The 10 Key Ingredients of a Successful Sales Rep

January 29, 2015 / in Sales Hints / by Rizan Flenner

Throughout my career as a sales manager, I always found it fascinating that certain sales reps always
managed to close big deals.
Many of them were already working with large accounts, but some of these accounts were said to be already dead
or only worth a few upgrade deals at best. But for sure no $1 million opportunities.
So how did these guys transform lifeless deals into million dollar opportunities? What makes these reps so effective
at closing large deals and others not?
Here are 10 key ingredients of successful sales reps:

1. They Think BIG

I once asked a successful rep how he managed to close so many large deals. His answer was:

I look for big deals, therefore I focus on them.

Is that really all there is to it? Think big and youll close big deals?
While it may not be the only ingredient, its definitely an important starting point.
If you program yourself to close small deals, thats what youll be looking for. But if you start focusing on larger
deals, you will most likely try to grow your opportunities and go deeper and wider into your account.
Every year, I have all my reps set a $1 million opportunity as a goal and have them map out a plan to make it
happen.
And guess what?
Many of them end up doing exactly that.
Try it out for yourself:
1. Make a list of all your accounts where you could close a $1 million deal
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

2. Pin that list to your desk so you can see it at all times
3. Create a plan to close at least one of them and see what happens.
Thinking BIG will help you close big deals.

2. They qualify hard

Great salespeople know that their biggest enemy is time wasted on the wrong things.
Thats why they qualify hard to make sure that a deal is worth their time.
No matter how promising an opportunity might seem, they dont allow themselves to get excited before qualifying
certain things.
They move slow in the beginning and dont allow the client to request the next steps. That way they can be sure
that the pain is strong enough for the client to take action.
During this discovery phase, they can be very direct and assertive with their clients while remaining respectful and
open about the process. But they wont move forward with a deal without getting the answers to the following
questions:
1. What is the pain?
2. What is the consequence of doing nothing?
3. Is there somebody who can and will drive this (AKA: a Champion)?
4. Where is the client in the buying process?
If they cant check these points, they lose interest and are off to the next opportunity.

3. They challenge their clients

Clients hate the reactive rep whos waiting for them to provide all the answers and dont add any additional value.
In fact, clients actively keep these guys at a distance.

But, they love a rep who understands and even educates them.
In fact, 97% of B2B clients surveyed stated that the top driver that led to closed deals was a sales reps ability to
offer unique and valuable perspectives.
Thats why successful sales reps constantly think about the state of their clients business, and come to meetings
prepared with competitive case studies, industry trends, and a deep understanding of their clients operations.
These reps challenge their clients to see their own business in a new light and discover opportunities that had been
previously overlooked.
By providing unique insights, great reps develop strong allies and champions within the account who enable and
support them to reach their goal.

4. They drive deals proactively and begin with the end in mind
If you want to get somewhere, you dont just start driving and hope youll somehow get there. You make a plan,
follow it, and adjust as necessary along the way.
For sales reps, having a sales process or sales methodology acts as that roadmap, letting them plot the customer
journey towards a decision. In fact, having a structured process lets you grow your revenue by an additional 18%.
Whether its MEDDIC, TAS, Strategic Selling or even a custom methodology, a reliable sales process establishes
clear criteria and defined milestones that let great sales people stay in control of their deals. (See The 8 Best Sales
Methodologies for Closing Complex Deals).
Once they know their target close date and the milestones they need to hit to get there, they work backwards and
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

Once they know their target close date and the milestones they need to hit to get there, they work backwards and
create a detailed close plan.
That way they can work proactively instead of reactively and be alerted when things go off track. According

5. They collaborate extensively, both internally and externally

Big deals are never closed alone.
Great sales people know this. So in order to drive large opportunities, they always make sure to:
Act like great coaches
Sell the opportunity inside the company
Involve executives
Motivate their teammates to grow and go the extra mile.
They motivate their company to close the deals together with them.
They team up with their allies and supporters at the client and discover their personal interest in a deal. Then, they
help them achieve their goals and develop them to become champions.
Together with their champions, they plot the steps along the route to the final decision making and signing of the
contract.

6. They stay in control of the message and activities

Every large deal is going to have a lot of decision makers, business users and executives that need to be convinced.
Its impossible for a sales person on his own to cover every single person involved, neither will he be invited to the
internal meetings, where the real decisions are going to be made.
So in order to compensate, they create custom messaging for each account, centered on The 3 WHYs:
Why do anything?
Why us?
Why now?
They tailor this messaging to match the different levels of the power base and then make sure that it gets
distributed internally.
Together with their Champions and the C-level executives within their own organization, successful reps takes
advantage of a multi-level selling approach to get that messaging out.

