1/16/2024-Internal Selling

Not every request from your customer is an emergency, so stop pulling fire alarms. If you were on the support team helping you, how would you want to be engaged?

Be patient with your enablement personnel – they can’t read your mind. The same goes for your account managers and all the others who support your front-line efforts.

They’re all doing their best to help you, but odds are they’re not waking up each morning thinking about you. (This doesn’t mean they don’t want to help.)

A big part of selling is getting the resources and support you need to make the sale. Remember, "please" and "thank you" work just as well within your company as they do with customers.

Today, chat with the actor who plays your inside seller – the person you are when scavenging your company for support and resources. How do you come off to those in your company who you need?

It’s natural to shift down a gear when you’re around your company peeps, but that doesn’t excuse you from slipping into behaviors that may alienate and demoralize others.

Focus on engaging your company peers in ways that give them a sense of ownership on your accounts. Include your teammates as partners, and you’ll be wowed by what they come up with.

Most of those charged with helping you sell inside your company probably don’t report directly to you.

Think about that for a minute. What’s the best way to motivate them and get them engaged in helping you?

Also, consider that those very same people might be a bit envious of you. They don’t see you sweat, worry, or stress about your customers…or your job; they hear about the great vacation you just took or the new car you bought and think mostly of those things.

The TOP 10% are those who make everyone feel like a million bucks…whether that person is a peon buyer, the CMO of your top client, or a junior-level support member of your team.

Forget the obvious of not treating them like a subordinate…make them care.

Ultimately, being in sales means you have a 360-degree communications job!

You need to kill it with all levels and types of customers and company peers. That includes sales managers, senior leaders, and even those junior folk in your org who parade around acting like the CEO.

Spend 12 minutes with Celeste Headlee in this Ted Talk, and you’ll feel reignited about how your strong communications skills can help you with your inside selling.

A magnanimous, respectful, and democratic communication approach will serve you well 100% of the time.