Tag: Selling

My moment of emotional unintelligence

A few minutes before meeting with executives of a major corporation, my heart raced uncontrollably. At the moment, I couldn’t tell what provoked the feeling, but it did cause me to have subpar performance. In the debrief with my sales leader after the meeting, I concluded I was nervous, so we discussed strategies to calm the nerves. Reflecting on that meeting, I now realize I wasn’t nervous; I was intimidated by the executives’ titles and accomplishments. This aha moment came to me while reading Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success: Connect with Customers and Get Results. I misidentified the emotion I was feeling at that time and spent hours working to improve the wrong thing. This misstep was my moment of emotional unintelligence. 

The most successful sales leaders I know exude so much emotional intelligence it almost seems effortless. One of the many reasons these leaders are so good is their ability to identify the right emotions they feel and process it accordingly. Reading Colleen’s book and supporting research, the reality is that emotional intelligence is like any skill; it takes practice and repetition to become proficient. Colleen defines Emotional Intelligence (EI) as “the ability to recognize your emotions and to correctly identify the emotion you’re feeling and know why you’re feeling it. It’s the skill of understanding what trigger or event is causing the emotion and the impact of that emotion on yourself and others; and then adjusting your emotional response to the trigger or event to achieve the best outcomes.” 

She goes on to share three action steps for improving emotional intelligence:

  • Schedule Downtime: The key to downtime is creating space for yourself and becoming more self-aware. According to Colleen, downtime allows you to ask yourself thoughtful questions to gain clarity on your sales behavior and outcomes. One of the ways I’ve put this into practice is scheduling time on my calendar to think. At first, it seemed like a strange concept to schedule time to think. However, having this time has inspired me to generate creative ideas to impact clients and colleagues positively. It has also allowed me to work on my mental health and refine my goals and aspirations. Also, by putting this time on the calendar, I treat it like any other important client meeting by showing up prepared. Being prepared means showing up with thought-provoking questions and adding a few from the book below: 
    1. What was the reason for my reaction to the prospect or customer? 
    2. What would have been a better response during the sales meeting?
    3. What did I do well, and how do I repeat that behavior?
  • Create Technology-free Zones – Salespeople are naturally attached to smartphones to quickly respond to emails, slack messages, texts, telegrams, WhatsApp, facetime, and phone calls from clients. While it’s essential to be available to your customers promptly, it is just as crucial to make time to be available for YOU. This action step reminds me of an article I wrote about self-care. In the article, I described how prioritizing self-care helped me be a better customer advocate and a team player.  
  • Name the Specific Emotion – This action hits home for me because it is about naming the specific emotion and understanding WHY the emotion is present. By correctly diagnosing the feeling, one can build the right infrastructure to channel and process the emotion. Earlier in the article, I described misidentifying the emotion I felt during my meeting with those executives. The reason why I felt intimidated was simply a lack of experience. My experience over the years nurturing executive relationships has enabled me to become less intimidated. Although the feeling may show up unexpectedly, I’ve learned to correctly identify it and take the necessary steps to control and channel it. When it’s all said and done, executives are people.

I am humbled by the journey I’ve been on so far and look forward to turning my emotional unintelligence into many more learning moments.

Cheers to selling!

3 ideas to sell better while social distancing

I have been working from home since late February, which means I have had to adjust my way of selling while social distancing and observing the shelter in place order in Seattle. Below are three ideas that have worked for me as I adapt to the new normal of working from home and unable to visit clients face to face. If there are other methods or strategies you’re applying to generate positive results, please share them with me.

1/ Sell with empathy. We are in the midst of social distancing, not empathy distancing. Almost every salesperson, including me, likes to think they connect better with potential clients face to face instead of virtual. The reality is that how we show up is usually consistent regardless of the communication channel. Also, it is times like these where there is uncertainty and crisis that reveals our true self. Now more than ever, investing the time to master social and emotional skills will benefit our customers, employers, and most importantly, ourselves. According to a study by McKinsey Global Institute, one of the fastest-growing skills that employers will demand by 2030 is social and emotional skills. They define “social and emotional” skills as “soft skills,” which include: advanced communication and negotiation, empathy, the ability to learn continuously, to manage others, and to be adaptable.

