I recently completed HubSpot’s Sales Pipeline Bootcamp, and it changed my mindset when it comes to selling.
Some of you may know HubSpot only for its marketing automation software -- you might not be aware of the extensive resources available to sales professionals as well.
The bootcamp is run by Dan Tyre, the company's enigmatic Sales Director who offers the program once a quarter exclusively to agency partners. Seats are very limited. You have to apply for the program, commit to attending the sessions, and follow through with the homework and activities it takes to succeed.
It’s not an easy haul -- small agency founders are bound up in a million other responsibilities for running their businesses, and dedicating an hour or more to sales takes discipline – but this venture was so worth it.
I’m going to share the biggest takeaways from eight weeks of intensive effort and learning so you can apply it to your own approach to inbound sales.
Helping, Not Selling
Most people would opt for root canal over cold calling someone. It’s the plain truth.
No one wants to the face the guaranteed rejection that comes when you interrupt busy professionals in the middle of their day. But inbound selling is not about making a deep list of people to spam with canned sales offers. It involves:
- Making a smart list of people working at companies you know you can help
- Personalizing every touch by researching their background and roles within the organization
- Reaching out with good recommendations that will help them solve challenges you’ve recognized
- Be clear with your company positioning statement – WHAT exactly do you do?
- Pick up the phone! People who call succeed, even today when more professionals are chatting on Slack than calling each other.
- Don’t hang up when you go to voicemail. I was guilty of this sin for years without realizing it. Keep your message short, but also make sure your personality shines through. Remember, you are calling to help them.
I was already using this approach long before enrolling in the bootcamp. The HubSpot Academy offers some great course material on inbound selling. What I wasn’t doing effectively is preparing for the conversation so that I could make a meaningful (not manipulative) connection with the person on the other end.
Your Selling Time is Sacred
I don’t care how busy you are. If you are responsible for growing the business – you cannot let anyone encroach on your time for prospecting and outreach.
You need to show up every day focused and ready to help and serve people. When you start getting lax about this, it’s much harder to stay motivated and keep your skills sharp. Worst of all, making calls “when you get around to it” pretty much guarantees you’ll won’t see results.
Stay disciplined. Stay focused. Stay true to your purpose.
Smile While You Dial. Don't Be So Serious!
This was the greatest gift I got from the whole experience. I was missing out on the fun of selling!
The mere act of sitting down to do sales outreach causes several unpleasant physiological responses. Your chest tightens and you forget to breathe properly. It’s like preparing to expel a kidney stone.
I jest, but it's true – making new connections does not have to be a grim activity if you don’t allow it to be.
Think of all the pleasant interactions you have with total strangers every day – at the supermarket checkout, the bank teller window, or the person waiting to use the treadmill at the gym – do you feel that same anxiety about talking to them? Are you able to laugh and enjoy a conversation with someone you met two seconds ago?
Chilling out and letting your true personality shine comes with practice at connect calling, and if you stay disciplined it will happen somewhere around week three or four. After that point, you might actually enjoy yourself.
When smiling and being yourself no longer takes strenuous effort, you’ll know you are there. Keep going! Because if you stop working on it every week, it’s like taking time off from the gym. It takes a while to get your muscles tone again.
Look at all the cookie-cutter spam that lands in your inbox every day. Inbound selling is the opposite of all that.
It’s an extension that complements your inbound marketing strategy. It’s about making connections and earning trust by making a sincere effort to listen to people and personalize every message. It's about helping them, not selling them.
If you do make a good connection and it makes sense to continue talking, schedule an exploratory call where you can discuss their challenges in greater depth and qualify each other as a good fit.
The greatest lesson I got from this experience is if you truly want growth, you have to want it bad enough to do the work every day. Anything else is just talk.
So ask yourself -- what’s holding you back?
Nov 15, 2019 1:17:56 PM
