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“What do you like most about my offering?” (Hey, yeah…that’s a good, solid qualifying question.)

“If you could change anything about my proposal, what would it be?” (Another goodie!)

Summoning the confidence to ask questions in your pitch meetings begins with preparing them before each interaction. You never want to leave a meeting and blast yourself, “DOH…I FORGOT TO ASK ABOUT X.”

It may be a while before you meet with that customer again, so maximize your meeting time by preparing your questions upfront.

Just being???

What the heck is THAT?

There are lists to revise…calendars to plan…emails to reply to…and of course, CRM data to record.

Oh wait…it’s the weekend. (Ahhhhhhhhhhh….)

You earn your graduate degree from the Workaholics U. during the week, so it’s time now to perfect the art of not giving a shite on the weekend. Ignore ALL of the work you had earmarked for this weekend and do nothing.

Just be.

Your work will be there on Monday.

On this day at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Jackie Joyner-Kersee won Gold in the heptathlon, becoming the first person to win the event in consecutive Games.

Jackie’s career winning totals include six Olympic and four gold medals at the World Championships.

So why should you, sales athlete care about Jackie?

Spectators and fans saw Jackie winning…but they didn’t see how she fought through injuries and mental obstacles during her career. All athletes have to endure some amount of pain and suffering to win.

Whether you’re tracking ahead or behind your Q3 rev target, the last day of a month is a good time to study what your strategic account planners say.

Every seller on the planet labors over strategic account planning, i.e. “…why am I doing this stupid exercise?”.

Well…you created your Q3 account planners many moons ago for this exact moment when you need to pull back to a macro view. If constructed smartly, your planners will help you identify insights and action reminders that require your attention at this stage of the term.

Hitting quarterly numbers is easier when you have a plan.

It was Albert Mehrabian whose research famously concluded that 55% of a message’s impact comes from body language, 38% from vocal tone, and 7% from the words themselves.

Ok, there are a few issues here….

1. Since about 80% of your pitch meetings are through video, how do you make up for that 55% body language estimate?

2. Almost 40% of your message is based on your tone…how do you know how you sound to your buyers?

3. In The Sales Life, the words you use always matter. (The “ums,” “ya knows,” and “wait whats” stick out like a sore thumb, and they’re not unnoticed by buyers.

Admit it, hearing the term “pipeline management” triggers thoughts of hot fudge sundaes, sunset walks on the beach, and puppies.

No?

Whadya mean you’d rather visit your dentist than spend time inside your CRM??

Pipeline management is as dry as it gets for a seller. Admit it, slinking around inside the guts of your database makes you feel like a plumber (with all due respect…).

But maybe, just maybe, if you looked at your CRM through the eyes of a detective (and not a plumber), it’d be more interesting.

There’s money in your pipeline. Be like Sherlock Holmes and find it!

How did you get so close with your BFFBs (BFF Buyers)?

Is it because your kids attend the same school or because you both like the Foo Fighters? …or maybe you’re both fans of Katilin Clark?

As you continue trying to convert every one of your buyers to “Champion,” understand that shared interests will only get you so far.

It’s the above-and-beyond value you bring to the buyer and their agenda that gets you into the Champions Suite. Start your Champion development strategy by picking a sticky problem you can help your promising buyer with.

If life is messy, as Tara Brach claims, The Sales Life is REALLY messy.

Whether working on quarterly strategic account plans or plotting an upcoming pitch, your brain is constantly calculating. Every sales scenario and issue is constantly bouncing around in your brain.

As you attempt to control and configure behaviors and outcomes, you are bombarded with yet more information that joins the cramped and active space between your ears.

It is an exhausting way to run a week…but today is Saturday, and it’s time to push all that information aside.

Given #1: Every prospect and client who meets with you has a laundry list of obstacles and objections about your offering.

Given #2: Buyers spend zero time thinking about how to articulate those objections.

No worries…the good news is you can easily learn to address objections, and minimize them proactively. Your job is not to eliminate buyer objections, it’s merely to shrink them.

No offering is perfect; no product is without flaws. Your buyers will still buy from you even if your product is not perfect!

Do you twitch when a “call me” text comes in from your Sales Manager?

Try not to jump to conclusions…it’s probably something easy and simple. Yet, you’re right, they should have written “call me to discuss the ACME account.”

Remember, you share the responsibility to have good communication with your manager. If you don’t want “call me” texts, explain to your manager why.

The more you communicate with your manager, the more value you’ll create.