Inspiration can hit at random times. Yesterday morning, I had no idea what I was going to write about for this week’s Navigator. Then I had lunch at Twin Peaks – and whatever you’re thinking, you’re probably wrong. My server was a young woman named Elle. Now, I understand the server’s role at Twin Peaks; I eat there about once a month. They provide great service and they’re a little flirty with the guys, because that generates tips and it’s on-brand. So, when Elle started asking me questions and chatting, I answered politely but not in a truly engaged way. I’m a little jaded, I guess.
Then she asked me what I did for a living, and I explained that I’m a self-employed sales trainer and coach. Suddenly, her tone and expression changed. “I’m starting out in sales!” she exclaimed. Then she told me that she’s selling (probably 1099, commission only sales) for not one, but two, home improvement companies. She bragged on the companies that she worked for, and asked me a few more questions about what I do and how she could learn more about sales. Still, I shrugged it off a bit as doing her job as a server. I’ll tell you the rest of the story in a moment, but the truth is that this article isn’t about her. It’s about a topic I don’t write about much (but I should), which is, how do we bring young people into this wonderful profession, particularly at the entry level? I’ll give you my ideas.
When Elle returned to the table with a to-go iced tea and the check, she also had three cards in her hands. One had a QR code to leave a review (a great tactic you should borrow for your company), and the others were from the two companies that she sells for. She also left her contact info so I could add her to this list and point her to more resources to learn about sales, which I’ve done. I realized that she’s dead serious about becoming a professional salesperson, and that she has the intellect, inquisitive nature, and communications ability to succeed – and that is something I had to take seriously.
After I left, I started thinking about how many more like her there are out there. A constant complaint that I hear is, “Troy, it’s hard to hire salespeople at all, and finding young talent is like finding a needle in a haystack!” I really don’t think that’s true. It’s all in how you approach your business, and how you seek out talent. If you’re looking for entry level salespeople, you’re probably encountering good candidates on a regular basis.
It might be the young woman who took an hour not just to sell your significant other some jeans, but to make sure that she sold the right jeans by asking questions, and working with her to find exactly the right look.
It might be the young guy at the home show, working the booth that sells replacement windows and trying his best just to get people to stop and talk.
It might be the guy who took his time to sell and fit the suit that you were wanting for that next big presentation.
And, yes, it might be the server that takes the time to ask questions and shows intellectual curiosity and charisma.
Those people are out there. Many of them would be great in sales roles, perhaps even your sales role. They just don’t know how to get from where they are to where you are. That’s why you need to be on the lookout for them, and take the opportunity to hand them a business card and invite them to contact you.
So, what if you do hire one of those people? It now is incumbent upon you to set them up for success. Here are three quick tips on doing just that:
- Be patient and onboard them the right way. With entry-level people, onboarding is even more critical. They don’t know what they don’t know. Take the time to do a good 90-day onboarding program. For most sales jobs of this type, I see the first 30 days as simply acquiring knowledge. Don’t even have them make a sales call – just have them be a sponge and learn your business. The second 30 days should be their time to ramp up to their normal weekly run rate for sales activity. And the third 30 days should be about seeing some results. Shortcut this and you cost yourself money and potentially a good sales talent.
- Have a road map to success. By a “road map to success,” I mean having meaningful standards for sales activity that yield the appropriate results. Entry-level people don’t know how many calls they need to make, or appointments, or proposals. It’s your job to show them and to manage them to it.
- Get them in front of current, happy customers. The thing about young, entry-level people is that they usually have a lot of enthusiasm and passion, and enthusiasm will take them places where experience won’t. Capitalize on this and enhance their enthusiasm by having them meet with your best, happiest customers. Let the salespeople ask the customers why they do business with you, and those customers will re-sell your salespeople on the job. That enthusiasm becomes infectious, and this will help in the ramp-up.
So, what if you are that entry-level salesperson? I know some of you read this space. Here are three tips to speed your entry into the selling profession and launch yourself to success.
- Invest in yourself and educate yourself. By “invest in yourself,” I don’t necessarily mean investing money (which is something entry-level salespeople tend not to have a lot of). There is more sales knowledge out there for free than there ever has been. Invest your time in reading articles, watching videos, and continuing to educate yourself about this great profession, your place in it, and how you can continually get better at it. Budget a few hours per week in doing this, and you will greatly shorten the learning curve.
- Listen to your customers. Ultimately, your customers will be your best sales trainers; they’ll tell you what is important to them and what isn’t. Keep good notes on every sales call, and then hang onto the notes (after, of course, entering them into CRM). Do postmortems on sales calls. Look back and ask yourself what questions you could have or should have asked. Think about what you might have missed. Note what went right and what went wrong, and make that part of your constant improvement program. The ultimate question on every sales call: Were you an asset to your customer?
- Learn how your employer makes money. Salespeople are profit generators; you should take the time to learn how your company makes money and generates profit. Ultimately, your job isn’t just to find business. It’s to find business while protecting your price and profit. Become not just a salesperson, but a businessperson. This will help you both with your company internally, as well as externally with your customers.
And finally, I’d like to offer some advice and commentary to Elle and her counterparts that might be reading this, and are just getting started:
Welcome to the sales profession. It’s a great and honorable way to make a living and to provide financial security for yourself and your family. It’s also a tough job, particularly when you’re getting started. You’ll get told “no” a lot, probably more than you ever have in your life. You might get treated rudely. You’ll have times when you lose sales that you think you should have won – and every now and then, you might win a sale that you thought you’d lost.
You’ll struggle to figure out what you’re doing. It will feel like a trial by fire at times. You’ll be asked to meet numbers that you can’t see any way of meeting – and yet, the first time you meet them, you’ll feel ten feet tall and bulletproof. And because the sales gods have a sense of humor, you’ll probably make a big mistake the next day.
But it’s worth it. Stick it out. And, once you have a good job with a good professional company, stick with it through the tough moments, make a stand, and be successful. Once those first couple of years are past, you’ll find yourself getting into a groove and trying to remember a time when you thought there was any other way to make a living.
And if you keep doing the things I suggested above, you might make it to the elite level, with a standard of living that most others your age can only dream about. And you’ll have a tribe of customers who will evangelize for you, because you have made a difference for them. There aren’t many better feelings you can have at your job.
Meeting young salespeople like Elle gives me confidence about the future of our profession; when I and my counterparts retire (FAR in the future), sales will be in good hands.
Which makes my lunch yesterday an hour VERY well spent.
