‘Commission Breath’ is Killing Your Sales

It’s not that you should be the latter-day saint of sales. But if you’re trying to bulldoze your way to a customer’s pockets, that probably won’t work out so well. 

Besides, this isn’t the 1950s. If you show up thinking of nothing but a check, the customer will smell it from a mile away. 

And the sale?

It’s going bye-bye.

If you’ve got a bad case of commission breath, it’s time to get it fixed 🤢

Stick to the Process

Instead of becoming fixated on the money or the possibility of losing the sale, focus on your process.

This will be a step-by-step game plan (one that you refine over time) that you implement during outreach.

Most of us know the gist of it:

Find leads.

Connect with leads.

Qualify leads.

And more.

Check out this article by Zendesk that breaks the whole thing down.

Check out this article by Zendesk that breaks the whole thing down.

Identify How to Add Value

Again, the aim isn’t so much to ‘sell’. At least, not exactly.

Selling someone on something can mean different things. For instance, maybe as you’re reaching out to the customer, you realize they (for whatever reason) don’t need your product.

Does that mean you can’t help them?

No.

Case in point:

Say you’re selling Content Marketing services for a startup. As you’re speaking to this one prospect, you realize they don’t have a content problem per se. But instead, they really need someone to take charge of their ad campaigns.

If your company doesn’t handle ads, you can always take a look in your network for companies that do offer that service (preferably someone that’s super good) — and then give a referral that helps the prospect out.

You might be thinking:

Wait… I didn’t close. I lost a customer instead. How does this help?

Ask yourself:

Did I lose a customer? Or did I strengthen my network?

Offering value to people goes a long way.

A referral today is a sale tomorrow.

Start Small, But Start Strong

Building your sales skills starts at the beginning of your journey.

So if you’re an SDR reading this, you should be equipping yourself with the skills to close from day one.

If you’re an AE or a senior salesperson struggling with closing for whatever reason, it’s never a bad time for a refresher.

The smaller roles help us to build a foundation that later on compliments our ability to close.

Remember, the sale is made before the prospect says ‘yes’ and signs the dotted line.

It happens early on in the process.

Work on your ability to find quality leads (this goes for AEs and closers, too).

Learn what customers care about and get them to open up.

Find actionable ways to guide them to the close when the work has already been done.

Sales Q&A

Companies getting weird when they pay commissions?

Read more here.

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