So what does it mean to sell with empathy?

Selling with empathy for me means walking a mile in someone else’s shoes even if the shoes do not fit. Having empathy is not just the ability to understand the feelings of the other person; it also involves sharing the feelings. Selling with empathy is also about having compassion for these executives navigating these complex challenges. These executives are responding to this crisis with improvisations as there are no playbooks, so be patient and compassionate. Your goal should be to make a genuine connection not just a sale.  

This article by Colleen Stanley, President and Chief Selling Officer at SalesLeadership, Inc., offers practical advice on how to sell with empathy. You can also get her book, Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success.

2/ Find opportunities to help your potential client execute ideas faster. If you’re in enterprise sales, you’re probably familiar with the concept of Time To Market (TTM). It means the length of time it takes from a product being conceived until it’s available for sale. The companies that can bring the best products to market the fastest often gain the lion share of the market segment. As executives and decision-makers meet internally to explore ideas of how to navigate the challenges that this pandemic is having on their businesses, they will seek partners to help them not just go from idea to revenue, but idea to survival in the shortest time possible. Once you have developed a deep understanding of your potential client’s challenges (because you’ve mastered selling with empathy :)), you will be able to provide a valid and refreshing point of view of why you’re the right partner to execute the ideas.




3/ Insert humor. We all know the saying that laughter is the best medicine. As our potential clients deal with the pressures of today and uncertainties of tomorrow, a good laugh could be the highlight of their day. You don’t have to be a stand up comedian with a special on Netflix to make people laugh. You do need some creativity though. For example, I wore a t-shirt with my client’s logo during a video conference meeting. During my introduction, I shared that although my employer pays me, the company I really work for is my client, hence the t-shirt I was wearing. They all had a good laugh. Mission accomplished.

“You don’t stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop laughing.”—Michael Pritchard

Bonus: When it comes to staying connected, meet your customers where they are. One of my customers said their preferred method of staying connected is through Telegram, so I downloaded the app. Another said text📱 messages, so we became texting buddies. Another said Slack, so I joined their channel. Another said phone calls☎ , the other said email📧 , and her colleague said fax machine📠. Just kidding about the last one, no one uses fax machines anymore; but if they did, I’ll get a fax machine.😁 This concept of meeting your customers where they are would hold true even after things get back to normal. My recommendation is to discover your customer or potential client’s preferred method of staying connected and adapt to it.

PSA: During this pandemic, let’s all follow the recommendations of medical professionals and do our part to flatten the curve. Also, keep doctors❤ , nurses❤ , and first responders❤ in your prayers.

Happy selling, and be safe. 

Amazon Web Services is hiring sales professionals. If interested, find job postings here and send me a note. Happy to refer and coach you through the process.

What Table Tennis 🏓 taught me about selling

According to Dr. Wendy Suzuki, professor of neuroscience and psychology at New York University, a game of “table tennis works parts of the brain that are responsible for movement, fine motor skills, and strategy – areas that could be growing stronger with each match.” It is no surprise it is easy to spot a table tennis corner in communal areas of some of the fastest-growing startups and technology companies. My passion for table tennis began many years ago in Nigeria when my parents bought us a table when I was about twelve years old. My game has continued to improve, and I feel fortunate to work in a field where taking a few minutes to play a game isn’t frowned upon but encouraged to build camaraderie and brainpower. There are four lessons the game of table tennis has taught me about selling.

1/ You can influence the outcome by focusing on what you can control– In a standard game of first to 21 points, each player gets to serve at least ten times. A serve is when the ball is tossed up at least 6 inches and struck, so the ball first bounces on the server’s side and then the opponent’s side. The level of creativity of your serve is one of the elements of the game you have full control over. As such, making it difficult for your opponent to return your serve is one of the fastest ways to score points and gain an advantage. However, mastering a difficult serve takes immense discipline and practice. Similar to sales, you can influence the outcome of an opportunity by maniacally focusing on the elements of the process you can control.

