Hey there Sales Pros, I hope this reaches you well and you’ve settled back into the swing of things.

Enjoy your hot beverage of choice like (The) Secret Sales Pro: https://shop.secretsales.pro/

The game we’re going to play today is known by names other than Kiss, Marry, Kill, too, and let’s start with a word of warning: Google them on your own time, devices and away from the corporate network. Even the Wikipedia entry is NSFW - though it makes for an interesting read.

So just to be clear, in this game we’re playing we’re not rating the suitability of our fellow Sales Pros or other co-workers for kissing, marrying or a sudden early demise. We are rather going to figure out which methods and work practices we should try out, use a regular/daily basis or stop altogether.

We’re also going to discuss where and how to find them and and include a warning about radical change and inject a healthy dose of realism for those operating in a corporate environment.

Where & How

To reiterate: We are looking for methods, practices, processes etc. Some of their natural stomping grounds are, rather obviously, New Hire Training, Ongoing Sales Training and your mentor if you have one as well as your superior.

Some of the more interesting ones in my book: Your mentee(s) - they’ve had a way of doing things before they joined your organisation and it wasn’t necessarily inferior to the way things are being done here.

Other parts of your organisation: Depending on the size of your outfit there may be significant differences in approach between different geos, product families or vertical markets. The ones between different geos can be tricky to figure out unless your organisation provides good quality and well-attended success sharing/best practice sessions and/or content.

Apply good Sales Pro behaviour here: Show an interest. Take quality notes. Ask meaningful questions and listen actively. You may be handed improvements that can significantly change your career trajectory and take-home pay. You may also make allies and friends.

Fellow Sales Pros in different organisations and/or industries: Sure, you sell, say, enterprise software, but have you tried shadowing a automotive Sales Pro? A gallery owner? A Real Estate/Property agent? A luxury watch shop?

Books & online resources: They’re not going to teach you to sell, but they can provide a lot of input when it comes to the details.

Status Quo

They may be your boomer uncle’s favourite band but that has surely never kept you from questioning whether that’s a good idea. In the same vein, go through the basic processes of your day-to-day work from top to bottom. Make notes, run through the individual steps and question them. See where you would like to introduce the tweaks you’ve found in the previous step.

Another word of warning here: the more established, older and (company) culturally conservative your outfit is, the dicier applying significant changes quickly can be. Your sales stages, the basic processes and best practices - they all exist for a reason. Your organisation relies upon them. You can be just about certain that a higher-up is going to come down on you like the proverbial ton of bricks if you throw them out of the window. And they may turn out to have about as much understanding as your boomer uncle has musical taste.

Takeaways

Processes are good, they keep us consistent and the company aligned. They make it possible to compare results like-for-like and provide actionable insight. But: A growth mindset, continuous learning and self development are meaningless if they do not find their way into our day-to-day work.

We aren’t looking for radical change here, we are looking for small improvements that can have a bit impact. Tweaks. The business end of the 80/20 rule.

Above all, we want to go through life with our eyes and minds open and not turn down learning opportunities when they present themselves.

As ever - thanks for your time, Sales Pros.

I look forward to any questions and comments below and will be more than happy to answer them.

I’ll have more for you before the weekend.

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