Some of the best sales lessons I ever got happened brainstorming with my sales brothers and sisters in the bullpen. All our desks were arranged together for a daily, on-going battle against the tide of rejection that came with being a business to business salesperson in the pre-internet, pre-cell phone 90’s. We were a band of brothers and sisters, united in the quest to make enough commission dollars to make $1.00 long-neck night every Thursday at Mr. Sports. (true story)
In the never-ending quest for self-proclaimed superiority in all things competitive, the levels of brilliance I witnessed back then in the trial and error process of trying out new approaches on the phone has rarely been re-created in my presence (I also was witness to some of the most disastrous and epic failures ever recorded in sales lore, but that is for a different post). It was some of the most effective A/B testing I’ve ever seen, we just didn’t know that was what it would come to be known as, and we certainly didn’t have an automated inbound strategy or SDR team warming up leads for us. It was a race, every day, but we were all running it together, and the faster we all ran, the more success we collectively enjoyed. If the gal next to you happened onto an effective 1st appointment technique, that approach spread like the most viral of videos on YouTube among the team. If we pitched a solution to a room of nodding heads on the buyer side, the junior sales people scribbled furious notes in their Franklin Planners to rehearse in front of the mirror the following morning.
It’s still a race today; the race is just run on a whole new kind of course that doesn’t look at all like the race many of us in this industry got comfortable running. It’s like trying to qualify for the 40+ edition of American Ninja Warrior. I’m not saying we CAN’T do it, I just wonder how many of us have it in us to put in the work. It’s an uncomfortable feeling knowing you’ve got to find a way to remake yourself if you want to keep running, and when you’re not surrounded with the same kind of brothers and sisters in selling like the old days, that can be a lonely feeling.
But here’s the crazy thing. The entire industry is on-line. Our people-centric medium attracts the most social of personalities, and the evidence of it is found in every Facebook Group dedicated to our zany industry out there. Want your bullpen back? Want to reconnect to the feeling of having people on your team doing the same hard work you’re doing every day? Take a trip to your Facebook Messenger and find some folks you’ve met and like, and start asking them questions about how they’re handling the same problems you’re facing.
There’s a sense of security in knowing you’re not alone. Selling is hard. Our medium isn’t always seen the way it should be by your customers. We get it. Find yourself some tribe. Re-build the bullpen. Get rid of open work areas and throw your sales team in a 30 x 30 room and don’t let them out until they save the world. Do something different and see if you get a different result.
Roger has spent 20+ years making complex concepts more understandable for both buyers and sellers alike, and has devoted the majority of his recent career to writing and executing sales and marketing plans for early and mid-stage businesses. He is a student of organizational behavior and the disciplines successful selling organizations use to achieve the greatest reach, even in instances of scarce resources. He loves the outdoors and seeks memorable experiences whenever possible. Contact Roger at roger@branded-logistics.com or 810-986-5369