“Elite performers persist and they stay consistent with prospecting.” – Ian Koniak in today’s Tip 1218
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Ian Koniak. Ian is President and Founder of Ian Koniak Sales Coaching, which helps AE’s go from good to great by mastering the mindset, habits, and skills needed to perform at the highest level in sales. Prior to starting his business, Ian was the #1 AE in the Enterprise division at Salesforce. Here he is:
Ian Koniak: That elite performers are persistent. Elite performers are not worried about being too pushy or contacting a customer too much because they realize that customers don’t necessarily just because they don’t get back to you doesn’t mean they’re not interested. It just means they’re busy. And it’s not that they don’t necessarily want to talk to you, it’s just they’re full, their calendars are full, they have a lot going on, and you’re not the only person that is vying for their attention. So they persist and they stay on top of their open deals, especially if they’re really helping the customer.
There are two keys to persistence, which I’m going to give you.
The first key is when you persist. Don’t just say “I’m following up, I’m following up, I’m following up.” Ensure that you have something new with the follow-up. So give them new information or ask about a certain thing that you forgot to ask about, or send them an article or a webinar that reminded them of the use case that you’re helping them with. Okay? Add some value and then include your call to action. Value with call to action, not just bumping up. Following up every touchpoint should add value.
My first deal I closed at Salesforce is a $2.4 million deal to a hospital chain. I did not get engaged until the 15th email with the CIO, and frankly, he was just ignoring me. So I got him invited to events. I sent him white papers, webinars. I told him what was going on his organization. It wasn’t until I shared a customer story that was very relevant with the demo video of what that customer was doing when he finally actually started to engage. So the key is that you stay on top of one person or the key people rather than sending 1 or 2 emails to 50 people. It takes on average, 8 contact touchpoints before someone will set a meeting, 8. Most people give up 2 or 3.
So elite performers persist and they stay consistent with prospecting. Okay? And when there’s deals on the table, they say persistent with staying on top and closing those deals because time does kill all deals. There’s a law called the Law of Diminishing Intent that says the more time that passes, the less intention a client has of doing business. So you really want to keep that momentum and persist in the right way. Add value. Stay on top of it. Sales is not personal, and elite performers don’t take rejection personal and they certainly don’t take it personal when someone’s not getting back to you.
A key part of persistence is using different channels to persist. So not just using email, but combining email with video with text messaging. Text messaging has been hugely effective for me. I’m using voice notes back and forth with clients now because they’re busy. So get them on the channel they prefer in a great sign of whether or not a client is likely to buy is their level of engagement with you. So find the channel where they’re actually engaging and use that.
Scott Ingram: For more sales training tips from Ian, follow him on LinkedIn and subscribe to his YouTube channel. We’ve got links to both of those things for you at DailySales.Tips/1218.
Once you’ve clicked over there, be sure to click back here for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!
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