Sales News, October 2022

Hear me out. You are at your favorite chicken place, again. You know the one (if you don’t, check out our series on networking and get with it). You have been losing sleep every day over closing the biggest deal of your life. The client, Maestro Unlimited, the world’s biggest supplier of knowledge, said they were interested in buying eight billion books about how to teach kids the proper way to shake hands. Your company is called Hip Knowledge, and kids these days think a handshake is an emoji they send to each other for fun.

You are eating your sandwich with a knife and fork; you learned your lessons (other series people!). You dab your mouth with a napkin—refined. You see the CEO of Maestro Unlimited walk in—excited. She is Willamina Puente (a second cousin of Maestro Founder, Will Fuentes). You stand up, you’re so happy you know how to network now. You reach out a clean hand, excited to be the employee of a hip-handshaking company. You know you’re about to close the deal, just like that. She looks you in the eye and asks if you’ve read any sales tips lately to grow your practice.

You stutter, bluster, and fluster. You want to fly away. You didn’t control what you can control and continue to practice. You didn’t know enough about the sales world and haven’t tried to learn enough—you thought you knew it all. She is unimpressed and walks away. You missed your quota, you got fired, and now you can’t afford your favorite chicken sandwiches.

Good thing now you are learning and can keep your future job and stay eating those sandwiches!

THE BUN

The bun is everything. It is quite literally the one requirement for a sandwich (Is a hot dog a sandwich? Scientists need to weigh in on this). What’s in between is up for debate—PB&J, burgers, chicken, tofu—but we can all agree we need the bread. (If you’re one of those people that orders your burger wrapped in lettuce, we don’t want to hear about it.) So, what is the bread of sales? Staying focused and having a clear vision.

This week one of our favorite articles had to do with what the top sales leaders are staying focused on for 2022 & beyond! This includes how to motivate your salespeople the right way for a modern world, and how to employ free trials! One thing you need in sales is repeatability and targets to hit. Staying focused on both and evolving is the best way to always stay ahead of the curve, even if it’s a basic idea, like bread!

THE PICKLES

Okay, admittedly this is not totally a sales lesson type of post, but pickles are not a needed part for a sandwich, they just make it amazing. Pickles are also like that little gift on the sandwich, much like gifting in sales. When you know your client, you can learn about what they like, what they enjoy (pickles). Then you can send them “gifts” that can quite literally be a jar of pickles, or maybe just an article about the latest tech in pickles. They will think it’s thoughtful, kind, and will be more likely to close with you rather than Joe who said pickles are the worst thing since the chicken sandwich. So, enjoy a little gifting and enjoy reading this “sales blog” during work time. We all love a good deal, closing them or 30% off, we aren’t picky.

It’s full of the way-too-early best Black Friday deals with everything from weights so you can pretend this is the year, to a mini waffle maker when you decide it isn’t. We love sales, and you should too. Seriously, it’sSALES people! Tell your boss you’re working hard, Maestro is giving you great sales tips and teaching you about gifting! And you just might find that toaster you’ve been wanting—I mean, sales practice to generate more email responses…with your new apple watch!

THE CHICKEN

The part of the sandwich that makes it what it is, and the most important component. Sales are great, making sure you have your process down is great, cooking it to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit is great, but it’s a waste if no one comes to your sandwich shop.

One of the things so often missing is ALIGNMENT between your marketing team and your sales team. Salespeople are the closers, but if you don’t have an agent to get you into the game, your talent is a waste. Read one of the best reads this week—this article talks about the forgotten part of sales—alignment with other departments. In a world where only 23% of people feel their marketing team is aligned with their sales team, but 88% agree that marketing is vital in converting sales, consider it a no brainer to learn how to align and communicate within your organization for more success all around.

THE BUN PART II (THIS IS A SANDWICH, PEOPLE!)

Bun part II, the bottom bun. It’s simple, it’s the worse half of the two, but it’s just as important and complementary. It’s like tech. Sometimes bland, sometimes it falls apart, but it’s important if you want success. You don’t want to go crazy and overdo it, but a nice simple, buttered bun, I mean, simple tech plan, can be vital to good sales, especially in the tech boom.

Take a look at how to give your business or sales team the boost it needs with just a little simple tech. From having the right CRM to being able to use pre-recorded videos for sales pitches, this article is simple but like bread, if you aren’t already using these five tech steps, you are already losing customers, sales, money, and good food!

That’s it: bun, pickles, chicken, and the other part of the bun. Focus, SALES, alignment, and tech. It’s a simple sandwich, but that’s why you eat it so often, it’s just like the best sales pitches. Not too much, quality ingredients, and dependable and repeatable each and every time.

Contact us at mastery@maestrogroup.co for more information on sales training and consulting services.