TECHNOLOGY Personal Best
SELLING POWER EDITORS
If you closed 383 deals in the first half of the year, what would your life be like? Would you be driving your Maybach to work? Would you take the second half of the year off? If you’re anything like Heidi Brown, you’d be hot on the heels of more deals.
You see, Brown closed
HEIDI BROWN CLOSES DEALS WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM SPIRO
383 deals between January 1 and June 30 of 2016. That’s more than two deals a day – including weekends
and holidays. So she could have taken some time off, because she’s a legendary closer. So what are her secrets of success? For one, she uses a personal assistant called Spiro*. No, that’s not some Greek god she imported from Athens, but a personal assistant designed for sales professionals with a built-in, easy-to-use CRM.
MEET HEIDI BROWN
An account executive at AFR Event Furnishings, a furniture and event rental provider, Brown has been with the company for more than eight years and is currently working the Washington, DC territory. As you can imagine, with all the political events in the DC market, Heidi was super busy last year. And, although a client may be based in DC, she’s responsible for the event no matter its location – so, in actuality,
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her territory can extend far afield. While Brown handles political debates, her overall focus is about 70 percent corporate client events and 30 percent social functions. Got an award ceremony to plan, maybe a fund raiser, or a bar mitzvah? Brown estimates that 30 percent of her cus- tomers are new within a cyclical year, which forces her not only to stay on top of existing relationships, but also to be able to form new ones as well. Since she is responsible for prospect- ing most of her new leads, she tries to get innovative in looking for new markets and opportunities. If you want a boring conference room transformed into an island oasis, Brown can conjure up palm trees and sea- shells. She can make your vision a real- ity, and has the track record to prove it.
BRAGGING RIGHTS Not only did Brown win 383 deals in just the first six months of 2016, but her close rate is also impressive – at about 80 percent of her opportunities. Her day is not just filled with closing a massive amount of deals, but she also has to come up with interesting concepts for specific design needs, attend walkthroughs, and present at design meetings. Working with some high-powered clients such as the DNC, the RNC, Marriott International, and even The White House means Brown needs to stay focused and on top of her game.
KEEPING UP
The event world is very fast paced and demanding. To keep up with the needs of her clients, Brown has had to become ultra-organized.
She starts her day by taking the first hour to be at her desk and organize her calendar. This is also her time to get her catalogs and binders ready for demos. She is then on the road and going non-stop all day. She has found that no one wants to take a meeting after 4 p.m., so that is a good time to get back to her desk and organize for a few more hours. Brown normally packs it in and calls it quits for the day around 6:30 p.m. Not only is she regimented in her daily schedule, but she also sets aside one day a week as her office day. On Tuesdays she is in the office all day, beginning with meeting the operations team to go through what’s happening for that week. This office day provides her with a chance to prospect, read, and network. To differentiate herself from just being another rental company, Brown provides superior customer service. After the deal is sold, she assures sat- isfaction by monitoring the delivery of rented furniture and sometimes even personally attends the event.
SPIRO TO THE RESCUE Like salespeople, Brown spends a ton of time on the road. What she needs in her life is an assistant to help do all that extraneous admin work. If you are trying to churn out quotes for clients within an hour, make your calls, get to ap- pointments on time, and also keep detailed notes on your activities, something’s got to give. Spiro’s personal sales assistant helps organize Brown’s sales life so she can focus on selling. Its predic- tive technology notifies her of who she needs to be connecting with –
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