Pay attention to the serve which sets up the opportunity for the forehand smash.


2/ Mistakes are inevitable; learn from them. A player who dwells on the mistakes made, which may have caused him to lose a point, is often visibly timid and risk-averse. Since thoughts drive action, it’s essential to have a growth mindset. For instance, instead of thinking “how could I be so careless, dumb, [insert your choice of words] to lose that point?,” try thinking “how can I adjust my game to have an unfair advantage?” A player who learns from her mistakes and makes adjustments in real-time accelerates her potential to win the game and ultimately win in life and business.




3/ Persistence strengthens relationships. I needed to get in front of the CTO and Co-Founder of one of the fastest-growing startups in SoCal. I tried contacting him via email, telephone, and social media but couldn’t get through. After many months, I discovered an article published in the early 2000s of this executive and how he loved table tennis. Instinctively, I challenged him to a game. He accepted. Without going into details about who won (we both did 😃) the game established a foundation for a healthy relationship that continues to blossom. This executive has become a friend and continues to inspire me to improve my game in business and life. He even kindly donated to a table tennis charity tournament I helped organize to raise money for Hack-The-Hood, a non-profit organization in Oakland focused on increasing the representation of minorities in the tech industry.

4/ Do not underestimate your opponent. We all love the stories of underdogs that come from behind to claim victory over big dawgs despite the odds stacked against them. I’ve played many games where I fell behind only to come back to claim victory. I’ve also played many games where I was well ahead only to crumble and lose the game. In both scenarios, one person was underestimating the other person. Chinese philosopher and writer, Lao Tzu, teaches that “there is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.” In Sales, you’re either representing the incumbent (big dawg) or challenger (underdog). It doesn’t matter who you represent, underestimating your opponent leaves you exposed and unprepared to execute a winning strategy. 

As a bonus, check out this incredible 41 shot rally featuring Nigerian table tennis superstar – Segun Toriola. It is a masterclass in executing a defensive strategy. 





Use Data Analogy To Inspire Action

When asked what makes a great story, Beau Willimon, showrunner for House of Cards, gave a simple answer: “The most important element in a good story is conflict. It’s seeing two opposing forces collide with one another.” 

As I have progressed in my sales career from selling T-Shirts as a college student to negotiating technology agreements as a Senior Enterprise Sales Executive, one thing remains consistent: a good story drives action. Trying to convince a broke college student to spend $25 for a T-Shirt required some artful storytelling. Displacing an incumbent and challenging the status quo means gaining executive consensus and painting a better future through stories. 

Telling a good story requires knowing what makes a good story, and from the comment earlier, the most critical element in a good story is conflict. A known supporting cast in any good commercial story is data, which is also a catalyst for conflict and debate.

The key to using data in a story is that it needs to inspire action and accelerate decisions. In Nancy Duarte’s HBR article, she explains that for data to inspire action, they need to do more than make sense – they have to make meaning. If your audience can internalize the purpose of the data, it becomes more actionable, which leads to a faster decision.

Let’s assume you are trying to explain to your audience that your solution could save $2,000,000 over 12 months. 

The HBR article shared three strategies you could use to have your data make meaning:

  1. Connect data to relatable size – comparing length, width, height, thickness, or distance. Using our $2M in savings example, you could say to an audience in Seattle: two million dollars stacked up in one dollar bills is about the height of the Space Needle with some change to spare. Guess what happens when next they see the Space Needle from their downtown office? You guessed it, the two million dollars they could be saving with your solution. 
  2. Connect data to relatable time – we measure time in seconds, hours, minutes, days, months, and decades. Two million dollars comes out to $7,692 per working day, so each day we delay the decision costs the business $7,692 or $320 per hour or $5 per minute…a minute later in the meeting, you could interrupt yourself and say, wow, there goes five bucks, with a smile.  
  3. Connect data to relatable things – more digestible to relate to things people are familiar with. To an environmentally conscious decision maker in Silicon Valley, you could say: two million dollars could get you and your team of 20 engineers a brand new 2019, Tesla Model X. #SaveTheEnvironment (assuming they don’t already own one 🙂 )

When crafting a story, take advantage of opportunities to insert data into the storyline and use the strategies described above to master the art of having the data make meaning. If your audience understands the impact of your data, they would be inspired to use your meaning in internal discussions to navigate conflict, drive action and arrive at a decision in your favor. 

