Ryan Dohrn, CEO of Brain Swell Media, believes that business should always be moving forward. If one is doing well, they should use their market advantage to leverage their next step forward. When one is finds their business grinding through a rough patch, they need to learn from their mistakes and implement adjustments to fail forward. As a consultant, Dohrn has seen his fair share of sales stagnation. He finds that most small businesses’ biggest problems lie in not fully recognizing their weaknesses. He urges all of us to take back control of our sales success, as he looks to take on small business sales teams- in this weeks Shweiki webinar.
#1 Selling Issue by Issue
Dohrn understands that the main goal of any publishing company should be to strike a long term relationship with clients. He finds that sales teams lose themselves when they strictly sell issue to issue. “Content is still king” Dohrn exclaims, “but it’s really not why advertisers buy.” Dohrn goes on to explain that advertisers buy space in publications because of the potential audience. Qualifying/un-qualifying leads based on a certain issue is not only short sided, it misses the point of why the advertiser is interested in the first place.
#2 Really Bad Voicemails
The second thing that unsuccessful sales reps do poorly is leave unplanned voicemails. It can be estimated that the average advertiser listens to voicemails in 1.5 sec increments. Much like first impressions, a bad voicemail almost always results in an unsuccessful sell. One recommended technique is creating a voicemail template and practicing it until the rep is as comfortable and confident leaving it as they are making a regular sales pitch.
#3 Really Bad Emails
Sales reps can mess up emails as easily as they can voicemail messages. The main mistake inexperienced reps make is overloading the reader with information. It’s important to remember, as a rep, that advertisers are busy as well.
Dohrn’s tips for successful emailing:
- Remember that advertisers read in 10-word increments
- Use templates for success
- Practice, practice, practice
- Review and revise
#4 No Sales Process
Another often-made mistake is working without a sales process. When one implements a proven sales process throughout their day, they walk into work knowing exactly what they have to do to achieve results each day. Another key aspect in creating a sales process is that creating a constant schedule is the only way one can truly measure efficiency. Sales reps working without a process are wasting effort by not charting their daily moves.
#5 Call Volume
“Very rarely do sales reps make enough phone calls to make budgets.” The final 911 tip Dohrn lends out is to keep detailed statistics for calling volume. Sales is undoubtedly a numbers game. Without records of how many calls one needs to make a sell, and how many calls one can achieve per day, one is just spending their day flowing through the workplace (similar to not having a sales process.)
Call volume tips
- Know your GTM ratio
- Know your GTP ratio
- Know your GTC ratio
- Most reps dont make enough calls
- Track it, ask about it
ABOUT THIS BLOGGER: Ryan Dohrn is an international revenue coach and internet consultant. Since 1996 he has coached over 3,000 business owners. He is the founder of Brain Swell Media and 360 Ad Sales Training. Contact him at: 888-812-9991 or [email protected]
