increased compensation and has lobbied to change MLB compensation rules. His approach underscores the importance of not just selling but advocating for the client's best interest even in the face of public criticism or potential backlash.

Today, The Boras Corporation, from its $20 million headquarters in Newport Beach, California, represents a broad array of clients, from emerging talents to seasoned veterans. This varied clientele speaks to the effectiveness of Boras’ approach: if you put your client’s interests first, you’ll succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

ARE YOU STILL SENDING PDF PROPOSALS?!

The PDF was invented in 1993, yet reps STILL use PDFs to try to close deals.

In 2024, you have to stand out to close deals. Qwilr can help. Here’s how Qwilr compares to PDFs:

Sending Proposals

PDF: Send as email attachment, all but guaranteed to get lost in the prospect's inbox. Unable to edit post-send.
Qwilr: Send one URL via email and get notified when the prospect opens and views. Don't worry about typos, you can edit post-send!

Tracking & Automation

PDF: None, once sent, that attachment is gone
Qwilr: Track proposal opens, how long it was viewed, and what pages were viewed. Automatically generate documents from CRM data + trigger notifications when meaningful action is taken so you can follow up.

Design & Branding

PDF: Requires design resources, lots of different tools, and internal back and forth
Qwilr: One tool. Upload your brand assets and set your design one time to apply to every proposal. New proposals take just a few clicks to create and send. Embed video, files, images. Interactive pricing and ROI calculators are built in!

Leave PDF proposals in the 90s where they belong and upgrade to online, trackable, automated sales proposals with Qwilr!

Try it free!

MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

Approximately how many sales workers are there in the European Union?

A. 19.9 million
B. 988
C. 42.1 million
D. 13.7 million

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 sell enterprise infrastructure technology, so we typically have pretty long sales cycles with large deal sizes. One deal can make my entire year.

I was in contact with an exec at a Fortune 500 company trying to get an in-person meeting. I was emailing him for months offering to fly out to him (I live in New York and he lived in Florida) and take him out to dinner anywhere he wanted so I could start to build a relationship and give him the pitch for our product.

Finally, he agreed and told me he was available for dinner Monday night of the following week. He gave me the name of the Michelin star restaurant he wanted to go to. I told my sales manager, who gave me the okay to expense the flight and the dinner and I booked it.

The day came, and I sent a confirmation first thing in the morning. He replied, and everything was good. I got to the airport two hours before the flight. An hour before takeoff, they said the flight was delayed by 30 minutes. Well... you can imagine how it went from there.

The delays kept rolling in, and the flight ended up being delayed over 3 hours. I immediately called the guy when I realized I wouldn't make it in time, telling him the flight was delayed and apologizing profusely. I asked if we could do dinner the following night instead. He coldly replied "That won’t work for me," and got off the phone. I never got another response from him again

Anonymous New York, NY

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- March 2024

WORTH A PEEK

Have you ever had to reschedule a meeting but struggled with how to do it in a courteous and professional way? If you want to ensure you’re keeping your prospects happy, do it right. HubSpot recently published an article on how to reschedule a meeting professionally in 2024. Check it out here.

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 make pretty darn good money in sales. Last year, I came in at just under $133k. This year, I am off to a slower start but usually I end up higher at the end of the year than I expected.

Here is my problem: I cannot handle the inconsistency of sales income. Our base is incredibly low ($15/hr), so the vast majority of my income comes from commissions, which fluctuates like crazy, even though it balances out at the end of the year.

Do you guys have any advice for how to handle the ebbs and flows? Like I said, I understand that I will make a certain amount of money every year, but the way the money comes in seems to always put me in a panic, and I worry about being unable to keep up with bills because of the inconsistency of the income. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Nervous in Location Withheld

Dear Nervous,

There are two things you can do that might help:

1) Find a job with a higher base pay. Your base of $31,200 is on the lower side, though your total comp sounds fairly competitive (this is without knowing what industry you’re in). A higher base would alleviate some of your concerns about inconsistent pay, though you run the risk of reducing your overall comp (impossible to say without knowing more).

2) Build up a bigger nest egg. A lot of people’s anxieties about money come from the fact that they have a small or non-existent emergency fund. If you have at least six to twelve months of expenses in the bank at any given time, there’s no reason you should be freaking out over your pay, given that you’re comfortably in the six figures.

This might also require you to take a better look at your personal finances and get a better understanding of the money coming in vs money going out. But if your expenses are reasonable as compared to your income, and you build up an emergency fund, there’s no reason why you should be as worried about your income as you have been. Good luck!

Quiz Answer: A. There are approximately 13.7 million sales workers in the EU — (you can read the source article here)

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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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