7. They see themselves as equals with their clients (and think Quid pro quo)
A successful sales trainer once painted the picture of the average sales rep as a dog involved in a game of catch
with his master: running for the ball and happily delivering it back without ever asking for anything in return.
This kind of master/slave relationship with clients holds a lot of reps back, and getting past it is essential to
successfully driving deals.
As one experienced colleague put it,

I explain to the client that we both run our businesses. And mine is to close deals for my company. Im happy to
support him in his decision process, but at the same time, I owe my company a clarification on how are we
doing on our business.
This kind of mindset keeps you and the client on the same level. As equals.
It not only gives you the confidence to step out of a deal that isnt going anywhere, it actually grows your clients
respect for you.
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

respect for you.

Once you make it clear that youre not here just to please him, hell know that if he wants something from you, hell
have to provide something in return.

8. They ask for the deal

Great salespeople dont simply serve the customers decision-making process. They become a vital part of it.
Great reps create a lot of value with their unique business expertise and build additional confidence and trust by
bridging key people and executives from their own organization to the clients.
Its hard work, but it earns them the right to meet the Economic Buyer (EB).
Even in deals with multiple decision makers, the EB is the one whose final approval (official or not) is required to
sign off on a deal.
By meeting with the EB early on, great salespeople are able to crosscheck whether he supports the project or not,
what his criteria for success looks like and what the timeline and concrete steps to a closed deal are.
Once the EB has been met, the right next steps become crystal clear, and the route to the budget and final approval
opens up.

9. They plan for the worst

Great sales people know that complex deals arent won just like that.
Theres a lot of work, a lot of people to coordinate and convince, and an endless amount of tasks and to-dos.
Thats why the best of the best not only think about how to win the deal, they master the plan to not lose it.
They become almost paranoid about what could go wrong.
They test their allies, neutralize their enemies and make 100% sure that they are informed when things go wrong.
Because theyve prepared extensively for the worst, they can proactively take corrective actions if and when things
go wrong.
(And believe me, things do go wrong. Often.)

10. They live in their account

Last but not least, great salespeople have an incredible amount of contact with their client.
They have such a high level of activity within their account checking in with the tech guys, making sure legal had
everything that it needs that some clients even offer these guys their own office while working together on a deal.
The best reps Ive known have had up to 15 meetings per week with their clients. And customers who are eager to
solve their pain report a huge benefit in being able to work so closely with them.
Just by being there, by answering questions as they come up and participating in decision meetings, these guys
create a level of trust and security that most other reps miss out on.
In fact, after a huge deal had closed, the CIO of a large Swiss Bank said to me:

Rizan, your guys knew my organization probably better than I did. They understood our pain points from every
angle, notified me when people were resistant to change and together we found solutions to overcome these
hurdles. Without your guys, it would have been much harder to restructure my organization.
CONCLUSION
If theres only three things that you takeaway from this list, Id choose the following:
Great sales reps know when to go for a deal and when to walk away (they qualify hard)
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

They seek to truly understand their clients needs (and use that knowledge to challenge their clients)
They drive deals proactively (and stay in control throughout the clients buying process.)
Personally, I often went over all these points in account reviews with my core reps; to help them recognize their
strengths and where they needed improvement.
Because as a sales manager, its important to understand just how your high-fliers manage to close deals that seem
impossible to everyone else.
That way, you can coach the rest of your reps to fly just as high.

Join hundreds of other salespeople who get our latest content first.
The latest in sales intelligence and productivity news delivered straight to your inbox.

Count me in

Enter your email

No spam, no sharing your information. Just high-quality, sales-relevant content.

You Might Also Like:

3 Simple
Questions That
Will Increase
Your Close
Rate

The 8 Best
How to Close
Sales
Complex Deals
Methodologies
for Closing
Complex Deals

How a Sales
Playbook Can
Help You Find
Business
Insights

Share this entry

0 Comments

now.iseeit.com/blog

Recommend

1 Login

Share

Sort by Best

Start the discussion

ALSO ON NOW.ISEEIT.COM/BLOG

The Challenger Sale A New Way to Drive Growth

1 comment 2 years ago

David Peralta Thanks to repeatablesuccess.com for

Phil's story in the above post. Be sure to check them

70 Top Sales Pros Reveal Their Most Impactful Sales

Advice Ever
9 comments 6 months ago

David Peralta Jim, I think that perfectly summarizes

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

Phil's story in the above post. Be sure to check them

The Top 100 Most Innovative Sales Bloggers (That

Will Help You Shatter
23 comments 7 months ago

Matthew Pollard Great post mate. I have been

watching a lot of these feeds for a while and they post
some great

Subscribe

L e a r n

m o r e

Add Disqus to your site

David Peralta Jim, I think that perfectly summarizes

what this article is all about. Creating meaningful
interactions are

The 5 Most Common Problems With CRM Systems

1 comment a year ago

kumar shan For a couple of decades now, business

technology pundits have told us we needed a CRM
application.

Privacy

For your business

Enterprise benefits
SMB benefits
For your people
Sales Reps
Sales Managers
Executives

P r o d u c t
Features
Pricing
Support

C o m p a n y
About Us
Sales Blog
Become a Partner
Imprint
Terms and Conditions
Our Privacy Policy

C o n t a c t
Contact us
now@iseeit.com
+43 134 2731

All rights reserved iSEEit 2014 Vienna, Austria

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com