Recap Of SalesJam- Sales Training Event

​RevBoss and ExitEvent hosted SalesJam at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham today. This was a half-day event combining speakers,content, and networking with aim to help sales pros build more effective sales organizations and deliver more sales results. It was presented by sales development software provider RevBoss and powered by ExitEvent. Keynoting the event was Brad Brinegar, CEO of the global ad agency McKinney. He shared experiences helping companies like Sherman Williams and Travelocity meet sales and revenue goals through successful marketing and branding campaigns. In addition, Todd Barr, the former vice president of sales and marketing at Ansible who now leads the division inside Red Hat. Other speakers included, Sue Harnett, founder of Replay Photos and Rewriting the Code; Justin Winter, co-founder of Boostopia and Diamond Candles; Brandon Walker, vice president of sales at Untappd, and Larry Long, vice president of business development at Pendo.
This was a great sales training event both inspiring and educational providing access to some of the most successful sales leaders and entrepreneurs in NC, who provided best practices and tips for sales success. Here is my take on key points shared:

• Sales is a critical function of any organization, but in order to be successful, salespeople need to work closely with leaders in marketing and customer success.
• Always ASK for the sale
• Find the emotion in every sale. Be fully present in your conversations with customers to find their true interest, pain point, and need so you can cater exactly to what they are interested in that your product or service can fulfill.
• Fail Fast! If something is not working, do something different. Learn and move on quickly. Adapt.
• When in start-up sales mode do not do crazy special deals. Work towards consistency and clean deals. Rate card with standard process. Test your value and proposition then look for consistent pricing and levers that can be pulled at right time to boost sales.
• To be successful in sales never stop prospecting and moving the ball down the court. Keep knocking and keep pushing through and around obstacles.
• Treat accounts more like relationships vs. transactions. Get to know them personally and deeply so you can really know them to build a strong bond!
• Provide value. Show the ROI and give prospect reason to move relationship forward.
• You must love and believe in what you are selling!Have to be convinced that your product/service has real value to ask for sale with confidence!
• Don't be a "Me-Monster"! Keep the focus on your prospect. It's all about them. "Show Them The Money".
• Get creative and diversify the channels that you communicate to prospects (Phone, email, social media, handwritten note, lumpy mail with gift)
• Be fearless. Be passionate about your product/company

Top 7 Tips For Prospecting:

1. Plan- Know who you are going after and why
2. Prioritize- Rank the A, B, C most important targets and where your time/resources need to go first
3. Know- "What is in it for them" and have your "Value Proposition" for that specific customer identified. Avoid the "Me-Monster"
4. Value- Understand the most valuable thing you can give your potential customer and make sure you can articulate it clearly and quickly
5. Phone- Good to use phone to get more meetings and attention from potential buyers. Email can be overused and ineffective in prospecting so good to explore other communication tools
6. Diversity and Creativity- Get out of the "Black Box" just another sales person calling on prospect to make yourself unique and stand-out. Be unique to get their attention.
7. Persistence- Don't quit. Be relentless. Believe and keep pushing on!

• Top Keys For Closing:

I. Overall be confident, energetic, passionate, and have good sales tone that evokes buyer interest to get them leaning forward.
II. 5 Steps For Closing Deals Successfully:
1) Make sure you are talking to the right decision maker who can help you win the deal.
2) Demonstrate ROI and solid data that shows how product/service will help their customers and business in tangible ways. Build up so much value that the price looks small in comparison. Make product a "Must Have" vs. "Nice to have" for their business.
3) "Roll into price casually". Present the value proposition so strongly so when you offer the price they think it will be much higher so price comes across like a great deal!
4) Listen closely with empathy to any objections and work to overcome them with best efforts and strong diligence.
5) Ask for the sale and ask for next steps to move forward. Work toward a firm yes or no.
Overall a great sales event here in Raleigh-Durham. Special thanks to all the speakers and RevBoss and ExitEvent for hosting!

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