In a period of history where almost all of our prospects are struggling, the last thing a salesperson wants to be is another problem to deal with. Unfortunately, that’s exactly how most prospects see us. Why?
It’s because salespeople rarely show up with valuable information – solutions that mean our prospects struggle less after talking with us.
Salespeople who show up with solutions usually find their prospects have time to chat. But how do we consistently source and communicate solutions in the midst of all the prospecting, account management, record keeping and customer service tasks we have to manage?
When we sat down with Nate Lucius, a sales leader who manages more than 50 salespeople, we learned how he ensures his salespeople source and communicate new solutions to their prospects each week.
Because we’re trimming hope from our sales strategy, we’ll use the acronym TRIM to guide us through creating a system with a trigger, ensuring it’s repeatable, building in ways to improve it and of course, ensuring it’s measurable and getting us results.
T – Trigger: First, we have to have solutions to present. Nate established a ‘million dollar users group’ of successful clients who are willing to share what’s working in their industry. The ideas that come from those conversations aren’t theoretical – they’re immediately applicable and they’re actually being used.
But simply having a solution isn’t enough, we have to have a way to ensure we (and our salespeople) actually communicate it. To scale that across a large team, Nate requires his salespeople to create a short video each week that they send to their prospects. Nate’s company provides their salespeople the talking points, and then requires the salespeople to create a video that communicates that to their prospects.
R – Repeatable: To ensure this happens each week, Nate ensures a Monday morning meeting happens where those talking points are communicated and a Friday recap where salespeople share the results from those talking points. That keeps it in front of the salespeople and makes it impossible for folks to forget the talking points, video, or ensuring their prospects receive it.
I – Improvable: Nate makes sure that talking points constantly evolve each week with what’s working and what’s not in their industry. That makes it relevant to their prospects. Additionally, Nate also ensures that salespeople and prospects provide feedback on how well their messaging works.
M – Measurable: Measuring the success of this type of a campaign comes in two parts. The first is to have something to communicate to prospects that’s measurable. Nate advises folks ask, “What is working for my prospects to grow their businesses right now, and how do we prove that it’s working?” That way, salespeople can be confident they’re communicating relevant and valuable information.
Second, Nate recommends we track the results these campaigns produce. If some salespeople are generating consistently better results with their videos and follow-up calls, what are they doing differently?
By systemizing relevancy, we can ensure we’ll always have time on our prospect’s calendars. Not because of what we want to sell, but because of the solutions we have to offer.