Bliss selling!

Kedu…Mr. & Mrs. Customer

A few days ago, I called my uncle who recently underwent knee surgery. Thankfully, he had good news to share. His pain had begun to subside and he was now able to move around. We prayed and laughed together, celebrating his progress. 

During our conversation, my uncle shared an Igbo proverb:

Kedu ka i mere ga-agwo oria ma gi jiri obi oma juo ya. 

Or in English – asking someone how they are doing can heal their sickness when you ask with a pure heart. 

While sales was hardly the focus of our time together, the proverb struck a chord with me. The first half of the idiom is quite intuitive; it’s the second half that I found most poignant, so I’ll focus there. 

“…when you ask with a pure heart.”

As sales executives, we are measured on the quantity and quality of our output. As such, we set our sights on delivering these outputs quarter after quarter – making more dials, qualifying more leads and closing more deals. The risk though of getting into this routine is that it’s all too easy to lose sight of the fundamental reason for all of this effort. At worse, our actions could become influenced by insincere motives, which inevitably leads to reduced customer trust and lost business. 

With a pure heart, one can climb through layers of rejection and come out unscathed. Even when dealing with what may seem to be a difficult client, a pure heart takes a long term view and eventually earns the customer’s respect and signature. Essentially, a pure heart gets rewarded over and over. It’s also difficult to “act out” having a pure heart for an extended period. In due course, the movie comes to an abrupt end. 

In my experience, asking with a pure heart means starting with the customer outcomes, not the product or the competition. If the customer doesn’t believe the intentions are genuine, then nothing else matters and your window of opportunity closes.

The Scars Might Remain

I often talk about success in sales, but the reality is I have failed much more than I have succeeded. It is a hard truth to admit but the truth nonetheless. Today was one of those days when I felt like I was trying to land a plane with a user manual on the one hand and an instructional YouTube video on the other hand. It did not help that anxious passengers were screaming out instructions in the background as well. I crash-landed. Luckily there were no casualties, just bruises. The bruises should heal quickly, but I am worried the scars might remain for a while.

An interesting fact in sales is that your most challenging clients are often the internal stakeholders you are trying to convince that you are in control of the deal. The best internal stakeholders bring ideas and thoughtful questions to help you move the sale forward rather than only ask questions to “check the box.” The best questions are meant to elicit a discussion that should lead to a refined and effective strategy.

Many times the right answer to these questions might be: I don’t know, but I will take it as an action item to find out.

A response like this requires humility. It’s also okay to admit when you’re stuck so that you can be specific in your ask for help. Today I appreciated working with internal stakeholders that care about my success, and more importantly, are invested in my development as a sales executive.

Happy selling.

Why You Should Visit That Unresponsive Prospect

Listen to the audio version of this article brought to you by my accent 🙂 😉

The Status Quo: A few weeks ago, I came across an article written by Dr. Travis Bradberry, President of TalentSmart, on what successful and happy people focus on. I recommend you take a few minutes to read it. One behavior stood out for me. Dr. Bradberry’s research found that “successful and happy people live outside the box. They haven’t arrived at where they are by thinking in the same way as everyone else. While others stay in their comfort-zone prisons and invest all their energy in reinforcing their existing beliefs, successful people are out challenging the status quo and exposing themselves to new ideas.”

The Problem: As a sales professional, my thought process naturally transitioned to how I could apply this concept to improve my sales motion. After reflecting on the behavior Dr. Bradberry described, it was clear certain comfortable assumptions were preventing me from experiencing new ideas for myself and my clients. I had fallen victim to making excuses on behalf of prospects as to why they wouldn’t respond to my email, phone call, or voicemail, let alone, buy from me. Their silence had to be validation that they weren’t interested. And that was the problem. It was me telling myself this, not the prospect.

