🔥 Hot Take
Your Pitch Isn’t Working
Ask any seller for their elevator pitch. What are you likely to hear? First-person sentences: “We” do this. “We” do that.
Prospects don’t care. They want to know what’s in it for them. But even leading with that doesn’t get their attention. Want to know what does? Starting by acknowledging the threats they’re facing.
Yet time and time again, we see pitches that go like this: “Let me start by telling you a little bit about us.”
That pitch, as Bob Uecker used to say, is juuuust a bit outside.
🔗 Link
Hire, Don’t Promote
Forrester brings new data showing that in sales management, you’re better off hiring an outside candidate than you are promoting from within. There are likely lots of contributing factors as to why.
Consider this one: Sellers and managers thrive when they have different motivations. Sellers do best when they’re extrinsically motivated. Managers do best motivated by altruism. Square pegs, round holes, and all that.
💬 Stories We Hear
“Way Outside My Comfort Zone”
One seller was skeptical when we changed her pitch. She wanted to retreat to the “just a little bit about us” to start. She trusted our process, gave it a try, and told her colleague the following story (paraphrased, as it was told to us):
“I thought I was so far outside my comfort zone, but I have to tell you, it works. The conversation I had with that prospect was different than any other first conversation I’ve ever had. I got further with them than I have before. I’m sure I’ll get used to it, I’m still not 100% comfortable, but I’m going back to how I did it before.”