Sales Slump? It's You, Hi, You're The Problem, It's You

In Today’s Jam

• The Sales Jam Board is Live!

• Virtual vs In-person meetings

• Don’t be the Arthur Flek of sales

• Should sales be this challenging in the beginning?

• Get your butt to Boston

• Ok, What’s the real deal with Solar Panel Sales?

Announcement: The Sales Jam Job Board Is Here!💼

Find the best and latest sales jobs in the industry, and also hire top notch talent.

Employers, list your current job openings here.

Job seekers submit your resume here, and search jobs here.

The Sales Lab🔬

Let’s face it: most people aren’t stoked about meetings. The same goes for sales professionals. In-person or virtual, who cares? We’d much rather just get to work. But what if sitting in meetings is work? By removing meetings from sales, you might be removing all means of closing altogether. And that’s no fun for anyone. Some of us thrive in person, others on Zoom calls. Both formats offer tons of ways to communicate effectively with clients and prospects.

So, what’s so great about virtual meetings?

A few things…

Time is money sales: No need to take the team on a cross-country adventure when you can fire up Zoom, Teams, or Google Meets and get things going. This means you’re putting less effort into the sales process and focusing more on your prospects’ needs.

Make it personal: Virtual tours and online demos offer great opportunities to personalize the experience for prospects. A report by Epsilon says “80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer a personalized experience.”

What about conversions?

Based on our research, virtual selling was at its peak during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shocking, we know. This report by ImpactPlus shows that 60% of sales teams that transitioned to virtual sales in 2020 met or exceeded revenue targets that year; compared to 50% of those who made no changes to their sales practices. But is it all a bit circumstantial? Maybe. The same report states that pre-pandemic, outside sales accounted for 70% of all sales in the US.

In-person meetings: the undisputed king of closing?

Despite the rise in virtual selling, in-person meetings are still a powerful way to close prospects. The upsides are strong:

Ideal for product testing: It’s one thing for the prospect to watch the product work on a Zoom call. It’s another thing to get a feel of that product in person.

Less room for miscommunication: While ultra-convenient, virtual calls leave more room for miscommunication between parties. If the prospect is fickle this may or may not be a big deal.

We hear you. This all sounds great but do in-person meetings actually convert? Well… yeah.

In-person conversions are actually impressive

We mentioned earlier that ImpactPlus’ report stated that pre-pandemic, 70% of closed deals were attributed to outside sales. Well, there’s more: this Cotemsa report shares that 76% of sales executives prefer face-to-face meetings which result in a closing rate of 40%. On top of that, a lot of reports that state the opposite (that sellers prefer virtual meetings) tend to be based on what was happening during the pandemic. For more context check out this LinkedIn report.

Okay, we get it. But what does it all mean?

Virtual meetings are on the rise and are even preferred by a large portion of sellers. However, this doesn’t erase the advantages of an in-person meeting; to this day, it’s a powerful way to build loyalty with your prospects.

Sales Confessions🧑‍💻

Depending on the situation, a virtual or in-person meeting can make or break a deal. For some, in-person interactions are imperative: think life insurance! What about you? What meetings helped you close the most sales?

Sales Freebie Vault🆓

You Need The Right People

You can be as socially awkward as you want: you’re not becoming a top seller unless your circle is immaculate. What kind of prospects do you think Arthur Flek would attract as a seller?

Luckily, you’re not Arthur Flek; besides you’ve got us. And we’ve got a free resource for you courtesy of sales master, Brian Tracy. His free training will help you build better relationships with better prospects. As opposed to whoever is hanging out with Arthur Flek. 

Meet better prospects now

Trust the message, not the messenger

Is Grant Cardone super palatable? Debatable. Some of his stories are over the top; actually, some of the stuff he says is straight-up shady. But (and that’s a big but 🫠) the dude can sell. And he’s giving away free copies of “The Closer’s Survival Guide” to help you:

• Become a master negotiator

• Improve on how to use closes

• Improve on when to use closes

• Increase your income – fast

• And more

Get The Closer’s Survival Guide here.

The Ultimate Resource for Sales Prospecting

Sales is like any other job: obstacles and challenges come in all forms. If you suck at prospecting, you’re basically stuck at the starting line. Check out The Ultimate Resource For Sales Prospecting on LinkedIn. Stop stalling. Start closing.

Presentation is everything – literally

You’re on your A-game. You know exactly what you’re going to say to the prospect and when you’re going to say it. The only problem? Your world-class pitch is missing a world-class sales deck. That’s where pitch.com comes in with an array of templates that’ll have you looking as good as you sound. You don’t want to botch your pitch and end up looking like our guy Tarantino when Brad Pitt made fun of his foot fetish at the SAG Awards.

Sales Q&A🗣️

Landing a good sales job is just part of the challenge. Some folks’ entire niche is on the brink of dying (or is it?). Plus  new sellers are desperate to know: “Are sales supposed to be this challenging in the beginning?” We’ve got real insight into differing opinions on solar as well. By the way, the reason sales is ‘so hard’ in the beginning is because you’re a noob. And that’s fine. We’ll show you how to stop sucking at sales – the fast way.

Are Solar Sales dead?

Read more here.

Is sales supposed to be this challenging in the beginning?

Read more here.

Game Changers of the Week🔥

Preparation is essential

Every seller needs a process. It’s not a maybe. Or an if. It’s a must. And we’ll do just about anything to get the message out there. Really. We’re standing on a precipice overlooking a sea of noobs shuffling back and forth, complaining about not being able to close, as we shout into a megaphone: “REFINE YOUR PROCESS”. We’re also linking you to Sales Insight Labs’ recent video about Sales Training Essentials to Close More Sales – whichever works.

Copy this sales philosophy

When dealing with prospects, have you ever felt like a teacher trying to get through to a pupil? That’s because the dynamic between seller and buyer isn’t that different. Not in a condescending way of course. It’s not like the buyer has the literal brain of a 13-year-old, or lost their brain cells swimming through a pool of radioactive goo (at least we hope not). Point is: you’re the expert; they’re the ones looking for advice. Learn how to show patience with buyers who are determined to make things harder on themselves on this episode of the Sales Babble Podcast.

Get your butt to Boston

Inbound’s next sales conference is a ways off (September 2024). That’s a good thing, right? After all, you can get the whole team together and head on over to the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center for some insight into augmenting your inbound strategies. Save the date.

Are you intimidated by a strong, independent… customer?

Customer learning isn’t only important to self-service digital products, it can make all the difference in traditional selling, too. ‘Enable Customer Learning to Drive Commerical Performance For Your Sales Organization’ is a webinar created by Gartner that seeks to help you: 

• Unlock a customer-centric sales process by understanding how your buyers buy. 

• Design an integrated purchase journey to encourage customer learning and drive high-quality leads. 

• Equip sellers with the tools, skills and capabilities to deliver satisfactory customer experience.