What to do when a deal goes sideways… 📞
As we get into the end of the quarter, most of you will have a deal go sideways.
You know, one of those “heyyyyy unfortunately we’ve been asked to put this on hold for now” emails.
Anytime this happens (or anything else “bad” happens on a deal) you should always default to getting on the phone (only try to handle over email as a true last resort).
Start by simply calling their cell phone the moment you see their email.
If they don’t answer you can do some combination of the following:
Wait 60-90 min and try them again
Option 2: Text (no voicemails) saying something like “Hey Bill – it’s Isaiah from Repeatability. That was me just now from the 917 number. Saw your note. Give me a buzz when you have 2 min?”
Reply to the email with something like the following:
Hey Bill – just tried to give you a buzz. That was me just now from the 917 number.
Whatever timing makes sense for you guys works great for us.
Lmk when you have 2 min to chat quickly? Just curious to hear the update etc and get organized for whenever we do end up picking the conversation back up.
Let me know when’s good (or obv fine to try me back if easier too)!
Isaiah
And then when you get on the phone, just be super curious.
VERY OFTEN these situations are simply misunderstandings or a lack of information. Like:
Champion: “We have to put this on hold, sorry”
Rep: [essentially] “How come?”
Champion: “We don’t have bandwidth for onboarding until at least mid October, sorry”
Rep: “Okay. What if we sign the agreement now so we can get the better pricing but make the start date of the term October 15th?”
Champion: “That would actually be great. I didn’t realize that might be an option.”
It’s just a problem solving exercise.
Get on phone > Find problem > Solve
Said another way, answer the following question for yourself: “is there something blocking this deal that if I figure out what it is and SOLVE IT, would get the deal back on track so that my customer can get all the value?”
SALES TRAINING TODAY: Reminder our next sales training is TODAY, in 4 hours, on exactly this type of topic: 14 key reminders for the end of the quarter. Lots of talk tracks, example emails, etc. (71 sellers already signed up)
Sign up here: https://luma.com/s5livok1
The most important points to make about YOURSELF in a sales interview 🏆
When you’re interviewing for a sales role, you should make sure to talk about yourself in a way that answers the exact questions a hiring manager is asking themself about YOU!
So…
Here are the questions they’re often asking!
Do you have a track record of performance?
Do you know how to sell?
Are you smart?
High EQ?
Hard working?
High agency?
Coachable?
On the ball?
The kind of person I want to work with (in more ways than one)?
Do you have specific experience that would make you more likely to succeed than an otherwise equal candidate?
You know what really doesn’t help you here? Giving an 8 minute oral history of your life and career.
You know what does? Talking about how you worked 70 hours a week for your first 2 months in your last role, listening to over 100 call recordings, which culminated in you being 4th on a team of 20 in your first year where the 3 people ahead of you had all been there for years, and the feedback you got from your manager at the end of that year was [X ,Y, and Z other things from the list above]!
Think of it sort of like a puzzle. You want to take all the pieces from the list and find a way to fit them into the interviewer’s questions.
Interviewer: “Tell me about yourself…”
You: “Sure! Let me tell you about the knives I sold door to door and how that led me to my first BDR job where I was promoted within 9 months because I was the top rep on the team and then…”
Just like sales…
Good luck out there.
And we just expanded one of our most interesting searches to include candidates in NYC!
3rd AE at a company doubling every 45 days
Solves a problem exploding due to LLMs
Basically every company is a buyer
Comp $200k-$300k
2+ years AE exp required
Very intense culture (this is a good thing for the right super ambitious person)