I’ve never considered myself a sales person. In fact, the very idea of being in a sales role used to give me anxiety. The old Becky avoided sales-related tasks like the plague. Until now…
Here’s the deal: My partner and I started this agency over 8 years ago and, don’t get me wrong, we’ve been very successful despite my adversity to all things sales. But, I knew that if we ever wanted to take this business to the next level, I was going to have to get over my angst and take on an active and strategic sales role in our business.
So, I became HubSpot sales software certified, started reading a lot of the HubSpot sales blog material, and began meeting biweekly with my kick-ass HubSpot CAM Chris Sergi. I told Chris I wanted him to hold me accountable for actively prospecting new leads on a regular basis. That’s when Chris told me about HubSpot’s Sales Bootcamp and it’s leader Dan Tyre. Dan is a freakin’ sales rock star and his bootcamp changed my prospecting game with a quickness.
Pipeline generation bootcamp focused on that first “connect call.” Before your call, know your shit. Do some research on your prospect. Identify some things they might be struggling with and approach them with some ideas that might help. You’ll be surprised how appreciative people can be for unsolicited help or suggestions. I sure was. We practiced these types of calls every week within the group, so you get pretty comfortable with them after 8 weeks. These are the calls that fill your company’s pipeline and keep it full .
Here’s what we learned during the 8-week course:
- You are not really selling to people. You’re helping people. That changed my whole perspective of this job. What’s scary about picking up the phone or emailing someone you can help?
- Okay, so it’s still a little intimidating picking up the phone and calling a stranger. Even when you just want to help. People don’t like to be interrupted by someone they don’t know from Adam. So when they answer, remember to smile, breathe, and pause. Just relax and be personable. Once you have a rapport, people will usually be happy to tell you what you can help them with.
- We learned about how to handle resistance, create urgency, and guide your prospects to the next steps the sales process with confidence.
Today, I graduated from Sales Bootcamp and you know the coolest thing I learned? Prosepecting can be really fun. No kidding! I’ve had some great conversations since I started picking up the phone and my pipeline is fillin’ up.
Heads up, though—if you’re thinking about applying for Dan’s bootcamp, make sure you’re up for the commitment and you’re prepared to do the work. He will hold you to it (which I really liked). He’ll ask, he’ll know, and he’s not a guy you’ll want to let down.
I’m proud to be an official member of the lion pack. Many thanks to Chris for nominating me and to Dan for putting together such a great course!
