Burn After Reading... 13 Insider Sales Secrets

The devil's in the details or the angel depending on how you look at it. Segment III in this triple threat on new business I promised you:

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. - Michaelangelo

The life of a seller is fraught with mood swings so choose your own adventure. This post is about some secret nuances, 13 lucky axioms, that I haven't read anywhere to give you sales leaders out there the inside track:

1) Referrals and warm introductions are exponentially more powerful than any other channel. So the first step in pursuing any account is to study connections in common and teamlinks and ACTUALLY reach out to those people to ask how strong their connection is and if they will contact that person. If they will, be willing to ghostwrite the introduction. Repeat: THIS IS YOUR HIGHEST PRIORITY PROSPECTING by at least 10X if not 100X. If you only followed this rule you'd outsell anyone in your company.

2) The size of your social network will determine the strength of your weak ties. Google: strength of weak ties for background on this concept. In plain English, you are more likely to tap into more warm introductions (see point #1) and the network effects are much more powerful. Therefore, courageously cultivate a large, diverse, global network of connections.

3) A LinkedIn view is a lead: unless it's a spam profile or frenemy (easy to detect). I'd controversially encourage you to always connect. What do I know, I only have 90,000 followers here in LinkedIn.

4) Prospect organizations are pyramidal as much as they'd like to aspirationally be flat and meritocratic. Therefore, it is an everlasting imperative to move the conversation at the C-Suite, VP-Level, and Operations (user level) for any complex sale.

5) It is possible to leverage LinkedIn for Social Engineering or Social Conquesting. This is the practice of divining the exact prospects the incumbent's install base is engaged with. If you connect with a couple thought leaders in your space, influential CMOs or SVPs of Sales of competitive vendors, when you look at the 2nd-degree connections in Navigator, it's self-evident the results rank by some sort of propensity algorithm with most connections in common. Simply click under each contact in Connections In Common and look for patterns. You'll see the same people emerging over and over. Bingo! Unfortunately, even if you block your connections - the enemy can see the 2nd degree. Therefore, in ultra-competitive markets I'd advise New Business sellers not to connect with leaders in current clients.

6) Pattern Interrupt is why Combination Selling works. The channels don't matter as much as something unexpected that arrests their attention. Modern sales floors are churches and I've still never met a seller that's not a beast on the phone on any continent, even in the heart of Silicon Valley selling AR/VR. People fall into a rut or habit. Break yours by crowdsourcing a template file to start to riff off the collective wisdom of sales verbiage and tactics that are getting responses.

7) Your own Venture Capitalists, CEO, Board Members and Angel Investors can accelerate deals by miles even in this Quarter. If they're not onboard to make these intros and communicate from the top to the bottom of the organizations they back then you have the wrong support system in place. Sit down with your CEO and open that channel immediately.

8) Military strategy is Napoleonic when it's constantly changing in real time. Such is guerrilla warfare. Don't fear teamlinks to Legal or HR personnel (even Sourcing). These folks never get a call or email. Exhaust any warm intros you know at any level of the organization. You'd be shocked the 1 degree of separation between a random assistant in a Mail Room and the CFO's husband.

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. - Napoleon

9) You have not completed prospecting a company until you receive a NO. Always prospect every lead to a NO. NO not yes is the most magical word in sales. Let it thicken your skin. It's a rejection based business. Become antifragile (Taleb). You'd rather get a NO decision on 50 key target accounts and close 5 blowing out your quota then be wishy-washy, happy ears, with a tidal wave of ambivalence blowback and skinny kids.

10) Conferences and networking events are filled with C-Levels. Book a hotel across the street and schedule a wave of meetings there. The floor and parties are noise. Private dinners at 1 star Michelin restaurants work. Eschew the hot wings...

11) Every sales leader should be publishing on LinkedIn Pulse sharing use cases, subject matter expertise, and challenger insights. Pull prospects toward you inbound with compelling content. Challenge the conventional wisdom and status quo. Brainstorm with your Solutions Consultant for ideas nobody's heard before that only your solution can address.

12) Productivity is a myth. Like a cornerstone holds a medieval door's supporting stones, massive persistent, smart activity in one key area will yield the greatest results. It is a quality meets quantity game so develop scalable systems. You are a brand: and the one thing you should always be doing is prospecting wholeheartedly, especially when statistics are up.

The power of a brand is inversely proportional to its scope. - Al Ries

13) The grass is always greener. I almost never see a seller leave a company for a better scenario. From one frying pan into another towering inferno they leap like Mario & Luigi. Ramp to consistent results, put a ding in the universe and then get recruited out: only. President's Club Winner's are seldom managers. That's a unicorn so please let me know when you meet one. The Andy Groves and Mark Hurds are out there.

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Flickr Door: Spencer Means Flickr Napoleon: JeanbaptisteM Flickr Handshake: JD Hancock Flickr Andy Grove: Intel Free Press