The Idea: The concept of challenging the status quo and exposing oneself to new ideas can be scary. You could be criticized, rejected, or ridiculed. I had gotten comfortable hiding behind emails, phone calls, and voicemails. It was easy to show management and anyone that cared how many emails I had sent, phone calls I had made, and voicemails I had left. What I couldn’t show were results. A good measure of a decent sales professional is his or her ability to deliver results, not excuses. I needed a new approach. Inspired by Dr. Bradberry’s article, I was compelled to escape out of my comfort-zone prison. The concept of living outside the box propelled me to come up with the idea of visiting my prospect, unannounced, to get some face time. I was confident in the value I could deliver. The reality is, having an idea is like the regular season, everyone has a good idea, so all teams are in; executing on the idea is like the playoffs, the stakes are much higher, so not all teams can make it. I had to make the playoffs and go all the way.

The Visit: The day came to visit the client. It was a rocky start as I missed the entrance to the parking garage and had to park in the next building. I thought about reparking but decided not to, instead, I got excited about getting a few extra steps counted towards my steps goal. I was too focused on the bigger goal of getting face time with the CTO. So I marched towards the elevator as “what if” questions and thoughts raced through my mind. What if he is not there? What if he refuses to see me? What if he is genuinely not interested? What if I am rejected and publicly humiliated? I marched on, believing my mission, and welcoming the outcome that lay ahead. If nothing else, it would make a good story.

The Result: As fate would have it, the CEO of the company was exiting the elevator seconds after I walked into the building. I immediately recognized him from the countless hours I had spent studying his profile and the profile of his leadership team. Missing the parking lot started to seem like a blessing. I called out to the CEO with enthusiasm by his first name as if we had known each other for years. He paused, perplexed, and turned towards me. I walked up to him and introduced myself and flawlessly delivered the elevator pitch I had been practicing for weeks. Actually, it wasn’t 100% flawless, I was nervous, and my accent may have caused some words to sound way too melodious, but that didn’t bother me, my message got across. The CEO was appreciative of how much I knew about his company and was intrigued by my ideas of how to help him scale. We chatted for a few more minutes, and then I asked if he could introduce me to the CTO. He said Yes, got out his phone, called the CTO, and asked him to come down to meet me. Boom! When the CTO arrived, the CEO made the introduction and moved to his next appointment. The CTO apologized to me for not responding to my messages, thanked me for stopping by, and informed me they were interested in doing business with me. That day was the start of a great partnership. #Results

The Result…again: I shared this story with one of my mentees who was struggling to make some progress with one of her clients. I encouraged her to step outside of her comfort zone and attempt a new approach. She decided to pay the CEO and CTO a visit, unannounced. Although the CEO and CTO were not in the office the day she visited, she left her business card with the receptionist. A few days later, the CTO emailed her and asked her for a proper meeting. She ended up closing a major deal with the customer. #Results #Again

The Conclusion: Be bold. Pursue new ideas. And remember, actions precede results.

How to Sell to Technology Startups: Sprint Faster

Selling technology to technology startups is an adventure. Imagine this; you’re selling cutting-edge technology to technologists trying to disrupt the cutting-edge technology you’re selling them. Wow. I find this exciting because there’s always an opportunity to learn something new and discover a different or more strategic way of solving complex problems. So how exactly should you approach selling to these technology startups?

 

One thing I discovered about selling to startups is they move fast, so you have to move faster. As a salesperson, you need to define what “faster” means to you and your organization. If you feel your organization or team isn’t moving fast enough, then you need to be the catalyst that disrupts the inertia by exemplifying speed and results. If the internal process is taking too long, find new ways for it to be streamlined and share it with the different stakeholders within your organization. If your extended team has a “can’t do” attitude, don’t stop until you find someone with a “can do” attitude willing to partner with you to accelerate success for your customer.

If the only thing constant in business is change, the only thing not constant is time. Time keeps moving whether you’re standing, walking, jogging, or sprinting. When next you’re selling technology to a technology startup, make sure you’re sprinting even if they may be walking or jogging. And if they’re sprinting, get some lighter shoes and sprint faster!

