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Written by Hamish Knox; President of Sandler in Calgary, Canada
Creating accountable, sales focused organizations in Calgary
There’s a scene in the movie 16 Candles that perfectly describes your sales team’s ideal mindset to prospects in their funnel. One character asks another what they think about a younger classmate and the response is “I don’t.” (yes, the dialogue in movies from the 80s can be a little off putting. If you need a palate cleanser after watching that scene check out, Oprah’s speech at the Golden Globes)
In my experience, salespeople tend to be more like the character in Luke Bryan’s “Light It Up,” who are sitting by the phone hoping that maybe today’s the day that they get the call with an order.
About six weeks after launch my Sandler business, I sat down with a CEO who was introduced to me by one of my first clients. Right after shaking hands the CEO said, “I will never do business with Sandler,” to which I responded, “thanks for telling me. I’m only here because Client said you were a good person to know. Help me understand.”
Turned out the CEO had had an interaction with another Sandler trainer, no longer with Sandler, which they found less than positive, but at the end of our meeting they asked if I had a newsletter they could read. I did, so I added them then put them out of my mind.
Almost two years to the day that we met, the CEO sent me a message asking to meet and we did business shortly after. Before they reached out, I hadn’t thought of them since we met.
For your salespeople to adopt an “I don’t” mindset hold them accountable to two tasks.
- Have a clear next step locked in their calendar and their prospect’s calendar for every opportunity in their pipeline– if there isn’t a clear next step, even if that’s a five-minute touch call, mutually agreed and locked in then the opportunity doesn’t belong in their pipeline. This will likely cause you some anxiety as you see you formerly robust pipeline shrink a little while your salespeople confirm clear next steps or close the “opportunity” off for good. If there’s a clear next step in the calendar your salesperson doesn’t need to think about that opportunity until it’s time to prepare for their next step.
- Talk to new prospects every day– it’s easier to have an “I don’t” mindset when your salesperson’s pipeline looks like a funnel instead of a pencil. Talking to new prospects every day reduces the mental and emotional calories spent on prospects who your salespeople hope will “light it up.” Even for your salespeople who are more focused on account management they can work on going three wide and three deep in their current accounts and speaking to warm prospects who come from introductions.
Supporting your people to adopt an “I don’t” mindset means focusing your coaching on behavior instead of results and practicing with them so they are prepared to maintain control of the sales cycle even when getting pressured by their prospect.
With an “I don’t” mindset the mental and emotional calories your salespeople used to burn waiting for their opportunities to close will be invested in finding more and better opportunities with ideal clients.
Until next time… go lead.
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