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What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

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Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#11

Post by win_ini »

odedgolan wrote: post #7
mreiland wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He then asked this question “How is a typical call with a prospect looks like?” ... I still don't understand what the guy asked, my best guess is he messed up the verb and it was supposed to read "how DOES a typical call with a prospect go?", or similar. It all makes me conclude that someone who is not a native English speaker was paid to write that article and it's bullshit filler flung out on various sites like H…

I wrote it on my spare time and based on my experience. Nobody proofread it and it's a takeaway for next time. I posted it on HN since I like HN, that's all.

Don't worry about some asshole picking apart stuff. Your writing is clear enough that if someone has a hard time parsing it - that's their loss. I've been in Saas for over 10 years helping sales and marketing teams convert and close at higher rates. The article hits home for several tech founders who understand customers but don't understand prospects. The post captures some learnings that many other people never ask or dig into - but make all the difference. Thanks for sharing, I've shared it with several people who will not think this is obvious - and they won't need to "pickup a standard book" to learn some snippets.

Question: how much better does the salesperson perform compared to your previous attempts? How long will you give him to prove himself?

SaasTr is a great sales resource if you're looking.

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#12

Post by Fraanco »

grecy wrote: post #9

This sounds like a lot of the great advice in How to Win Friends and Influence People [1] I read that book yearly, and learn something every time. [1] http://www.amazon.com/dp/0671027034/?tag=roadchoseme-20

Agreed.

"Talk to people about themselves and they will listen for hours"

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#14

Post by flexie »

odedgolan wrote: post #7
mreiland wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He then asked this question “How is a typical call with a prospect looks like?” ... I still don't understand what the guy asked, my best guess is he messed up the verb and it was supposed to read "how DOES a typical call with a prospect go?", or similar. It all makes me conclude that someone who is not a native English speaker was paid to write that article and it's bullshit filler flung out on various sites like H…

I wrote it on my spare time and based on my experience. Nobody proofread it and it's a takeaway for next time. I posted it on HN since I like HN, that's all.

I easily understood that sentence first time I read it and so did 'mreiland'. Don't mind these silly comments.

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#15

Post by tptacek »

The bit about cold calls working better than anticipated rings true. I advised a company I help out with not to bother cold calling, because it never works, and was embarrassed to learn a few months later that it had been extremely effective just to have the founder ring random people up.

The bit about remembering names, deploying kids names, and talking about football --- that part does not ring true. I've done sales work for my last startup, and before that a as a product manager had a sales-support role where most of the people I talked to every day were account managers, and even though I know this "talk about football" stuff is what salespeople are supposedly doing, I never saw that happen.

Taking people out to dinner? Obviously, different story. But on the phone, especially early on? All business.

The most important thing I think salespeople do that ordinary people don't do is Ask For The Sale.

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#16

Post by zzalpha »

This is great advice for anyone working with people, period. Folks are a lot more willing to work with someone who respects them and appears interested in them as a human being.

And if you're interested in any kind of leadership position, these skills are absolutely vital, as they are the way you build a rapport with the people you're leading.

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#17

Post by ohfunkyeah »

odedgolan wrote: post #6
mikestew wrote: post #2

I stuck with it to the end, but man, the lack of proofreading almost had me closing the browser tab. I'm not talking mistakes only a grammar Nazi would care about, but the kind where I read the sentence three times and still ask "what the hell does this mean?" I don't mean to be snarky, but maybe that's why emails to leads wasn't working so well. Bad grammar is my first filter for spam. Other than that, the article w…

Emails and everything sent to customers were always proofread by a native english speaker. I wrote this on my spare time but lesson learned for next time.

My 2 cents: Fix the major issues on this article sooner than later. It is a great little post and if all goes well it will have a long tail of visitors or will get picked up again for a nice exposure spike. I think that makes it worth your time. Of course that is just my opinion.

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#18

Post by PauloManrique »

odedgolan wrote: post #7
mreiland wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He then asked this question “How is a typical call with a prospect looks like?” ... I still don't understand what the guy asked, my best guess is he messed up the verb and it was supposed to read "how DOES a typical call with a prospect go?", or similar. It all makes me conclude that someone who is not a native English speaker was paid to write that article and it's bullshit filler flung out on various sites like H…

I wrote it on my spare time and based on my experience. Nobody proofread it and it's a takeaway for next time. I posted it on HN since I like HN, that's all.

Don't worry, the text was perfectly understandable. Great read!

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#19

Post by cushychicken »

odedgolan wrote: post #6
mikestew wrote: post #2

I stuck with it to the end, but man, the lack of proofreading almost had me closing the browser tab. I'm not talking mistakes only a grammar Nazi would care about, but the kind where I read the sentence three times and still ask "what the hell does this mean?" I don't mean to be snarky, but maybe that's why emails to leads wasn't working so well. Bad grammar is my first filter for spam. Other than that, the article w…

Emails and everything sent to customers were always proofread by a native english speaker. I wrote this on my spare time but lesson learned for next time.

You should absolutely be taking ohfunkyeah's advice, as in today. This is a great piece with some good ideas and good learning being shared, but the poor quality of delivery severely hampers their usefulness.
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