Happy Selling! I’d leave you with these parting words…

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” – Christopher McDougall

3 Valuable Lessons I Learned Cold Calling Door To Door

“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

In my days at Cbeyond, cold calling small businesses door to door was an integral part of the daily grind. Below are three lessons I picked up along the way that continue to deliver results in my sales career today:

 

  1. Understand your numbers then commit to go above and beyond them
  2. Just because you have a steady stream of referrals doesn’t mean you should stop cold calling
  3. Those who ask more for it (the close), get more of it (the sale)

 

1. Understand your numbers then commit to go above and beyond them. At Cbeyond, we were all assigned metrics – the number of doors to hit, phone calls to make, qualified leads to get, and appointments to set – that if met, gave us the best opportunity to succeed. Since selling in its simplest form is a numbers game, what separated the top sales associates from the average sales associates was their ability to crush their metrics. For instance, if the requirement is to knock on 50 doors a day to get five qualified leads and set two appointments, those who knock on five additional doors per day at the end of the week would have 2-3 more qualified leads and one extra appointment set. When I spoke to Brent Maropis, former VP at Cbeyond and current CEO of Rev.io, he mentioned that top salespeople have a bias towards taking massive action. The good news is that it doesn’t matter if you’re in sales to benefit from this concept. Whatever your profession, define your metrics then commit to go above and beyond them. If you do this consistently, success will be inevitable. #NumbersDontLie

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2. Just because you have a steady stream of referrals doesn’t mean you should stop cold calling. Referrals were an excellent source of leads. Whether you are a sales hunter or farmer, there is immense value in incorporating customer referrals into your customer acquisition strategy. At Cbeyond, our customers and IT vendors made great referral partners. However, betting your quota for the month based strictly on referral leads was risky, and many sales associates fell into this trap (myself included). When the deals pushed, it put me under unnecessary pressure which led to desperation (not a good look!). The top sales associates excelled at getting qualified leads through various forms of cold calling (in person, phone, email) and working closely with partners and referrals. Someone that excelled at this was Sean Haq, who broke several sales records at Cbeyond and has continued to deliver amazing results in his sales career.  #DiversifyYourHustle

3. Those who ask more for it (the close), get more of it (the sale). Asking for the sale was one of my biggest challenges when I started my sales career, and I’ve come to realize that this is one of the most important skills needed to be successful in sales. One of my most memorable moments at Cbeyond came when my bold ask resulted in my first Cold Call Close. A Cold Call Close is when you walk into an office unannounced, conduct your presentation with the final decision maker, and get a deal signed after your presentation. Here’s my story. It was 5:37 pm one hot summer day in San Jose and I really wanted to get back in my car and blast the A/C. I decided to knock on one more door. I approached the door, secretly hoping it would be locked so I could satisfy my conscience. To my surprise (and fear), the door was unlocked, so I walked in. I noticed the receptionist had left for the day so I continued walking down the hallway. A man who appeared to be the owner was seated at his desk in the corner office. At that moment, my nervousness made me clear my throat, and he looked up; this meant I had less than 20 seconds to pique his interest. There was a football (soccer, for Americans) game on – Real Madrid vs. Sevilla FC. I introduced myself and started to articulate my value proposition. But before I could finish, I interrupted myself and mentioned I was a huge football fan and asked if he didn’t mind me finishing the game with him since there was just 15 minutes left. He agreed (the first close). During those 15 minutes, we talked about the beauty of football and of course screamed at the TV when someone didn’t make a play we expected him to make. This rapport building session allowed me to be my authentic self and loosen up, so it built my confidence. When the game was over, he discussed some of the business challenges he was experiencing and explored how we could assist. An hour later, after overcoming his objections, I asked boldly for his signature, and he signed on to become a client. It’s uncomfortable at times asking for the sale, but that’s one skill you need to get comfortable nurturing to be successful in sales and business! #AlwaysBeClosing

Happy Selling!