ta. If you can’t tell me the specific activities and the volume required of each one to hit your quota, I’m not interested. I want to know how many discovery calls you make to get one approved opportunity, how many qualification calls you make to get one discovery call, and how many touches you make to get one qualification call. Don’t know these numbers? I’m not interested.
3. Be prepared to tell me how you prioritize your time on accounts. What does a great buyer look like for your company? What firmographic, technographic, and economic profile criteria define your target account profile? If you can’t tell me how you prioritize your prospecting, I’m worried about how much time you waste. I’m not interested.
4. Know how to articulate why you are successful. I talk to too many reps with proven track records who can’t tell me why they are outperforming their peers. They don’t know which of their activities are high value and worth spend- ing time on; they don’t know what works – so they can’t replicate or scale their success; and they haven’t spent time trying to figure out their secret sauce – so they’re not showing ownership of their business. If you can’t differentiate yourself, I worry you won’t be able to differentiate our product. I’m not interested.
BUT WHAT MATTERS MOST ARE YOUR SOFT SKILLS Maybe you already do everything listed above. Does that mean I want to hire you? Not quite. Those are just the cost of the ticket. Want to stand apart from the crowd? I need to see your soft skills. If you can show me the following, I’m a lot more interested. 1. Articulate your ideas with power and brevity. A lot of candidates start talking and don’t stop. They’re unprepared or uncer- tain, so they can’t get a concise
message across. If you’re nervous and mumbling in front of me, do you really expect me to put you in front of my customers? I want a seller who abides by the 60/40 rule: Spend 60 percent of the time listening and 40 percent ask- ing questions.
If someone can speak concisely but still ask great questions of me, that’s very compelling. It shows insightfulness, or EQ (emotional intelligence). I know a person has EQ when they can really read the interview, taking my non-verbal and verbal cues and using them to interview me back. That’s some- thing I care about. Brevity is impor- tant because anyone can outsell themselves from a deal. When you’re in front of a customer, will you speak more than you listen? If you can demonstrate your EQ, you have my attention.
2. Show your willingness to change. Coachability matters. During an interview, I’m watching to see you can take feedback well and are willing to unlearn things learned in the past. Are you curious? Are you seeking feedback? Do you demonstrate that you’ve done this historically? Are you asking questions in the interview and applying them in the interview process as well?
A mentor of mine, Rob Jeppsen, used to talk about skill versus will. The items in the first list above are about skill. This list is about will. If you’ve mastered the skill and possess the will to change, you have my attention.
3. Demonstrate your grit. In her book Grit, Angela Duckworth says that people who have the grit to put in more hours and more energy outperform those who demonstrate hard skills. The ability to persevere is a learnable skill. I want people who practice putting in more effort when everyone else is putting in just enough to get by. If you can demonstrate grit, you have my attention.
4. Be brave enough to show your vulnerability. There are two types of sales cultures. The most com- mon one is a culture of scarcity, where everyone keeps secrets be- cause they don’t want their peers to beat them. In these cultures, people are afraid their weakness- es will be discovered and they’ll be called out on them. But there are also cultures of abundance. In these cultures, everyone is willing to share best practices and carry the weight together. When the team sees someone struggling, they rally around and help. This is the culture I want in my sales
organization, so I’m going to ask questions like, “Tell me about a time you were working on a project and your knowledge and information fell short. How did you make up for your weaknesses?” When I ask you about a time you struggled, I’m going to learn whether you’re a lone wolf who figures things out on your own or if you’re able to reach out for help. If you’re not afraid to admit you strug- gled and can talk about what you did to improve, you have my attention.
YOU’RE THE STAR OF YOUR SELL SHEET
Everyone has a story to tell. That’s the concept of sales: We need to be storytellers. It’s your responsibility to articulate your story in a way that gets my attention.
Our stories look like numbers, but our numbers represent journeys; they represent sacrifices like late nights, early mornings, and bad commutes. Sometimes you screwed up and won anyway, and sometimes you did ev- erything right and lost the deal. Your story is what makes you different from the woman who was sitting in the candidate’s chair before you – and the guy who’ll be sitting in it next. So talk to me about something I
care about. I don’t care about a piece of paper. I want to know about you.
Jake Reni is head of academy and sales transformation at Adobe Systems.
SELLING POWER JULY 2018 | 35 © 2018 SELLING POWER. CALL 1-800-752-7355 FOR REPRINT PERMISSION.
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